Exploring the purity of chitin from crustacean sources using deep eutectic solvents: A machine learning approach.

OBJECTIVE: Chitin a natural polymer is abundant in several sources such as shells of crustaceans, mollusks, insects, and fungi. Several possible attempts have been made to recover chitin because of its importance in biomedical applications in various forms such as hydrogel, nanoparticles, nanosheets, nanowires, etc. Among them, deep eutectic solvents have gained much consideration because of their eco-friendly and recyclable nature. However, several factors need to be addressed to obtain a pure form of chitin with a high yield. The development of an innovative system for the production of quality chitin is of prime importance and is still challenging. METHODS: The present study intended to develop a novel and robust approach to investigate chitin purity from various crustacean shell wastes using deep eutectic solvents. This investigation will assist in envisaging the important influencing parameters to obtain a pure form of chitin via a machine learning approach. Different machine learning algorithms have been proposed to model chitin purity by considering the enormous experimental dataset retrieved from previously conducted experiments. Several input variables have been selected to assess chitin purity as the output variable. RESULTS: The statistical criteria of the proposed model have been critically investigated and it was observed that the results indicate XGBoost has the maximum predictive accuracy of 0.95 compared with other selected models. The RMSE and MAE values were also minimal in the XGBoost model. In addition, it revealed better input variables to obtain pure chitin with minimal processing time. CONCLUSION: This study validates that machine learning paves the way for complex problems with substantial datasets and can be an inexpensive and time-saving model for analyzing chitin purity from crustacean shells.

Hydroponics: Exploring innovative sustainable technologies and applications across crop production, with Emphasis on potato mini-tuber cultivation.

There is an urgent need to explore climate-resilient alternative agriculture production systems that focus on resilience, resource efficiency, and disease management. Hydroponics, a soilless cultivation system, gaining interest as it reduces the dependency on agricultural land, and pesticides, and can be implemented in areas with poor soil quality, thus mitigating the negative effects of extreme weather events. Potato is an essential dietary staple crop grown throughout the world and is a major source of food security in underdeveloped countries. However, due to the climatic changes, it is predicted that a significant loss in the suitability of land for potato production would occur, thus leading to potato yield loss. Recently, many case studies have emerged to highlight the advancement of agricultural hydroponic systems that provide a promising solution to the massive production of potato mini tuber at high efficiency. This review paper evaluates popular hydroponic methods and demonstrates how hydroponic has emerged as the go-to, long-term, sustainable answer to the perennial problem of insufficient access to high-quality potato seed stock. The paper discusses the research and innovation possibilities (such as artificial intelligence, nanoparticles, and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria) that potentially increase tuber production per plant under optimal hydroponic growth circumstances. These approaches are examined considering new scientific discoveries and practical applications. Furthermore, it emphasizes that by enduring significant reforms in soilless food production systems (particularly for potatoes), the food supply of a rapidly growing population can be addressed. Since hydroponics systems are productive and easily automated without soil and optimal environmental conditions, future hydroponics farming is promising. In conclusion, the hydroponics system provides better yield and crop productivity by saving water, energy, and space. Henceforth, it can be the alternate choice for modern sustainable agriculture.

Cold plasma technologies: Their effect on starch properties and industrial scale-up for starch modification.

Native starches have limited applications in the food industry due to their unreactive and insoluble nature. Cold plasma technology, including plasma-activated water (PAW), has been explored to modify starches to enhance their functional, thermal, molecular, morphological, and physicochemical properties. Atmospheric cold plasma and low-pressure plasma systems have been used to alter starches and have proven successful. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the different cold plasma setups employed for starch modifications. The effect of cold plasma technology application on starch characteristics is summarized. We also discussed the potential of plasma-activated water as a novel alternative for starch modification. This review provides information needed for the industrial scale-up of cold plasma technologies as an eco-friendly method of starch modification.

Antifungal activities of selected essential oils against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322, with emphasis on Syzygium aromaticum essential oil.

The antifungal effects of four essential oils viz., clove (Syzygium aromaticum), lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), mint (Mentha × piperita) and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) were evaluated against wilt causing fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322. The inhibitory effect of oils showed dose-dependent activity on the tested fungus. Most active being the clove oil, exhibiting complete inhibition of mycelial growth and spore germination at 125 ppm with IC50 value of 18.2 and 0.3 ppm, respectively. Essential oils of lemongrass, mint and eucalyptus were inhibitory at relatively higher concentrations. The Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of clove oil was 31.25 ppm by broth microdilution method. Thirty one different compounds of clove oil, constituting approximately ≥99% of the oil, were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analysis. The major components were eugenol (75.41%), E-caryophyllene (15.11%), α-humulene (3.78%) and caryophyllene oxide (1.13%). Effect of clove oil on surface morphology of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322 was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). SEM observation revealed shrivelled hyphae while AFM observation showed shrunken and disrupted spores in clove oil treated samples. In pots, 5% aqueous emulsion of clove oil controlled F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 1322 infection on tomato plants. This study demonstrated clove oil as potent antifungal agent that could be used as biofungicide for the control of F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici in both preventive and therapeutic manner.