The aim of this work was to evaluate the physicochemical and sensorial properties of dehydrated cheese during the storage. A mixed experimental design 2×2×3 was adopted. In this design, two qualitative variables were analyzed (type of pouches made out of polyethylene and aluminium) and atmosphere type (air, vacuum and nitrogen); and as a quantitative variable, the drying temperature of 50 and 60 °C. The moisture content and the water activity in the cheese samples ranged from 0.686 to 1.384% and from 0.611 to 0.527, respectively. The ∆E values ranged from 1 to 7 for all storage conditions and were closest to the initial value. These results indicated that the storage conditions did not significantly affected the color difference of product. The analysis of variance indicated that the storage conditions did not affected the protein content, sodium chloride and fat content values of cheese samples at the end of the storage period. The cheese samples dehydrated at 60 °C and packaged in aluminium pouches under vacuum conditions maintained the best physicochemical parameters and did not show significant difference with the cheese samples at the end of drying process.
Intensive agricultural activities have been shown to have negative effects on wildlife in agro-ecosystems. In this research, we determined the impacts of different agricultural practices on invertebrate diversity in Cypriot olive groves. The changes in invertebrate fauna and diversity in high and low altitude olive groves were compared. Invertebrate samplings of the canopy, understorey vegetation and soil surface were performed over an eight month period. During the surveys a total number of 12837 arthropods were collected. The most abundant invertebrate taxa were Coleoptera, Isopoda and Hymenoptera. A significant difference in arthropod abundance was found due to agricultural practices from the olive tree canopy samples. The number of arthropods and their species richness were significantly higher in low altitude uncultivated olive groves compared to other three management regimes. The results have shown that different agricultural practices significantly influenced the abundance and diversity of arthropods. The high degree of physical manipulation and inputs of pesticides and fertilizers, contributed to the loss of invertebrate abundance and biodiversity.