Impact of Surface Improvement Measures on Low-yielding Summer Pastures on Pasture Productivity and Forage Quality

Cultivation of soil on the slopes of mountainous areas leads to a decrease in organic matter and nutrients in the soil and severe soil erosion. Grazing is one of the main reasons for the degradation of pastures and natural landscape, which increases the sensitivity of the soil to erosion. Soil erosion, in turn, pollutes water by increasing its turbidity and sometimes causes atrophy due to leakage of phosphorus and nitrogen. An average of 30.6 quintals of green mass or 7.8 quintals of dry grass per hectare was produced in the variant of grass seed sowing (without fertilizer), compared to the control variant, in the variant of grass seed sowing + N60P60K40 this indicator averaged 39.9 centners/ha of green mass. or more than 15.0%, resulting in the production of 10.0 quintals of dry or 14.7% more dry grass. Experimental field studies to improve pastures have shown that the fodder produced in each of the tested variants; green mass and dry grass supply and their nutritional value were higher than control.

Developing lactic acid bacteria starter cultures for wholemeal rye flour bread with improved functionality, nutritional value, taste, appearance and safety

Starter cultures composed of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were developed based on the genotypic and phenotypic characterisation of isolates belonging to dominant groups of bacteria in spontaneous rye wholemeal sourdoughs. Combinations of strains have been evaluated on an industrial scale in the sourdough fermentation process. Wholemeal rye bread was prepared using sourdoughs obtained with 3 new starter cultures, and compared to bread made using the commercial culture (LV2). All newly developed cultures used for the preparation of wholemeal rye bread allowed to obtain better quality products as compared to the LV2 based bread. The best results were obtained when the culture containing Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 2MI8 and exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producing Weissella confusa/cibaria 6PI3 strains was applied. The addition of yeast during sourdough breads production, especially the one prepared from mentioned above starter culture, significantly improved their organoleptic properties, their volume and crumb moisture was increased, and also the crumb acidity and hardness was reduced. Fermentation of rye wholemeal dough, especially without the yeast addition, resulted in a significant reduction in the content of higher inositol phosphates as compared to the applied flour, which is associated with improved bioavailability of minerals. The results of this study prove that the investigated new starter cultures can be successfully applied in wholemeal rye bread production.

Lipids of Marine Algae—Biomolecules with High Nutritional Value and Important Bioactive Properties

Marine microalgae are a multitude of taxonomically diverse unicellular organisms, ranging from diatoms to dinoflagellates and several other well-known groups, that may dwell in the water column, occur in marine sediments, or even associate symbiotically with marine animals.

Nutritional Value and Bioactive Compounds of Leaves and Grains from Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.)

Quinoa is an important crop for food security and food sovereignty in Ecuador. In this study, we evaluated the nutritional value, bioactive compounds, and antinutrient compounds of leaves and grains of the Ecuadorian quinoa variety Tunkahuan, and we identified significant differences between the nutrient content in the leaves and grains. The quinoa leaves presented a higher protein content than the grains, as well as inorganic nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc. Both the grains and leaves had an appreciable phenolic content. In addition, the quinoa grains presented a higher content of the antinutrient saponin than the leaves, while the leaves contained more nitrates and oxalates than the grains. Thus, quinoa leaves and grains exhibit excellent potential for application in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

NUTRITIONAL VALUE AND SENSORY DESCRIPTION OF "ATADJON BASSAMOIS", A TRADITIONAL INFANTILE PORRIDGE BASED ON TIGERNUT (CYPERUS ESCULENTUS, L.)

Child malnutrition is still a public health problem in Côte d'Ivoire, mainly due to poor feeding practice linked to the low nutritional value of the staple foods used for child nutrition. However, the introduction of tigernut, proteins and lipids rich tuber, in the dietary habits of these children could constitute an interesting nutritional alternative to solve this problem. The objective of this work was to valorize the tigernut-based porridges for their use as complementary food in the diet of weaning children. To this end, physicochemical and organoleptic characteristics of four formulations AB1, AB4, RB2 and SB3 were studied. The atadjon formulations, especially AB1, presented the highest density in energy (95.70 Kcal/100g), protein (5.37 %), lipids (3.8 %) and the lowest contents in anti-nutrients with 2.17% in fiber, 36.6% in oxalates, 65.54% in tannin and 0% in phytates, contrary to the rice (RB2) and tigernut (SB3) control porridges. In addition, the atadjon formulations AB4 and AB1 were preferred to the control because of their sweet taste, tigernut flavor, brown color and flowability according to PCA analysis. Thus, this study indicates that these traditionally prepared porridges could be suitable for children receiving an average level of breastfeeding and three meals per day.

New Pellet Feeds for Rabbits with a High Content of Nutrients and With the Addition of Dietary Supplements

This research presented the pellet feed production line. Three pellet feed formulasfor young stock rabbits (28-135 days old) were developed with the addition of experimental dietary supplements grouped into the following protein green complexes (PGC):PGC-92-1including thе following supplements- dried herbal pulp from red clover, herbal alfalfa meal, and Sporotherminprobiotic; PGC-92-2 including the following supplements - protein feed concentrate from wheat stillage filtrate (syrup), herbal alfalfa meal, and Sporothermin probiotic; PGC-92-3 including the following supplements – PGC from red clover, herbal alfalfa meal,andSporothermin probiotic. These were compared with feed formulated without dietary supplements (PGC-92 (Control)). The nutritional value of the concentrate feeds met the requirements assigned for this group of animals. The storage of the formulatedconcentrate feeds took place in industrial conditions (the floor store) in paper bags of 30 kg per group at the temperature of 18-20 ∘C and the relative humidity of 65-70%. Due to itsmoisture content exceeding the standard requirements, the check concentrate feed (Control) revealed a higher content of fungal and bacterial microflora. The fat acidityvalue and the total acidity increased, which indicated the instability of this batch of concentrate feed during storage. The experimental batches of concentrate feed had a stablequality and retained good quality throughout the testing period. The testing of the effects of the studied complexes in fattening young stock rabbits was carried out on the premises of the Lipetsk Rabbit LLC industrial complex with 2000 rabbits. The use ofall-in-onepellet feedsformulated with the addition ofdietary supplements made it possible to increase the slaughter yield by 3.62%, 4.45% and 3.96%, while reducing feed intake per 1 kg of slaughter mass by 0.72 ECU, 0.38 ECU and 0.88 ECU. There was an increase in profit of 17725.25rubles, 16114.38 rubles and 14168.55 rubles, and an increase in the level of profitability by 45.93%, 41.26% and 31.24%, which resulted from a highersafety andgrowth performance of the raised rabbits. Keywords: concentrate feeds, pellet feeds, dietary supplements, protein green complex, feed for rabbits, growth performance

How Does the Addition of Biostimulants Affect the Growth, Yield, and Quality Parameters of the Snap Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)? How Is This Reflected in Its Nutritional Value?

Recently, the use of biostimulants as natural and eco-friendly fertilizers has received increasing attention because of their efficiency in terms of improving crops’ qualitative and quantitative parameters, i.e., growth, yield, and chemical composition. We studied the effect of four biostimulants—humic acid (20 g/L), vermicompost tea (15 mL/L), moringa leaf extract (1:30 v/v), and yeast extract (5 g/L), with tap water as a control treatment—on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of snap beans. The experiment was designed using a complete randomized block with triplicates. The results showed a significant improvement in treated plant performance (growth and yield), chlorophyll, and chemical composition compared to untreated plants. Using moringa leaf extract increased the plant height, number of leaves and branches/plant, and fresh and dry weight. Additionally, the diameter of the treated plant stems and the quality of the crop and pods were also significantly higher than those of plants treated with vermicompost or humic acid extract. It is also noted that the profile of amino acids was improved using all tested biostimulants. This leads to the conclusion that the addition of moringa leaf extract and vermicompost tea not only positively affects the qualitative and quantitative properties of snap bean but is also reflected in its nutritional value as a plant-based food.

Usage of Mushrooms in Culinary and Medicinal Purposes

The present article reviews the history of mushroom uses in culinary, food and medicinal values; current status and future aspect of mushroom research. Mushrooms contain biologically active polysaccharides, lipid and proteins in fruit bodies, each of them has a distinct role in health as either nutritional value or medicinal elements. Immunostimulating polysaccharides found in mushrooms, are most important for modern medicine. Several of the mushroom biomolecules have undergone phase I, II, and III clinical trials and are used extensively and successfully throughout the world for the treatment of various cancers and other diseases. Medicinal functions played by the mushrooms include antitumor, antibacterial, antioxidant, antiparasitic, antidiabetic, detoxification, cardiovascular, antihypercholesterolemia, antiviral, antifungal, hepatoprotective, immunomodulating and free radical scavenging. The present review draws attention to nutritional and medicinal importance of mushroom as well as the problems and opportunity in the future development of mushroom research.