Browsing by Subject "quality"
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(2020)Intercropping is an old agricultural practise to produce food and could be an interesting option to be utilized today. Use of legumes in mixtures can be a way to produce food more sustainably and minimize negative environmental impacts of current food production. Cultivation area of legumes have declined over recent years, due instability in yields and problems with pests and diseases. Intercropped systems can optimize use of land recourses and reduce issues with pest and disease. Furthermore, legumes could provide a more sustainable source for nitrogen than fossil fuels and more options for both feed and food production, especially for organic farming. Intercropping could also benefit diversity and add more options in crop rotations. In this field experiment intercropping with different mixtures of legumes and other non-legume crops were studied. This experiment by Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences was a part of the project Legumes for the agriculture of tomorrow (LEGATO). Project purpose was to promote and find solutions for increased and sustainable production of grain legumes in Europe. The main objectives of this thesis were to compare different crop mixtures and find benefits with intercropping, this thesis focused on peas and faba bean. Does intercropping add yield potential and can it have benefits for yield stability or pest damage. Results showed that intercropping did not benefit pea yields, but instead barley yields. Faba bean Gloria did benefit from intercropping, as did cereals. Yields indicate that more could be produced on the same area of land. Pest damage by pea moth (Cydia nigricana) had some statistical differences between treatments, but there were no similar effects on damage on faba bean by Broad bean weevil (Bruchus rufimanus).
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(2010)The literature review dealed with stunning of poultry. The effects of the stress induced by handling on the physiological and biochemical changes, and how they further affect the meat quality, were discussed. Suitability of different stunning methods for poultry was also reviewed. Methods for measuring the welfare of poultry before slaughtering and the meat quality were described, at the end of the literature review. The aim of the experimental work was to find out the influence of two different types of stunning gases, CO2 and N2, on turkey meat quality. An additional aim of the study was to examine how the chilling rate affects meat quality and also if there are any differences between the stunning methods concerning this. Furthermore, the most suitable gas stunning method for small-scale slaughterhouses, from a meat quality perspective, was hoped to be revealed by the results. Two-phase CO2-stunning was used as a control treatment. The turkeys were stunned using a gas stunning mask designed for the conditions of small-scale slaughterhouse. The post mortem metabolism was controlled with the rate of the pH fall as well as with the glycogen and lactate contents. Drip loss, cooking loss and tenderness were measured to predict the meat quality. The post mortem pH fall was significantly faster in the breast muscles of the nitrogen stunned turkeys than in the breast muscles of the turkeys stunned with other gases. Stunning with N2 could enable the fast chilling of the carcasses without the risk of cold shortening because the meat of the N2 stunned birds was not as tough as the meat of the CO2 stunned birds, when chilled at 0 °C. The pH fall of the CO2 stunned turkeys was similar to the birds stunned with the two-phase method. As a result, CO2 could be a good alternative for gas stunning. On the other hand, CO2 has been stated noxious for poultry to breath in high concentrations. In addition, there is a risk of cold induced toughening when using carbon dioxide if chilled rapidly.
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(2016)Protected cultivation of raspberries (Rubus idaeus L.) has increased its popularity in Finland. One reason is that the fruit is extremely sensitive to rainy weather during its development. The raspberry plant itself is sensitive to wind and low temperatures, which can reduce growth. In Europe most of the raspberry is grown in protected cultivation, and this technology is now becoming popular in Finland. A high tunnel is a cost-efficient way to protect the plants against rainy weather and extend the harvest season. The protected cultivation has been shown to increase the yield and cropping potential of raspberry and reduce the gray mold in the berries. In human diet, berries are among the richest sources of antioxidants. In raspberry, the most important antioxidants are vitamin C (20 %) and phenolic compounds (80 %). Among phenolic compounds, ellagitannins and anthocyanins give the greatest contribution to antioxidant activity. The aim of this thesis was to study the yield, sensory quality, nutritional quality and shelf life of three floricane fruiting raspberry cultivars grown in high tunnel and open field. Cultivars ’Glen Ample, ’Glen Dee’ and ’Maurin Makea’ were used in the study. Sugar and acid content of raspberry were examined to get an overview of sensory quality. The nutritional quality was studied with an antioxidant activity assay (using FRAP method) and total phenolics assay (using Fast Blue BB method). The shelf life was tested both in +5 °C and in room temperature. The average total yield per cane was 99 % greater in tunnel than in the open field, whereas both sugar and acid content of the berry were greater in open field. Berry weight and total phenolics content were strongly cultivar dependent characteristics. The results of the antioxidant activity assay did not show significant differences between either growing conditions or the cultivars. The shelf life in room temperature was equally weak for all samples, but in +5 °C storage the open field raspberries developed symptoms of gray mold earlier than those picked from the tunnel. The conclusion is that contents of health beneficial compounds in berries were not affected in tunnel cultivation, but berry taste may be affected, as differences in sugar and acid contents were observed.
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