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Carotenoids analysis is complicated by their tendency to react with radical species, resulting in oxidative breakdown and isomerization during extraction. Hence, analysis methods should be rapid and avoid unnecessary exposure to high temperature, acids, and so on. The aim of this work to estimate carotenoid contents of processed tomato products non-destructively. The mean values obtained by visible and near-infrared Vis/NIR spectroscopy and by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for eight carotenoid contents (ß-carotene, 5-cis lycopene, 13-cis lycopene, 9-cis lycopene, all-trans lycopene, zeaxanthin, lycoxanthin and total carotenoids) in four processed tomato products from five different brands were compared. The carotenoid contents were measured using HPLC, and these results were then used to develop partial least squares regression (PLSR) models to predict carotenoid components from Vis/NIR spectra of the same samples. A good correlation was found between HPLC measurements and the Vis/NIRs (590-790 nm) predictions for ß-carotene (RP2= 0.88), 9-cis lycopene (RP2= 0.86), total carotenoids (RP2= 0.84), 13-cis lycopene (RP2= 0.83), 5-cis lycopene (RP2=0.80), zeaxanthin (RP2= 0.80) to passable for all-trans lycopene (RP2= 0.70), but there was only a poor correlation (RP2= 0.20) for the lycoxanthin component. The overall results indicated that Vis/NIRs could be applied to assess carotenoid contents of different processed tomato products.

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Fruit quality is a crucial factor in affecting shelf-life and purchase choice for customers. Protecting the quality of cantaloupe fruits in the chain from harvest to marketing is a very important process. The objective of this study was to investigate the dynamic characteristics of cantaloupe fruit during excitation, to investigate the effect of vibration strength on the mechanical characteristics of cantaloupe fruit, and to show the effects of this strength on the mechanical damage of cantaloupe. Experiments were performed to measure the dynamic behavior of cantaloupe fruit during transportation and to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the packaging and the damage to the cantaloupes due to transient vibration during transportation. The results show that using the paper pulp tray packing method reduces cantaloupe damage and improves their quality during harvest and post-harvest processes. The range of resonance frequencies is important for the transporting of cantaloupes; a higher starting resonance is an indication of a stiffer cantaloupe bottom, and the paper pulp tray shifts the resonance frequency when compared to volume packing methods. Another interesting observation in this study is that a fruit with a high internal damping capacity is not as injured by exciting vibrations as a fruit with a low damping capacity, even if its natural frequency falls within the range of excitation.

Gluten free products remain the cornerstone for celiac patients. Insufficiency, poverty and little offered about gluten free products (quality and quantity) represented a high obstacle for Egyptian celiac patients. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to modify a single screw extruder to produce gluten–free pasta (GFP) (tagliatelle type). The GFP was made from corn flour under screw rotation speed (N) of 10, 25 and 50 rpm at 40, 65, 90 and 115 ºC of barrel temperature (BT). Extruder performance was evaluated as specific mechanical energy (SME) and expansion ratio (Er). The cooking quality of GFP as optimum cooking time (OCT), cooked yield (CY), swelling (Sw), cooking losses (CL) and sensory characteristics (appearance, colour, taste, mouth feel and overall acceptability) were evaluated. The better results of the GFP sensory evaluation were obtained at BT= 80 ºC, N =25 rpm and Er ? 1.38 with OCT ? 3.3 min, CY= 196%, Sw = 210% and CL= 16.3%. All parameters were given a direct proportion with processing variables N and BT, except CL. Furthermore, it can be predicted cooking properties values for GFP by SME value using the following equation; SME » 1.8675 (Er) + 0.8037 » 0.0608 (OCT)1.5984  » 8×10-17 (CY)6.7878 » 2×10-9 (Sw)3.494  » -0.0306 (CL) + 0.7877.

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Background Since the ecosystem is the first link in the food chain for all living things, including humans, animals, and plants, restoring it has become a global priority in recent years, particularly in agricultural soils by expanding the trend of fertilization and biological control instead of relying more on the use of chemical pesticides. Therefore, this study aims to maximize and enhance the advantages of mushroom residues (MR) to make vermicompost that can resist Fusarium Oxysporium (FO) in maize. This study was conducted in three stages: compost preparation, composting, and planting. Results The mixing process of vermicompost with the soil was improved by the lowest CV. The highest productivity was achieved by using a plastic rotary drum composter which had a patching size of 60 kg at a speed of 15 rpm for 8 min. In addition, the production of vermicompost from (MR) was improved by adding the aqueous extraction of licorice residue (LR), where helped to increase the vermicompost's pH and the amount of dissolved Cu and Zn. The wilt illness disease caused by FO in maize crop was decreased by adding the mixture of vermicompost (MR and LR) to the soil infested with Fusarium, as compared to the control. Conclusions The combination of 25% vermicompost (MR + LR) and 75% agri-soil proved to be the most effective treatment for wilt disease control, with a disease severity score of 1.90. It was discovered that treated maize roots produced more peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase activity compared to the control.