Rising world population is expected to increase the demand for nitrogen fertilizers to improve crop yield and ensure food security. With existing challenges on low nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of urea and its environmental concerns, controlled release fertilizers (CRFs) have become a potential solution by formulating them to synchronize nutrient release according to the requirement of plants. However, the most significant challenge that persists is the “tailing” effect, which reduces the economic benefits in terms of maximum fertilizer utilization. High materials cost is also a significant obstacle restraining the widespread application of CRF in agriculture. The first part of this review covers issues related to the application of conventional fertilizer and CRFs in general. In the subsequent sections, different raw materials utilized to form CRFs, focusing on inorganic and organic materials and synthetic and natural polymers alongside their physical and chemical preparation methods, are compared. Important factors affecting rate of release, mechanism of release and mathematical modelling approaches to predict nutrient release are also discussed. This review aims to provide a better overview of the developments regarding CRFs in the past ten years, and trends are identified and analyzed to provide an insight for future works in the field of agriculture.

The search for effective methods of cancer treatment and prevention has been a continuous effort since the disease was discovered. Recently, there has been increasing interest in exploring plants and fruits for molecules that may have potential as either adjuvants or as chemopreventive agents against cancer. One of the promising compounds under extensive research is nobiletin (NOB), a polymethoxyflavone (PMF) extracted exclusively from citrus peel. Not only does nobiletin itself exhibit anti-cancer properties, but its derivatives are also promising chemopreventive agents; examples of derivatives with anti-cancer activity include 3′-demethylnobiletin (3′-DMN), 4′-demethylnobiletin (4′-DMN), 3′,4′-didemethylnobiletin (3′,4′-DMN) and 5-demethylnobiletin (5-DMN). In vitro studies have demonstrated differential efficacies and mechanisms of NOB and its derivatives in inhibiting and killing of colon cancer cells. The chemopreventive potential of NOB has also been well demonstrated in several in vivo colon carcinogenesis animal models. NOB and its derivatives target multiple pathways in cancer progression and inhibit several of the hallmark features of colorectal cancer (CRC) pathophysiology, including arresting the cell cycle, inhibiting cell proliferation, inducing apoptosis, preventing tumour formation, reducing inflammatory effects and limiting angiogenesis. However, these substances have low oral bioavailability that limits their clinical utility, hence there have been numerous efforts exploring better drug delivery strategies for NOB and these are part of this review. We also reviewed data related to patents involving NOB to illustrate the extensiveness of each research area and its direction of commercialisation. Furthermore, this review also provides suggested directions for future research to advance NOB as the next promising candidate in CRC chemoprevention.

Bauhinia kockiana originates from Peninsular Malaysia and it is grown as a garden ornamental plant. Our previous study reported that this plant exhibited fairly strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. This paper focused on the assessment of the antibacterial activity of B. kockiana towards methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), to purify and to identify the antibacterial compounds, and to determine the mechanism of antibacterial activity. Antibacterial activity of B. kockiana flower was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively using disc diffusion assay and microbroth dilution method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of extracts were examined. Phytochemical analysis was performed to determine the classes of phytochemicals in the extracts. Bioactivity guided isolation was employed to purify the antibacterial agents and identified via various spectroscopy methods. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique was used to evaluate the antibacterial mechanism of extract and compounds isolated. B. kockiana flower was found to exhibit fairly strong antibacterial activity towards both strains of MRSA bacteria used, MIC varies from 62.5–250 μg/mL. Tannins and flavonoids have been detected in the phytochemical analysis. Gallic acid and its ester derivatives purified from ethyl acetate extract could inhibit MRSA at 250–500 μg/mL. SEM revealed that the cells have undergone plasmolysis upon treatment with the extract and compounds. Tannins and polyphenols are the antibacterial components towards MRSA in B. kockiana. Massive leakage of the cell content observed in treated cells showed that the phytochemicals have changed the properties of the cell membranes. Amphiphilic nature of the compounds exhibited the antibacterial activity towards MRSA via three stages: (1) cell membrane attachment; (2) cell membrane fluidity modification; and (3) cell membrane structure disruption.

The effect of different pH and thermal treatments on the stability of blue pea flower colourant preparations was investigated and compared with those from spirulina. The total anthocyanin content, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity [free radical scavenging activities and ferric reducing antioxidant power] and total colour change (∆E) were determined at 6 days intervals for pH treatment (pH 3, 4, 5, and 6 for 30 days at 4 and 26 °C) and after thermal treatment (60, 80, and 100 °C for 10 and 30 min). The blue pea flower colourant preparations demonstrated high storage stability at pH 3 and 4 at 4 °C storage for 30 days and higher thermal stability than spirulina at all heat treatments. At refrigerated storage, the antioxidant activity of the blue pea flower colourant preparations at all pH conditions was higher than that of spirulina. Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, delphinidin-3-(trans-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside was the predominant anthocyanin in blue pea flower colourant preparations. The ∆E of the blue pea flower colourant preparation was lower than that of spirulina colourant preparation at refrigerated storage and all thermal treatments. Therefore, blue pea flower colourant preparations are suitable for food applications requiring thermal processing between 60 and 100 °C and refrigerated storage.