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    Effect of In Vitro Digestion on the Antioxidant and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitory Potential of Buffalo Milk Processed Cheddar Cheese
    (Basel : MDPI AG, 2021) Shaukat, Amal; Nadeem, Muhammad; Qureshi, Tahir Mahmood; Kanwal, Rabia; Sultan, Muhammad; Kashongwe, Olivier Basole; Shamshiri, Redmond R.; Murtaza, Mian Anjum
    The purpose of this study was to develop an in-vitro digestion protocol to evaluate the antioxidant potential of the peptides found in processed cheddar cheese using digestion enzymes. We first studied antioxidant and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition and antioxidant activities of processed cheddar cheese with the addition of spices e.g., cumin, clove, and black pepper made from buffalo milk and ripened for 9 months. Then we conducted an in vitro digestion of processed cheddar cheese by gastric and duodenal enzymes. Freeze-dried water (WSE) and ethanol-soluble fractions (ESE) of processed cheddar cheese were also monitored for their ACE inhibition activity and antioxidant activities. In our preliminary experiments, different levels of spices (cumin, clove, and black pepper) were tested into a cheese matrix and only one level 0.2 g/100 g (0.2%) based on cheese weight was considered good after sensory evaluation. Findings of the present study revealed that ACE-inhibitory potential was the highest in processed cheese made from buffalo milk with the addition of 0.2% cumin, clove, and black pepper. A significant increase in ACE-inhibition (%) of processed cheddar cheese, as well as its WSE and ESE, was obtained. Lower IC50 values were found after duodenal phase digestion compared to oral phase digestion.
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    UAV Oblique Imagery with an Adaptive Micro-Terrain Model for Estimation of Leaf Area Index and Height of Maize Canopy from 3D Point Clouds
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Li, Minhui; Shamshiri, Redmond R.; Schirrmann, Michael; Weltzien, Cornelia; Shafian, Sanaz; Laursen, Morten Stigaard
    Leaf area index (LAI) and height are two critical measures of maize crops that are used in ecophysiological and morphological studies for growth evaluation, health assessment, and yield prediction. However, mapping spatial and temporal variability of LAI in fields using handheld tools and traditional techniques is a tedious and costly pointwise operation that provides information only within limited areas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability of mapping LAI and height of maize canopy from 3D point clouds generated from UAV oblique imagery with the adaptive micro-terrain model. The experiment was carried out in a field planted with three cultivars having different canopy shapes and four replicates covering a total area of 48 × 36 m. RGB images in nadir and oblique view were acquired from the maize field at six different time slots during the growing season. Images were processed by Agisoft Metashape to generate 3D point clouds using the structure from motion method and were later processed by MATLAB to obtain clean canopy structure, including height and density. The LAI was estimated by a multivariate linear regression model using crop canopy descriptors derived from the 3D point cloud, which account for height and leaf density distribution along the canopy height. A simulation analysis based on the Sine function effectively demonstrated the micro-terrain model from point clouds. For the ground truth data, a randomized block design with 24 sample areas was used to manually measure LAI, height, N-pen data, and yield during the growing season. It was found that canopy height data from the 3D point clouds has a relatively strong correlation (R2 = 0.89, 0.86, 0.78) with the manual measurement for three cultivars with CH90 . The proposed methodology allows a cost-effective high-resolution mapping of in-field LAI index extraction through UAV 3D data to be used as an alternative to the conventional LAI assessments even in inaccessible regions.
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    Modification of colorimetric method based digital soil test kit for determination of macronutrients in oil palm plantation
    (Beijing : [IJABE Editing and Publishing Office], 2020) Yamin, Muhammad; Ishak bin Wan Ismail, Wan; Saufi bin Mohd Kassim, Muhamad; Abd Aziz, Samsuzana Binti; Akbar, Farah Naz; Shamshiri, Redmond R.; Ibrahim, Muhammad; Mahns, Benjamin
    It is the need of time that oil palm farmers must perform the spatially planned soil analysis to know about the fertilizer sufficient and deficient zones of land. Colorimetric method is a suitable and fast solution of soil analysis for NPK determination using the digital soil test kit. NPK determination procedure with a digital soil test kit was undefined for oil palm. Furthermore, the digital soil test kit determines the passage of light through an opaque medium of soil solution with a specified reagent. Therefore, environmental light may interfere leading to wrong results of NPK measurement. Likewise, this equipment was non-incorporable with the controller of any VRT fertilizer applicator. In this research, these issues were addressed and the NPK measurement procedure was defined for oil palm plantation by modifying the ‘soil to water’ ratio in sample soil solution with an optimum environmental light range of 18-23 W/m2. ‘Soil to water’ ratios were found for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as 0.31 to 5.00, 1.00 to 5.00 and 4.50 to 5.00, respectively to fit the requirement of NPK for oil palm in the prescribed range of the equipment. Validation study of modified digital soil test kit showed that 91.7% N, 89.6% P and 93.8% K results of modified digital soil test kit were matched with analytical laboratory method. Thus, the reliability of NPK results using digital soil test kit was enhanced, making the kit incorporable with the controller of variable rate fertilizer applicator through remote monitoring based data acquisition system. The outcome of this research can be used in the development of an IoT network data fusion for dynamic assessment of the NPK variation in the soil and nutrient management in oil palm plantations.