La concentrazione atmosferica di anidride carbonica (CO2) \ue8 in continuo aumento a causa dell&#... more La concentrazione atmosferica di anidride carbonica (CO2) \ue8 in continuo aumento a causa dell'utilizzo dei carburanti fossili, delle emissioni prodotte dalle attivit\ue0 industriali e dei cambiamenti nell'utilizzo del suolo. Si stima che si raggiunger\ue0 una concentrazione di 550 ppm a met\ue0 del secolo (IPCC, 2013). Al fine di studiare il comportamento del frumento tenero in tale contesto, \ue8 stato effettuato un esperimento in pieno campo applicando la tecnica FACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment) presso l\u2019impianto allestito presso il CREA di Fiorenzuola d\u2019Arda. L\u2019ibrido Hystar, i due parentali, Apache e QH529, e la cv Bologna sono stati coltivati in parcelle replicate da 3 m2, in condizioni di CO2 ambientale (A) ed elevata (E: 570 ppm). Sul raccolto, oltre al peso ettolitrico e dei semi, sono state valutate le seguenti caratteristiche qualitative: contenuto proteico, attivit\ue0 antiossidante totale, durezza della cariosside, volume di sedimentazio...
International Symposium on Bioactive Compound in Cereals Grains and Foods, 2014
Bread is a fermented food base of the human nutrition worldwide. Despite the high variability of ... more Bread is a fermented food base of the human nutrition worldwide. Despite the high variability of this food (recipes, ingredients, texture, form, colour and organoleptic profile) bread\u2019s chemical composition is fundamentally linked to the cereal/ingredients used in preparation. The nutritional value of bread is largely linked to carbohydrates content (starch), but many other bioactive can interest the nutritional value of this food. Barley and wheat, depending on the varieties as well as the origin and the agronomical practices, are rich in bioactive compounds like fibre and polyphenols, particularly concentrated in the bran fraction. A strategy to maximise the health benefits of wheat-based products could be to enrich refined flour with fractions of external kernel layers, obtained using grain dry-fraction technologies. Sequential pearling has usefully applied to treat different cereals, like wheat (Sovrani et al., 2012), sorghum (Luthria and Liu, 2013) and barley (Gamel et al., 2012), in order to obtain different fractions rich in bioactive compounds. The principal aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of wheat flour substitution with different percentages of pearled barley fractions on chemical composition and technological properties of bread. Considering the different composition of pearled barley fractions (external fractions are richer in antioxidants and insoluble fibre than internal layers and residual kernels, which, on the contrary, contain most \u3b2 -glucans), two different fractions (cv Mona, an hulless two-row variety) were employed, specifically the most external (corresponding to the 0-5% of kernel weight) and the most internal (residual 75% weight) fractions. Two different series of substituted flours were obtained (substitution percentages: 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) and used to prepare bread. All the samples and the corresponding blanks, obtained using not-substituted refined commercial flour, were analysed for the chemical composition (humidity, proteins, ashes, fibre, \u3b2-glucans and total polyphenols), the antioxidant activity, the rheological properties (Mixolab\uae parameters) and the physical bread properties (volume, crust colour, instrumental crunchiness and crumb texture profile analysis parameters). As expected, the use of these novel enriched flours improved the functional properties of the breads, in accord with the original properties of the barley fractions. In the case of \u3b2-glucans content, a greater increase was observed when internal fraction was employed (from 0.13% to 1.13% and from 0.18% to 0.89%, for the blanks and the 25%-substitution with internal and external fraction, respectively). Concluding, the modulation of the pearling technology and the possibility to mix different fractions can lead to the production of new functional flours useful for the production of bread with nutritional added value and specific functional properties
Nel frumento i parametri qualitativi sono strettamente connessi con il contenuto e la qualit\ue0 ... more Nel frumento i parametri qualitativi sono strettamente connessi con il contenuto e la qualit\ue0 del glutine e variano in funzione della destinazione d\u2019uso del prodotto. Ad esempio, la farina di un frumento biscottiero deve possedere un ridotto contenuto proteico (14%), forza e stabilit\ue0 dell\u2019impasto ai frumenti di forza e panificabili superiori (Foca et al., 2007). Il raggiungimento di questi obiettivi qualitativi dipende principalmente dalla variet\ue0 impiegata e dalla sua attitudine ad accumulare glutine nella granella. Tra gli altri fattori produttivi, la concimazione azotata \ue8 quello che pi\uf9 influenza la produzione sia in termini quantitativi sia in termini qualitativi. A seconda di quale sia l\u2019obiettivo, \ue8 necessario attuare determinate scelte per poter orientare il quantitativo di azoto da distribuire, il numero e l\u2019epoca degli interventi di concimazione, nonch\ue9 la tipologia di concime da impiegare. Recenti studi (Xue et al., 2016) hanno infatti evidenziato come non solo la dose distribuita, ma anche la tipologia di concime azotato utilizzato possa contribuire a variare la composizione glutinica e quindi la qualit\ue0 reologica delle farine. Lo scopo di questo lavoro \ue8 stato quello di analizzare l\u2019impatto di differenti strategie di concimazione azotata e solfatica sulla produzione, il contenuto proteico, la qualit\ue0 reologica e la composizione glutinica di frumenti biscottieri e frumenti di forza. Prove di campo dedicate per ciascuna tipologia varietale sono state condotte in diverse localit\ue0 del Piemonte in un triennio. Il lavoro ha messo in evidenza come per ciascuna classe merceologica la concimazione e la tipologia di concime azotato, in interazione con la variet\ue0 e l\u2019ambiente di coltivazione, concorra nel determinare il soddisfacimento dei parametri tecnologico-qualitativi richiesti dall\u2019industria molitoria. Foca G., Ulrici A., Corbellini M., Pagani M.A., Lucisano M., Franchini G.C., Tassi L., 2007. Reproducibility of the Italian ISQ method for quality classification of bread wheats: An evaluation by expert assessor. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 87 (5): 839-846. Xue C., Schulte auf\u2019m Erley G., Rossmann A., Schuster R., Koehler P., Muehling K.H., 2016. Split nitrogen application improves wheat baking quality by influencing protein composition rather than concentration. Front Plant Sci. 2016; 7: 738
Introduction: Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic activities of anthocyanins have bee... more Introduction: Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic activities of anthocyanins have been well studied. This project was aimed to investigating grains anthocyanin profile and scrutinizing their effects on the expression of inflammatory markers and on the activity of pancreatic and brush border enzymes. Material & Methods: Total anthocyanin content, anthocyanin profile and antioxidant capacity were measured in three corn and two wheat samples. Immunomodulating effects were evaluated by measuring the activation of NFkB in transfected Caco-2 cells. Inhibition against intestinal \u3b1-glucosidase and pancreatic \u3b1-amylase was also assessed. Results: The highest total anthocyanin content was detected in purple wheat followed by corn varieties (cultivars T and MF respectively). The immune response of Caco-2 cells decreased for all grains extracts. Purple wheat and blue corn (cultivar T) extracts were much active to inhibit \u3b1-amylase and \u3b1-glucosidase enzymes. Conclusion: Anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic effects of anthocyanins-rich extracts from corn and wheat were highlighted. These cereals can be incorporated into foods such as pasta, or as dairy products or fiber-rich drinks. Their use as functional foods deserves further attention, given their ability to control the carbohydrate metabolism and to modulate inflammation. Also, worth of further studies are their reported effects on cardiovascular risk factors and intestinal microbiota
The enhancement of Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance is one of the best options to reduce myc... more The enhancement of Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance is one of the best options to reduce mycotoxin contamination in wheat. This study has aimed to verify that the genotypes with high tolerance to deoxynivalenol could guarantee an overall minimization of the sanitary risk, by evaluating the contamination of regulated, modified and emerging mycotoxins on durum wheat cvs with different degrees of FHB susceptibility, grown under different meteorological conditions, in 8 growing seasons in North-West Italy. The years which were characterized by frequent and heavy rainfall in spring were also those with the highest contamination of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, moniliformin, and enniatins. The most FHB resistant genotypes resulted in the lowest contamination of all the mycotoxins but showed the highest deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside/deoxynivalenol ratio and moniliformin/deoxynivalenol ratio. An inverse relationship between the amount of deoxynivalenol and the deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside/de...
The western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelida... more The western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is one of the most severe pests of cultivated maize, Zea mays L. Most of the damage to this crop is caused by larvae feeding on the root system, causing important economic costs in terms of yield losses and management efforts. This research was carried out to evaluate the effect of different chemical control strategies to minimize larval damage in maize fields under natural infestation of the pest. Field-based research was performed in a two-year period (2011–2012) in five locations of northern Italy. Different insecticide strategies (belonging to the pyrethroid, neonicotinoid or organophosphate classes) were compared to an untreated control. The effects on larval infestation, root damage, silage and grain yield were assessed. Our data highlighted that insecticide application at sowing led to a significant reduction in the WCR larval density, both considering insecticide seed treatme...
La concentrazione atmosferica di anidride carbonica (CO2) \ue8 in continuo aumento a causa dell&#... more La concentrazione atmosferica di anidride carbonica (CO2) \ue8 in continuo aumento a causa dell'utilizzo dei carburanti fossili, delle emissioni prodotte dalle attivit\ue0 industriali e dei cambiamenti nell'utilizzo del suolo. Si stima che si raggiunger\ue0 una concentrazione di 550 ppm a met\ue0 del secolo (IPCC, 2013). Al fine di studiare il comportamento del frumento tenero in tale contesto, \ue8 stato effettuato un esperimento in pieno campo applicando la tecnica FACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment) presso l\u2019impianto allestito presso il CREA di Fiorenzuola d\u2019Arda. L\u2019ibrido Hystar, i due parentali, Apache e QH529, e la cv Bologna sono stati coltivati in parcelle replicate da 3 m2, in condizioni di CO2 ambientale (A) ed elevata (E: 570 ppm). Sul raccolto, oltre al peso ettolitrico e dei semi, sono state valutate le seguenti caratteristiche qualitative: contenuto proteico, attivit\ue0 antiossidante totale, durezza della cariosside, volume di sedimentazio...
International Symposium on Bioactive Compound in Cereals Grains and Foods, 2014
Bread is a fermented food base of the human nutrition worldwide. Despite the high variability of ... more Bread is a fermented food base of the human nutrition worldwide. Despite the high variability of this food (recipes, ingredients, texture, form, colour and organoleptic profile) bread\u2019s chemical composition is fundamentally linked to the cereal/ingredients used in preparation. The nutritional value of bread is largely linked to carbohydrates content (starch), but many other bioactive can interest the nutritional value of this food. Barley and wheat, depending on the varieties as well as the origin and the agronomical practices, are rich in bioactive compounds like fibre and polyphenols, particularly concentrated in the bran fraction. A strategy to maximise the health benefits of wheat-based products could be to enrich refined flour with fractions of external kernel layers, obtained using grain dry-fraction technologies. Sequential pearling has usefully applied to treat different cereals, like wheat (Sovrani et al., 2012), sorghum (Luthria and Liu, 2013) and barley (Gamel et al., 2012), in order to obtain different fractions rich in bioactive compounds. The principal aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of wheat flour substitution with different percentages of pearled barley fractions on chemical composition and technological properties of bread. Considering the different composition of pearled barley fractions (external fractions are richer in antioxidants and insoluble fibre than internal layers and residual kernels, which, on the contrary, contain most \u3b2 -glucans), two different fractions (cv Mona, an hulless two-row variety) were employed, specifically the most external (corresponding to the 0-5% of kernel weight) and the most internal (residual 75% weight) fractions. Two different series of substituted flours were obtained (substitution percentages: 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) and used to prepare bread. All the samples and the corresponding blanks, obtained using not-substituted refined commercial flour, were analysed for the chemical composition (humidity, proteins, ashes, fibre, \u3b2-glucans and total polyphenols), the antioxidant activity, the rheological properties (Mixolab\uae parameters) and the physical bread properties (volume, crust colour, instrumental crunchiness and crumb texture profile analysis parameters). As expected, the use of these novel enriched flours improved the functional properties of the breads, in accord with the original properties of the barley fractions. In the case of \u3b2-glucans content, a greater increase was observed when internal fraction was employed (from 0.13% to 1.13% and from 0.18% to 0.89%, for the blanks and the 25%-substitution with internal and external fraction, respectively). Concluding, the modulation of the pearling technology and the possibility to mix different fractions can lead to the production of new functional flours useful for the production of bread with nutritional added value and specific functional properties
Nel frumento i parametri qualitativi sono strettamente connessi con il contenuto e la qualit\ue0 ... more Nel frumento i parametri qualitativi sono strettamente connessi con il contenuto e la qualit\ue0 del glutine e variano in funzione della destinazione d\u2019uso del prodotto. Ad esempio, la farina di un frumento biscottiero deve possedere un ridotto contenuto proteico (14%), forza e stabilit\ue0 dell\u2019impasto ai frumenti di forza e panificabili superiori (Foca et al., 2007). Il raggiungimento di questi obiettivi qualitativi dipende principalmente dalla variet\ue0 impiegata e dalla sua attitudine ad accumulare glutine nella granella. Tra gli altri fattori produttivi, la concimazione azotata \ue8 quello che pi\uf9 influenza la produzione sia in termini quantitativi sia in termini qualitativi. A seconda di quale sia l\u2019obiettivo, \ue8 necessario attuare determinate scelte per poter orientare il quantitativo di azoto da distribuire, il numero e l\u2019epoca degli interventi di concimazione, nonch\ue9 la tipologia di concime da impiegare. Recenti studi (Xue et al., 2016) hanno infatti evidenziato come non solo la dose distribuita, ma anche la tipologia di concime azotato utilizzato possa contribuire a variare la composizione glutinica e quindi la qualit\ue0 reologica delle farine. Lo scopo di questo lavoro \ue8 stato quello di analizzare l\u2019impatto di differenti strategie di concimazione azotata e solfatica sulla produzione, il contenuto proteico, la qualit\ue0 reologica e la composizione glutinica di frumenti biscottieri e frumenti di forza. Prove di campo dedicate per ciascuna tipologia varietale sono state condotte in diverse localit\ue0 del Piemonte in un triennio. Il lavoro ha messo in evidenza come per ciascuna classe merceologica la concimazione e la tipologia di concime azotato, in interazione con la variet\ue0 e l\u2019ambiente di coltivazione, concorra nel determinare il soddisfacimento dei parametri tecnologico-qualitativi richiesti dall\u2019industria molitoria. Foca G., Ulrici A., Corbellini M., Pagani M.A., Lucisano M., Franchini G.C., Tassi L., 2007. Reproducibility of the Italian ISQ method for quality classification of bread wheats: An evaluation by expert assessor. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 87 (5): 839-846. Xue C., Schulte auf\u2019m Erley G., Rossmann A., Schuster R., Koehler P., Muehling K.H., 2016. Split nitrogen application improves wheat baking quality by influencing protein composition rather than concentration. Front Plant Sci. 2016; 7: 738
Introduction: Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic activities of anthocyanins have bee... more Introduction: Antioxidant, Anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic activities of anthocyanins have been well studied. This project was aimed to investigating grains anthocyanin profile and scrutinizing their effects on the expression of inflammatory markers and on the activity of pancreatic and brush border enzymes. Material & Methods: Total anthocyanin content, anthocyanin profile and antioxidant capacity were measured in three corn and two wheat samples. Immunomodulating effects were evaluated by measuring the activation of NFkB in transfected Caco-2 cells. Inhibition against intestinal \u3b1-glucosidase and pancreatic \u3b1-amylase was also assessed. Results: The highest total anthocyanin content was detected in purple wheat followed by corn varieties (cultivars T and MF respectively). The immune response of Caco-2 cells decreased for all grains extracts. Purple wheat and blue corn (cultivar T) extracts were much active to inhibit \u3b1-amylase and \u3b1-glucosidase enzymes. Conclusion: Anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic effects of anthocyanins-rich extracts from corn and wheat were highlighted. These cereals can be incorporated into foods such as pasta, or as dairy products or fiber-rich drinks. Their use as functional foods deserves further attention, given their ability to control the carbohydrate metabolism and to modulate inflammation. Also, worth of further studies are their reported effects on cardiovascular risk factors and intestinal microbiota
The enhancement of Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance is one of the best options to reduce myc... more The enhancement of Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance is one of the best options to reduce mycotoxin contamination in wheat. This study has aimed to verify that the genotypes with high tolerance to deoxynivalenol could guarantee an overall minimization of the sanitary risk, by evaluating the contamination of regulated, modified and emerging mycotoxins on durum wheat cvs with different degrees of FHB susceptibility, grown under different meteorological conditions, in 8 growing seasons in North-West Italy. The years which were characterized by frequent and heavy rainfall in spring were also those with the highest contamination of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, moniliformin, and enniatins. The most FHB resistant genotypes resulted in the lowest contamination of all the mycotoxins but showed the highest deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside/deoxynivalenol ratio and moniliformin/deoxynivalenol ratio. An inverse relationship between the amount of deoxynivalenol and the deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside/de...
The western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelida... more The western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is one of the most severe pests of cultivated maize, Zea mays L. Most of the damage to this crop is caused by larvae feeding on the root system, causing important economic costs in terms of yield losses and management efforts. This research was carried out to evaluate the effect of different chemical control strategies to minimize larval damage in maize fields under natural infestation of the pest. Field-based research was performed in a two-year period (2011–2012) in five locations of northern Italy. Different insecticide strategies (belonging to the pyrethroid, neonicotinoid or organophosphate classes) were compared to an untreated control. The effects on larval infestation, root damage, silage and grain yield were assessed. Our data highlighted that insecticide application at sowing led to a significant reduction in the WCR larval density, both considering insecticide seed treatme...
Uploads
Papers by M. Blandino