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Apple is a perishable fruit due to its higher moisture content, which leads to spoilage and also reduces its shelf life. To improve the storage stability of apples, drying is the most effective and oldest method as it leads to the reduction of water activity. In the present study, dried apple slices were developed from "Golden Delicious" apples. The suggested methodology involves the use of dried apple slices with skin and a thickness of 4.5 mm, pretreated with 1% salt solution for 15 min. The drying process takes place at a temperature of 50°C for 3 h, followed by a temperature of 90°C for 2 h. The water activity of salt‐ and KMS‐pretreated dried apple slices was 0.422 ± 0.00 and 0.438 ± 0.01, respectively, whereas a higher value 0.473 ± 0.01 of water activity was observed in untreated dried apple slices, demonstrating better stability. Also, compared to the control sample, the pretreated slices showed 13% lesser shrinkage due to drying, thereby retaining its shape. The total phenolic content was the lowest in the control sample (101.52 ± 0.37 mg GAE/100 g), while a significant increase was observed in KMS‐pretreated (115.44 ± 4.08 mg/100 g) and salt‐pretreated (131.55 ± 0.58 mg/100 g) dried apple slices. Moreover, antioxidant activity also was higher in salt‐pretreated dried apple slices. Texture profile analysis revealed that the developed apple slices had better crispiness than nonpretreated ones. Thus, pretreatment before drying is of great significance to improve the appearance and quality of products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was led to prepare pasta from wheat instead of semolina and effect of spinach powder and chickpea flour fortification on cooking, functional and textural properties pasta was assessed. Cooking losses were more in spinach wheat (SW) pasta while these are lowest in chickpea and spinach fortified wheat (CSW) pasta. Crude protein one of the imperative attributes of study was profoundly affected with the fortification and was found to be 10.5 per cent in SW pasta, 18.55 per cent in CSW pasta while it is 10.8 in W pasta. The crude fat were found to be extended from 0.98 per cent to 1.55 per cent. The moisture, ash and acidity were ranged from 8.1 to 8.5, 0.82 to 1.80 and 0.23 to 0.59, respectively. Free radical scavenging properties, ascorbic acid (20.4 mg/100 g) and total phenols (mg/100 g) were higher in CSW pasta while the lowest in wheat (W) pasta. Maximum hardness was also highest in CSW pasta. Overall the fortification increased the antioxidant properties along with textural properties.

Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. & Coss. (Indian mustard) is an economically important edible oil crop. Over the years, plant breeders have developed many elite varieties of B. juncea with better yield traits, but research work on the introgression of stress resilience traits has largely been lagging due to scarcity of resistant donors. Crop wild relatives (CWRs) are the weedy relatives of domesticated plant species which are left unutilized in their natural habitat due to the presence of certain undesirable alleles which hamper their yield potential, and thus, their further domestication. CWRs of B. juncea namely include Sinapis alba L. (White mustard), B. tournefortii Gouan. (African mustard), B. fruticulosa Cirillo (Twiggy turnip), Camelina sativa L. (Gold-of-pleasure), Diplotaxis tenuisiliqua Delile (Wall rocket), D. erucoides L. (White wall rocket), D. muralis L. (Annual wall rocket), Crambe abyssinica R.E.Fr. (Abyssinian mustard), Erucastrum gallicum Willd. (Common dogmustard), E. cardaminoides Webb ex Christ (Dogmustard), Capsella bursa-pastoris L. (Shepherds purse), Lepidium sativum L. (Garden Cress) etc. These CWRs have withstood several regimes of biotic and abiotic stresses over the past thousands of years which led them to accumulate many useful alleles contributing in resistance against various environmental stresses. Thus, CWRs could serve as resourceful gene pools for introgression of stress resilience traits into Indian mustard. This review summarizes research work on the introgression of resistance against Sclerotinia stem rot (caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum), Alternaria blight (caused by Alternaria brassicae), white rust (caused by Albugo candida), aphid attack, drought and high temperature from CWRs into B. juncea. However, various pre- and post-fertilization barriers due to different ploidy levels are major stumbling blocks in the success of such programmes, therefore, we also insightfully discuss how the advances made in -omics technology could be helpful in assisting various breeding programmes aiming at improvisation of stress resilience traits in B. juncea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The protein isolates were extracted from Himalayan wild apricot kernel press cake using isoelectric precipitation method. The extraction conditions were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) with 10 different combinations of two independent variables (pH and temperature) for three responses (yield %, soluble protein %, and crude protein %). Temperature of 20°C and pH 10 were the optimum extraction conditions with recovery of about 36.52%. The protein isolates (2.5%, 5.5%, 7.5%, and 10.0%) were utilized for the production of gluten‐free pasta (GFP). Incorporation of 5% protein isolates in the GFP was optimized as the best treatment which reported the highest cooking quality (less residue in cooking water and minimum cooking loss i.e., 4.30%). Furthermore, the FTIR spectra and SEM revealed higher quality which was further confirmed by In vitro protein digestibility, mineral contents, color, and texture profile analysis (TPA). Practical applications: The developed protocol/technology will help the industrialists and researchers for utilization of byproducts for extraction of protein isolate and its value addition for development of gluten‐free pasta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]