By the end of this century, the average global temperature is predicted to rise due to the increasing release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. This change in climate can reduce agricultural yields, resulting in food insecurity. However, agricultural activities are one of the major contributors of GHGs and lower yields can trigger increased activity to meet the demand for food, resulting in higher quantities of GHGs released into the atmosphere. In this paper, we discuss the growth requirements and greenhouse gas release potential of staple cereal crops and assess the impact of climate change on their yields. Potential solutions for minimizing the influence of climate change on crop productivity are discussed. These include breeding to obtain cereals that are more tolerant to conditions caused by climate change, increased production of these new cultivars, improved irrigation, and more effective use of fertilizers. Furthermore, different predictive models inferred that climate change would reduce production of major cereal crops, except for millets due to their ability to grow in variable climatic conditions, and in dry areas due to a strong root system. Moreover, millets are not resource-intensive crops and release fewer greenhouse gases compared to other cereals. Therefore, in addition to addressing food security, millets have an enormous potential use for reducing the impact of agriculture on global warming and should be grown on a global scale as an alternative to major cereals and grains.
A growing population means an ever-increasing demand for food. This global concern has led to antagonism over resources such as water and soil. Climate change can directly influence the quality and availability of these resources, thereby adversely affecting our food systems and crop productivity, especially of major cereals such as rice, wheat and maize. In this review, we have looked at the availability of resources such as water and soil based on several modeling scenarios in different regions of the world. Most of these models predict that there will be a reduction in production rates of various cereal crops. Furthermore, all the major cereal crops are known to have a higher contribution to global warming than alternative crops such as millets which should be considered in mitigating global food insecurity. In this study, we have used the data to predict which regions of the world are most adversely affected by climate change and how the cultivation of millets and other crops could aid in the reduction of stress on environmental resources.
Milk allergy is known to cause severe allergic reactions in hypersensitive patients, especially in infants and children. β‐Lactoglobulin is one of the major allergens in bovine milk. The influence of thermal and microwave processing on the structural deviations of β‐lactoglobulin protein have been studied using molecular modeling techniques. The structural deviations are studied using root mean square deviations, radius of gyration, dipole moment, and solvent accessible surface area. STRIDE analysis showed significant changes in the β‐lactoglobulin, especially when oscillating electric fields were applied along with heat. Root mean square fluctuations (RMSF) has been assessed for known epitopes in the β‐lactoglobulin molecule. This showed that when the protein is exposed to certain thermal stress, it compacts by burying hydrophobic residues in the core. However, few allergic epitope residues also exhibit increased RMSF leading to higher reactive sites on the surface of the protein molecule. Practical applications This study showed that molecular modeling can be used to gain valuable insights regarding the structural changes during processing. In the future, with more computational capacity, it can be used to make comparison between results obtained from simulations and real‐time experiments. The current techniques used in food industries such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction can analyze pre‐ and post‐processing effects. Hence, it become necessary to understand the changes that takes place during the processing techniques. Molecular dynamic simulation could be a useful technique in analyzing the changes occurring during the processing.
Cow’s milk is considered an excellent protein source. However, the digestibility of milk proteins needs to be improved. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the functional properties of milk proteins and their structure upon microwave, ultrasound, and thermosonication treatments. The protein content, digestibility, and secondary-structure changes of milk proteins were determined. The results demonstrated that almost 35% of the proteins in the untreated samples had a α-helix structure and approximately 29% a β-sheet and turns structure. Regarding the untreated samples, the three treatments increased the α-helices and correspondingly decreased the β-sheets and turns. Moreover, the highest milk protein digestibility was observed for the ultrasound-treated samples (90.20–94.41%), followed by the microwave-treated samples (72.56–93.4%), whereas thermosonication resulted in a lower digestibility (68.76–78.81%). The milk protein content was reduced as the microwave processing time and the temperature increased. The final milk protein available in the sample was lower when microwave processing was conducted at 75 °C and 90 °C compared to 60 °C, whereas the ultrasound treatment significantly improved the protein content, and no particular trend was observed for the thermosonicated samples. Thus, ultrasound processing shows a potential application in improving the protein quality of cow’s milk.
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