Physicochemical properties of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. root powder produced with different carrier agents

Polyphenol is a valuable compound found in plants. Unfortunately, it is quite sensitive to heat, light and oxygen in the air. This is a disadvantage making the storage of these compounds for longer periods of time difficult. However, this problem can be overcome by encapsulation with carrier agents as maltodextrin, gum arabic, modified starch, etc. The efficiency of maltodextrin (MD, DE16-19) and gum arabic (GA) on spray drying of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. root extract was investigated. The incorporation of gum arabic to the extract had the total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant capacity (AC) higher than maltodextrin. The obtained powders from gum arabic and maltodextrin were analyzed for encapsulation yield, moisture content, color parameters, total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, bulk density, wettability, hygroscopicity, water solubility index, particle size and microstructure. The results showed the types of carrier agents which significantly affected the physicochemical properties of powders produced by spray drying

Mapping groundwater potential zones in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand by integrating of analytic hierarchy process, frequency ratio, and random forest

At the basic level, groundwater potential zone (GWPZ) mapping plays an important role in sustainable water resource management. There are different approaches to delineating GWPZ, and each has unique advantages and disadvantages. Incorporating these approaches into an ensemble could provide a more efficient tool for GWPZ evaluation and mapping. In this study, the frequency ratio (FR), random forest (RF), and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) models, and their ensemble were compared in delineating GPWZs in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. These models predicted the potential of groundwater yield at > 10 m3/h and were trained based on the measured groundwater yield of 1,601 wells in the study region, coupled with the spatial data of eight influencing factors, including altitude, distance to faults, distance to waterbodies, geology, land use, rainfall, soil type, and slope. The Areas under the curve (AUC) metric was used to assess the model’s performance. The results demonstrated that all models achieved similarly good performance with an AUC of 0.80, 0.76, 0.74, and 0.72 for the ensemble, RF, FR, and AHP models, respectively. Areas with high groundwater yield potential were primarily reported in the eastern part of Kanchanaburi, where the terrain is flat. The ensemble approach slightly improved the predictive power, but at the cost of model complexit

Characterization of Acid-Soluble Collagen from Food Processing By-Products of Snakehead Fish (Channa striata)

The isolation of acid-soluble collagen (ASC) from by-products of snakehead fish (Channa striata), including skin and the mixture of skin and scale, has been investigated. The recovery yield of fish skin ASC (13.6%) was higher than ASC from fish skin and scale (12.09%). Both ASCs were identified as type I collagen and showed maximal solubility at pH 2. Collagen samples from the mixture of skin and scale had higher imino acid content (226 residues/1000 residues) and lower wavenumber in the amide I and amide III region (1642 and 1203 cm−1, respectively) than the fish skin ASC (the imino acid content was 220 residues/1000 residues and the wavenumber in the amide I and amide III were 1663 and 1206 cm−1, respectively. The difference scanning calorimeter (DSC) showed higher thermal stability in ASC from the mixture of skin and scale (Td of 35.78 °C) than fish skin ASC (34.21 °C). From the result, the denaturation temperature of ASC had a close relationship with the content of imino acid as well as with the degradation of α-helix in amide I and III. These results suggest that collagen could be obtained effectively from snakehead fish by-products and has potential as a realistic alternative to mammalian collagens

Variation in Growth and Yield of Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia Volubilis L.) under Different Ecological Regions in Vietnam

The sacha inchi seeds (Plukenetia Volubilis L.), collected from different ecological regions of Vietnam (the Northern Mountainous region, the North Central region, and Central Highlands Area), were sown in the spring crop (March 2020) in Gia Lam district, Hanoi city, Vietnam. The variety S18 was copyrighted by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentof Vietnam in 2019 as a special medicinal plant variety. During the period of 26 months after planting, the agronomical parameters, growth and development characteristics (leaf form, number of inflorescences per branches, number of female flowers per inflorescences, etc.), pests and diseases, yields and yield components (number of seeds per fruit, seed weight, seed grain, etc.), ratio of kernel per seed and ratio of oil per seed were evaluated. The evaluation results show that the collected sacha inchi lines have a time from sowing to flowering and fruiting of 108–125 days, a fruiting to ripening of 123–125 days, and a time from sowing to harvesting the first batch of 244–250 days. The annual harvest is carried out at two main times: May–June and November–January. The actual yield of the first two periods is high (2.66–3.07 tons per hectare), and the highest yield is collected in the Northern Mountainous area is 3.07 tons per hectare (in Tuyen Quang province), while and 3.01 tons per hectare are collected in the North Central region (in Thanh Hoa province). In the nursery, root rot caused 2.1–5.3% deaths and green wilt caused 3.1–4.8% deaths of seedlings. In the planting garden, fruit borers, stem borers, cavity worms and red spiders were discovered, causing more serious damage than other types (from 5 to over 50%). The results of evaluation of growth, development, yield components and yield showed that the sacha inchi lines collected in the North Central region (in Thanh Hoa province) and the Northern Mountainous region (in Tuyen Quang province) is the best