Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2023
Authors
Gunnhild SøgaardAbstract
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Global measures to bring net-zero-carbon and zero-waste emissions are expanding at a rapid pace. Currently, only 16% of the plastic waste from the food industrial sector is reprocessed and recycled, which is way lesser than its accumulation. Several countries have imposed a ban on single-use plastic derived from food and/or beverage industries. All these constraints and challenges have encouraged researchers to find a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based food packaging. The environmentally friendly substitute can be the bio-based polymer material derived from agri-food and marine wastes that connect the waste loop in the current economic model. This waste has the most valuable biopolymer mainly present in the cell wall matrix of plants, animals, bacteria, fungi, and algae. All these biopolymers are either accumulated in a landfill or not entirely harvested their high-value compounds as a potential feedstock. Nevertheless, bio-based polymers have better thermos-mechanical properties that can resist various conditions. They comprise superior functional properties when these biopolymers are coupled with other organic compounds such as composite films or multilayer packaging films which enhance the shelf-life of the food. Overall, biopolymers readily react with the soil microbes under specified environmental conditions that can significantly enhance the biodegradability of packaging material. This unique quality is envisaged to solve the existing problems and detrimental effects of synthetic polymer usage in the food industry. In this background, in this chapter, the origin of biopolymers and their potential functionality, mechanical property, and degradability as food packaging materials are discussed. Their current challenges and possible future prospects are also meticulously highlighted.
Abstract
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Authors
Kannan Mohan Palanivel Sathishkumar Durairaj Karthick Rajan Jayakumar Rajarajeswaran Abirami Ramu GanesanAbstract
Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) Hermetia illucens is fastest growing and most promising insect species especially recommended to bring high-fat content as 5th generation bioenergy. The fat content can be fully optimized during the life-cycle of the BSFL through various organic dietary supplements and environmental conditions. Enriched fat can be obtained during the larval stages of the BSF. The presence of high saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in their body helps to produce 70 % of extractable oil which can be converted into biodiesel through transesterification. The first-generation biodiesel process mainly depends on catalytic transesterification, however, BSFL had 94 % of biodiesel production through non-catalytic transesterification. This increases the sustainability of producing biodiesel with less energy input in the process line. Other carbon emitting factors involved in the rearing of BSFL are less than the other biodiesel feedstocks including microalgae, cooking oil, and non-edible oil. Therefore, this review is focused on evaluating the optimum dietary source to produce fatty acid rich larvae and larval growth to accumulate C16–18 fatty acids in larger amounts from agro food waste. The process of optimization and biorefining of lipids using novel techniques have been discussed herein. The sustainability impact was evaluated from the cultivation to biodiesel conversion with greenhouse gas emissions scores in the entire life-cycle of process flow. The state-of-the-art in connecting circular bioeconomy loop in the search for bioenergy was meticulously covered.
Abstract
Vaccinium berries include several economically important cultivated and wild species such as blueberries, cranberries, bilberries and lingonberries. These species are recognized for the various health beneficial properties, which are generally linked to the high yields and the complex profile of flavonoids in the berries, including anthocyanin, proanthocyanidin, and flavonol classes of flavonoids. Anthocyanins are one of the main pigments in plants contributing to the characteristic reddish to bluish colours in flowers and fruits. Most important anthocyanins are glucosides of six common aglycons: cyanidins, delphinidins, pelargonidins, petunidins, peonidins and malvidins. Of these, delphinidin branch anthocyanins, namely delphinidins, petunidins, and malvidins are responsible of bluish colours in blue Vaccinium berries. The biosynthesis of anthocyanins has been intensively studied, and the structural enzyme genes responsible of the specific steps of the pathway have been characterised also in diverse Vaccinium species. For the delphinidin branch, flavanone 3’5’ hydroxylase (F3’5’H) is the key enzyme for the branching point towards bluish anthocyanins. Our recent results both from controlled and field experiments have revealed new information on the key regulators controlling the different branches of the anthocyanin biosynthesis in blue-coloured berries. Transcriptome analyses combined with metabolite results have identified signaling routes leading to increase in delphinidin branch anthocyanins. Our results show that the anthocyanin composition in blue Vaccinium berries could be modified by specific environmental factors.
Authors
Milica Fotirić Akšić Živoslav Tešić Milica Kalaba Ivanka Ćirić Lato Pezo Biljana Lončar Uroš Gašić Biljana Dojčinović Tomislav Tosti Mekjell MelandAbstract
The aim of this study was to find the chemical parameters for the differentiation of plum cultivars grown along the fjord areas of Western Norway and Eastern Norway, having specific agroclimatic conditions. Chemical analysis of the fruits confirmed the contents of 13 quantified elements, 22 sugar compounds, 11 organic acids, 19 phenolic compounds, and antioxidant activity in 68 plum cultivars. Dominated contents were noted for nitrogen (with the maximum mean value of 3.11%), potassium (8055.80 mg/kg), and phosphorous (7878.88 mg/kg). Averagely, the highest level of sugars was determined for glucose (244.46 g/kg), fructose (197.92 g/kg), sucrose (208.25 g/kg), and sorbitol (98.02 g/kg), organic acids for malic acid (24.06 g/kg), and for polyphenol compounds were 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid (66.31 mg/kg), and rutin (58.06 mg/kg). Applied principal component analysis has been useful for distinguishing the plum cultivars from three areas in Norway where copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, and sodium; sucrose, ribose, maltose, and raffinose; p-hydroxybenzoic acid, rutin, ferulic acid, kaempferol 7-O-glucoside, p-coumaric acid, and 5-Ocaffeoylquinic acid were the most influential. In regard to human health and future breeding work that will have the aim to produce functional food with high health-related compounds, the plum cultivar ‘Mallard’ should be underlined due to the high level of elements, ‘Valor’ due to high sugar content, ‘Helgøyplomme’ due to content of organic acids, and ‘Diamond’ due to the content of phenolic compounds.
Abstract
Levels of dissolved natural organic matter (DNOM) are increasing in our boreal watercourses. This is manifested by an apparent increase in its yellow to brown colour of the water, i.e., browning. Sound predictions of future changes in colour of our freshwaters is a prerequisite for predicting effects on aquatic fauna and a sustainable operation of drinking water facilities using surface waters as raw water sources. A model for the effect of climate on colour (mg Pt L-1) has been developed for two surface raw water sources in Scotland, i.e., at Bracadale and Port Charlotte. Both sites are situated far out on the Scottish west coast, without major impact of acid rain, with limited amounts of frost, and with limited recent land-use changes. The model was fitted to 15 years long data-series on colour measurements, provided by Scottish Water, at the two sites. Meteorological data were provided by UK Met. The models perform well for both sites in simulating the variation in monthly measured colour, explaining 89 and 90% of the variation at Bracadale and Port Charlotte, respectively. These well fitted models were used to predict future changes in colour due to changes in temperature and precipitation based on median climate data from a high emission climate RCP8.5 scenario from the HadCM3 climate model (UKCP18). The model predicted an increase in monthly average colour during growing season at both sites from about 150 mg Pt L-1 to about 200 mg Pt L-1 in 2050–2079. Temperature is found to be the most important positively driver for colour development at both sites.
Abstract
Accurate estimation of site productivity is essential for forest projections and scenario modelling. We present and evaluate models to predict site index (SI) and whether a site is productive (potential total stem volume production ≥ 1 m3·ha−1·year−1) in a wall-to-wall high-resolution (16 m × 16 m) SI map for Norway. We investigate whether remotely sensed data improve predictions. We also study the advantages and disadvantages of using boosted regression trees (BRT), a machine-learning algorithm, to create high-accuracy SI maps. We use climatic and topographical data, soil parent material, a land resource map, and depth to water, together with Sentinel-2 satellite images and airborne laser scanning metrics, as predictor variables. We use the SI observed at more than 10 000 National Forest Inventory (NFI) sample plots throughout Norway to fit BRT models and validate the models using 5822 independent temporary plots from the NFI. We benchmark our results against SI estimates from forest monitoring inventories. We find that the SI from BRT has root mean squared error (RMSE) ranging from 2.3 m (hardwoods) to 3.6 m (spruce) when tested against independent validation data from the NFI temporary plots. These RMSEs are similar or marginally better than an evaluation of SI estimates from operational forest management plans where SI normally stems from manual photo interpretation.