Apple superficial scald preventi1on by vapour treatments

Superficial scald is a postharvest physiological disorder of apples characterized by browning of apple skin during prolonged storage. It has been hypothesized that conjugated triene hydroperoxides (CTH) attack cell membranes causing membrane perturbation and the manifestation of the disorder. The purpose of this study was to compare the common synthetic antioxidant diphenylamine (DPA) treatment with postharvest vapour treatments for superficial scald prevention. Apples cv. ‚Granny Smith™ were treated with ethanol, methanol and »apple aroma« vapours. The influence of these treatments on scald susceptibility and sensorial quality of apples was examined. The ethanol treatments were effective in superficial scald prevention but they caused a high incidence of internal browning after two months of storage. The 10 day treatments at 20 °C developed very pronounced internal browning after storage. The aroma treatment was the least effective in apple scald prevention but no internal disorders appeared after storage. Apples treated with methanol at 20 °C retain a great deal of their initial green colour. Vapour treatments demonstrated to be potential methods for scald prevention. Additional research is needed to minimise the internal disorders of treated fruit

Content of certain food components in flesh and stones of the cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) genotypes

The aim of this study was to determine the colour components (L*, a*, b*), soluble solid (SS), water and L-ascorbic acid contents in the fruit of ten different genotypes of cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) Fatty-acid composition, the total fat and ash and mineral contents were determined in the stones. The values of the colour components were: L* from 21.51 to 27.85, a* from 8.64 to 26.22, and b* from 2.15 to 11.90. They contained from 10.70 % to 19.30 % SS. The L-ascorbic-acid content ranged from 29.29 to 86.40 mg/100 g. The genotypes showed statistically significant differences according to the colour parameters and the content of soluble solids and L-ascorbic acid. In 100 g stones, there were from 5.82 to 6.73 g water, from 0.84 to 1.51 g ash, and from 4.45 to 7.94 g fat. For the fatty-acid composition, these were mainly represented by: linoleic acid from 64.78 % to 72.21 %; oleic acid from 15.50 % to 22.97 %; palmitic acid from 7.31 % to 8.11 %; stearic acid from 2.02 % to 2.99 %; linolenic acid from 1.47 % to 1.62 %; and arachidic acid from 0.27 % to 1.52 %. The genotypes showed statistically significant variations in the content of fatty acids with the exception of linolenic acid. 100 g of stones contained: calcium from 385.79 to 432.91 mg; potassium from 243.09 to 327.04 mg; phosphorus from 152.01 to 261.48 mg; magnesium from 39.38 to 56.68 mg; sodium from 13.22 to 19.40 mg; and copper from 0.39 to 0.81 mg

Changes during storing and astringency removal of persimmon fruit Diospyros kaki L.

Physiological changes during ripening, storing and astringency removal of persimmon fruits were traced. The fruits were stored under normal (NA), controlled (CA) and vacuum atmospheres (VA). The fruits were stored for 100 days and analysed for firmness, acetaldehyde and ethanol content and soluble tannins, both before and after storing. The same analyses were done during the deastringency treatment carried out with a high CO2 concentration (99.99%) for 20 h at 20 °C. The persimmon fruits stored under NA, CA, VA or treated with high CO2 for 20 h accumulated acetaldehyde and ethanol in the fruit tissue. CA conditions caused the highest acetaldehyde accumulation; vacuum conditions the lowest. Ethanol content increased 20 fold during storage; the highest accumulation was observed in vacuum stored fruit followed by CA (3% CO2Ś2% O2 and 0.5% CO2Ś2% O2) conditions. Astringency removal treatment caused an immediate increase of acetaldehyde and ethanol, nearly to the same extent as in conventionally ripened or stored fruit. The amount of soluble tannins, the main cause of an astringent taste, decreased during storage, and it did much faster during deastringency removal at the same level. The sensory evaluation test revealed that fruit treated with high CO2 was preferred to conventionally ripened fruit

The Origin of the Bifurcation in the Sagittarius Stream

The latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey data reveal a prominent bifurcation in the distribution of debris of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal (Sgr) beginning at a right ascension of roughly 190 degrees. Two branches of the stream (A and B) persist at roughly the same heliocentric distance over at least 50 degrees of arc. There is also evidence for a more distant structure (C) well behind the A branch. This paper provides the first explanation for the bifurcation. It is caused by the projection of the young leading (A) and old trailing (B) tidal arms of the Sgr, whilst the old leading arm (C) lies well behind A. This explanation is only possible if the halo is close to spherical, as the angular difference between the branches is a measure of the precession of the orbital plane.Comment: ApJ, in pres

The physico-chemical properties of strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) fruits

The physico-chemical properties of ripe fruits of strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) were determined. The water content, ash, crude fat, proteins, total phenols, sugar, and the content of vitamin C were determined in ripe strawberry tree fruits. Fruits contain 46.7 % of water, 23.5 % of soluble solids, 0.48 % of ash, 118.61 mg/100 g of potassium, 20.63 mg/100 g of sodium, 36.05 mg/100 g of calcium, 9.66 mg/100 g of magnesium, 1.29 mg/100 g of iron, 19.99 mg/100 g of phosphorus, 0.45 mg/100 g of zinc, < 0.99 mg/100 g of manganese, < 0.99 mg/100 g of chromium, < 0.10 mg/100 g of nickel, < 1.32 mg/100 g of lead and < 0.10 mg/100 g of cadmium. Among nutritionally important components found in fruits were: total fat (0.43 %), proteins (0.82 %), fibres (18.5 g/100 g) of which 14.3 g/100g was insoluble and 4.19 g/100 g was soluble fibre, titratable acids (5.1 mg/100 g), glucose (6.2 g/100 g) and fructose (17.2 g/100 g). Ripe fruits contained 271.5 mg/100 g vitamin C, of which 255.3 mg/ 100 g was L-ascorbic acid and 16.2 mg/100 g was dehydroascorbic acid

New UltraCool and Halo White Dwarf Candidates in SDSS Stripe 82

A 2.5 x 100 degree region along the celestial equator (Stripe 82) has been imaged repeatedly from 1998 to 2005 by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. A new catalogue of ~4 million light-motion curves, together with over 200 derived statistical quantities, for objects in Stripe 82 brighter than r~21.5 has been constructed by combining these data by Bramich et al. (2007). This catalogue is at present the deepest catalogue of its kind. Extracting the ~130000 objects with highest signal-to-noise ratio proper motions, we build a reduced proper motion diagram to illustrate the scientific promise of the catalogue. In this diagram disk and halo subdwarfs are well-separated from the cool white dwarf sequence. Our sample of 1049 cool white dwarf candidates includes at least 8 and possibly 21 new ultracool H-rich white dwarfs (T_eff < 4000K) and one new ultracool He-rich white dwarf candidate identified from their SDSS optical and UKIDSS infrared photometry. At least 10 new halo white dwarfs are also identified from their kinematics.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, published in MNRAS, minor text changes, final versio

The Hercules-Aquila Cloud

We present evidence for a substantial overdensity of stars in the direction of the constellations of Hercules and Aquila. The Cloud is centered at a Galactic longitude of about 40 degrees and extends above and below the Galactic plane by at least 50 degrees. Given its off-centeredness and height, it is unlikely that the Hercules-Aquila Cloud is related to the bulge or thick disk. More likely, this is a new structural component of the Galaxy that passes through the disk. The Cloud stretches about 80 degrees in longitude. Its heliocentric distance lies between 10 and 20 kpc so that the extent of the Cloud in projection is roughly 20 kpc by 15 kpc. It has an absolute magnitude of -13 and its stellar population appears to be comparable to, but somewhat more metal-rich than, M92.Comment: ApJ (Letters), in pres

Discovery of an Unusual Dwarf Galaxy in the Outskirts of the Milky Way

In this Letter, we announce the discovery of a new dwarf galaxy, Leo T, in the Local Group. It was found as a stellar overdensity in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 (SDSS DR5). The color-magnitude diagram of Leo T shows two well-defined features, which we interpret as a red giant branch and a sequence of young, massive stars. As judged from fits to the color-magnitude diagram, it lies at a distance of about 420 kpc and has an intermediate-age stellar population with a metallicity of [Fe/H]= -1.6, together with a young population of blue stars of age of 200 Myr. There is a compact cloud of neutral hydrogen with mass roughly 10^5 solar masses and radial velocity 35 km/s coincident with the object visible in the HIPASS channel maps. Leo T is the smallest, lowest luminosity galaxy found to date with recent star-formation. It appears to be a transition object similar to, but much lower luminosity than, the Phoenix dwarf.Comment: Ap J (Letters) in press, the subject of an SDSS press release toda

Cats and Dogs, Hair and A Hero: A Quintet of New Milky Way Companions

We present five new satellites of the Milky Way discovered in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) imaging data, four of which were followed-up with either the Subaru or the Isaac Newton Telescopes. They include four probable new dwarf galaxies -- one each in the constellations of Coma Berenices, Canes Venatici, Leo and Hercules -- together with one unusually extended globular cluster, Segue 1. We provide distances, absolute magnitudes, half-light radii and color-magnitude diagrams for all five satellites. The morphological features of the color-magnitude diagrams are generally well described by the ridge line of the old, metal-poor globular cluster M92. In the last two years, a total of ten new Milky Way satellites with effective surface brightness mu_v >~ 28 mag/sq. arcsec have been discovered in SDSS data. They are less luminous, more irregular and appear to be more metal-poor than the previously-known nine Milky Way dwarf spheroidals. The relationship between these objects and other populations is discussed. We note that there is a paucity of objects with half-light radii between ~40 pc and ~ 100 pc. We conjecture that this may represent the division between star clusters and dwarf galaxies.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa

The Field of Streams: Sagittarius and its Siblings

We use Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 5 (DR5) u,g,r,i,z photometry to study Milky Way halo substructure in the area around the North Galactic Cap. A simple color cut (g-r < 0.4) reveals the tidal stream of the Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal, as well as a number of other stellar structures in the field. Two branches (A and B) of the Sagittarius stream are clearly visible in an RGB-composite image created from 3 magnitude slices, and there is also evidence for a still more distant wrap behind the A branch. A comparison of these data with numerical models suggests that the shape of the Galactic dark halo is close to spherical.Comment: ApJ (Letters), in pres