Bingyao Bai

To address the poor water solubility and low stability of curcumin, this study prepared chickpea porous starches at different enzymatic hydrolysis times (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 h) through the synergistic action of α-amylase and glucoamylase and evaluated their performance as a natural carrier for curcumin. The results showed that as the enzymatic hydrolysis time lengthened, the pore size increased, dense micropores formed on the starch granule surface, and the specific surface area and pore volume increased significantly. Furthermore, the solubility, water-holding and oil-holding capacities, swelling power, and transparency of the porous starch were markedly improved, while the original C-type crystalline structure was maintained. Loading experiments revealed that the porous starch hydrolyzed for 8 h exhibited the strongest adsorption performance, achieving a curcumin encapsulation efficiency of up to 80.65%. These complexes not only significantly enhanced the thermal stability of curcumin but also preserved its excellent antioxidant activity (ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging capacities), while the carrier itself demonstrated enhanced resistance to in vitro digestion. This study provides a theoretical basis and practical reference for the development of novel legume-starch-based green delivery systems and for the efficient encapsulation of hydrophobic bioactive substances.

This study aims to explore the effect of pH on the solubility of walnut protein isolate (WPI) across a pH range of 7.0 to 12.0. The findings reveal that WPI solubility increased with rising pH levels, reaching a maximum solubility of 61.13% (4.79 mg/mL) at pH 12.0. Building on these results, WPI was subjected to compound heating at pH 12.0, with temperatures ranging from 60 °C to 100 °C (maintained for 30 min), to evaluate its structural and functional properties. Compared to the control group, WPI solubility peaked at 80.56% when heated to 90 °C. Additionally, its foaming capacity rose to 118.22% ± 7.34, accompanied by improved foaming stability. The average particle size decreased to 151.93 nm, while the surface charge increased to −28.33 mV. The protein subunits progressively aggregated within the range of 20.0 kDa to 14.1 kDa, and the surface hydrophobicity decreased. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the surface morphology of the WPI became increasingly smooth with rising heating temperatures. Moreover, significant changes were observed in the secondary structure of the WPI. This study underscores the potential of pH-shifted compound heating treatment as a promising processing technique for WPI, offering key insights into the optimization of walnut protein processing.

The effect of acetylation on the physicochemical properties of chickpea starch was studied. After the chickpea starch was acetylated, the basic properties were measured. When the degree of substitution (DS) was 0.1004 and the temperature was 95 °C, the solubility and swelling power of starch were 19.6% and 21.4 g/g, respectively. The freeze–thaw stability of acetylated starch paste increased with the increase in the degree of substitution. The surface morphology of starch granules changed, but the crystalline morphology did not change, and the C-type crystalline structure was still maintained. There are three new absorption peaks in the infrared spectroscopy of starch, and the -COCH₃ group was introduced. With the increase in DS, the viscosity of esterified chickpea starch decreased gradually. Compared with unmodified chickpea starch, the ability to form gel was poor.

In this work, the potential of a hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system for the detection of black spot disease on winter jujubes infected by Alternaria alternata during postharvest storage was investigated. The HSI images were acquired using two systems in the visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR, 400–1000 nm) and short-wave infrared (SWIR, 1000–2000 nm) spectral regions. Meanwhile, the change of physical (peel color, weight loss) and chemical parameters (soluble solids content, chlorophyll) and the microstructure of winter jujubes during the pathogenic process were measured. The results showed the spectral reflectance of jujubes in both the Vis-NIR and SWIR wavelength ranges presented an overall downtrend during the infection. Partial least squares discriminant models (PLS-DA) based on the HSI spectra in Vis-NIR and SWIR regions of jujubes both gave satisfactory discrimination accuracy for the disease detection, with classification rates of over 92.31% and 91.03%, respectively. Principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out on the HSI images of jujubes to visualize their infected areas during the pathogenic process. The first principal component of the HSI spectra in the Vis-NIR region could highlight the diseased areas of the infected jujubes. Consequently, Vis-NIR HSI and NIR HSI techniques had the potential to detect the black spot disease on winter jujubes during the postharvest storage, and the Vis-NIR HSI spectral information could visualize the diseased areas of jujubes during the pathogenic process.