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The physicochemical and pasting properties of taro (Colocasia esculenta L.) flour were investigated and compared with flours from other botanical sources. Proximate composition, color parameters, water and oil absorption, foaming characteristics and pasting properties (measured using Rapid visco analyzer) of flours were related to each other using Pearson correlation and principal component analysis (PCA). Taro flour was significantly (P<0.05) different from other flours in exhibiting highest carbohydrate, water absorption, and lower protein, foaming capacity and setback viscosity. Peak viscosity of taro flour was lower in comparison to potato flour but higher than that of soya and corn flours. Several significant correlations between functional and pasting properties were revealed both by PCA and Pearson correlation. PCA showed that taro and potato flours were located at the left of the score plot with a negative score, while soybean and corn flours had a large positive score in the first principal component.

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Two-year-old Corsican pine (Pinus nigra ssp. laricio var. Corsicana) seedlings were either well watered or subjected to a moderate drought for one month before being lifted from the nursery bed on October 9 and transplanted. Well-watered, non-transplanted seedlings served as controls. Needle predawn water potential (Psi(wp)), non-structural carbohydrate concentrations and plant development (survival, bud break, shoot elongation) were assessed before and during the first growing season after transplanting. On April 16, just before bud break, Psi(wp) was lower for the well-watered + transplanted and drought-conditioned + transplanted seedlings (Psi(wp) = -1.45 and -1.83 MPa, respectively) than for the controls (Psi(wp) = -0.56). There was a close relationship between the Psi(wp) measured on April 16 and bud break, shoot elongation and plant survival during the following growing period. Above a Psi(wp) of -1.1 MPa, all plants developed normally. Between -1.1 MPa and -1.6 MPa, bud break, and thus shoot elongation, did not occur in all plants. Between -1.6 MPa and -2.1 MPa, the plants were characterized by the absence of shoot growth, but mortality was zero. Below -2.1 MPa, there was a large increase in plant mortality. On April 16, starch concentrations were markedly lower in the roots of transplanted seedlings than in the controls. There was a positive correlation between Psi(wp) and root starch concentration. The Psi(wp) (-2.3 MPa) at which complete starch depletion was observed in the roots corresponded to the Psi(wp) below which plants did not survive. These results suggest that mechanisms specifically linked to altered water status and metabolic processes associated with altered carbohydrate status are involved in transplanting stress; however, it was not possible to disentangle the two effects. Drought conditioning did not lead to a marked increase in soluble carbohydrate concentrations, as reported for other species, and did not increase plant tolerance to transplanting stress.