Tomato is one of the sensitive fruits to mechanical impacts and physical tensions. The most mechanical damages arise from handling which results in reducing tomato quality. in this study, impact energy effect has been studied in 3 different levels 0, 0.14 and 0.25 J by a pendulum impact apparatus, on changes of physicochemical properties of tomato, hybrid variety Shiva F1, including ripening factor, wet content physical properties such as texture resistance versus shearing force, color and shelf life during a period of shelf life for 20 days in Temperature 11±1oC and relative humidity 94±2 percent. It is found that when mechanical energy increase, like something results from increasing shelf life, texture resistance decrease versus shearing force. However increasing impact energy not only reduces firmness texture and wet content in production but also increasing ripening factor and its color during storing time. Results show the least shelf life and most unsuitable changes in 0.25 J samples.

Differences in physicochemical and mineralogical properties of soils close to Urmia Lake in two groups of soils (affected and unaffected by Urmia Lake), were studied in Dizaj-Dol region. Variance analysis of physicochemical properties of these soils showed that the values of OC and CEC in these two groups of soils were significantly different (P ≤ 0. 1), and the values of EC, SAR, ESP and exchangeable Na of these soils were highly significantly different (P ≤ 0. 01). However, soil depth and clay content in these two groups of soils were not significantly different. Clay mineralogical studies showed the presence of smectites, illites, kaolinites, chlorites and vermiculites in both groups of soils. Illites, chlorites and kaolinites are inherited from parent material, while smectites and vermiculites have pedogenic origin and have been formed via transformation of illite. In the soils which have been affected by Urmia Lake, neoformation from soil solution is the main origin of smectites. Comparision of clay minerals in the two groups of soils showed that the rising level of Urmia Lake during 1994-1995 caused the presence of high amounts of smectite and some hydroxy interlayer vermiculite in the soils affected by Urmia Lake.

Background: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between land use changes and physicochemical characteristics of groundwater in the Dalaki watershed in Bushehr province, Iran from 2006 to 2016. Methods: In this study, changes in the amounts of chlorine, calcium, sodium, sulfate, and total dissolved solids were investigated. In the first step, the spatial relationships of the aforementioned parameters were evaluated and the optimal models were selected for mapping. Then, using Landsat satellite images, the land use classification was done. Finally, the relationships between land use changes and the physicochemical characteristics of groundwater were surveyed. Results: According to the analysis of the results, the highest concentration of groundwater in the studied years was observed in rainfed agriculture, palm groves and orchards land uses. Conclusion: A significant relationship can be established between agricultural uses and the increase in the concentration of groundwater physicochemical characteristics. In other words, agricultural use caused groundwater resources salinity and reduced their quality. Because of the vastness of land use, a large amount of groundwater is taken to irrigate crops. Moreover, rainfed agriculture increased and decreased the number of quality characteristics, however using planting palm trees only increased them.

Yoghurt is a popular healthy food, consumed by many people. The popularity of this product made it possible to use it as a base in order to produce probiotic preparations. Prebiotics are used for better growth and survival of probiotic bacteria as well as to improve organoleptic, rheological and technological properties of probiotic yoghurt. The aim of this research was to study physicochemical changes and survival of probiotic bacteria in synbiotic yoghurt. In this study, prebiotics including Lactulose, Inulin and Oligofructose were used separately and probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus casei was used to prepare the yoghurt. Samples were stored at 4oC for 21 days and during this time pH, acidity, syneresis and probiotic counts were investigated and compared to the control (probiotic yoghurt without prebiotics). The results showed that the highest pH, the most probiotic counts and the highest taste and texture scores were related to the sample which had Inulin. In contrast the control sample had the least probiotic count and the lowest score concerned with taste and texture. This sample had the least percent of syneresis which wasn't significantly different from others. The most and the least acidity were related to the control sample and the yoghurt containing Lactulose, respectively. The results suggested positive effect of synbiotic in probiotic yoghurt. Based on this study, since prebiotics improve physicochemical properties and enhance probiotic bacteria survival they can be incorporated in yoghurt formulation. The results show that Inulin has a better effect on physicochemical changes and probiotic bacteria survival as compared to other prebiotics.

Purpose: Traditional methods of composting are limited in timely production of good-quality compost due to recalcitrant nature of materials of plant origin. This study focused on evaluating the use chicken and donkey manure as starter cultures to biostimulate bioconversion of rice straw into bioorganic fertilizer. Use of starter cultures would enhance composting as a strategy for rice straw management to enhance soil fertilization and reduce environmental pollution. Methods: In this study, chicken manure and donkey manure were used as starter cultures to enhance bioconversion of recalcitrant and abundant rice straw in Mwea, the main rice-producing area in Kenya. Treatments of the study included rice straw co-composted with chicken manure (T1), rice straw co-composted with donkey manure (T2) and a control (T0) consisting of un-treated rice straw. Temperature, pH and electrical conductivity (EC) were monitored throughout the composting period. Resultant compost types were characterized in respect to their macro-nutrient concentrations, cation exchange capacity, pH and heavy metal content. Results: Levels of temperature, pH and EC among the treatments of the study revealed significant differences at 5% level of confidence using Tukey’ s test. The three resultant compost types obtained were also physicochemically different as revealed by analysis of variance of cation exchange capacity, phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon content. Conclusion: Results indicated that use of chicken and donkey manure significantly improved the composting process and the quality of resultant compost.

Background: Blackberry is a seasonal harvested fruit that is also very fragile and perishes quickly. A comparative study was conducted to find out influence of cold storage on physicochemical parameters of wild and cultivated blackberry over a period of 12 days. Methods: The plant materials were composed of the blackberry fruit, including a compound of cultivated blackberry (Rubus spp. ), and wild blackberry (Rubus fruticosus L. agg) which were harvested in the North of Morocco. The temperature of the storage of wild and cultivated blackberry was 5 ° C for 4, 8, and 12 days, and then transferred to 25 ° C for 1 day to simulate transport and commercialization. After that, the physicochemical parameters were analyzed. Statistical analyses were performed using SAS. Results: During 12 days of storage, the pH of samples was decreased from 3. 69 to 3. 22 for wild blackberry, and from 4. 85 to 3. 43 for cultivated blackberry. The titratable acidity was increased from 1. 61 to 3. 28 for wild blackberry, and from 2. 07 to 3. 25 for cultivated blackberry. Flavonoids also showed a remarkable increase in values from 30 to 70. 66 mg QE/100g of wild blackberries and from 25. 33 to 60. 66 mg QE/100g in cultivated ones between harvest and the last day of storage. The variation in skin color revealed a decrease during storage of L* brightness, a* redness, and yellowness b* for both blackberries. Conclusion: The most suitable storage time of blackberry components during cold storage at 5 ° C was 12 days. The temperature at 5 ° C preserves the quality of the blackberry for both wild and cultivated ones. However, the wild blackberry was more resistant than cultivated one to cold storage.

Bulk tomato paste is produced in concentrations higher than 35% (350 Brix scale) and its packaging is not hermetic. In recent years, the production of this product in our country has considerably increased. One of the most important problems in the tomato paste industry of Iran is the preservation of bulk tomato paste. Shelf-life of tomato paste depends on many factors such as initial quality of tomato paste, cooling conditions, salting, packaging, handling, and cold storage. The product factors evaluated in this study included: 1) microbial parameters such as total count, acid resistant microorganisms, and Howard Mould Count; and 2) physico-chemical parameters such as acidity, pH, amount of lactic acid (D and L forms), and total dry matter. Experimental data showed that using high Brix (35-38) in producing tomato paste along with salting the product surface and storing it at 0 °C had only a limiting effect on microbial changes and could not prevent their growth completely. However, salting treatment had a great effect on surface growth of fungi and their ability to produce colonies and mycelia. On the basis of the results obtained from this study, cooling of bulk tomato paste in ambient temperature is critical to bulk tomato paste production process and also has an important effect on the quality and shelf life of the product.

Introduction: Fish is the most extremely perishable food products (Roiha et al, 2018) and its quality may be affected by many elements (Garcí a et al, 2015). The techniques used for the freezing and thawing processes play an essential function in maintaining the quality of the frozen foods. If freezing and thawing processes are carried out accurately, the quality of frozen fish will be near to fresh quality after thawing (Duygu and Ü mit, 2015). There are various methods for thawing of frozen food products like still air thawing, air blast, refrigerator thawing, cold and warm water thawing, warm salt-water thawing, static water thawing and a number of innovative approaches such as high voltage electrostatic field (HVEF) thawing, ohmic, microwave, pressure-assisted, acoustic, radio frequency, infra-red and high hydrostatic pressure thawing (Mousakhani-Ganjeh et al, 2015; Mousakhani-Ganjeh et al, 2016). During Ohmic heating (OH), electrical energy is altered to thermal energy within a conductor by applying an alternative current across the food product (Darvishi et al, 2013). The energy is approximately completely dispersed within the heated food product (Shim et al, 2010). A large number of applications exists for ohmic treatments including heating, cooking, thawing, blanching, evaporation, dehydration, pasteurization, fermentation and extraction (Athmaselvi et al, 2017; Boldaji and Borghei, 2015). Materials and methods: Tuna fish (Thunnus albacares) obtained from Esfahan Pegah Co., Isfahan, Iran and transferred to the laboratory. The white fresh fish muscles were divided into cubes (3 × 3 × 3 cm 3 ) and instantly frozen at-30 ° C after vacuum packaging in polyethylene bags. The frozen samples kept at-18 ° C until the day of experiments. The experimental apparatus of ohmic heating comprised of a power supply, an isolating variable transformer, power analyzer and a microprocessor board. The ohmic cell was made of PTFE cylinder with two displacement stainless steel electrodes. Temperature was measured with a K-type thermocouple. The electrical conductivity (σ , mS/cm) of the brine solutions was determined before thawing at 25° C. The electrical conductivity of fish minced paste was also measured at 4 ° C. In the present study, the tuna cubes (27 cm 3 ) were thawed under constant ohmic power intensity (50 V) at three different brine concentrations (0. 3, 0. 4 and 0. 5 NaCl, %w/v) during three time intervals (0, 24 and 48 hours). The parameters associated with the quality of tuna such as thawing time, thawing rate, thawing, cooking and total losses, centrifugal loss, lipid oxidation, texture and color were investigated during OH thawing. Changes in the thawing, cooking and total losses, WHC, texture, L*, a*, b* and color changes were studied as kinetic models. Results and Discussion: Results showed that, thawing under immersion ohmic thawing significantly decreased the thawing time of frozen tuna fish cubes. Suitable kinetic models with the highest regression coefficient described dependent parameters. In addition, kinetic models were validated by R 2 and RMSE. Statistical analysis showed that the interaction effects of two parameters (concentration * time) on thawing loss were significant (p 0. 05). The lowest thawing loss was observed at 0. 3 and 0. 5 %w/v NaCl immediately after thawing. The lowest cooking loss was seen at highest brine concentration and the lowest total loss was observed at time zero after thawing (p 0. 01). The WHC of meat product is one of the most important factors affecting economical value and meat quality due to the weight change during thawing. In this study, WHC increased by increasing the brine concentration. In addition, oxidation of lipids did not occur, and TBA index did not differ significantly. This was probably due to the high speed of immersion ohmic thawing. The highest shear force was related to the treated sample with the lowest brine concentration. The highest a* was indicated immediately after thawing. Immersion ohmic thawing saved time and led to reducing the losses parameters. In addition, WHC was maintained at the highest possible level. Fish and fishery products are very perishable materials and no oxidation was observed during immersion ohmic thawing regarding the presence of NaCl, .