Zein, corn prolamine, was dissolved in several organic solvents to make films and their properties were examined. Ethanol with 20% water and acetone with 30% water were found to dissolve zein well and transform it into a transparent flexible film after moderate drying. Both films showed similar breaking strength to that of commercial thin film of polyvinylidene chloride for food use and were digested with proteases. Only the film prepared from acetone solution showed a relatively low water permeability. This water permeation was found to depend strongly on the rate of diffusion. 1,2-Epoxy-3-chloropropane (ECP) was added into the acetone solution to cross-link the zein molecules for the purpose of improving the breaking strength and water-resistant properties of the film. Alpha-chymotrypsin was found to digest the film even after the modification with ECP. However, this cross-linking resulted in little improvement in the water-resistant properties of the film and also reduced its flexibility.

Beragam komoditas pangan dapat dikembangkan di lahan pasang surut, namun yang sangat menonjol adalah tanaman pangan berupa padi dan palawija. Dalam perkembangannya pengelolaan air merupakan kunci yang sangat menentukan dalam peningkatan produktivitas lahan dan intensitas tanam. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan pengelolaan air, pelumpuran dan pemberian kapur dapat meningkatkan hasil padi dari 1,26 t GKG/ha pada tahun pertama pembukaan menjadi 4,03 t/ha setelah pengusahaan tiga tahun dengan penerapan pengelolaan air yang diperbaiki dengan sistem irigasi, drainase dan intersepsi (one flow system) secara berkesinambungan dalam tiga musim tanam. Pelumpuran pada MT I menurunkan hasil padi, tetapi pada MT selanjutnya pelumpuran dapat meningkatkan hasil antara 17-32 persen dibandingkan dengan MT I. Pergiliran tanaman dengan palawija memberikan hasil yang cukup baik, terutama dengan kedelai. Jumlah pemberian kapur cukup berpengaruh terhadap tingkat hasil yang diperoleh baik pada tanam 1 (padi) maupun tanam ke-2 (kedelai dan kacang tanah). Hasil padi dan palawija terbaik yang dicapai 2,73 t gabah kering giling (GKG), 2,03 t biji kering kacang tanah, dan 1,54 t biji kering kedelai. Residu 4 t kapur/ha (L3) yang diberikan pada musim tanam ke-1 dan ke-2 dapat memberikan peningkatan hasil padi sebesar 85 persen dan hasil kedelai sekitar 4 kali lipat. Pengolahan tanah dapat meningkatkan secara nyata baik hasil padi pada tanaman 1 dan palawija (kacang tanah dan kedelai) pada tanam 2. Pada lahan pasang surut tipe B, dengan sistem drainase dangkal dimungkinkan untuk tanam palawija dalam 2-3 kali setahun. Kapur dan pemupukan berpengaruh cukup besar terhadap hasil palawija. Hasil terbaik palawija yang dicapai masing-masing 4,41 t pipilan kering jagung, 3,52 t biji kering kacang tanah, dan 2,2 t biji kering kedelai per ha

Selective medium for investigation of C. perfringens in food, water and beverage was developed to substitute for FM-CW Agar due to no production of this medium in Japan. Five formulas of media: Clostridium welchii Brain Heart Infusion Agar (CWB), Clostridium welchii Agar (CWA), Loctose Egg-Yolk Agar (LEY), Liver Veal Agar (LV) and Modified Brain Heart Infusion Agar (Mod.BHI), were selected in this research. The quality and efficiency of these media was compared to FM-CW by using the reference standard culture of C. perfringens. The results showed that Mod.BHI is the most effective medium for observing the appearance of colony, the lecithinase reaction in egg yolk and Nagler reaction of organism. Therefore it was found that the Mod.BHI must be adjusted pH to 7.6 and boiled for sterilization then neomycin 400/ug/m/ was added. The developed medium and FM-CW were used to investigate C. perfringens, isolated from 35 samples of food, water and beverage and C. bifermentans isolated from 5 samples of food. The result showed that the developed medium, Mod. BHI, can be used to investigate C. perfringens in stead of FM-CW Agar.