Surabhi Sharma

Development and Quality Evaluation of Kiwi- Apple Juice Concentrate

The concentration of fruit juices is industrially performed in order to reduce storage, packaging, handling and shipping costs. This paper describes the research efforts to develop and optimise the fortification of apple juice with naturally enriched Vit. C source i.e. kiwifruit, on laboratory scale, for the production of nutritionally ascorbic acid enriched juice concentrate. Preparation of blends of kiwi juice with apple juice for the utilization into concentrates is another outlet for its economic consumption. Apple juice is rich in nutrients but has very low vitamin C content. However, kiwifruit has the highest level of vitamin C (3-5 times more than citrus fruits) and it is a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin E, folic acid and minerals (P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn). On the basis of these characteristics kiwifruit offers benefits for specific health condi- tions and, consequently, it has a great potential for industrial exploitation. Fresh depectinated apple and kiwifruit juice was blended in the ratio of 50:50. The ascorbic acid content increased significantly after blending of the juices (6.64 to 59.63 mg/100g). However, ascorbic acid was found to be retained during evaporative concentration of the juices to 50OB. The blended juices and concentrates were successfully stored after pasteurization for a period of six months with non-significant changes in the quality parameters. The cost of production on laboratory scale of blended juice and 50OB concentrate was Rs 36 and Rs 106 respectively per 650ml bottle.

Tomato Fruit Quality under Protected Environment and Open Field Conditions

Vegetables are important component of balanced human diet. Advanced production technologies are being followed to measure productivity and quality of produce. Protected cultivation is an improved agro technique being used worldwide to register 3–4 times increase in production. Tomato is grown extensively in the plastic greenhouses for higher productivity. The growing conditions especially light and temperature are known to influence both composition and quality of tomato fruits. Hence, studies have been conducted to estimate the quality parameters of tomato grown both under open and in polyhouse with shade nets during cloudy weather in rainy season The results reveals that the fruits harvested from the field had higher TSS:TA ratio (11.73), acidity (0.49%), total sugar (2.5%), ascorbic acid (14.7 mg 100g−1), TSS (5.76oB) and the lycopene content (8.7mg 100 g−1) than the fruits grown under protected conditions. However, the environment in the polyhouse favour the growth and development of tomato plant through increased plant height (1.4m) and number of branches. The fruit yield obtained from the polyhouse was higher (2.6 kg plant−1) than the open field (1.5 kg plant−1). Hence, both types of environmental conditions are favourable in some aspects. The parameters of economic importance like fruit weight and yield are better under protected conditions but the nutritional parameters like vitamin C and lycopene content are higher in open conditions during rainy season.

Transplacental immunity and waning of maternal antibody in measles

Since transplacental immunity and waning of maternally derived measles specific antibodies play an important role in determining the optimum age for vaccination of infants against measles, a study was carried out in which 150 paired samples and 581 infant serum samples were tested for measles specific antibodies. Out of these paired samples, 132 pairs showed measles antibodies in both mother and cord. HAI antibody was absent in 3 paired samples whereas, 5 mothers could not pass on the antibodies in the cord samples. In the remaining 10 serum samples only cord blood showed the presence of antibodies without the detectable level of antibodies in mother. Statistically no significant difference between the mother and cord blood titers was observed by applying the student ‘t’ test for comparison of the mean (t=0.01). Analysis of 581 infant serum samples for prevalence of maternal antibodies indicated that 83% of the samples at the age of 3 months or below had measles antibodies but with the increase in age there was tremendous loss with only 19–20% at the age of 6–7 months. After 7 months the percentage of infants which had antibody varied from 11–13%. There was negative correlation between age and seropositivity (r=−0.72) which was highly significant (p<0.05).