Jerusalem artichoke powder (JAP) from Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberous L.) roots is a nutritive valuable product that can be used for a healthy product development. The influence of JAP on the quality and degree of liking of cakes was investigated. Sensory evaluation of cakes was realized in two stages: the first - to define the quality attributes of the cakes with JAP from the point of view of the experts, the second – to find out the consumers' views on the cakes, whose quality has been improved in accordance with the recommendations of the experts. As a control sample, the classic home cake was evaluated. Control sample was compared with the cakes, where the amount of wheat flour prescribed by recipe was partly substituted with JAP at different concentrations. Experts evaluated cakes and defined the highest acceptable concentrations of JAP in cakes. For the consumers it was offered to assess the cakes with JAP at concentration 30% and with different taste and aroma enhancers. Cakes with 30% of JAP additive were the most favoured by the sensory properties: aroma, texture, softness elasticity, porosity and softness, surface crust, appearance, colour, shape, and size. Results of analysis of variance showed that there no significant differences in the degree of liking between the cakes with JAP and the cakes with taste and aroma enhancer additives (p is greater than 0.05). There had been performed hardness analysis and colour measurement for cakes with JAP. The observed results declare high influence of aroma and taste enhancer on cakes structure and colour.

The possibilities to use other media instead of the sand in the filters of vertical flow are analysed in the article. The media used has to be inexpensive and its possibilities to clean the wastewater have to surpass that of the sand. The modelling of the wastewater treatment in the vertical flow filters was carried out in 2008 at the Water Research Institute of the Faculty of Water and Land Management of Lithuanian University of Agriculture. Dolomite powder was chosen for the investigation. Two models of 0.2 square m filters were made: one was filled with the sand, but the other was filled with the dolomite powder. It was found that the dolomite filter was less reactive to the primary contamination of the wastewater with the organic pollutants: when their amount rose from 320 to 460 mg O2 LE-1 according to the BOD7 index, the amount of the pollutants in the wastewater cleaned with the dolomite powder filter rose from 1.4 to 3.1 and amount in the wastewater which passed the sand filter rose from 0.5 to 13.9 mg O2 LE-1. General phosphorus was removed with the efficiency of 99.9% in the dolomite powder filter (and only with the efficiency of 87.0% in the sand filter). Therefore the dolomite powder filter will be removing phosphorus from the wastewater to the allowable contamination level for a much longer period. General nitrogen was cleaned with the effectiveness of 13.0% in the dolomite powder filter. Therefore, it is necessary to use additional means for its removal from the wastewater in the vertical filters with the output higher than 5 m**3 dE-1.

Honey is a naturally supersaturated sugar solution, which tends to crystallize. The crystallization of honey can lead to unwanted fermentation that can have a negative impact to honey quality. The production of honey powder could be an alternative method to prevent honey from fermentation. Honey powder could be used as alternative substitute to liquid honey that would allow to use this product more widely in the food industry. α-amylase activity is one of the most important parameters to evaluate the quality of honey. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of freeze-drying and spray-drying on honey α-amylase activity. Detection of α-amylase activity was carried out by spectrophotometric method. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to determine the content of hydroxymethylfurfural in the powders. The obtained results showed that both drying methods had a negative impact to the enzyme activity in the samples. The lowest activity of α-amylase (8.3 DN) was measured in the spray-dried honey powder. Concentration of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in the powders did not exceed required concentration 40 mg kgE−1.

Blood haematology is one of the indicators that shows if a goat (Capra hircus) kid gets a sufficient quantity of liquid, has a good supply of oxygen in the body, as well as an indication of inflammatory processes. Our aim of this research was to find out how feed additives (probiotics (Enterococcus faecium), prebiotics (Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.)) and symbiotics (Enterococcus faecium+ Jerusalem artichoke)) influence on haematological parameters of kids. Research was performed in Latvia in 2014. The blood samples were analyzed for leucocytes (WBC), erythrocyte number (RBC), haemoglobin (HGB) concentration, packed cell volume (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentrations (MCHC). Since the blood indicators have not significantly changed in all examination times, we analyzed the results of the age of 4, 8 and 12 weeks. HCT downward trend in blood sample MRG + PRO, MRG + PRE and MRG + SIM group of kids was observed from the fourth week up to the eighth week and then it gradually increased. The results showed that the HCT, HGB, RBC, MCHC and WBC number was comparable (p is greater than 0.05) between groups. Our results prove that the use of Jerusalem artichoke powder as an additive to food not only improves digestion and metabolism of ruminant, but also helps to maintain constant haematological values. In the control group and the kids who received probiotics, prebiotics or symbiotics - significant differences are evident in all haematological parameters (p is less than 0.05) at the age of 12 weeks.