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Humic substances extracted from leonardite are widely considered to be bioactive compounds, influencing the whole-plant physiology and the crop yield. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of a new formulate based on leonardite in the early stage of growth of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.). A commercial preparation of leonardite (BLACKJAK) was characterized by ionomic analysis, solid-state 13C MAS NMR spectroscopy. Seedlings of sugar beet were grown in Hoagland’s solution under controlled conditions. After five days of growth, an aliquot of the concentrated BLACKJAK was added to the solution to obtain a final dilution of 1:1000 (0.5 mg C L−1). The sugar beet response in the early stage of growth was determined by evaluating root morphological traits as well as the changes in the expression of 53 genes related to key morphophysiological processes. Root morphological traits, such as total root length, fine root length (average diameter < 0.5 mm), and number of root tips, were significantly (p < 0.001) increased in plants treated with BLACKJAK, compared to the untreated plants at all sampling times. At the molecular level, BLACKJAK treatment upregulated many of the evaluated genes. Moreover, both Real Time PCR and digital PCR showed that genes involved in hormonal response, such as PIN, ARF3, LOGL 10, GID1, and BRI1, were significantly (p < 0.05) upregulated by treatment with BLACKJAK. Our study provides essential information to understand the effect of a leonardite-based formulate on plant growth hormone metabolism, although the molecular and physiological basis for these complicated regulatory mechanisms deserve further investigations.

Summary Minerals in meat vary with different extrinsic and intrinsic sources; therefore, we aimed to quantify different sources of variation in mineral profile of beef. Longissimus thoracis muscle (N.182) from young bulls and heifers was analysed using ICP‐OES for 6 macrominerals, 5 essential microminerals and 9 environmental microminerals. Results of mixed models show that breed and sex have little effect on mineral profile. Major sources of variation, such as farm, individual animal within farm and side/sample within animal, differed markedly from mineral to mineral, affecting reproducibility coefficients. Multivariate factor analysis revealed that five latent factors explained 69% of the co‐variance of 20 minerals. The first was a quantitative factor, followed by others based on Na‐Fe‐Cu, on K‐B‐Pb, on Fe‐Mn and on Zn content, respectively. In conclusion, minerals’ major source of variation depends on complex relationships between the animal’s genetics, physiology, farm environment, management and feeding, whose understanding is favoured by latent factor analyses.

A very simple means of nitrogen functional group grafting onto the backbone ofDesmostachya bipinnatais investigated, which is a sacrificial herb in the south Asian region particular to Hindu religion. This natural biomaterial is found to be very effective for metal binding, after treatment with hydrazine monohydrate. The present study explores a comparison of amination processes by considering several options. The maximum metal loading capacities for Cd, Cu, and Zn were found to be 76.80 mg/g, 72.10 mg/g, and 58.16 mg/g, respectively. The kinetic evaluation indicated that the adsorption of Cd, Cu, and Zn onto the biomaterials followed the pseudo second-order rate equation.