Soil sulfur deficiency leads to reduced crop yield and quality loss, which is especially critical for pulses as sulfur is a major component of methionine and cysteine. The present research evaluated the influence of sulfur fertilization on two varieties of navy beans grown at soil sulfur levels of 17, 26, 35, and 44 kg/ha by analyzing their composition, functionality, and protein quality.
Increasing the soil application of sulfur did not affect the protein content of the test navy bean flours. Methionine, cysteine, and tryptophan were limiting, and their concentrations were not enhanced by sulfur fertilization nor was protein digestibility. The oil holding capacity and emulsion stability were different among sulfur treatments; however, no clear trend was observed.
Sulfur fertilization had only a minimal effect on the quality attributes of navy beans, possibly due to a combined effect of environmental factors that limited the plant's response to sulfur supply. Despite the limited change, the findings underlined the possible role of the environment (e.g., location, crop year, and other variables) in determining the sulfur fertilization response of navy beans and provided valuable insight for researchers to further investigate the topic and optimize navy bean production and quality.
Enzymatic hydrolysis of agro-food industrial residues (AFIRs) has the potential of generating great economic value in the food and the cosmetics industry. Here, we develop an efficient solid enzymatic hydrolysis (SEH) employing the edible fungus Pleurotus ostreatus to enzymatically digest wheat bran. We assess the antioxidant activity of the SEH product by implementing a highly affordable antioxidant activity test (AAT). Finally, we obtain a tablet formulation containing the SEH product.
Results show that the selected parameters for the SEH are highly competitive among other described SEHs that use fungi to digest wheat residues. The AAT showed a dose–response antioxidant behavior employing a known antioxidant (vitamin C). The AAT also showed that the SEH product has higher antioxidant activity than the undigested substrate. Finally, the hardness assessment of the SEH tablets suggested changes in stability.
In conclusion, an efficient SEH was implemented and its effect on the antioxidant activity was demonstrated. The SEH could be performed at a competitive incubation time, temperature, and moisture content. Nevertheless, a deeper study is warranted to fully describe this SEH. We hope that these findings contribute to the development of cost-efficient SEHs in the food and cosmetics industry.
Chitosan is the second most abundant polysaccharide abundant in nature after cellulose. In this study chitosan edible films with three different molecular weights (low [LMW], medium [MMW] and high [HMW] molecular weights) were prepared by drying them at room (21°C), 40 and 50°C and their physicochemical properties were characterized.
Molecular weight had a positive effect on the thickness, tensile strength (TS), elongation at break (EAB) and swelling ability (SA) of the films. However, film solubility(S) and water vapor permeability (WVP) were negatively affected. Higher drying temperatures increased the TS of the films whereas lower drying temperatures increased the MC, S, WVP and the EAB of the films. All the films prepared were transparent; however, films made with LMW chitosan were yellowish color. FTIR spectra of the films were influenced by the molecular weight of chitosan and the drying temperature, which revealed that there was an interaction between MW and the drying temperature.
This study demonstrated that films made with medium MW chitosan by drying at room temperature had the most favorable properties for food packaging applications.
Ancient grains are grains that have remained unchanged over the past decades. Among them, millets and pseudocereals are highly nutritious underutilized grains that are gluten free. The present study compares the nutritional composition of nine important ancient grains in its raw and germinated forms.
Among the grains studied, amaranth had the highest protein content (14.52%), followed by proso (13.04%) and foxtail millets (12.78%). Amino acid analysis was carried out using LC–MS/MS. Besides amaranth, barnyard, pearl, and proso millets contained considerable amount of essential amino acids. The lysine content of sorghum has increased four folds during germination. Valine, histidine, and glutamic acid contents increased marginally upon sprouting. These grains were also found to contain significant amount of B complex vitamins. The ascorbic acid content of the grains increased considerably upon germination especially in foxtail millet (78.03–30452.90 ng/g).
The present study is the first comparative study that has brought out the distinct nutritional superiority of the ancient grains in their raw and germinated forms. These gluten-free grains can be utilized to improve the nutritional demand and food security of the growing population.
Understanding the patterns of pesticide use is important in protecting the environment and farmer's health for improvement of sustainability in chemical pest control. Studies on the knowledge and awareness of pesticides by farmers are often incomplete. Therefore, our study aimed at investigating the awareness and knowledge of pesticides from a detailed survey of 394 apple growers in the Kashmir Himalaya.
The study revealed that farmers have inadequate knowledge and awareness about pesticides. About 47.2% of the farmers are choosing pesticides based on the efficiency of the pest/pathogen control, 38.1% are choosing pesticides based on the cost of the product, and 14.7% of the farmers are choosing pesticides based on ease of availability. Most of the farmers rated the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as not important. The farmers believed that the use of pesticides is the only way of controlling the pest outbreaks that ultimately led to reckless spraying of pesticides. Our results revealed that farmers are spraying pesticides without protective gears and inappropriate dumping of pesticides and their containers, risking the health of humans and the environment. Almost 96% of the farmers feel burning and irritation to the eyes and skin, headache, and vomiting due to pesticide spraying. The results of this research work accentuate the requirement to educate apple growers about the adequate and safe use of pesticides to avoid risks to public and environmental health.
The study concludes that farmers are significantly impacted by the use of pesticides. Ineffective actions of pesticide dealers, government regulations, and illiteracy of farmers are the main causes of the reckless use of pesticides. Therefore, special attention should be paid towards sustainable approaches of pesticide spraying and use of safety gears like personal protective equipment, for protection of human and environmental health.
Developing value-added products from rice grains is becoming increasingly significant to enhance productivity from excess rice grains. Therefore, the objective of this study was to improve the functional properties of rice protein from four rice varieties, namely, RRF-127, RRF-105, Swarna, and Protezin by enzymatic hydrolysis, and also to evaluate bioactivities like antioxidant, ACE, and DPP-IV inhibitory activities of the hydrolysates.
The alcalase hydrolysis increased protein solubility to >80% in the pH range of 4–10. The foaming capacity and stability of rice protein hydrolysates (RPHs) improved with the increase in pH. The hydrolysis significantly improved the emulsification activity index (EAI) in the pH range of 5–9. The hydrolysates showed antioxidant activity, namely, ABTS•+radical scavenging, reducing power, and metal ion chelation. RRF-105 was found to possess the most potent antioxidant capacity among the hydrolysates. RPH could alleviate oxidative damage in erythrocytes, and their protective effects were concentration-dependent. The hydrolysates had stronger inhibition of ACE and DPP-IV enzymes. Protezin exhibited the highest ACE inhibition (63%), while Swarna demonstrated the most effective DPP-IV inhibition (66%).
Hydrolysis with alcalase improved the functional and bioactive properties of rice proteins, indicating that RPH could serve as a source of bioactive peptides or as a functional ingredient with potential properties.
During coffee processing, a large volume of waste is generated. This study investigated the phenolic profile, antioxidant and antibacterial activity of coffee grounds and silverskin using different extraction methods.
Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE), and ultrasound-assisted enzyme extraction (UAEE) were effective for extraction of polyphenols, with UAE being the method that promoted the highest extraction of polyphenols. The coffee ground and coffee silverskin extracts showed high antioxidant capacity for the three methods ABTS, DPPH, and ORAC (4013.36–3241.89 μmol Trolox/g; 1.82–2.06 IC50 μg/mL; and 26.60–16.20 μmol Trolox/mL, respectively). The phenolic profile demonstrated that most of the compounds in both matrices were chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, 2,4-DHBA, 2,5-DHBA, and 3,4-DHB. EAE promoted a greater release of polyphenols in the coffee ground (2676.42 μg/g), while UAEE was more effective for the coffee silverskin (2111.54 μg/g). The Principal Component Analysis grouped the samples according to the extraction method, based on their content and phenolic potential, for coffee ground and coffee silverskin. As for antibacterial activity, the most expressive result was for Gram-positive bacteria. For both matrices, when extracted by the UAEE method, they presented the minimum inhibitory concentration to inhibit the growth of Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, and Listeria monocytogenes.
The extraction methods used are environmentally safe alternatives, enabling the reuse of natural compounds and contributing to the circular economy, seeking to transform waste into raw material for the extraction of compounds of interest and possible subsequent application in agriculture as biofertilizers or bioherbicides.
Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) has been considered as a prevailing natural carcinogenic mycotoxin in various food and feedstuff products, posing serious endangers to human health. The quantitative and selective detection of AFB1 was significantly essential for food safety control.
We developed a label-free fluorescent aptasensor using a target-binding aptamer probe as the rolling circle amplification (RCA) primer for AFB1 detection. In the presence of AFB1, the probe preferentially combined with AFB1 rather than binding to the circular template, inhibiting the initiation of RCA process. The detection limit of the proposed method was as low as 6.6 nM, and the linear dynamic response range was four orders of magnitude wide. Besides, it revealed excellent specificity for AFB1 and high-quality detection performance in food samples.
The presented detection method was simple, rapid, and economical, which indicated a promising application in food safety monitoring.
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