Fatty acids (FAs) are the building block of fats or lipids and the key indicator for rancidity during grain storage. The pearl millet grains were subjected to lactobacillus (LAB) fermentation and changes in their fatty acid profile with respect to different storage conditions were analysed. This study scrutinized the effect of storage period and temperature (5, 25, and 45 °C) on the fatty acid profile of raw and fermented pearl millet grains stored for 120 days through the FA analysis. A total of 23 FA compounds were identified in raw and fermented grains during storage. The predominant FAs identified in both the control and fermented pearl millet grains are linoleic, oleic, palmitic, alpha-linolenic, and stearic acids. Multivariate data analysis shows that the oPLS-DA and sPLS-DA could distinctly classify the fatty acid data as compared to PLS-DA with respect to various storage conditions. A high value of the variable importance in projection score (VIP > 1) indicates a significant contribution of the FAs to cluster separation. The idea of the FA analysis at a particular time period will be helpful for the endorsement of applicable remedial measures so as to minimize grain quality loss and recommend a use-by-date.
Sustaining soil quality under intensive land use systems to feed the growing population is a major challenge in the developing world. A prerequisite for effective soil quality analysis is the selection of a minimum data set (MDS) which effectively represents a given production system. As soil is a complex and dynamic system, there is no universal consensus on the ideal set of soil indicators for assessing soil quality. To address this challenge, this study evaluated multiple machine learning-based feature selection techniques in conjunction with conventional principal component analysis (PCA) for selection of the MDS, with the hypothesis that non-linear machine learning-based feature selection algorithms could better capture the complexity of soil quality dynamics. Weights for the selected indicators were computed using both PCA and entropy methods, aiming to develop a novel framework for soil quality analysis in relation to crop yield. Integrated nutrient management practices had a significant influence on soil physical, chemical and biological properties, all of which are essential for maintaining soil health and sustaining crop productivity. MDS selection and weight assignment through PCA provided strong correlations with crop yield (R2 = 0.91, p < 0.01 for rice; R2 = 0.93 p < 0.001 for wheat), comparable to the performance of MDS selection using PCA with entropy-based weighting (R2 = 0.88, p < 0.01 for rice; R2 = 0.90, p < 0.01, for wheat). When the goal is to maximize crop yields, the use of MDS selected through PCA and PCA-based weights for soil quality index (SQI) calculation appears to be more effective for a better representation of the production system. The proposed framework holds promise for application across diverse cropping systems and management practices, offering valuable insights for enhancing sustainable crop production.
Using surface intensive observation data,TBB data of FY-2Csatellite,conventional observation data and NCEP 1°×1°reanalysis data,the continuous heavy rainfall process over Tibet during April 19to 21 2012 and its meso-scale character have been diagnosed and analyzed.The results show that the weather process oc- curred in the background of a stable meridional circulation,and the short-wave trough moving eastward and southward from Balkhash Lake and the low vortex with shear line in 500hPa are the mainly influence systems.The warm and humid southeastward flow from the western Pacific subtropical high offering ample moisture,theβ-meso-scale convective cloud influenced repeatedly providing the essential thermal and motive condition,and the cold air invasion in the middle level and the vertical wind shear making the air stratification to be more unstable,were propitious to the rainfall.All these results provide scientific basis to the rainfall forecast in the summer over Tibet.
It was with great excitement that we planned the combined meetings of Northeast Aquaculture Conference and Exposition (NACE) and the International Conference on Shellfish Restoration (ICSR) with the 33rd Milford Aquaculture Seminar (MAS). Bringing these different but complementary audiences together resulted in a meeting that combined many different aspects of fisheries restoration and aquaculture under one umbrella.Four hundred attendees including government representatives, research scientists, industry, and academia at both the university and vocational high school levels attended this event. The meeting commenced on Wednesday December 12th 2012, with over eighty people attending seven field trips to area aquaculture farms and research facilities. The formal program began on Thursday, December 13th with a plenary session including invited speakers Eric Schwabb, Acting Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Management at NOAA; Sebastian Belle, Executive Director of the Maine Aquaculture Association and Boze Hancock from the Nature Conservancy, who discussed the role of aquaculture in fisheries restoration. John Bullard, the Northeast Regional Administrator of NOAA Fisheries Service, addressed the group during the luncheon the following day. The technical papers and workshops presented were divided into 35 sessions over three days of the meeting and included topics such as the history of aquaculture, aquaculture hatchery innovations, siting and planning issues, risk management, aquaculture business management, ocean acidification, climate change, as well as aquaculture disease issues and potential remedies. Having persons present who have experienced problems and successes, along with those in manufacturing and government responsible for addressing concerns and sharing best practices, was invaluable. Discussions among this cross-section of persons who represent different aspects of aquaculture were as important as the well-presented and interesting formal papers and poster sessions. These discussions were facilitated by the many opportunities presented during the large trade show, reception, breaks, lunches, banquet and lobster bake held throughout the meeting.The importance of and need for aquaculture were made evident by all who were in attendance. We are grateful to the twenty four meeting sponsors and to all those who participated and made this such an important and memorable meeting.While oyster restoration efforts have been under way in the Chesapeake Bay for more than two decades, until recently, varying reporting methods and success criteria made it difficult to determine how much progress had been made. A goal to "Restore native oyster habitat and populations in 20 out of 35 to 40 candidate tributaries by 2025" was set in the 2010 strategy to implement the Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration Executive Order (signed by President Obama in 2009). This goal made it a priority for state and federal fishery managers, academics, and scientists working on oyster restoration to collaboratively define a "restored tributary" and a "restored reef" to enable them to track progress. A team of these people, led by NOAA staff, agreed on "oyster metrics" in 2011 (http//preview.tinyurl.com/8kmbdpm) that specify key metrics and target ranges for them, including tributary size, how to determine how much restorable bottom a tributary contains, how much of that restorable bottom needs to be restored, and the minimum oyster density and biomass in that restored bottom to count a tributary as restored. These new metrics enable experts to clearly see how oyster restoration efforts are working and use adaptive management to improve these efforts. These metrics serve as a tool to plan and evaluate oyster restoration consistently across the Chesapeake Bay, and the consensus-based framework used to develop them may have broader application to other restoration activities.In the past, oyster restoration in Maryland was performed primarily
