ABSTRACT A study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between the factors (initial height, tuber mass, tuber temperature and impact material) and the impact characteristic variables (impact velocity and bruise volume) as determined by pendulum impact test-rig. It was verified that bruise volume and maximum velocity significantly increased with increasing initial height, while its minimum velocity and time of reaching the maximum velocity decreased during the same impact process. With increment of tuber mass, its impact velocities and time of reaching the maximum velocity presented linear change, but the bruise volume nonlinearly changed. The relationships among tuber temperature and impact characteristic parameters were in accordance with linear relationships. The 65 Mn-rubber rod can notably reduce potato impact damage because of its cushioning effect. Potato bruise volume can be predicted based on the maximum and minimum velocity.

RESUMO Um estudo foi realizado para investigar a relação entre os fatores (altura inicial, massa de tubérculo, temperatura de tubérculo e impacto material) e as variáveis características do impacto (velocidade e volume da lesão), determinado através do equipamento de teste de impacto de pêndulo. Verificou-se que o volume de contusão e a velocidade máxima aumentaram significativamente com o aumento da altura inicial, enquanto a velocidade mínima e o tempo de atingir a velocidade máxima diminuíram durante o mesmo processo de impacto. Com o incremento da massa do tubérculo, suas velocidades de impacto e tempo de atingir a velocidade máxima apresentaram alteração linear, mas o volume de contusão mudou não linearmente. Enquanto isso, as relações entre temperatura do tubérculo e parâmetros característicos de impacto foram de acordo com relações lineares. A haste de borracha de 65 Mn pode reduzir notavelmente os danos causados pelo impacto da batata devido ao seu efeito amortecedor. O volume de contusões de batata pode ser previsto com base na velocidade máxima e mínima.

ABSTRACT To improve the complex process of judging the degree of soil fragmentation during potato-soil separation and to establish a fast and effective judging method. Soil drop experiments were performed using sandy soil from the potato growing region of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. The effects of soil moisture content, hardness, volume, drop height, inclination of the separating sieve and composition of the separating sieve rod on soil fragmentation were investigated. The fractal dimension and image processing used to quantify soil fragmentation and scattering and obtain quantitative indicators of soil fragmentation. The results showed that the following factors influenced soil fragmentation in descending order of statistical significance: soil hardness, fall height and soil volume. The softer the soil was, the greater the fall height; the larger the soil volume was, the greater the fragmentation. Meanwhile the correlation between the two indicators is extremely high, simplifying assessment of the degree of soil fragmentation. This study clearly shows the influence of the intrinsic physical properties of soil and the external physical parameters of potato excavators on the characteristics of crushed soil. The results can provide a basis for improving the efficiency of potato-soil separation and designing more efficient devices for harvesting potatoes. potatosoil method Hohhot Region China content hardness investigated significance was high potatoes

Abstract Probiotics are known to provide the host with immune-modulatory effects, which is widely used for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), diarrhea, and ulcers.Lactobacillus acidophilus KLDS 1.0901, Lactobacillus helveticus KLDS 1.8701, and Lactobacillus plantarum KLDS 1.0318 were isolated from Chinese fermented dairy food with antibacterial activity, antioxidant activity, and immunomodulatory activity, respectively. This study evaluated the anti-inflammatory potential of the tested strains in LPS (Lipopolysaccharide)-induced RAW264.7 cells. The results showed that all tested strains could inhibit the mRNA expression of iNOS and COX-2 and reduce the concentration of NO and PGE2 production. Furthermore, all tested strains markedly reduced proinflammatory cytokines' production (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6). Moreover, these results may be associated with inhibiting TLR4-mediated NF-κB and MAPKs signaling pathway activation. These results indicated that L. acidophilus KLDS 1.0901, L. helveticus KLDS 1.8701, and L. plantarum KLDS 1.0318 possesses an anti-inflammatory potential and provide a molecular basis regarding the development of functional probiotic products.

ABSTRACT To improve the working performance of hammer mill, cutting-edge hammer and oblique hammer were designed in this study. The advantages of new hammers were theoretically analyzed. The grinding process of corn grain with different hammers was studied by discrete element method (DEM) and experiments. Discrete element simulation results showed that under same rotor speed conditions, the cutting-edge hammer had highest bond-breaking efficiency in corn grain model. The oblique hammer could reduce the incident angle of corn grain and improve sieving efficiency. The motion trajectory of corn grain in grinding chamber was relatively dispersed and similar when using common hammer and cutting-edge hammer, and the motion trajectory was more concentrated when oblique hammer was used. The experimental results showed that both cutting-edge hammer and oblique hammer could improve the working performance of hammer mill. The productivity of hammer mill could be improved by using cutting-edge hammer, electricity consumption per ton and temperature rise of feed could be reduced by using oblique hammer, and the experimental results were consistent with simulation results and theoretical analysis results. The research results can provide references for the design of new hammer and the grinding process simulation of other agricultural materials.

ABSTRACT Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L., Asteraceae) is an important oil crop and medicinal plant. Gene expression analysis is gaining importance in the research of safflower. Quantitative PCR has become a powerful method for gene study. Reference genes are one of the major qualification requirements of qPCR because they can reduce the variability. To identify the reference genes in safflower, nine candidate genes of the housekeeping genes were selected from the EST library of safflower constructed by our lab: CtACT (actin), CtGAPDH (glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase), CtE1F4A (elongation factor 1 alpha), CtTUA (alpha-tubulin), CtTUB (beta-tubulin), CtPP2A (serine/threonine-protein phosphatase), CtE1F4A (eukaryotic initiation factor 4A), CtUBI (Ubiquitin), and Ct60S (60S acidic ribosomal protein). Expression stability was examined by qPCR across 54 samples, representing tissues at different flowering stages and two chemotype of safflower lines. We assessed the expression stability of these candidate genes by employing four different algorithms (geNorm, NormFinder, ΔCt approach, and BestKeeper) and found that CtUBI and Ct60S were the highly ranked candidate genes. CtUBI and Ct60S were used as reference genes to evaluate the expression of CtFAD2-10 and CtKASII. Our data suggest CtUBI and Ct60S could be used as internal controls to normalize gene expression in safflower.