Food-based components represent major sources of functional bioactive compounds. Milk is a rich source of multiple bioactive peptides that not only help to fulfill consumers ‘nutritional requirements but also play a significant role in preventing several health disorders. Understanding the chemical composition of milk and its products is critical for producing consistent and high-quality dairy products and functional dairy ingredients. Over the last two decades, peptides have gained significant attention by scientific evidence for its beneficial health impacts besides their established nutrient value. Increasing awareness of essential milk proteins has facilitated the development of novel milk protein products that are progressively required for nutritional benefits. The need to better understand the beneficial effects of milk-protein derived peptides has, therefore, led to the development of analytical approaches for the isolation, separation and identification of bioactive peptides in complex dairy products. Continuous emphasis is on the biological function and nutritional characteristics of milk constituents using several powerful techniques, namely omics, model cell lines, gut microbiome analysis and imaging techniques. This review briefly describes the state-of-the-art approach of peptidomics and lipidomics profiling approaches for the identification and detection of milk-derived bioactive peptides while taking into account recent progress in their analysis and emphasizing the difficulty of analysis of these functional and endogenous peptides.

Salt stress is one of the major constraints affecting plant growth and agricultural productivity worldwide. Sorghum is a valuable food source and a potential model for studying and better understanding the salt stress mechanics in the cereals and obtaining a more comprehensive knowledge of their cellular responses. Herein, we examined the effects of salinity on reserve mobilization, antioxidant potential, and expression analysis of starch synthesis genes. Our findings show that germination percentage is adversely affected by all salinity levels, more remarkably at 120 mM (36% reduction) and 140 mM NaCl (46% reduction) than in the control. Lipid peroxidation increased in salt-susceptible genotypes (PC-5: 2.88 and CSV 44F: 2.93 nmloe/g.FW), but not in tolerant genotypes. SSG 59-3 increased activities of α-amylase, and protease enzymes corroborated decreased starch and protein content, respectively. SSG 59-3 alleviated adverse effects of salinity by suppressing oxidative stress (H₂O₂) and stimulating enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities (SOD, APX, CAT, POD, GR, and GPX), as well as protecting cell membrane integrity (MDA, electrolyte leakage). A significant increase (p ≤ 0.05) was also observed in SSG 59-3 with proline, ascorbic acid, and total carbohydrates. Among inorganic cations and anions, Na⁺, Cl⁻, and SO₄²⁻ increased, whereas K⁺, Mg²⁺, and Ca²⁺ decreased significantly. SSG 59-3 had a less pronounced effect of excess Na⁺ ions on the gene expression of starch synthesis. Salinity also influenced Na+ ion efflux and maintained a lower cytosolic Na⁺/K⁺ ratio via concomitant upregulation of SbNHX-1 and SbVPPase-I ion transporter genes. Thus, we have highlighted that salinity physiologically and biochemically affect sorghum seedling growth. Based on these findings, we highlighted that SSG 59-3 performed better by retaining higher plant water status, antioxidant potential, and upregulation of ion transporter genes and starch synthesis, thereby alleviating stress, which may be augmented as genetic resources to establish sorghum cultivars with improved quality in saline soils.

Bottle gourd is an important cucurbitaceous crop. The impact of 14 species from eight fungal genera on bottle gourd seeds was studied through in vitro tests. Bottle gourd seeds were inoculated with each isolate separately and subjected to various germination tests. Maximum germination inhibition was upto 69.3% due to Fusarium proliferatum. Inoculation of seeds with F. proliferatum significantly reduced the germination speed index to 2.69. The seedling vigour index I for seeds inoculated with F. proliferatum and F. incarnation-equiseti (species complex) was 860 and 861, respectively, significantly different from that of non-inoculated seeds having a vigour index of 1791. The seedling vigour index II of seeds inoculated with F. proliferatum was 1818, significantly lower than the control (4631), indicating that the F. proliferatum isolate was highly virulent among all the isolates. Amongst seven plant protectants evaluated for their efficacy as seed dressers against F. proliferatum, propioconazole (25% EC), copper oxychloride (50% WP) and Mancozeb (75% WP) were effective in reducing infection. Germination percentage was highest for seeds treated with the bioagent Trichoderma harzianum 1% WP.

The present study was carried out in the Department of Seed Science and Technology Section, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, India. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of seed in vigor at ion treatments on seed quality of American cotton varieties (H-1098 (I), H-1117 and H-1236) picked at different intervals and stored under controlled storage conditions at 20°C with 6% moisture content in sealed plastic containers. Seed ageing leads to reduction in seed quality; during storage, there is reduction in seed vigour potential, performance and stand establishment, poor emergence and high seedling mortality, thus leading to poor crop stand and reduced yield. Improvement in germination by seed priming may combat this problem, as this physiological technique results in faster and synchronous seed germination. This study evaluated the effect of different seed priming treatments on percent germination, seedling length, dry matter and vigour indices on American cotton varieties (H-1098 (I), H-1117 and H-1236) to determine and exploit their usefulness in improving cotton seed quality for better seedling establishment. Seeds of American cotton were primed for 2 h at 25°C with different chemicals (Control, KH₂PO₄, KNO₃, PEG, GA₃ and hydration–dehydration) to enhance its quality, and non-primed seeds were used as control. From the study, it was observed that seeds primed with GA₃ significantly enhanced the seed germination percent, seedling length, seedling dry weight and vigour indices.