Batters are highly complex systems with wide ranging ingredients including flours, water, flavorings, and spices. Interactions between the ingredients determine the performance of batters and the final quality of coated products. Addition of hydrocolloids into batters of different types of flour provides special effects on batter performance. The functionalities of hydrocolloids-flour mixtures in terms of the thermal and rheological properties of the resulting batter systems were investigated in this study. / The rheological properties of the batter were determined using a strain/stress control rheometer. A steady state method was used to measure the viscosity as a function of the shear rate varying from 0.5 to 150 s-1 at 15°C. The resulting data was then fitted to the Herschel-Bulkley Model. The viscoelastic properties were monitored as a function of temperature and were determined using a dynamic oscillatory test. Two different temperature profiles were used to simulate cooking and storage processes. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to determine thermal properties (namely glass transition temperature, gelatinization temperature, ice melting temperature, and enthalpy) and to describe the phase transitions that occur during heating and cooling processes. / The rheological and thermal properties varied for different types of flours and their combination ratios, as well as different types of hydrocolloids at different concentrations. The replacement of corn flour greatly altered the viscosity and viscoelastic properties of wheat based and rice based batter systems. Using 100% corn flour based batter showed highest yield stress, whereas 100% rice flour based batter did not show any yield stress. Higher temperatures and longer times were required to gelatinize starch at the higher levels of rice flour for each batter system flour mix combination. The various combination ratios of the flours apparently did not significant influence the gelatinization temperatures of the batter systems. However they significantly influence the total enthalpies (DeltaHG) of the various samples. Wheat flour based batters showed the lowest glass transition temperatures. Thermal properties of wheat-based batters were influenced by the replacement of wheat with rice or corn flours. Corn flour based batters required considerably more energy for gelatinization during the cooking process. / Hydrocolloids lowered flow behavior index (n) and increased the consistency index (k) of all batters. The gums also changed the onset temperature of structure development and the storage and loss moduli of the batter systems. Hydrocolloids greatly influenced the thermal properties of batter systems. The gums shifted gelatinization temperature and depressed glass transition temperature of resulting batter systems. Further, MC increased the melting temperature (Tm) for the test batter systems as compared with the values for the control system without methylcellulose (MC). Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) did not show statistically significant effects on the total enthalpies of ice melting for all samples. However, MC and CMC showed more pronounced effects on rice, corn, and their combined flour based batters than it did on wheat flour based batters. However, this characteristic does not show in batter systems containing xanthan gum.

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Genotype by environment interactions (GxE) can form a potential source of inefficiency in animal breeding if selection decisions are made without accounting for their effects. The UK sheep industry covers an assorted range of farming systems and environments, with each flock having a unique and diverse set of resources and management styles. As a result, what may be the best performing genotype in one environment may not necessarily be the best performing genotype in another. This thesis reports on an investigation into the presence of GxE within the UK sheep industry. Pedigree and performance data, available from both hill and terminal sire breeds, were analysed using a number of different methods. When environments were defined as 2 individual hill farms, genetic correlations were estimated between farms, for a range of Scottish Blackface ewe and lamb traits. Those found to be significantly different from 1 (P<0.05), and therefore indicating the presence of GxE, were lamb birth weight and ewe premating weight. Following on from this, fine-scale information obtained by a farmer questionnaire, from 79 different terminal sire flocks was combined with nationally-available climatic data and analysed using principle coordinate analysis and non-hierarchical clustering methods. Three distinct clusters of farm environments were identified, with grazing type, climatic conditions and the use of vitamin/mineral supplements proving to be the most distinguishing factors. The presence of GxE was then investigated by estimating genetic correlations between the clusters identified, using performance data from Charollais lambs, for 21 week old weight (21WT), ultrasound back-fat (UFD) and muscle (UMD) depths. The correlations estimated between clusters 1 and 2, which had the highest number of common Charollais sires used, were all low and significantly different from 1 (P<0.05) suggesting GxE was evident in terms of both scaling and re-ranking. Finally, the relationship between the level of concentrate feed used in each flock, as obtained from the questionnaire, and performance and climatic information available nationally for all flocks was estimated using canonical correlation analysis. This allowed the development of a farm environment scale, applicable to all flocks within the UK, and the use of reaction norm analyses to investigate the presence of GxE. The reaction norm describes the phenotype of an individual animal as a function of the environment. The environment scale developed, using data from Texel flocks only, went from low performance averages and poorer weather conditions to high performance averages and improved weather conditions. The slope of the reaction norm measures the sensitivity of an animal to a change in the environment. For each trait, (21WT, UMD and UFD), evidence of both re-ranking and scaling of sires were observed. A number of “robust” sires, with a low level of environmental sensitivity, were also identified. The findings from these analyses may have implications for future sheep breeding programmes. Providing a suitable “measure of environment” can be agreed, the identification of sires that perform well in specific environments, as well as those who perform consistently across a number of different environments, would be beneficial for farmers. This would potentially remove any unwanted effects of GxE and allow the farmer to select animals best suited to their overall farm environment.

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The importance of food service in the national economy grew at an average of 3% per annum over the past 10 years, which can be explained by the significant changes in the habits of the Brazilians, imposed by the modern world. There is a clear trend of increasing market demand for ready products for consumption, which is a result of changing population lifestyle. Many foods, before the frying process, are breaded with corn flour. This outer layer concentrates a higher oil absorption during the frying process. Some ingredients have been added to the coatings of breaded products to decrease the oil absorption. Among the different gums used as barriers to fat, the use of starch, which has the unique property of thermal gelation, was the target of this study. In this work, a method for treatment of corn flour was developed to reduce the oil absorption of steaks and nuggets, adding a solution of pregelatinized starch. The effect of the amount of gelatinized starch solution on the oil retention in fried corn flour was evaluated. Different amounts of a starch solution (30 %wt) were added to corn flour, keeping the humidity constant. The results showed that the addition of 3 g of gelatinized starch solution to 10 g of corn flour had the lowest oil absorption, with a reduction of about 21.5% in oil absorption when compared with the absorption of the sample without treatment. This condition contained enough solution to coat the flour particles, enhancing the formation of gelatinous film which acted as a resistance to entry of oil, promoting sealing the pores of the corn flour. Thus, this work contributes to the development of a less caloric fried product, enabling consumers to enjoy the unique flavor that the frying process provides to food. Furthermore, the implementation of starch-based coatings in the manufacturing process reduce the oil retention during the pre-frying, decreasing the amount of oil that should be returned to the process, and, consequently, process operational cost. / A dimensão e a importância dos serviços de alimentação na economia nacional cresceram numa média de 3% ao ano, ao longo dos últimos 10 anos, o que pode ser explicado pela mudança expressiva de ritmo e hábitos dos brasileiros, imposta pelo mundo moderno. Existe uma clara tendência de aumento da demanda do mercado em consumir produtos prontos para consumo, que é resultado da mudança do estilo de vida da população, a qual busca gastar menos tempo no preparo de alimentos. Em decorrência da preocupação de se reduzir o consumo de gorduras sem alterar a qualidade e as características do produto, tem-se procurado desenvolver substitutos que imitem as propriedades organolépticas e funcionais da gordura. Muitos alimentos, antes de serem submetidos ao processo de fritura, são empanados com farinha de milho, sendo que é nesta camada externa onde se concentra uma maior absorção de óleo. Alguns ingredientes têm sido adicionados aos revestimentos de produtos empanados visando à redução da quantidade de óleo absorvido. Dentre as diferentes gomas utilizadas como barreiras à gordura, o uso do amido, que possui a propriedade única de gelatinização térmica, foi alvo deste estudo. Neste trabalho foi estudada uma metodologia de tratamento da farinha de milho, utilizada como revestimento externo em produtos como steaks e nuggets, por meio da adição de uma solução de amido pré-gelatinizado. O efeito da quantidade da solução aquosa de amido gelatinizado sobre a retenção de óleo na farinha de milho frita foi avaliado. Diferentes quantidades de uma solução à base de amido (30% m/m) foram adicionadas a farinha de milho, mantendo-se a umidade constante. Os resultados mostraram que a condição que apresentou a menor absorção de óleo foi a adição de 3 g da solução gelatinizada de amido em 10g de farinha de milho, com uma redução de 21,5% na absorção de óleo, quando comparada com a absorção da amostra padrão, farinha de milho comercial. Esta condição continha solução suficiente para recobrir as partículas de farinha, favorecendo a formação de filme gelatinoso, que se comportou como uma resistência à entrada de gordura para o alimento, promovendo a selagem dos poros da farinha de milho. Assim, este trabalho contribui para o desenvolvimento de um produto frito menos calórico, possibilitando ao consumidor desfrutar o sabor único que o processo de fritura proporciona aos alimentos. Além disso, a implementação desse recobrimento à base de amido no processo industrial, ao reduzir a retenção de óleo durante a pré-fritura, conseqüentemente, reduzirá a quantidade de óleo que deverá ser reposta ao processo, reduzindo o custo operacional do mesmo. / Mestre em Engenharia Química