Estimation of uncertainty of trypsin inhibitor activity measurement in legume crops

Irradiation of legume seeds has emerged as an attractive alternative compared to conventional chemical treatments in seed production. Irradiation is also used for the decontamination of food and feed in order to increase the shelf-life of fresh and dry food materials. The effects of irradiation on nutritive and anti-nutritive factors such as trypsin inhibitors are usually reported together with the measurements obtained by using the quantitative analytical methods. The objective of this study was to measure trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) of common bean cultivar Oplenac using the microtiter plate method and to identify factors that contribute to the uncertainty of TIA measurement according to the current Guide to the Expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM). Dominant sources of uncertainty of TIA measurement were: absorbance measurements of sample and positive control reaction mixtures and preparation of the final sample solution using a graduated cylinder (V4). Absorbance measurement of sample reaction mixtures took 37.8% of the overall measurement uncertainty. Preparation of the final sample solution using a graduated cylinder (V4) and absorbance measurement of positive control reaction mixture contributed to the overall uncertainty with 35.1% and 15.8%, respectively. Acquired insight into factors that contribute to the uncertainty of TIA measurement gives directions for the improvement of TIA testing methods and TIA results management

Sampling Error in Relation to Cyst Nematode Population Density Estimation in Small Field Plots

Cyst nematodes are serious plant-parasitic pests which could cause severe yield losses and extensive damage. Since there is still very little information about error of population density estimation in small field plots, this study contributes to the broad issue of population density assessment. It was shown that there was no significant difference between cyst counts of five or seven bulk samples taken per each 1-m(2) plot, if average cyst count per examined plot exceeds 75 cysts per 100 g of soil. Goodness of fit of data to probability distribution tested with chi(2) test confirmed a negative binomial distribution of cyst counts for 21 out of 23 plots. The recommended measure of sampling precision of 17% expressed through coefficient of variation (cv) was achieved if the plots of 1 m(2) contaminated with more than 90 cysts per 100 g of soil were sampled with 10-core bulk samples taken in five repetitions. If plots were contaminated with less than 75 cysts per 100 g of soil, 10-core bulk samples taken in seven repetitions gave cv higher than 23%. This study indicates that more attention should be paid on estimation of sampling error in experimental field plots to ensure more reliable estimation of population density of cyst nematodes