Plastic pollution is recognized as a severe anthropogenic issue in the coastal and marine ecosystems across the world. Unprecedented and continuous accumulation of growing plastic contaminants into any respective aquatic ecosystem by the anthropogenic sources causes direct and/or indirect interruption to ecosystem structure, functions, and consequently, services and values. Land-based and sea-based sources are the primary sources of these contaminants in various modes that enter the ocean. In this review paper, we focused on highlighting different aspects related to plastic pollution in coastal and marine environments. Plastic pollutants are distributed in the ecosystems in different forms, with different size variations as megaplastic, macroplastic, mesoplastic, and microplastic. Microplastics in primary and secondary forms reveal a widespread distribution in the water, sediment, and biota of the marine and coastal habitats. The microplastic level of different coastal and marine ecosystems nearly ranged from 0.001-140 particles/m3 in water and 0.2-8766 particles/m3 in sediments at different aquatic environments over the world. The microplastic accumulation rate of coastal and marine organisms varied at 0.1-15,033 counts. Accordingly, plastic pollution creates several kinds of negative consequences combined with ecological and socio-economic effects. Entanglement, toxicological effects via ingestion of plastics, suffocation, starvation, dispersal, and rafting of organisms, provision of new habitats, and introduction of invasive species are significant ecological effects with growing threats to biodiversity and trophic relationships. Degradation (changes in the ecosystem state) and modifications of marine systems are associated with loss of ecosystem services and values. Consequently, this emerging contaminant affects the socio-economic aspects through negative impacts on tourism, fishery, shipping, and human health. Preventing accumulation sources of plastic pollutants, 3Rs (Reduce-Recycle-Reuse), awareness & capacity building, and producer/manufacturer responsibility are practical approaches toward addressing the issue of plastic pollution. Existing and adopted policies, legislations, regulations, and initiatives at global, regional, and national level play a vital role in reducing plastic debris in the marine and coastal zones. Development of proposals/solutions on key research gaps can open a novel pathway to address this environmental issue in an effective scientific manner. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates the current status of plastic pollution in the marine ecosystem to make aware people of a plastic-free, healthy blue ocean in the near future.

Minor components, especially antioxidative constituents, play an imperative role in the nutritional and health impact of edible oils. This study was carried out to determine the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) seed oil, which currently remains as an underutilized oil in Sri Lanka. The phenolic fraction of the oil was extracted into methanol by passing the oil through a glass column containing silica (60 Å). The Total Phenolic Content (TPC) was determined using Folin-Ciocalteu's colorimetric method and expressed as mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per gram of extract. The antioxidant potential of the oil extracts was assessed using DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays and β-carotene/linoleate model system. α-Tocopherol was used as the reference antioxidant. Sesame seed oil extracts possessed a higher TPC (26.00 ± 0.14 mg GAE/g of extract) compared to the reference antioxidant, α-tocopherol (18.00 ± 0.12 mg GAE/g). The DPPH radical scavenging activity of the oil extract and α-tocopherol was 0.026 mg/mL and 0.031 mg/mL, respectively. The ABTS radical scavenging activity of the oil extract and α-tocopherol were 58.0 % and 46.0 %, respectively, at 2.0 % (w/v) concentration. Sesame seed oil extract exhibited a significantly higher percentage (p<0.05) of inhibition of linoleic acid induced oxidation of β-carotene (53.6 %) compared to αtocopherol (45.0 %) at 2.0 % (w/v) concentration. Results revealed that the sesame seed oil possessed a strong antioxidant activity compared to α-tocopherol, therefore, can be categorized as an edible oil with a high potential of antioxidant activity.

Genome determines the unique individualities of organisms; however, proteins play significant roles in the generation of the colorful life forms below water. Aquatic systems are usually complex and multifaceted and can take on unique modifications and adaptations to environmental changes by altering proteins at the cellular level. Proteomics is an essential strategy for exploring aquatic ecosystems due to the diverse involvement of proteins, proteoforms, and their complexity in basic and advanced cellular functions. Proteomics can expedite the analysis of molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes in an aquatic environment. Previous proteomic studies on aquatic environments have mainly focused on pollution assessments, ecotoxicology, their role in the food industry, and extraction and identification of natural products. Aquatic protein biomarkers have been comprehensively reported and are currently extensively applied in the pharmaceutical and medical industries. Cellular- and molecular-level responses of organisms can be used as indicators of environmental changes and stresses. Conversely, environmental changes are expedient in predicting aquatic health and productivity, which are crucial for ecosystem management and conservation. Recent advances in proteomics have contributed to the development of sustainable aquaculture, seafood safety, and high aquatic food production. Proteomic approaches have expanded to other aspects of the aquatic environment, such as protein fingerprinting for species identification. In this review, we encapsulated current proteomic applications and evaluated the potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of proteomics for future aquatic environmental studies. The review identifies both pros and cons of aquatic proteomics and projects potential challenges and recommendations. We postulate that proteomics is an emerging, powerful, and integrated omics approach for aquatic environmental studies.

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is a medicinal plant having a range of therapeutic, anti-microbial and growth promoting effects. Objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of fenugreek seed powder on growth performance, visceral organ weight, serum cholesterol levels and the nitrogen (N) retention of broiler chicken. In a Complete Randomized Design with six replicates, 108 chicks in 36 pens received one of the six experimental diets containing either 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 % fenugreek powder from day 21-38. The weight gain of the birds that were fed with 4 and 5 % fenugreek was significantly lower (p0.05) altered by dietary fenugreek. It was concluded that 1 % dietary fenugreek has some growth promoting effects in broiler chicken.

Forecasting of paddy production is a need for planning purposes and import policy of rice should be based on such forecasts. Even though Sri Lanka has achieved self sufficiency in rice the expenditure on rice sector has increased continuously. The objectives of this study are to investigate the past, present and future trends of paddy production in Sri Lanka and to develop a time series model to detect the long term trend and prediction for future changes of paddy production for the three leading years. Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) was used to fit the data set which is complementary to the trend regression approach and forecasting of the concerned variable to the near future. Time series forecasting analysis utilized the secondary data of the Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka for the period of 1952 to 2010. Non-stationarity in mean was corrected through differencing of the data of order 1. ARIMA (2, 1, 0) was the most suitable model used as this model has the lowest AIC and BIC values. The Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) for paddy production was 10.5. The forecasts for paddy production during 2011 to 2013 were 4.07, 4.12 and 4.22 million Mt respectively, and the production for the year 2011 and 2012 was lower than in 2010. However in later year 2013 the production was higher. This model can be used by researchers for forecasting of paddy production in Sri Lanka. But, it should be updated continuously with incorporation of recent data.