Potential of Pulse Flours as Partial Meat Replacers in Heat-Treated Emulsion-Type Meat Sausages

Reformulation approaches in the meat industry are required to promote nutritional improvement, health functionality, and reduce environmental impact. A relevant approach among these is to reduce the amount of meat in meat products. Reduced-meat products should maintain or improve the sensory characteristics and nutritive value compared to conventional meat products. Among meat products, heat-treated emulsion-meat sausages are widely consumed and especially suitable for reformulation approaches. Due to its high protein content, with high functionally and biological value, pulse flour has a high potential to be used as meat replacer. Most studies regarding the replacement of meat with pulses have been made on fresh meat preparations where amounts of up to 15% of pulse flour did not negatively affect sensory quality while increased yield and firmness. However, studies using pulse flour in emulsion-type sausages are scarce. Further research is warranted to optimize the reformulation of these meat products using flour pulses. The topics to be addressed are the following: effects of pulse type, pulse pretreatments, such as soaking or germination, pulse flour treatments before incorporation into the meat mix, combination of pulses with other proper ingredients, and heat treatment intensity on the pulse antinutrient inactivation and the technological and edible quality traits of the pulse-containing sausages.

Endurance product for sprinters

Endurance in sprint running is determined by the runner's ability to maintain maximum high speed at a distance and resist its decline due to fatigue that occurs during running. At present, recommendations for the development of sprint endurance are mainly intended for athletes using various means and methods of sports training. The development of this quality in athletes with the use of nutritional improvement technology has mainly general recommendations. Thanks to the nitrate contained in beets, the body absorbs more oxygen and fatigue less during exercise, contributing to the aerobic process. The main task of our work was: to determine the indicators of endurance in sprint running (repeated running of 100 m segments 5-6 times with the determination of the average), and to substantiate the methodology for the development of this quality in athletes using the technology of taking probiotics. The experimental data made it possible to reveal the effectiveness of the applied methodology for the development of endurance in sprint running. Moreover, the greatest effect was achieved using the method of circular training, with the inclusion of the means of speed-strength training in combination with running, as well as repeated running of short and long segments (30-200 m), alternating in one lesson, with a gradual decrease in the rest intervals. The experimental group that took beet juice showed a higher endurance increase in an average of 0.5 seconds than the control group, which allows us to draw a conclusion about the importance of taking nitrate in beets and its positive effect on the endurance of sprinters.

Influence of integrated use of cotton seed oilcake and mustard oilcake with chemical fertilizers on growth, yield and nutritional quality of rice

Cotton seed oilcake and mustard oilcake are excellent and high quality organic manures enriched with essential nutrient elements. A field experiment was carried out at the Soil Science Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during boro season of 2019 to investigate the influence of cotton seed oilcake and mustard oilcake on yield attributes, yield, nutrient content and uptake by rice cv. BRRI dhan29. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications and seven treatments viz. T1: control, T2: 100% Recommended Fertilizer Dose (RFD), T3: 50% RFD, T4: 50% nitrogen (N) from RFD + 50% N from cotton seed oilcake, T5: 50% N from RFD + 50% N from mustard oilcake, T6: 50% N from RFD + 25% N from cotton seed oilcake + 25% N from mustard oilcake, T7: 50% N from cotton seed oilcake + 50% N from mustard oilcake. The maximum values of all the yield components viz. plant height, panicle length, number of effective tillers hill-1 and filled grains panicle-1 and yields (grain and straw) were found in treatment T2. The highest content and uptake of nutrients – N, P, K and S were also recorded in T2. The performance of T4 and T2 was statistically similar in producing yield parameters, grain and straw yields, nutrient contents and uptake by rice. Among the integrated approaches, the performance of T4 was the best as it produced the second highest grain yield of 6.24 t ha-1 and straw yield of 8.17 t ha-1 with higher nutritional improvement of rice. Application of cotton seed oilcake compensated up to 50% of chemical fertilizer. Therefore, considering the significance of organic manures and soil health, cotton seed oilcake should be considered for application in association with chemical fertilizers for yield enhancement and nutritional improvement of rice. Progressive Agriculture 31 (3): 144-153, 2020

Qualitative and Nutritional Improvement of Cereal-Based Foods and Beverages

The main directions of research aimed at nutritional improvement have to face either excesses or deficiencies in the diet. To this end, different strategies may be adopted, such as the reformulation of products, the introduction of functional ingredients, and the application of biotechnology to increase the bioavailability of bioactive compounds. These interventions, however, can alter the physico-chemical and sensory properties of the final products, making it necessary to achieve a balance between nutritional and quality modification. This Special Issue offers readers information on innovative ways to improve the cereal-based foods and beverages, useful for researchers and for industry operators.