Search Results (3)

Wet milling is a fractionation process widely used in the corn industry, which allows the separation of its main chemical components (starch, proteins, fiber and lipids) with high efficiency and purity compared to dry milling. The first stage of this process consists of maceration; after softening the grain, the actual milling is carried out, and the germ is separated by flotation because of its high lipid content. The chemical composition of pseudocereals is similar to that of cereals, hence their name, so they could be processed in the same way. In this way, the traditional corn wet milling process was adapted to quinoa. The objective of this work is to isolate the germ of red Bolivian Royal quinoa using wet milling, and evaluate its efficiency and physicochemical characteristics due to its large size and nutrient concentration. By cold pressing the red quinoa germ, crude oil was obtained and characterized in terms of: Acid Index, Iodine Index, Saponification Index, K Index, Refractive Index (20 °C) and fatty acid composition, determined by gas chromatography coupled to a mass detector (GC-MS). This profile was compared with the fatty acid profile of the solvent-extracted quinoa oil, and it was observed that there were no significant differences between the two oil samples. In addition, the sample obtained via cold pressing showed similar characteristics to corn oil, except for a higher Saponification Index and proportion of linolenic acid (omega-3). Full article

Hirsutella citriformis Speare is the only entomopathogenic fungus involved in Diaphorina citri Kuwayama natural epizootics. The aim of the present study was to evaluate different protein sources as supplements to stimulate Hirsutella citriformis growth, improve conidiation on solid culture, and evaluate its produced gum for conidia formulation against D. citri adults. Hirsutella citriformis INIFAP-Hir-2 strain was grown on agar media enriched with wheat bran, wheat germ, soy, amaranth, quinoa, and pumpkin seed, in addition to oat with wheat bran and/or amaranth. The results demonstrated that 2% wheat bran significantly (p < 0.05) promoted mycelium growth. However, 4% and 5% wheat bran achieved the highest conidiation (3.65 × 10⁷ conidia/mL and 3.68 × 10⁷ conidia/mL, respectively). Higher conidiation (p < 0.05) was observed on oat grains supplemented with wheat bran, as compared with culturing on oat grains without supplements (7.25 × 10⁷ versus 5.22 × 10⁷ conidia/g), after a 14 d instead of 21 d incubation period. After supplementing synthetic medium or oat grains with wheat bran and/or amaranth, INIFAP-Hir-2 conidiation increased, whereas production time was reduced. After using Acacia and Hirsutella gums to formulate conidia produced on wheat bran and amaranth at 4%, field trial results showed that the highest (p < 0.05) D. citri mortality was achieved by Hirsutella gum-formulated conidia (80.0%), followed by the Hirsutella gum control (57.8%). Furthermore, Acacia gum-formulated conidia caused 37.8%, whereas Acacia gum and negative controls induced 9% mortality. In conclusion, Hirsutella citriformis gum used to formulate its conidia improved biological control against D. citri adults. Full article

Fermented foods have several advantages, including increased nutritional value, improved bioavailability, and functional health properties. We examined that these outcomes were also observed in fermented mixed grains (FMG) containing wheat germ, wheat bran, oats, brown rice, barley, quinoa, and lentils following solid-state fermentation (SSF) by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 245. The metabolic profile during fermentation was screened using capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CE-TOF-MS). The amino acids were quantitatively measured for the validation of the changes in metabolites. The activity of enzymes (e.g., amylase, protease, and fibrinolysis) and antioxidant capacity was also assessed to elucidate the functionality of FMG. The essential amino acid contents gradually increased as fermentation progressed. As the metabolites involved in the urea cycle and polyamine pathway were changed by fermentation, arginine was used as a substance to produce citrulline, ornithine, and agmatine. FMG showed dramatic increases in enzyme activity. FMG incubated for 36 h also displayed higher total phenolic contents and free radical scavenging ability than MG. The data suggest that FMG produced by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 245 possess improved nutritional and functional quality, leading to their potential use as dietary supplements. Full article