The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of gender on meat quality traits and sensory characteristics of pork loin. A total of 90 pork carcasses (180 days old, 45 barrows and 45 gilts, each gender group was consisted of fifteen 1+, 1 and 2 carcass grades) were selected and loin cuts were excised to investigate meat quality, electronic tongue measures and sensory panel test. There were significant differences in drip loss (1.66% vs 1.21%), released water (12.19% vs 10.68%) and cooking loss (23.67% vs 21.04%) between loins from barrow and gilt (p<0.05). However, no significant differences in meat color (CIE L* a* b*) and shear force were observed between gender groups (p>0.05). Umami and richness values of barrow were significantly higher than those of gilt, while barrow had significantly lower sourness value compared to gilt (p<0.05). On the sensory evaluation, barrow scored higher in flavor, juiciness and tenderness both, and as a result, barrow (5.51 points) also scored significantly higher than gilt (4.86 points). These results suggest that the umami intensity and sensory taste of barrow loin are superior to gilt loin due to its high water-holding capacity.

In this study, we aimed to develop a mixed tea prepared with roasted mulberry leaf and fruit using response surface methodology (RSM). Roasting of mulberry leaf was by 6 stages, as shown in Fig. 1; and mulberry fruit was roasted in 4 stages, as shown in Fig. 2. Subsequently, physicochemical measurements such as total polyphenol content, nitric oxide production content, and α-glucosidase inhibitory effect were obtained for each sample. Central composite design was applied to prepare samples containing varying contents of roasted mulberry leaf (RoML) and roasted mulberry fruit (RoMF); subsequently, sensory evaluation was conducted. The total polyphenol content of roasted samples (RoML and RoMF) were significantly higher than that of raw samples (RaML and RaMF), respectively. The nitric oxide (NO) production of roasted samples were significantly lower than that of control (LPS induced RAW 264.7 cell). The α-glucosidase inhibitory effect of roasted samples was significantly higher than that of raw samples, respectively. Based on the RSM estimation for determination of optimum ratio by sensory evaluation (taste, color, and flavor) among 13 mixed samples, the optimum mixing ratio of RoML and RoMF for taste, color, and flavor were 1.64 g (RoML) and 0.88 g (RoMF), 1.35 g (RoML) and 0.92 g (RoMF), 1.65 g (RoML) 1.03 g (RoMF), respectively. Based on results of three sensory evaluations, mixing ratio comprising 1.54 g of RoML and 0.92 g of RoMF is desirable for delicious tea with functionality.

Water and sediment qualities were investigated in the Oncheon Stream and at the Wondong bridge of the Suyoung River, during the summer rainy season, 2019. Dissolved oxygen (DO) showed the lowest levels at 4.7 and 5.0 m/L, and biogeochemical oxygen demand (BOD) showed the highest at 5.3 mg/L downstream where the tributary flows into the main river. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased from 2.0 to 5.9 mg/L on average as it flowed downstream, The COD/BOD ratio decreased gradually as it flowed downstream, reaching 1.0. However, COD/BOD ratio at the Wondong bridge was 5.8-22.2, indicating that easily biodegradable and non-biodegradable organic matter flows into the Oncheon Stream and Suyoung River, respectively. Total nitrogen (T-N) / total phosphorus (T-P) ratio tended to decrease from 72 to 21 as it flowed downstream, measuring 71 to 86 at the Wondong bridge. The water quality index (WQI) generally improved better than grade IV after heavy rainfalls. However, DO and T-P were the parameters that deteriorated the WQI. Ignition loss (IL), COD, T-N, and T-P of sediments had distribution of 1.44 ± 1.01%, 0.35 ± 0.16%, 43 ± 63 mg/kg, and 10.9 ± 21.9 mg/kg, respectively. These were several times lower than the annual averages of IL, T-N, and T-P in 2017 before the dredging project was conducted in the first half of 2018.