Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and ochratoxin A (OTA) are potent mycotoxins produced by the fungal genus Aspergillus. Their occurrence in grain corn is alarming hence the need for rapid on-site detection. An immuno-based biosensor technique for detection of the aforementioned toxins is described here. Highly specific in-house polyclonal antibodies against AFB1 and OTA were employed as bioreceptors in a label-free electrochemical biosensor; immobilized on modified screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs). The immuno-functionalized SPCEs were first characterized on a laboratory electrochemical workstation for proof-on-concept study using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) electrochemical technique. An Android-based device is improvised as a portable electrochemical reader integrated with internet of thing (IoT) features which include cloud server and a dedicated website. Sensitivity achieved by the modified SPCEs on the portable device is superior compared to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method and lab-based electrochemical workstation. The miniaturized biosensor system has been successfully tested on cornfield for in-situ mycotoxins detection with simple sample extraction. Analysis performed on twenty samples were validated using chromatographic analysis. This biosensor-IoT system offers a potential application for real-time detection and the portable reader serves as an excellent tool for point-of-care in routine monitoring of harmful mycotoxins.
Agricultural wastes are by-products generated from growing and processing of agricultural commodities such as vegetables, fruits, meats, poultry and crops. The modernisation of agricultural practises creates huge number of wastes namely animals’ carcass, seeds and skins from crop and also trace of pesticide, along the chain. If these wastes are released without proper disposal procedure, it may cause negative effects to environment and jeopardize human health. Banana and pineapple are amongst the most common crops cultivated in tropical countries. With its bright colour, juicy delicious flesh, and well-studied beneficial compounds, these two fruits are being enjoyed as fresh consumption or in the form of food products like chips and jam. Unfortunately, the peel and the skin are currently being dumped to the landfill as waste. The objective of our study was to evaluate the chemical composition of banana peel and pineapple skin, in order to explore the utilisation of these so-called wastes as food ingredients. The samples were analysed for nutritional composition, anti-nutrients level and sugar profile. Proximate analysis according to AOAC 2000 method were conducted to collect the nutritional composition of samples, antinutrients factors were study via spectrophotometery analysis and sugar profile were achieved by using HPLC-ELSD method. The results showed that ash, moisture, fat, protein were in the acceptable level (7.0±0.14, 7.55±1.48, 13.95±1.62, 5.0±2.82, 67.25±3.80 g/100 g respectively for banana peels and 3.49±0.02, 8.65±0.87, 0.38±0.07, 4.84±1.73 and 83.31±3.49 g/100 g for pineapple skins respectively) and acceptable levels of tannin and phytic acid for both samples. Analysis of sugar profile revealed that these high values agricultural waste contain fructose, glucose and sucrose – potentially being utilised as a good source of sweetners. Finally, we recommend that banana peels and pineapple skins should properly be processed and exploited as a high quality and inexpensive source of food ingredients.
Girdling and paclobutrazol have been related with the effects on the photosynthetic capacity and carbohydrate content of plants. The physiological changes caused by these methods distress the growth and development of plants in general. A field experiment was carried out from August 2021 to June 2022 on 5 years of open-field Mangifera indica cv. Harumanis trees grown at Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Serdang, Selangor. The objective of this experiment was to understand the relationship between girdling, paclobutrazol application, combined methods and untreated trees on plant photosynthetic performances and carbohydrate content in the leaves. The treatments were performed on 1st December 2021, and the measurements of leaf gas exchanges and carbohydrate content were performed 4th weeks later on fully expanded leaves shoot, experiencing similar light exposure. In the study, the combination of girdling and paclobutrazol application resulted in a significant decrease in photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration rate (Tr) but significantly increase in intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) and carbohydrate content.
Research finding on modification of pineapple peel through extrusion and steam pressure have led to increasing fiber and nutritional properties of the pineapple powder. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of extrusion processing and steam pressure on soluble and insoluble fiber contents, antioxidant activities, sugar profile and proximate contents. The extrusion of Morris pineapple peel increased soluble dietary fiber (SDF-2.8 folds), insoluble dietary fiber (IDF-1.2 folds) and total dietary fiber (TDF-1.3 folds). Steam pressure treatment also show the same trends of fiber modification in Morris peel (SDF-3.4 folds, IDF-1 folds, TDF-1.2 folds). The sugar profile showed that fructose and glucose increased after fiber modification. Total phenolic content (TPC), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH test) had been used to determine antioxidant activity in both processing method. The results of the proximate analysis showed that protein, crude fiber and moisture content affected by extrusion and steam pressure process of pineapple peel. It can be conclude that modification of fiber through extrusion and steam pressure is able to alter fiber and nutritional properties of pineapple peel.
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