Extra Grains Research Articles

Including pork in the Mediterranean diet for an Australian population: Protocol for a randomised controlled trial assessing cardiovascular risk and cognitive function

BackgroundThe Mediterranean diet is characterised by the high consumption of extra virgin olive oil, fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and nuts; moderate consumption of fish, poultry, eggs and dairy; and low consumption of red meat and sweets. Cross sectional, longitudinal and intervention studies indicate that a Mediterranean diet may be effective for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and dementia. However, previous research suggests that an Australian population may find red meat restrictions difficult, which could affect long term sustainability of the diet.MethodsThis paper outlines the protocol for a randomised controlled trial that will assess the cardiovascular and cognitive benefits of a Mediterranean diet modified to include 2-3 weekly serves of fresh, lean pork. A 24-week cross-over design trial will compare a modified Mediterranean diet with a low-fat control diet in at-risk men and women. Participants will follow each of the two diets for 8 weeks, with an 8-week washout period separating interventions. Home measured systolic blood pressure will be the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcomes will include body mass index, body composition, fasting blood lipids, C-reactive protein, fasting plasma glucose, fasting serum insulin, erythrocyte fatty acids, cognitive function, psychological health and well-being, and dementia risk.DiscussionTo our knowledge this research is the first to investigate whether an alternate source of protein can be included in the Mediterranean diet to increase sustainability and feasibility for a non-Mediterranean population. Findings will be significant for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and age-related decline, and may inform individuals, clinicians and public health policy.Trial registrationACTRN12616001046493. Registered 5 August 2016.

Value of groundwater used for producing extra grain in North China Plain

Irrigation has led to increased crop productivity in the North China Plain (NCP) in the past three decades, but also caused quick depletion of groundwater resources with potentially severe hydrological consequences. Future policy development needs to balance crop production and groundwater use for increased sustainability. This requires an understanding of how crop production can be impacted by reduced irrigation and the value of the groundwater used for producing extra grains across NCP. We used cropping systems modelling to assess how the productivity of the wheat-maize system are influenced by spatial climate variability and changes in irrigation water supply across a north-south rainfall gradient in NCP. Our results show that irrigation has minimised the north-south difference in crop productivity, leading to a production gain as large as 9t/ha/year grain with a total value of up to 19,000 CNY/ha/year in the north. The high water use efficiency (WUE) of irrigation water in the north was similar to the WUE of natural rainfall in the south, allowing the farmers at dry sites to obtain very similar production value to those at the wet sites. The value of groundwater used for producing the extra grains was estimated to be 1.8–8.6 CNY m−3 water. The results provide the scientific basis for the design of future policies for water pricing and sustainable agricultural development in NCP.

Tropical curves in sandpiles

We study a sandpile model on the set of the lattice points in a large lattice polygon. A small perturbation ψ of the maximal stable state μ≡3 is obtained by adding extra grains at several points. It appears that the result ψ∘ of the relaxation of ψ coincides with μ almost everywhere; the set where ψ∘≠μ is called the deviation locus. The scaling limit of the deviation locus turns out to be a distinguished tropical curve passing through the perturbation points.

Source-sink manipulation of Camelina sativa L. related to grain yield under stressful environment of Hokkaido, Japan

Five cultivars of camelina species (Camelina sativa L.) were grown in the field at two levels of nitrogen (N) under the climate conditions of Hokkaido Island, Japan. N nutrition as well as the genetic difference between cultivars influenced biomass and grain production. Three cultivars responded positively to N application, but not the other two. Increase in grain yield was associated more with grain number than grain size. The plants accommodated the extra grains by increasing pod number. Irrespective of the N level in the soil, α linolenic acid concentration of the grain was very high at 31% of the total fatty acids. In cultivar Calena, lower leaves on the main stem were excised to find the effect of reduced source area on yield. Defoliation of lower leaves did not affect grain yield, indicating that these leaves do not contribute to source capacity of the plant during grain filling. However, removal of all leaves decreased grain yield to 70% relative to the control plant. In contrast to defoliation, shading of the whole panicle consisting of the pod shell and rachis was more effective in reducing grain yield. Shading of the panicle prior to the grain filling period at the levels of 33 and 6% irradiance relative to control decreased grain yield to 39 and 26%, respectively. These results suggested that the pod shell and rachis are more important source organs for photosynthetic carbon supply to grains than the upper leaves, and they can sustain grain filling in exigency. The presence of attributes like extended source area for grain filling and high α-linolenic acid content of leaves is an indicator for successful adaptation of Camelina in the stress-prone environment of Hokkaido Island.

Grain refining of Zn–22 wt.% Al superplastic alloy

Abstract The superplastic deformation behaviour of two alloys of Zn–22 wt.% Al was studied in detail under identical conditions of grain size, temperature and initial strain rates. The second alloy has the same composition as the first alloy, but with the addition of 0.2 wt.% Al–5Ti–1B as a grain refiner. The two alloys were subjected to a special heat treatment process (solid solution heat treating, quenching and annealing) to obtain fine equi-axed grains. Thermomechanical treatment was carried out on the equi-axed structure that was obtained to produce extra-fine grains. Tensile tests at superplastic temperature revealed that extremely large superplasticity of this alloy can be obtained mainly with extra fine grains which has an affect, on the other hand, on the initial strain rate e , the grain size being decreased as the initial strain rate is increased. A greater superplastic elongation value can be obtained with higher strain rate and smaller grain size. Study of fracture surfaces of four specimens having maximum superplastic elongation revealed a granular fracture for this alloy.

Pre-maturity gradients in shoot size and in number and size of florets for spring barley treated with mepiquat chloride

SummaryEffects of mepiquat chloride on gradients of shoot growth within spring barley plants (cv. Koru) were determined in two small-scale field experiments. Mepiquat chloride was applied at either the lemma primordium stage or the late carpel primordium stage of spike development in the main shoot. The shoot dry weight, stem length, spike length, number and size of florets and floret developmental score were measured for all shoots, over the period from the lemma primordium stage of main shoot spike development to the late milk stage of grain development.Lemma primordium mepiquat chloride increased the size and developmental score of later-formed shorter shoots pre-anthesis while delaying the spike development of the main shoot and other longer shoots by up to 4 days. The overall effect was to produce plants with a reduced range of shoot and spike sizes from the end of floret initiation in the main shoot until maturity. In addition, there was a slight increase in the number of shoots per plant in both experiments. Gradients of carpel development and carpel width along the spike were reduced in all treated spikes by the time of floret abortion in the main shoot but the effects were more noticeable in shorter shoots. The number of florets initiated per plant was increased by 21–22%. All shoots contributed to the larger number of florets but again the major additions came from the shorter shoots. The few extra florets initiated in longer shoots were lost during abortion of distal florets while the 2–5 extra florets on shorter shoots were retained to give extra grains at maturity.Application of mepiquat chloride at the late carpel primordium stage had little effect on gradients of spike size or on number, size and development of florets.

Chromosomal localization of a single copy gene by in situ hybridization--human beta globin genes on the short arm of chromosome 11.

1. The localization of the beta globin genes by in situ hybridization to fixed chromosomes is described. 2. The probe used was a [3H]cRNA copy of a genomic clone containing in total 4.4 kb of DNA and including the beta globin gene. 3. The evidence for the localization of the gene comes from three pieces of data. (a) Chromosome 11 is labelled to double the extent expected if the grains were randomly distributed, (b) the extra grains above background are clustered on the short arm of 11 close to the centromere, and (c) the absolute number of grains observed is very close to that predicted for a probe of that length by comparison with ribosomal genes. The localization is in agreement with that obtained by other methods. 4. This method could be extended to any gene for which a genomic clone containing at least 5 kb of single copy DNA is available.

Effects of eyespot on the yield of winter wheat

SUMMARYFor 4 successive years, cultivars of winter wheat differing in resistance to eyespot (Cercosporella herpotrichoides) and to lodging were grown in plots in which different levels of eyespot were induced by inoculating at different times. Lodging was either allowed, or prevented by growing the plants through nets. Yield losses were greatest in the most severely infected plots in which lodging was allowed; losses were reduced where infection was less severe or where lodging was prevented. In the year in which eyespot was most severe, there was a significant regression of yield on disease severity, even for the plots in which lodging was prevented; where lodging was allowed, regression lines were steeper for the lodging susceptible cultivars, but did not differ for the lodging resistant cultivars. Eyespot reduced the number of tillers, measured in spring, but later there was partial compensation for these losses. Grain number per ear and 1000 grain weight of individual tillers were reduced by severe eyespot infection; moderate infection reduced only 1000 grain weight; slight infection caused no reduction. Tillers without severe infection produced extra grains in severely diseased plots, so that there was no overall effect of eyespot on grain number per ear. The results are discussed in relation to the breeding of dwarf cultivars, which may be highly resistant to lodging but can nevertheless suffer severe losses from eyespot.

Yields of Hybrid Sorghums

SUMMARYSorghum hybrids and varieties show similar responses to changing environment, with constant relative yield increases from the hybrids over a wide range of conditions due almost entirely to more florets and grains per plant and per hectare. Carbohydrate production of the leaves of good varieties is probably not much in excess of requirements for filling the grain. The extra spikelet number of the hybrid, increases in photosynthetic area and probably increased photosynthetic efficiency together enable the extra grains be filled. There is also an advantage in size and activity of the root system. The yield increase is strongly buffered against environmental fluctuations. The fact that hybrids can increase over a wide range of farming conditions should result in big increases in production simply by changing from varieties to hybrids, as is already happening in several countries.