BACKGROUND Sugar beet molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar beets into sugar. The molasses is known to contain sucrose and raffinose, a typical trisaccharide, with a well-established structure. Although sugar beet molasses contains various other oligosaccharides as well, the structures of those oligosaccharides have not been examined in detail. The purpose of this study wa...

Male gametogenesis in plants can be impaired by an incompatibility between nuclear and mitochondrial genomes, termed cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). A sterilizing factor resides in mitochondria, whereas a nuclear factor, Restorer-of-fertility (Rf), restores male fertility. Although a majority of plant Rf genes are thought to encode a family of RNA-binding proteins called pentatrico-peptide re...

Sweet cherries, Prunus avium L., from the United States must be fumigated to control codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), before exporting them to Japan. However, the status of sweet cherry as a true host for codling moth has been debated because of the limited survival of the pest. Previously, laboratory methods have been developed to rear the codling moth on sweet ch...

Laboratory, greenhouse and field studies were conducted on Oomyzus sokolowskii Kurdjumov, a parasite of diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), to judge its suitability for introduction in the field to control the plutellid. Oomyzus sokolowskii preferred the third and fourth instar diamondback moth larvae over fresh pupae for parasitization. It is thus a larval parasite. Within the range of...

The decision of whether to release transgenic crops in the EU is one subject to flexibility, uncertainty and irreversibility. We analyse the case of herbicide-tolerant sugar beet and estimate the maximum irreversible environmental cost that can be tolerated for this technology from a benefit–cost perspective. Among Member States, these costs range from an annual € 50 to € 212 per hectare plante...

SPORTS NUTRITION HAS BEEN eagerly awaiting the “next creatine”; a supplement that would capture the attention and resources of exercise scientists, athletes, and the medical world. Like creatine, it would quickly amass a literature showing clear evidence of benefits to exercise capacity and sports performance. The strength of this support would be underpinned not only by the quantity of publica...

Both structural and functional properties of belowground plant organs are critical for the development and yield of plants but, compared to the shoot, much more difficult to observe due to soil opacity. Many processes concerning the belowground plant performance are not fully understood, in particular spatial and temporal dynamics and their interrelation with environmental factors. We used Magn...

Commercial sugarbeet yields range between 50 and 100 t clean beets/ha, with sugar concentrations of 17 to 18% on fresh weight (8 to 18 t sugar/ha; Milford, 2006). For 2010, beet yields in the U.S. averaged 62.2 t/ha. However, in the Imperial Valley (predominant cattle feeding region for the state of California), clean beet yields averaged 98.8 t/ha (USDA, 2010); 9 Imperial Valley beet growers t...

Large amounts of waste biomass are generated in sugar factories from the processing of sugar beets. After diffusion with hot water to draw the sugar from the beet pieces, a wet material remains called pulp. In this study, waste sugar beet pulp biomass was enzymatically depolymerized, and the obtained hydrolyzates were subjected to fermentation processes. Bioethanol, biomethane, and biohydrogen ...