Formulation and Quality Evaluation of Chicken Nuggets Supplemented with Beef and Chicken Livers.

This study explores the potential of utilizing meat byproducts, specifically chicken and beef liver, to enhance the nutritional value of processed foods like chicken nuggets. Proximate analysis was conducted on the livers, including moisture, ash, fat, and protein content, and degradation potential was observed. Antioxidant potential was analyzed through 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The total phenolic content (TPC), oxidative stability through peroxide value (POV), and free fatty acid (FFA) were performed to evaluate quality changes during seven-day storage. The radical scavenging activity showed that beef liver has excellent antioxidant capacity (61.55%- and 195.89-mM gallic acid equivalent for DPPH and TPC, respectively) compared to chicken liver and significantly increased the antioxidant potential of nuggets by 5%-10%. POV and FFA values increased with increased storage days for the liver and its incorporation in nuggets. However, the values remained under the 10 meq/kg threshold. Incorporating the livers into chicken nuggets led to a significant (p=0.000) improvement in nutritional content, particularly a 1.5%-2% increase in protein, with a similar increase in mineral content. Texture and sensory evaluations indicated favorable consumer acceptability for liver-enriched nuggets. Overall, this research shows the value of adding liver as a functional ingredient to enhance the nutritional profile of processed foods.

Comparative analysis, diversification, and functional validation of plant nucleotide-binding site domain genes.

Nucleotide-binding site (NBS) domain genes are one of the superfamily of resistance genes involved in plant responses to pathogens. The current study identified 12,820 NBS-domain-containing genes across 34 species covering from mosses to monocots and dicots. These identified genes are classified into 168 classes with several novel domain architecture patterns encompassing significant diversity among plant species. Several classical (NBS, NBS-LRR, TIR-NBS, TIR-NBS-LRR, etc.) and species-specific structural patterns (TIR-NBS-TIR-Cupin_1-Cupin_1, TIR-NBS-Prenyltransf, Sugar_tr-NBS etc.) were discovered. We observed 603 orthogroups (OGs) with some core (most common orthogroups; OG0, OG1, OG2, etc.) and unique (highly specific to species; OG80, OG82, etc.) OGs with tandem duplications. The expression profiling presented the putative upregulation of OG2, OG6, and OG15 in different tissues under various biotic and abiotic stresses in susceptible and tolerant plants to cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD). The genetic variation between susceptible (Coker 312) and tolerant (Mac7) Gossypium hirsutum accessions identified several unique variants in NBS genes of Mac7 (6583 variants) and Coker312 (5173 variants). The protein-ligand and proteins-protein interaction showed a strong interaction of some putative NBS proteins with ADP/ATP and different core proteins of the cotton leaf curl disease virus. The silencing of GaNBS (OG2) in resistant cotton through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) demonstrated its putative role in virus tittering. The presented study will be further helpful in understanding the plant adaptation mechanism.