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The key to optimizing alcohol production from cereals is a full understanding of the physiology and processing characteristics of different cereals. This study examined the maximum alcohol yields that can be obtained from wheat and maize using different processing technologies. Lower processing temperatures (85°C) resulted in high alcohol yields from wheat (a temperate crop), whereas higher processing temperatures (142°C) gave maximum alcohol yields from maize (a tropical crop). Similar trends were also observed when the spent grains from these cereals were processed using commercial enzymes. Mill settings were additional factors in influencing alcohol production. Wheat has the potential to produce higher alcohol yields when compared with maize, when residual biomass (i.e. spent grains) saccharification using selected commercial enzymes is taken into account. While this approach is not applicable for the Scotch whisky industry owing to strict legislation forbidding the use of exogenous enzymes, this is pertinent for bioethanol production to increase the alcohol yield obtained from both starch and lignocellulosic components of whole cereal grains. Wheat and maize processing temperatures and the use of processing aids are of potential economic benefit to bioethanol producers and to beverage alcohol producers seeking to understand the factors influencing the processing properties of different cereals. Copyright © 2015 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment with the herbicide glyphosate led to significantly increased activities of the enzyme glutathione S-transferase (GST, EC 2.5.1.18) in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Kadett and cv. Satu), pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Debreceni világoszöld) and in maize (Zea mays, L. Pioneer 3839 hybrid) tissues. GST activities in wheat seedlings (cv. Kadett) exposed to 960 µM glyphosate for 4 days were ca 6-fold and 3-fold higher in shoots and roots, respectively, than in the controls. Glyphosate increased the GST activity to a lesser extent in pea and maize than in wheat. In wheat seedlings (cv. Satu) exposed to 120 µM glyphosate gradual increases in the content of non-protein thiols were observed. After 7 days exposure to glyphosate the thiol levels rose to about 360% and 220% of the controls in wheat shoots and roots, respectively. The elevation of thiol content in glyphosate-treated plants was shown to be primarily due to increases of glutathione level. These results suggest that the enhanced glutathione metabolism may have a role in the mode of action or degradation of this herbicide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]