Bioactive peptides (BAPs), which are protein fragments defined by their distinct structural features and amino acid sequences, impart health benefits to foods enriched with them. These benefits include antioxidant, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, and immunomodulatory properties. BAPs have emerged as potential substitutes for synthetic molecules in various applications. Nevertheless, there is inadequate of information on the production of BAPs via novel fermented plant-based foods (FPFs), and many BAPs resources in FPFs have not been effectively explored. This review extensively discussed recent trends in FPFs, ranging from vinegar, cheese liquor, fermented rice, etc., from 2019 to 2024. We further discuss the beneficial health impacts of BAPs derived from FPFs, factors affecting the bioavailability of bioactive peptides, trends, and future perspectives in bioactive compounds from fermentation foods. This review will add to the existing body of knowledge and improve our understanding of the potential of BAPs derived from fermented plant-based foods.

Spice by-products, often discarded as waste, represent an untapped resource for sustainable packaging solutions due to their unique, multifunctional, and bioactive profiles. Unlike typical plant residues, these materials retain diverse phytochemicals—including phenolics, polysaccharides, and other compounds, such as essential oils and vitamins—that exhibit controlled release antimicrobial and antioxidant effects with environmental responsiveness to pH, humidity, and temperature changes. Their distinctive advantage is in preserving volatile bioactives, demonstrating enzyme-inhibiting properties, and maintaining thermal stability during processing. This review encompasses a comprehensive characterization of phytochemicals, an assessment of the re-utilization pathway from waste to active materials, and an investigation of processing methods for transforming by-products into films, coatings, and nanoemulsions through green extraction and packaging film development technologies. It also involves the evaluation of their mechanical strength, barrier performance, controlled release mechanism behavior, and effectiveness of food preservation. Key findings demonstrate that ginger and onion residues significantly enhance antioxidant and antimicrobial properties due to high phenolic acid and sulfur-containing compound concentrations, while cinnamon and garlic waste effectively improve mechanical strength and barrier attributes owing to their dense fiber matrix and bioactive aldehyde content. However, re-using these residues faces challenges, including the long-term storage stability of certain bioactive compounds, mechanical durability during scale-up, natural variability that affects standardization, and cost competitiveness with conventional packaging. Innovative solutions, including encapsulation, nano-reinforcement strategies, intelligent polymeric systems, and agro-biorefinery approaches, show promise for overcoming these barriers. By utilizing these spice by-products, the packaging industry can advance toward a circular bio-economy, depending less on traditional plastics and promoting environmental sustainability in light of growing global population and urbanization trends.

Pineapple processing generates significant waste in the form of peels, leaves, crowns, stems, and cores. Although their bioactive compounds have been explored, a literature review on their pesticidal properties is lacking. This paper reviews the research on the bioactive compounds in the byproducts (peels, leaves, stem, crown and core) in the last 5 years to give the recent knowledge on the bioactive compounds of the pineapple byproducts as ecofriendly pesticides in food storage management, examining their efficacy against common pests, mechanisms of action, and potential applications while considering human health safety and environmental impact. Among the bioactives identified in the pineapple waste are phenolic, terpenes, and organic acids. Studies have highlighted the pesticidal properties of extracts from waste against various food storage pests. They disrupt pest physiology, inhibit growth, and have antimicrobial activity. Despite these studies over the last five years, there are various opportunities to research the bioactive compounds present in pineapple waste, which could drive its commercialization and utilization.

Cocoa agroforestry is widely promoted for biodiversity conservation and sustainable production; however, uncertainties remain regarding the distribution of epiphytes and cocoa yield under different shade regimes. This study evaluated the effects of shade on epiphyte distribution and cocoa productivity at two community sites located approximately 6 km apart. One site consisted of cocoa cultivated under indigenous and introduced shade trees, while the other site used a 40% shade net. Annual rainfall at the sites was 1364.70 mm and 1178.44 mm, respectively, with average monthly temperatures ranging from 28 to 35 °C. During the main dry season, light intensity under direct sunlight exceeded 13.00 Klux and was approximately three times greater than in shaded plots. Lichens were the dominant epiphytes across all shade systems, with 40–70 colonies per 225 m² plot. Only one vascular epiphyte species was recorded, occurring exclusively on cocoa trees under the shade net. Correlation coefficients between light availability and epiphyte abundance ranged from 0.08 to 0.62, indicating that light influenced epiphyte distribution and diversity. Cocoa pod production under indigenous shade trees and full sunlight was comparable (127–177 pods per plot), whereas production under the shade net was approximately twice that recorded in unshaded plots. Although flower cushion abundance varied among treatments, pods from shaded plots generally contained more beans. The highest incidence of diseased and wilted pods occurred under shade trees. Overall, the findings suggest that heavy tree shade may limit epiphyte development through reduced light availability, while uniform artificial shading may enhance cocoa yield.

Conventional propagation of yam (Dioscorea spp.) is constrained by low multiplication rates, pathogen accumulation, and vulnerability of field-maintained germplasm to biotic and abiotic losses. However, most studies emphasize survival, whereas fewer evaluate accession-specific growth performance alongside water-extractable phenolic content and antioxidant responses under the same conservation conditions. This study integrated morphological, biochemical, and post-conservation regrowth assessments to evaluate eight Ghanaian yam accessions maintained for 24 weeks on hormone-free complete Murashige and Skoog medium. The experiment followed a completely randomized design with three biological replications. All accessions maintained 100% survival without contamination throughout conservation, although substantial accession-dependent differences occurred in vegetative performance. At week 24, UWR produced 5.5 shoots/plant, 14 leaves/plant, and reached 8.5 cm height, while NKURAKAU produced 4.5 shoots plant⁻¹ and reached 8.2 cm. In contrast, SO showed weaker growth, producing 2.8 shoots plant⁻¹, 6 leaves plant⁻¹, and 4.5 cm height. During four weeks of post-conservation recovery, NKURAKAU exhibited the strongest regrowth, producing 1.8 shoots plant⁻¹, 4.2 leaves plant⁻¹, and 5.0 cm high plantlets. Biochemical responses were also accession-specific. AMO exhibited the highest water-extractable TPC after 24 weeks of conservation (4.1 mg GAE/100 g dry weight), whereas UWR showed the lowest response (1.7 mg GAE/100 g dry weight). Conversely, SO and NKURAKAU exhibited comparatively strong DPPH radical-scavenging activity despite lower phenolic contents. No statistically detectable linear association between endpoint TPC and DPPH radical-scavenging activity was observed among the eight accessions (r = −0.24, p > 0.05). Exploratory hierarchical clustering of biochemical trait distinguished AMO as higher-TPC phenotype and SO/NKURAKAU as higher-DPPH phenotype. Overall, combining morphological traits, biochemical indicators, and post-conservation regrowth provides a more informative basis for accession-specific germplasm management than survival alone. NKURAKAU and UWR showed the most balanced performance, while AMO was notable for shoot multiplication and higher TPC.

DNA methylation is a central epigenetic regulator of genome stability, developmental plasticity, and stress adaptation in plant tissue culture systems. During dedifferentiation, callus formation, organogenesis, somatic embryogenesis, transformation, and prolonged subculture, DNA methylation patterns can be extensively remodeled, thereby contributing to regeneration competence and somaclonal variation. To detect such changes, traditional methylation-detection methods, including bisulfite-based sequencing and methylation-sensitive polymerase chain reaction, provide high analytical output but remain labor-intensive (2–3 days), destructive (requiring microgram amounts of DNA), and difficult to deploy as rapid screening tools across large tissue-culture plantlets. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) offers a complementary route by coupling molecular fingerprinting with plasmonic signal amplification. Controlled systems have demonstrated highly sensitive detection of methylation-associated molecular signatures, with reported detection limits reaching the nanomolar-to-submicromolar range depending on analyte type, substrate architecture, and measurement conditions. However, these quantitative values primarily come from synthetic DNA or model systems and should be interpreted cautiously when applied to complex plant tissue culture samples. This review critically examines current SERS-based strategies for DNA methylation analysis, emphasizing substrate selection, signal-enhancement mechanisms, SERS enhancement mechanisms, surface functionalization, and computational spectral analysis. SERS has emerged as a promising complementary technology for DNA methylation analysis due to its molecular fingerprinting capability and high sensitivity. However, direct demonstrations of SERS-based DNA methylation detection in plant tissue culture systems remain limited. Current evidence largely originates from synthetic DNA models, purified nucleic acid systems, and non-plant biological applications, providing methodological foundations rather than complete plant validation. Future studies are required to establish plant-specific substrates, calibration strategies, and biological validation workflows.