School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences - Research Publications

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    Novel packaging development, assessment and authentication using smart technologies, non-invasive biometric sensory tools and artificial intelligence
    Viejo, CG ; Gurr, PA ; Dunshea, FR ; Fuentes, S ; Shukla, A (Springer Nature Singapore, 2022-01-19)
    Packaging creates the first impression from consumers when selecting commercial food or beverages. Different packaging components are important as they contain all areas of interest related to branding, shape, design and nutritional information, which could determine willingness to purchase and success of products in the market. However, traditional packaging acceptability assessments based on focus groups, acceptance and preference tests may be biased and subjective. Therefore, novel assessment methods have been developed based on more objective parameters, including non-invasive biometrics such as eye tracking, emotional responses from consumers and changes in physiological parameters, such as heart rate and body temperature. Emerging technologies have also been studied for packaging assessment, such as virtual/augmented reality and artificial intelligence tools, including computer vision and machine learning modelling. Furthermore, counterfeiting has been a major issue among commercial products, with food and beverages accounting for 10% counterfeited, including packaging and branding. This chapter focuses on the latest research on intelligent and digital technologies for packaging development, assessing consumer acceptability towards packaging and authentication using new and emerging digital technologies.
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    A forest fuel dryness forecasting system that integrates an automated fuel sensor network, gridded weather, landscape attributes and machine learning models
    Lyell, CS ; Nattala, U ; Joshi, RC ; Joukhadar, Z ; Garber, J ; Mutch, S ; Inbar, A ; Brown, T ; Gazzard, T ; Gower, A ; Hillman, S ; Duff, T ; Sheridan, G (Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra, 2022)
    Accurate and timely forecasting of forest fuel moisture is critical for decision making in the context of bushfire risk and prescribed burning. The moisture content in forest fuels is a driver of ignition probability and contributes to the success of fuel hazard reduction burns. Forecasting capacity is extremely limited because traditional modelling approaches have not kept pace with rapid technological developments of field sensors, weather forecasting and data-driven modelling approaches. This research aims to develop and test a 7-day-ahead forecasting system for forest fuel dryness that integrates an automated fuel sensor network, gridded weather, landscape attributes and machine learning models. The integrated system was established across a diverse range of 30 sites in south-eastern Australia. Fuel moisture was measured hourly using 10-hour automated fuel sticks. A subset of long-term sites (5 years of data) was used to evaluate the relative performance of a selection of machine learning (Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) based Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM)), statistical (VARMAX) and process-based models. The best performing models were evaluated at all 30 sites where data availability was more limited, demonstrating the models' performance in a real-world scenario on operational sites prone to data limitations. The models were driven by daily 7-day continent-scale gridded weather forecasts, in-situ fuel moisture observation and site variables. The model performance was evaluated based on the capacity to successfully predict minimum daily fuel dryness within the burnable range for fuel reduction (11 – 16%) and bushfire risk (
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    Microwave Application for Animal Feed Processing to Improve Animal Performance
    Shishir, MSR ; Brodie, G ; Cullen, B ; Cheng, L ; Horikoshi, S ; Brodie, G ; Takaki, K ; Serpone, N (Springer, 2022)
    Feed nutritive value and its utilization by the animal are the two important factors that influence the profitability and sustainability of animal production systems. Microwave (MW) technology is one of the efficient technologies being used for physical processing of feed to improve feed nutritive value in the animal digestive system. Previous research has demonstrated that MW treatment may have been useful for improving feed digestibility and changing its utilization in animals’ bodies. Crude protein (CP) is one of the most important nutrients, MW treatment is effective at reducing concentrate feed CP rumen degradability, potentially leading to more efficient utilization of protein in the ruminant intestine. It reduces the anti-nutritional factors present in the feeds, which can limit animals’ intake and utilization. In this chapter, the application of MW treatment for feed processing and the prospects for the future use of MW technology in animal production systems will be discussed.
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    The Effect of Landscape History on the Urban Environment: Past Landscapes, Present Patterns
    du Toit, MJ ; Hahs, AK ; MacGregor-Fors, I ; du Toit, MJ ; Davoren, E ; Cilliers, SS ; Shackleton, CM (Springer International Publishing, 2021)
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    Microwave Soil Treatment Alleviates Arsenic Phytotoxicity and Reduces Wheat Grain Arsenic Concentration
    Humayun Kabir, M ; Brodie, G ; Gupta, D ; Pang, A (IntechOpen, 2022-03-17)
    Arsenic (As) contamination in soil and accumulation in food crops has raised much concern worldwide due to its phytotoxicity and possible human health risk. This study was conducted to determine whether microwave (MW) soil treatment could alleviate As phytotoxicity and reduce wheat grain As concentration or not. Experimental soils were spiked to five levels of As concentration (As-0, As-20, As-40, As-60, and As-80 mg kg–1) prior to applying three levels of MW treatment (MW-0, MW-3, and MW-6 minute). Significantly higher plant growth and grain yield and lower grain As concentration was recorded in MW treatments compared with the control treatment. For instance, significantly higher grain yield (28.95 g pot–1) and lower grain As concentration (572.03 μg kg–1) were recorded in MW-6 treatment compared with MW-0 (22.03 g pot–1 and 710.45 μg kg–1, respectively) at the same soil As concentration. Hence, MW soil treatment has the potential to alleviate As phytotoxicity and to reduce the grain As concentration. Ultimately, MW soil treatment will reduce As bioaccumulation in the human body even if wheat is grown in As contaminated soil. Nevertheless, further validation experiments are needed to explore the effectiveness of MW treatment in field conditions.
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    Soils and restoration of forested landscapes
    Prescott, CE ; Katzensteiner, K ; Weston, C ; Stanturf, JA ; Callaham, MA (Elsevier, 2020-01-01)
    The nature and properties of the soil, along with other site factors such as climate, slope position, elevation, and aspect, determine the availability of water and nutrients to plants and therefore influence the success of forest restoration programs. Characteristics of the soil therefore warrant careful consideration when estimating the potential of a site for afforestation or reforestation. Many sites being considered for forest landscape restoration have soils that have been degraded through various human activities, which will need to be rehabilitated as part of the restoration process. Characteristics of degraded soils include loss of structure and organic matter, susceptibility to erosion by wind or water, diminished aeration and water-holding capacity, insufficient or excess nutrient supply, excess acidity or salinity, and diminished soil biota. In this chapter, we discuss each of these impairments and the restoration practices that can be applied to rehabilitate degraded soils.
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    Microwave Soil Treatment and Plant Growth
    Brodie, G ; Jamal Khan, M ; Gupta, D ; Hasanuzzaman, M ; Fujita, M ; Carvalho Minhoto Teixeira Filho, M ; Assis Rodrigues Nogueira, T (IntechOpen, 2019-10-15)
    Crop yield gaps can be partially overcome by soil sanitation strategies such as fumigation; however, there are fewer suitable fumigants available in the marketplace and growing concerns about chemical impacts in the environment and human food chain. Therefore, thermal soil sanitation has been considered for some time and microwave soil treatment has some important advantages over other thermal soil sanitation techniques, such as steam treatment. It is also apparent that microwave soil sanitation does not sterilize the soil, but favors beneficial species of soil biota making more nutrients available for better plant growth. From these perspectives, microwave soil treatment may become an important pre-sowing soil sanitation technology for high value cropping systems, allowing agricultural systems to better bridge the crop yield gap.
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    Food Processing Waste: A Potential Source for Bioactive Compounds
    Ain, HBU ; Saeed, F ; Barrow, CJ ; Dunshea, FR ; Suleria, HAR ; Murthy, HN ; Bapat, VA (Springer International Publishing, 2020)
    In the past, unfortunately, fruit processing wastes and by-products have not been taken seriously. However, in recent era, fruit processing industries have undergone rapid growth globally owing to the awareness of public and scientists. Fruit processing wastes are considered as valuable resource owing to the presence of a broad spectrum of bioactive moieties including polyphenols, antioxidants, proteins, dietary fiber, enzymes, flavoring aromas, organic acids, and minerals. Scientists are trying to recover various bioactive compounds from these wastes through specific extraction techniques, i.e., conventional and novel techniques. Applications of food processing wastes in food, textile, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries can be increased through the extraction of bioactive moieties by various methods. This chapter highlights the bioactive profiling of fruit waste material of different processed foods and guides how we can extract these bioactive compounds. Bioactive extraction techniques include conventional extraction and novel technologies are discussed. Utilization of fruit processing wastes in the production of high value-added products has increased the profitability of the fruit processing industry by reducing the cost of disposal of these wastes.
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    Controls and counterfactual information in agro-ecological investment
    Duncan, D ; REICH, P ; Ansell, D ; Gibson, F ; Salt, D (ANU Press, 2016)
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    Introduction
    Park, C-M ; Uslaner, EM ; Park, CM ; Uslaner, EM (ROUTLEDGE, 2020)
    BACKGROUND: One important way to transform food systems for human and planetary health would be to reduce the production and consumption of animals for food. The over-production and over-consumption of meat and dairy products is resource-intensive, energy-dense and creates public health and food equity risks, including the creation of superbugs and antimicrobial resistance, contamination and pollution of land and waterways, and injustice to animals and humans who work in the sector. Yet the continuing and expanding use of animals is entrenched in food systems. One policy response frequently suggested by parties from all sectors (industry, government and civil society) is voluntary or mandatory labelling reforms to educate consumers about the healthiness and sustainability of food products, and thus reduce demand. This paper evaluates the pitfalls and potentials of labelling as an incremental regulatory governance stepping-stone to transformative food system change. METHODS: We use empirical data from a study of the regulatory politics of animal welfare and environmental claims on Australian products together with an ecological regulation conceptual approach to critically evaluate the potential of labelling as a regulatory mechanism. RESULTS: We show that labelling is generally ineffective as a pathway to transformative food system change for three reasons: it does not do enough to redistribute power away from dominant actors to those harmed by the food system; it is vulnerable to greenwashing and reductionism; and it leads to market segmentation rather than collective political action. CONCLUSION: We suggest the need for regulatory governance that is ecological by design. Labelling can only be effective when connected to a broader suite of measures to reduce overall production and consumption of meat. We conclude with some recommendations as to how public health advocates and policy entrepreneurs might strategically use and contest labelling and certification schemes to build support for transformative food system change and to avoid the regressive consequences of labelling.