Prof. WANG Qiang Section Editor

Institute of Food Science and Technology Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing 100193, P.R.China

Cereal, oil and fruit are the foundation of human survival which attracted much attention by their quality characteristics and products. Currently, there are about 410 000 wheat resources (Drikvandet al.2013), 215 000 rice resources(Kauret al.2014), 35 000 peanut resources (Wanget al.2014), and 7 000 apple resources (Nieet al.2013). The processing characteristics of different agricultural product raw materials are different. And for a long time, lots of research are focusing on the development of processing technology.The background and basis of different agricultural product raw materials, especially for the processing characteristics,is still unclear while the relationship between raw materials and products is just beginning. According to the research,American peanut has been divided into four types while Virginia suitable for salt-baked, Runner suitable for butter,Spanish suitable for confectionery and Valencia suitable for roasting (Wanget al.2017). However, the lacking of process quality evaluation model, method and standard is still the bottleneck restricting the healthy development of agricultural product processing industry. This special focus provides the most methods and updated knowledge of processing characteristics and quality evaluation.

In the aspect of characteristic detection, Nagamotoet al.(2018) developed a microplate assay method for determining the contents of triacylglycerols (TAGs), phosphatidylcholines(PCs), and free fatty acids (FFAs) in the rice bran of one grain using enzymatic reactions. This novel method could be used for screening oil-rich rice lines in the future rice processing.And for the relationship between raw material characteristics and product quality, Choet al.(2018) identified how the different levels of nitrogen application affected the variances of gluten properties and end-use qualities and the differences of variances among Korean wheat cultivars. The Korean wheat cultivars showed a high proportion of (α+β)-gliadin increase for bread, a high proportion of γ-gliadin decrease for noodles and a high proportion of ω-gliadin decreased for cookies. And Yanet al.(2018) also tested ten indices from 106 apple cultivars and finally found malic acid (Mal),total organic acids (ToA), and acidity value (AcV) of apple were normally distributed, titratable acid (TiA) was close to normally distributed, whereas pH value had a skewed distribution. Using the fitted normal distribution curves, the grading standards of Mal, TiA, ToA, and AcV were established. This study provides a scienti fic basis for evaluating apple flavor and selecting apple cultivars.

Actually, the finally purpose for the processing characteristics and quality evaluation is to find the special varieties for processing which could enhance the quality and value of products. And Wanget al.(2018) could give a good example. They clarified the relationship between peanut quality and storage stability of peanut butter. It concluded that oleic acid and linoleic acid values of the peanut materials have greater impact on the storage stability of peanut butter while two peanuts varieties as HOP and Open 17-15 had the longest shelf life for butter.

I genuinely believe that the readers of theJournal of Integrative Agriculturewill be interested in these articles and inspired with the findings of the papers for developing future research on the given topics. I want to express my deep appreciation to all authors for their high-quality contributions and efforts to this special focus.

Cho S W, Kang C S, Kang T G, Cho K M, Park C S. 2018.Influence of different nitrogen application on flour properties,gluten properties by HPLC and end-use quality of Korean wheat.Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 17, 982–993.

Drikvand R, BIhamta M R, Naja fian G. 2013. Kernel quality association and path analysis in bread wheat.International Journal of Biology, 5, 73–79.

Gong A N, Shi A M, Liu H Z, Yu H W, Liu L, Lin W J, Wang Q. 2018. Relationship of chemical properties of different peanut varieties to peanut butter storage stability.Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 17, 1003–1010.

Kaur S, Panesar P S, Bera M B, Kumari S. 2014. Physicochemical,textural, pasting andin vitrodigestion properties of some basmati and non-basmati rice cultivars.International Journal of Food Properties, 17, 1055–1062.

Nagamoto J, Sawazaki A, Miyago M, Shirouchi B, Sakata M, Tong L T, Kumamaru T, Sato M. 2018. Rapid semi-quantification of triacylglycerols, phosphatidylcholines,and free fatty acids in the rice bran of one grain.Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 17, 977–981.

Nie J Y, Wu Y L, Li H F, Wang K, Xu G F, Yan Z, Wu X.Evaluation system established for fresh apple juice quality.Scientia Agricultura Sinica, 46, 1657–1667. (in Chinese)

Wang L, Liu H Z, Liu L, Wang Q, Li Q Z, Du Y, Zhang J S. Protein contents in different peanut varieties and their relationship to gel property.International Journal of Food Properties,17, 1560–1576.

Wang Q. 2017.Peanut Processing Characteristics and Quality Evaluation. Springer, Singapore.

Yan Z, Zheng L J, Nie J Y, Li Z X, Cheng Y. 2018. Evaluation indices of sour flavor for apple fruit and grading standards.Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 17, 994–1002.