Today, the most significant challenge encountered by food manufacturers is degradation in the food quality during storage, which is countered by expensive packing, which causes enormous monetary and environmental costs. Edible packaging is a potential alternative for protecting food quality and improving shelf life by delaying microbial growth and providing moisture and gas barrier properties. For the first time, the current article reports the preparation of the new films from Ditriterpenoids and Secomeliacins isolated from Melia azedarach (Dharek) Azadirachta indica plants to protect the quality of fruits. After evaluating these films, their mechanical, specific respirational, coating crystal elongation, elastic, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR), film thickness, and nanoindentation test properties are applied to apple fruit for several storage periods: 0, 3, 6, 9 days. The fruits were evaluated for postharvest quality by screening several essential phytochemical, physiological responses under film coating and storage conditions. It was observed that prepared films were highly active during storage periods. Coated fruits showed improved quality due to the protection of the film, which lowered the transmission rate and enhanced the diffusion rate, followed by an increase in the shelf life. The coating crystals were higher in Film-5 and lower activity in untreated films. It was observed that the application of films through dipping was a simple technique at a laboratory scale, whereas extrusion and spraying were preferred on a commercial scale. The phytochemicals screening of treated fruits during the storage period showed that a maximum of eight important bioactive compounds were present in fruits after the treatment of films. It was resolved that new active films (1–5) were helpful in the effective maintenance of fruit quality and all essential compounds during storage periods. It was concluded that these films could be helpful for fruits growers and the processing industry to maintain fruit quality during the storage period as a new emerging technology.
10 December 2018 in Journal of Food Science and Technology
The remediation in plant enzymatic activities in Cd-contaminated soil was monitored through tea waste. Tea is an extensively used beverage worldwide with the release of a high quantity of tea waste utilized in the growing condition of Helianthus annuus on Cd metal contaminated soil. The study was a plan for the natural environmental condition in the greenhouse. For this purpose, four sets of plants were cultivated in triplicate and marked as (i) control, (ii) Cd stress plants, (iii) dry tea waste and Cd stress, and (iv) fresh tea waste and Cd stress. The improved efficiency of biochemical reactions in plants under Cd stress with tea waste treatment was the consequence of blocking Cd movement in the soil through adsorption on tea waste, showing that the tea waste effectively controls the mobility of Cd from the soil to the roots of the plants. Scan electron microscopy (SEM) validates the recovery of the leaves of the plants. The remediation of plant growth and enzyme activities such as amylase, peroxidase, nitrate reductase (NR), and nitrite reductase (NiR) under Cd metal-contaminated soil through tea waste was investigated. The source of tea waste in contaminated soil resulted in the recovery of the photosynthetic process and an improvement in amylase, NR, NiR, and peroxidase activities, thereby resulting in the recovery of pigments coupled with an increase in the biomass of the plants. It was suggested that tea waste acts as a good biosorbent of Cd and energy provider to the plants for normal enzyme activity under Cd stress and may be used by farmers in the future for safe and healthy crops as a cost-effective technology.
Abstract: Background: Lignin and cellulose, organic constituents of the plant or plant-based material not commonly used for feeding purpose are referred as Biomass. Patents suggest that this can be used as the best resource of renewable energy. Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae (VAM) fungi can play an effective role in biomass manufacturing through activated metabolism of the plant under dual symbiosis. During C acclimatization, mycorrhizal inoculated plants existent greater number of leaves with a height of plants as compared to non-mycorrhizal plants. The current article discloses the search of the natural resources for C assimilation into biomass using mycorrhizal symbiosis. Methods: The pot experiment was conducted in the natural environment for extraction of more bioenergy through biomass of Conocarpus erectus L under VAM (Glomus fasciculatum) inoculation in various environmental conditions with replicates. Results: It observed that these fungal engineered plants showed distinctive prospective to offer, enhanced biomass to energy couple with a strong network for sinking CO2 from the atmosphere via strong roots and large surface area of leaves. There was an increase in biomass (9-17% respectively) of the plant under drought-VAM, VAM inoculation and VAM- enriched CO2 conditions in same period in comparison to control plants through lignin, cellulose and carbohydrate contents. It was followed by enhanced enzyme activities and nutrient ions in dual symbiosis. Conclusion: Coupling biomass-originated energy may recover environmental conditions and commercial value for sustainable growth in energy consumption sector. The green energy from fungal engineered plants may replace high demand of fossil fuel as a young biofuel and make the cities more productive in the fabrication of bioenergy too in the form of biomass or biofuel with C impartial atmosphere.
The work aimed to assess the restoration of metal-contaminated soil pH and EC and impacts on Cd accumulation in plants Helianthus annuus (Sunflower) through tea waste in a natural environment. Various doses of Cd metal treatment (1–5 ppm) were provided to the soil with two sets of organic matter (tea waste) in a dry and wet state. The soil and plants were analyzed using analytical procedures like AAS, SEM and EDS, while pH and EC were measured through pH and conductivity meter. The mitigating effect of tea waste was observed on the pH (6.2–6.9) and EC of the soil, which was reflected by the healthy growth of the plants. It was established that the movement of the Cd was successfully controlled with the restoration of essential nutrient elements in different parts of plants. It was strongly related to recovered soil pH and EC in two sets of tested H. annuus plant species. The healthy growth of the plants showed that tea waste acts as a safe, harmless and sound remediator of soil, which enhances the soil nutrient ionic activity from soil to roots of the plants in the presence of the Cd metal, effective for the use of agriculture purposes.