Biodegradable Materials from Agro-Based By-Products

Summary: A new biodegradable thermoplastic material based on a wheat flour by-product has been developed. The influence of various additives (glycerol, silica) and fibers (flax, cotton, hemp) on the mechanical properties of the material has been investigated. The development of expanded materials is also presented.     

Influence of Proteins on the Mechanical Properties of Agro-Based Materials

Summary : A new biodegradable thermoplastic material based on a wheat flour by-product has been developed. The influence of protein content in wheat flour on the mechanical properties of the material has been investigated. For protein content between 4% and 10%, no influence of the protein content was evidenced, whereas beyond 10% w/w of proteins in the wheat flour, the mechanical properties of agro-based materials decrease, thus confirming the advantage of using a wheat flour by-product (i.e. with protein content below 8% w/w).     

短波近红外光谱的整粒小麦蛋白质PLS方法的定量分析

利用漫反射法获得的整粒小麦短波近红外光谱(833～1111nm),采用化学计量学中的偏最小二乘法(PLS)方法,选取不同的波长范围对光谱进行信息提取和分析,给出了不同因子数时PLS方法进行蛋白质分析的结果及其因子数与预测标准偏差平方和(PRESS)关系曲线,确定了最佳回归因子数。并通过选取最佳回归因子和不同波段,对整粒小麦的蛋白质成分进行了定量分析,比较了不同波长范围对分析的影响,并从中获得了较好的预测结果,实验表明,合理选择光谱范围可减少非主要信息的干扰,并以此来提高成分分析精度的方法是切实可行的,在实际应用中有一定的参考价值。     

可见光光谱的冬小麦苗期地上生物量估算

地上生物量是表征冬小麦苗期长势的重要参数之一,对于监测冬小麦苗期长势,预测产量具有重要的实际意义。目前,通过计算光谱指数进行生物量估算是冬小麦苗期地上生物量无损测量的主要方法,但该方法需要一定的平台支撑,在便捷性方面存在一定的不足。为此,利用可见光图像数据获取方便、准确率高的特点,基于冬小麦苗期冠层可见光图像数据开展冬小麦苗期地上生物量估算研究。采用数码相机,采集冬小麦苗期冠层可见光图像并利用Canopeo进行冬小麦冠层与背景的分割。在获取冠层分割图像后,提取了CC（canopy cover）、ExG（excessg reen）、ExR（excess red）、ExGR（ExG-ExR）、NGRDI（normalized green-red difference index）、GLI（green leaf index）、RGRI（red-green ratio index）和RGBVI（RGB vegetation index）共8个可见光图像特征。利用相关性分析进行特征优选,选择与冬小麦苗期地上生物量实测数据相关性较高的图像特征构建估算模型。利用优选的图像特征,分别构建偏最小二乘回归（PLSR）、BP神经网络（BPNN）、支持向量机回归（SVR）和随机森林（RF）模型,开展冬小麦苗期地上生物量估算研究,并定量分析特征数量和播种密度对估算模型准确率的影响。结果表明,ExR,GLI和RGBVI与生物量实测数据相关性较低,因此,将这3个特征剔除。CC,ExG,ExGR,NGRDI和RGRI与生物量实测数据的相关性较高,其中CC,ExG和ExGR与生物量实测数据呈正相关,而NGRDI和RGRI与生物量实测数据呈负相关。利用优选的图像特征构建估算模型,研究结果表明,基于优选的5个图像特征,PLSR的估算准确率最高,模型R2为0.801 5,RMSE为0.0788 kg·m-2,表明PLSR能够实现冬小麦苗期地上生物量的准确估算。特征数量是影响估算模型准确率的因素之一,随着特征数量的减少,模型估算的准确率逐步下降。利用不同播种密度数据集对估算模型进行测试,结果表明,PLSR在不同的播种密度数据集上均取得了最高的估算准确率,模型R2分别为0.897,0.827 9和0.788 6,RMSE分别为0.062,0.072和0.079 1 kg·m-2,表明PLSR估算的冬小麦苗期地上生物量数据与实测生物量数据之间具有良好的相关关系。随着播种密度的增加,所有估算模型的准确率均出现下降,而PLSR的准确率下降程度最小。由此可见,基于可见光图像数据,能够实现冬小麦苗期地上生物量的准确估算,为冬小麦苗期田间管理提供参考。     

Comprehensive characterization of C‐glycosyl flavones in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germ using UPLC‐PDA‐ESI/HRMSn and mass defect filtering

A comprehensive characterization of C‐glycosyl flavones in wheat germ has been conducted using multi‐stage high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMSⁿ) in combination with a mass defect filtering (MDF) technique. MDF performed the initial search of raw data with defined C‐glycosyl flavone mass windows and mass defect windows to generate the noise‐reduced data focusing on targeted flavonoids. The high specificity of the exact mass measurement permits the unambiguous discrimination of acyl groups (nominal masses of 146, 162 and 176.) from sugar moieties (rhamnose, glucose or galactose and glucuronic acid). A total of 72 flavone C‐glycosyl derivatives, including 2 mono‐C‐glycosides, 34 di‐C‐glycosides, 15 tri‐glycosides, 14 acyl di‐C‐glycosides and 7 acyl tri‐glycosides, were characterized in wheat germ, some of which were considered to be important marker compounds for differentiation of whole grain and refined wheat products. The 7 acylated mono‐O‐glycosyl‐di‐C‐glycosyl flavones and some acylated di‐C‐glycosyl flavones are reported in wheat for the first time. The frequent occurrence of numerous isomers is a remarkable feature of wheat germ flavones. Both UV and mass spectra are needed to maximize the structure information obtained for data interpretation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

从春小麦喷施稀土十年定位试验看稀土的残留

本文对春小麦喷施稀土十年定位试验的小麦籽粒，土壤中的稀土和放射性含量进行了分析，证明长期使用稀土后土壤，小麦籽粒中的稀土和放射性含量与对照样相比没有明显的区别，说明稀土农用不仅效益显著，而且是安全的。     

Separation of cells and proteins from fermentation broth in a shear-enhanced cross-flow ultrafiltration module as the first step in the refinement of lactic acid

A shear-enhanced, cross-flow ultrafiltration module was used to separate cells and proteins from the fermentation broth. Three (fermented) media were studied: rich medium, rich medium with hydrolytic enzymes added after fermentation, and wheat flour hydrolysate. To find a membrane with as high a flux as possible, but still capable of separating cells and proteins from the lactic acid containing broth, the performance of three hydrophilic membranes of varying cutoffs (10,000, 20,000, and 30,000) and one hydrophobic membrane (cutoff 25,000) was investigated. The proteins produced by the lactic acid bacteria during fermentation and the hydrolytic proteins were retained by the hydrophilic membrane with a cutoff of 20,000, whereas wheat flour proteins were detected in the permeate. In the permeates from the hydrophobic membrane (cutoff 25,000), almost no proteins were detected. The flux of the whole-wheat flour hydrolysate was significantly lower than that of rich medium, for both the hydrophilic and the hydrophobic membranes. The flux was, in all cases, higher for the hydrophilic membrane (12–85 L/[m²·h], depending, on which medium was treated) than for the hydrophobic one (8–45 L/[m²·h]), even though the nominal cutoffs of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic membranes were almost the same. However, the difference in flux was smaller when the whole-wheat flour hydrolysate was processed (12 vs 8 L/[m²·h]) than when the rich medium was processed (85 vs 45 L/[m²·h]). Protein retention was higher for the hydrophobic membrane than for the hydrophilic membrane (cutoff 20,000) owing to blocking of the pores by proteins adsorbed on to the hydrophobic membrane surface.     

Agricultural residue availability in the United States

The National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) is used by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to forecast US energy production, consumption, and price trends for a 25-yr-time horizon. Biomass is one of the technologies within NEMS, which plays a key role in several scenarios. An endogenously determined biomass supply schedule is used to derive the price-quantity relationship of biomass. There are four components to the NEMS biomass supply schedule including: agricultural residues, energy crops, forestry residues, and urban wood waste/mill residues. The EIA'S Annual Energy Outlook 2005 includes updated estimates of the agricultural residue portion of the biomass supply schedule. The changes from previous agricultural residue supply estimates include: revised assumptions concerning corn stover and wheat straw residue availabilities, inclusion of non-corn and non-wheat agricultural residues (such as barley, rice straw, and sugarcane bagasse), and the implementation of assumptions concerning increases in no-till farming. This article will discuss the impact of these changes on the supply schedule.     

Structure of starches extracted from near isogenic wheat lines

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), acidic hydrolysis and different physico-chemical approaches were used to study thermodynamic and structural characteristics of starches from near-isogenic wheat lines to establish the effect of different combinations of active granule-bound starch synthase isoforms, taking part in amylose biosynthesis, on the structure and thermodynamic properties of starches. Obtained results suggest that the effect of different GBSS I combinations is realized through altered amylose localization within starch granules, reflecting in changes of melting temperature of crystalline lamellae (T _m) and rates of acidic hydrolysis. It has also been demonstrated that changes in T _m values for native wheat starches are determined by amylose content in amylopectin clusters.     

Wheat lipids to discriminate species, varieties, geographical origins and crop years

The knowledge of lipid components of wheat finds a precious information in order to differentiate between Triticum durum (TD) and Triticum aestivum (TA). The determination of the percentages of methyl esters of the differently unsaturated fatty acids with 18-carbon atoms (C₁₈), of sterol fraction and of the other components is of particular weight. In this paper, the classification methods of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) were applied in order to measure the classification and prediction abilities of the determined (percentages of the) components of the lipid fraction of wheat in differentiating among species, origins, varieties and crops. By univariate feature selection method (Fisher weights (FW)) and linear discriminant analysis, it was found that the only oleate is able to distinguish between the two species with a prediction rate of 100%. Inside the species Triticum durum, it was obtained a prediction rate of 83.9% while discriminating between the different origins, a prediction rate of 82.2% while discriminating among varieties and a prediction rate of 94.3% among crop years.