Design and Development of Cumin Destalker Machine

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.), a seed spice of family umbelliferae, is valued as aromatic, preservative, flavoring, and therapeutic agent in the food and pharmaceutical industry. The quality standards of cumin are closely associated with processing techniques. A tiny stalk attached to cuminis one of the major quality concerns in threshed and cleaned product. To remove this stalk, a centrifugal type mechanical cumin destalking unit was developed and evaluated. Developed unit consists of a frame, vibratory feeding assembly and discharge chute, horizontal plate type destalking assembly, and a drive unit. Feed rate (30, 50, and 70 kg/h), clearance between the plates (5, 8, and 11 mm), and speed of plate (550, 750, and 950 rpm) were taken as study variables and the performance of the destalker was evaluated in terms of destalking efficiency and broken percentage (damage). Performance was evaluated under single-pass and multi-pass conditions and also with and without pre-drying. Best performance was observed when cumin was destalked under multi-pass mode with pre-drying at a feed rate of 50 kg/h and plate speed of 750 rpm. At optimum operation conditions, the machine was found to have a destalking efficiency of 82.03% with 10.88% damage

Biochemical, Immunological and Physiological Studies on some Plant Pathogenic Fungi

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Essential Oils

Over the years, natural products such as essential oils have been gaining more and more prominence due to their perceived health benefits. Plants rich in essential oils represent a viable source of biomolecules for use in the most varied human activities, such as agricultural, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical applications. Essential oils are natural volatile fractions extracted from aromatic plants that are formed by classes of substances such as fatty acid esters, mono and sesquiterpenes, phenylpropanoids, and aldehyde alcohols, and in some cases, aliphatic hydrocarbons, among others. In this context, this book includes twelve chapters that present new information on the extraction and application of essential oils in various industrial segments. It is divided into three sections that discuss the general concepts of essential oils and techniques for their extraction, topics in food science and technology, and essential oils and their pharmacological properties in various activities and applications

DEVELOPMENT OF FINGERPRINTING APPROACH FOR IDENTIFICATION AND DETECTION OF ADULTERATION IN FOOD

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Health-Promoting Effects of Traditional Foods

Food cannot be only considered a combination of constituents with different nutritional values, but its relevance for humans can be fully understood by also taking into account other aspects such as history, culture, ecology, and the environment. Overall, assuming that access to food is secured for all people, traditional dietary patterns are considered safe in terms of longevity, healthy ageing, and morbidity. Indeed, healthy diets have been associated with a reduced risk and incidence of chronic degenerative diseases including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, certain types of cancers, and neurodegenerative disorders. In general, healthy dietary habits include a low consumption of refined sugars, red meat, and saturated fats, as well as a high intake of fruit, vegetables, legumes, low-fat dairy products, and healthy lipids (from seafood). As an example, the Mediterranean diet can be considered the archetype of a health-promoting lifestyle by virtue of the phytochemical diversity of its food components

Phytochemical and synthetic studies on bioactive secondary metabolites from Apiaceae plants growing in Mediterranean and Middle-East regions

Natural products represent a remarkable source of lead molecules for drug discovery, given their impressive structural diversity and their still unexplored potential. Considering that more than 90% of the world’s biodiversity still waits to be investigated, Nature continues to be a gold mine of new chemotypes and pharmacophores. Thus, taking into account all the potential sources, including plants, fungi, bacteria, and marine environment, approximately one-third of all New Molecular Entities (NMEs) approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) derives from natural products. In this context, the research work reported in this Ph.D. thesis has been focused on the phytochemical investigation of plants belonging to the Iranian and Northern African flora, in order to discover and rationalize their pharmacological potential. In particular, the first part of my work has been devoted to the characterization of the polyacetylene fraction of Echinophora platyloba, which pointed out a new interesting TRPA1 modulating activity of C14 polyacetylenes isolated from this Iranian endemic plant. Subsequently, the bio-guided fractionation of the apolar extract obtained from Daucus virgatus, a Tunisian endemic plant, led to the isolation of angeloylated germacranolides showing a promising Plasmodium transmission blocking activity. Moreover, the complete phytochemical characterization of D. virgatus apolar extract has resulted in the isolation of additional antiproliferative secondary metabolites. Part of my Ph.D. project has been spent at University College of Dublin (UCD), to design and initiate a synthetic strategy for the preparation of daucovirgolide G, the angeloylated germacranolide that showed the most promising anti-malarial activity, among all those isolated from D. virgatus. The total synthesis of daucovirgolide G, which is still in progress, will have as final goal the preparation of the active compound and of several analogues to be pharmacologically evaluated. The results obtained during my Ph.D. have been reported in nine papers already published or ready for publication

EVALUATION OF NATURAL ANTIMICROBIAL PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS AGAINST FOODBORNE PATHOGENS

Raw and processed foods are vulnerable to contamination during their production, distribution and sale. Thus, a wide variety of chemical preservatives are used in the food industry to prevent the growth of food spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. However, health and economic concerns have led to an intensive search for natural alternatives, such as plant extracts, that can safely be used as substitutes for synthetic antimicrobials and preservatives to partially or completely inhibit the growth of bacteria. This study evaluated the antimicrobial effects of natural phenolic compounds extracted from vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices. The main objective was to determine the lowest concentration of phenolics to inhibit the visible growth of the pathogenic bacteria which is defined as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Some of the most common Gram-positive and Gram-negative foodborne pathogens were treated with several natural phenolic compounds. Concentrations of 5, 10, 15, and 20 ppm (pH 5-6) of each compound were evaluated by broth micro-dilution method and the MICs were determined by using official density (OD) assay. The results demonstrated that the phenolic compounds have varying antimicrobial activities against foodborne pathogens. Natural sources of phenolic compounds contain major antibacterial components and have great potential to be used as natural antimicrobials and food preservatives

Studies on Phytohormone Producing Plant Pathogenic Fungi

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