In wines, the presence of sulfur compounds is the resulting of several contributions among which yeast metabolism. The characterization of the starter Saccharomyces cerevisiae needs to be performed also taking into account this ability even if evaluated together with the overall metabolic profile. In this perspective, principal aim of this experimental research was the evaluation of the volatil...

Winemaking of musts acidified with up to 3g/L of gypsum (CaSO4 2H2O) and tartaric acid, both individually and in combination, as well as a chemical modeling have been carried out to study the behaviour of these compounds as acidifiers. Prior to fermentation gypsum and tartaric acid reduce the pH by 0.12 and 0.17 pH units/g/L, respectively, but while gypsum does not increase the total acidity an...

Electrophoretic karyotyping and mitochondrial DNA restriction analysis were used to analyze natural yeast populations from fermenting musts in El Penedès, Spain. Both analyses revealed a considerable degree of polymorphism, indicating heterogeneous natural populations. By specifically designed genetic selection protocols, strains showing potentially interesting phenotypes, such as high toleranc...

Four yeast strains isolated from fermenting botrytized grape musts in the Tokaj wine region of Hungary are shown to represent a new osmotolerant and psychrotolerant species. The new species, Candida zemplinina (type strain 10-372(T)=CBS 9494(T)=NCAIM Y016667(T)), is closely related to Candida stellata, a yeast common on overripe grapes and in sweet fermenting wines. The sequence of the D1/D2 do...

We present a decision support system for the fermentation step in winemaking based on a mathematical model of kinetics of alcoholic fermentation. We used an optimization technique in order to predict the fermentation step. This optimization technique was carried out using the method of factorial analysis. The first interesting application of this system, rather than existing ones, comes from th...

Fleshy fruit is consumed by many wildlife species and is a critical component of forest ecosystems. Because fruit production may change quickly during forest succession, frequent monitoring of fruit biomass may be needed to better understand shifts in wildlife habitat quality. Yet, designing a fruit sampling protocol that is executable on a frequent basis may be difficult, and knowledge of accu...

Cultivated pepper (Capsicum annuum) is a phenotypically diverse species grown throughout the world. Wild and landrace peppers are typically small-fruited and pungent, but contain many important traits such as insect and disease resistance. Cultivated peppers vary dramatically in size, shape, pungency, and color, and often lack resistance traits. Fruit characteristics (e.g. shape and pericarp th...