Judul: Kajian pengaruh pengukusan bertekanan (steam pressure treatment) terhadap sifat fisikokimia tepung jagung
Abstrak: The objectives of this study were to study the effects of steam pressure treatments on physicochemical properties of corn flour and to apply corn flour for cookies production. The study was conducted in three stages. The first stage was production of corn flour through wet milling process. The second stage was the analysis of physicochemical properties of corn flours that were steam pressure treated for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 minutes. The third stage was production of cookies using the pre-treated corn flour. The thermal properties showed that gelatinization transition temperatures (To, Tp, Tc) and gelatinization degrees increased but gelatinization enthalpy and temperature range decreased after steam pressure treatment when processing time increased. The decrease of the gelatinization enthalpy had been related to loss of crystallinity order within the flour granule. The rheological properties showed that maximum viscosity, hot paste viscosity, breakdown viscosity, cold paste viscosity and setback viscosity of pre-treated corn flour decreased after steam pressure treatment when processing time increased. The steam pressure treatment changed the gelatinization profile from B to C type. Correlation analyses showed that the maximum viscosity had positive correlation with swelling volume. The maximum viscosity, hot paste viscosity, breakdown viscosity, cold paste viscosity and setback viscosity had negative correlation with the gelatinization degrees. The swelling volume and water solubility of pre-treated corn flour were significantly affected by the steam pressure time. The swelling volume decreased but the water solubility increased. The steam pressure treatment did not give significant affects to water absorption capacity, amylose content, amilopectin content and moisture content of corn flour. The gelatinization degrees had positive correlation with the water solubility and the water absorption capacity but it had negative correlation with the swelling volume. The water solubility had negative correlation with the gelatinization enthalpy. Application of pre-treated corn flour for cookies production reduced sandiness of cookies. The sandiness of cookies had positive correlation with the gelatinization enthalpy but it had negative correlation with the gelatinization degrees.
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Judul: Effects of spontaneous fermentation during soaking of local variety of white corn (Zea mays L.) on physicals, chemical and functional characteristics of its flour
Abstrak: The uses of white corn in food industry in Indonesia are still limited. To explore the potential uses, evaluation of chemical physical, and functional properties of white corn flour is needed. The objective of this study was to evaluate chemical, physical and functional properties of white corn flour, and its changes as affected by spontaneous fermentation during soaking of white corn grits. Corn flour was prepared by soaking of white corn grits followed by drying and grinding. Soaking was done at closed pan and controlled temperature, to promote spontaneous fermentation. The resulted flour was fractionated using multiple sieve of 100 mesh (150 ìm), 150 mesh (106 ìm) and 200 mesh (75ìm) and analyzed for its chemicals, physicals and functional characteristics. Fermentation process as long as 24 hr will reduce gelatinization temperature (Tg) of resulted flour from 82oC to 76.2oC; but finally Tg would increase (85.2oC) at 72 hr of fermentation. Fermentation process of corn grits do not affect its peak viscosity (in the range of 493 -560BU), but will increase only after fermentation of more than 48-60 hr (648 -573 BU); and further fermentation would reduce the peak viscosity (550 BU)similar to that of flour resulted from process without fermentation. Flour resulted from corn grits after fermentation process of 12 hr has breakdown viscosity of 0 BU. This suggests that heat stability of flour produced from corn grits after 12 hr fermentation is higher that that of control flour (breakdown viscosity of 68 BU).
Keyword: gelatinization temperature, fermentation process, peak viscosity, breakdown viscosity

Judul: Upaya Penyelamatan Satwa Liar Indonesia Melalui Konservasi Harimau Sumatera (Panthera tigris sumatrae)
Abstrak: Dalam tiga dasawarsa terakhir ini, harimau telah banyak menarik perhatian dunia internasional. Keberadaan hewan mengagumkan ini di alam sudah mencapai tingkat yang paling kritis. Tiga dari 8 sUb-spesies yang pernah ada telah dilaporkan punah dari permukaan bumi. Ketiga subspesies tersebut adalah sub spesies harimau Kaspia (Panthera tigris virgata), harimau Jawa (Panthera tigris sondaica) dan harimau Bali (Panthera tigris balica). Kemusnahan sub-spesies harimau ini disebabkan oleh perbuatan manusia seperti perburuan, perusakan habitat asli serta perdagangan harimau untuk berbagai kepentingan. Lima sub-spesies harimau terakhir yang ada saat ini juga akan mengalami nasib yang sama apabila tidak dilakukan upaya konservasi. Kondisi tersebut mencapai titik kulminasi pada tahun 1975 ketika CITES (Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species) memasukkan hewan ini kedalam daftar Appendix I yaitu kategori hewan yang sangat dilarang untuk diperdagangkan baik pada tingkat nasional maupun internasional. Badan internasional lain yang merupakan badan dibawah pengawasan PBB yaitu IUCN (International Union/or Conservation o/Nature and Natural Resources) juga memasukkan hewan ini kedalam daftar merah yang memuat hewan-hewan yang terancam kepunahan. Atas dasar di atas kemudian muncul berbagai respon dari pihak yang peduli pada upaya pelestarian dan mencegah kepunahan satwa langka tersebut. Sebagai contoh adalah keluarnya perundang-undangan dalam kerangka strategi konservasi yang melarang pemusnahan harimau di setiap negara yang memiliki habitat asli spesies harimau dan hal tersebut berlaku bagi Indonesia. Di Indonesia respon yang dilakukan terhadap pelestarian spesies harimau dilakukan setelah dua sub spesies dari tiga sub spesies yang pernah ada di Indonesia dinyatakan punah. Indonesia pernah memiliki tiga sub spesies dari delapan sub spesies harimau dunia. Sub spesies harimau Bali (Panthera tigris balica) telah dinyatakan punah sekitar tahun 1940-an dan harimau Jawa (Panthera tigris sondaica) diperkirakan punah pada akhir tahun I 970-an. Sedangkan sub spesies terakhir yang dimiliki Indonesia adalah harimau Sumatera (Panthera tigris sumatrae). Dalanl rangka mendukung program konservasi satwa harimau sumatera, kemudian dibentuk strategi konservasi Harimau Sumatera. Sasaran utama dari strategi ini adalah untuk mengembangkan dan menjamin kelangsungan hidup dari harimau Sumatera liar dalam jangka waktu yang panjang di Indonesia. Strategi ini memiliki dua komponen yang berbeda yaitu : komponen in situ dan komponen ex situ. Komponen in situ mengutamakan tanggung jawab atas perlindungan populasi harimau Sumatera liar (di alam lepas) dan kelangsungan hidupnya serta ditambah pula dengan pengembangan strategi dalam memelihara populasinya. Komponen ex situ mengutamakan tanggung jawab dalam pengembangan populasi dari harimau Sumatera yang ada di dalam kebun binatang (penangkaran) serta mengatur populasi, penyakit dan kemurnian genetik dalarn mengembalikan keutuhan dari populasi liar. Konservasi harimau Sumatera yang telah dilakukan memberikan titik terang dalam upaya menyelamatkan keberadaan harimau Sumatera yang ada. Peningkatan populasi harimau Sumatera didapat apabila dilakukan upaya yang cukup maksimal, dan keberhasilan dalam menyelamatkan satwa ini akan dicapai. Namun hal yang masih perlu ditingkatkan dalam upaya konservasi harimau Sumatera adalah memeasyarakatkan program konservasi kepada seluruh lapisan masyarakat guna menumbuhkan kesadaran dalam menjaga kelestarian harimau Sumatera.
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