Terres Inovia is a French agricultural research institute carrying out applied research on oilseed plants and protein crop. It was created in June, 2015 by merging:Terres Inovia main tasks are to conduct research and to disseminate technical knowledge to farmers. It has partnerships with other French research institutes such as INRA and Arvalis Institut du Végétal; also, it participates to European research projects (e.g. the Feed-a-Gene project).The crops studied are:.
Glucosinolates (GSLs) from Brassica carinata press cake are of interest both as antinutritional factors to be removed from feed and as precursors of bioactive compounds for biocontrol, but their selective recovery must contend with the dual constraints of myrosinase activity and protein preservation. This study investigates hydro-ethanolic extraction and miscella concentration at laboratory and pilot scales on industrial-type press cakes and finely milled powders. At laboratory scale, when press cake was ground, fully dispersed in solvent and extracted after thermal myrosinase inactivation, GSL yields above 90% were achieved with low residual levels in the final meal, showing that neither diffusion nor thermal degradation is an intrinsic barrier. In contrast, pilot-scale percolation on intact cakes plateaued at about 70% overall recovery, with roughly 30% of initial GSLs remaining in spent cakes despite extended extraction times and high solvent-to-solid ratios, highlighting strong mass-transfer and percolation limitations. Incomplete myrosinase inactivation further caused substantial and variable GSL losses, particularly during miscella concentration, where up to 60–70% of solubilized GSLs could no longer be accounted for under some evaporation conditions. Clarification of extracts by centrifugation prior to evaporation allowed miscella concentration without measurable additional losses in selected trials. Overall, a carinata-based GSL “biorefinery brick” appears technically feasible only within a very narrow operating window and at a processing cost that is difficult to justify for bulk feed applications, unless high-value outlets for GSL-rich fractions can be secured.
The antioxidant interactions of α- and γ-tocopherol with curcumin and quercetin were assessed in an oil-in-water emulsion using the WIM-CAT assay, a method integrating Weibull interaction modeling with the conjugated autoxidizable triene technique. Synergistic effects were strongest for γ-tocopherol with curcumin and for α-tocopherol with quercetin, particularly at low tocopherol concentrations (0.2 μM in emulsion, 380 ppm in oil) and high molar ratios (3:1). Increasing tocopherol concentration to 0.6 μM in emulsion (1140 ppm in oil) reduced synergy, likely reflecting pro-oxidant activity. The presence of ferrous ions accelerated oxidation but did not influence synergistic interactions, while acidic conditions reduced tocopherol pro-oxidation and modified the effects of curcumin and quercetin. Weibull modeling revealed isoform-dependent differences during the propagation phase of oxidation. Cyclic voltammetry further suggested that the synergy of α-tocopherol may involve antioxidant regeneration mechanisms, whereas γ-tocopherol appears to act through alternative redox processes. Together, kinetic and electrochemical analyses provide complementary insights into the conditions governing antioxidant interactions.
Nitrogen (N) is the most limiting nutrient for crop growth. Determining the dynamics of N uptake by crops is essential to optimize N management and improve the sustainability of crop production, especially for winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.), a highly N-dependent crop. The concept of critical nitrogen concentration is an effective way to diagnose plant nitrogen status, defining the minimum concentration of nitrogen in the aerial parts needed to maximize shoot biomass at a given time in the crop growth. For winter oilseed rape the existing nitrogen dilution curve was developed in the 1990s, but the curve was established only until the beginning of flowering, the reproductive part not being covered. The main objective of this study is to determine new critical N dilution curves for winter oilseed rape over the whole crop cycle. To achieve this, we used data from 36 field trials, conducted between 2003 and 2020 under various N application rates and cultivars, and a new Bayesian statistical framework. For the vegetative phase, the critical curve (Ncvege=4.556 W-0.241) determined in this study was close to the curves found in previous studies. In addition, new critical N dilution curves were determined for the first time in winter oilseed rape, for the reproductive phase (Ncrepro =4.764 W-0.424) and for the entire growth period (Ncunique=7.364 W-0.582). Interestingly the parameters differed markedly from those recently obtained in spring canola. These new dilution curves should provide useful tools for determining the N nutritional status of winter oilseed rape over a longer period, and thus improve nitrogen nutrition diagnosis and enable optimal nitrogen management.
