Chitosan, which is obtained via deacetylation of chitin, has a variety of uses in agriculture, food, medicine, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Industrial chitosan is in a gel form, which is produced by dissolving in acetic acids. These gels can be chitosan-only films or composite films that include other ingredients such as plant extracts or other polymers. Chitosanbased films, however, are not as natural as chitosan dissolved in weak acids, and they lack some of chitosan's innate properties. In this study, natural chitosan films (NCFs) were obtained from the pupa shells of black soldier flies through a process that maintains the original structure. The semisynthetic film (SCF) was then produced by dissolving the same NCF in acetic acid along with glycerol and glutaraldehyde. The semisynthetic film remarkably lost the beneficial properties of the natural film. The deteriorated characteristics include hydrophobicity, crystallinity, thermal properties, as well as a loss of fibril structure and a reduction in bacterial attachment. Moreover, the Ag-deposited NCFs manifested strikingly higher surface-enhanced Raman scattering activity as compared with the semisynthetic ones. These results, including the molecular modeling data, demonstrate that dissolving chitosan in acetic acid changes its polymeric structure.
Hylobius abietis is a plant parasitic insect belonging to the order Coleoptera and which causes severe damages to coniferous forests in Northern and Eastern Europe. This current study is aimed to provide a new viewpoint into the waste of this insect by producing chitosan. Dry insect corpses consisted of 27.9% chitin and 86.2% of the chitin was converted into the chitosan. FT-IR spectra analyses confirmed the purity and the deacetylation degree of the produced chitosan (molecular weight of chitosan; 7.3 kDa). This chitosan exhibited antimicrobial activity against 18 bacterial strains. Further, biodegradable chitosan composite films with β-carotene were produced. Antioxidant activity of chitosan films were found to be higher than chitosan gels; and β-carotene incorporation further increased the antioxidative properties of the chitosan films. This study demonstrated that the waste of parasitic insect like H. abietis can be evaluated as a source for production of biodegradable and edible chitosan-based films for applications in food coating.
The research has been carried out in 2013–2014 in an organic farm located in Medsėdžiai village, Klaipėda district, and intensive farm located in Laiviai village, Kretinga district. Four agrocenoses have been investigated: wheat, triticale, oat, and multiannual grassland. Five pitfall traps were set out in each of agrocenosis and the traps were active from the last decade of April until the last decade of August. Ground beetle adults that were detected during the study belonged to 27 species and 15 genera. The most abundant ground beetle species were Poecilus cupreus L., Pterostichus melаnаrius Ill, Аmаrа аeneа Deg, Cаrаbus cаncellаtus Ill., Hаrpаlus rufipes Deg., Аnchomenus dorsаlis Pontop. and Bembidion properаns Steph., representatives of which were detected in large numbers in all without an exception investigated agrocenoses and in both types of farming. Two seasonal activity peaks of P. cupreus L. abundance were distinguished in the organic farm: first in the beginning of June and the second in the mid-July. Meanwhile, in the intensive farm it was observed in late May. Click beetle adults, identified in the study, were prescribed to 6 species and 4 genera. The most abundant click beetle species were Agriotes obscurus L., Agriotes lineatus L. and Agriotes sputator L. which occurred without an exception in all the agrocenoses and both types of farms. It was determined that the highest click beetle adults’ activity in the intensive farm was observed in the end of July while the maximum of click beetle adults’ activity in the organic farm was defined in June.
Investigation of impact of novel plant origin products on sweet basil has been carried out in 2014–2015. The plants were grown in the poly tunnel. The test on sweet basil quality parameters was carried out in the Laboratory of the Quality of Plant Raw Materials at Aleksandras Stulginskis University applying standardized analysis methods. It has been determined that, the sweet basil comparing with the control grew best in both 2014 (80.1 cm) and 2015 (80.8 cm) when biological products Canelys, Ekoflavon and Ekoflavon + Oleorgan were applied. In 2014, the most significant absolute dry matter content (92.20%) was accumulated using Oleorgan, and in 2015, significantly the highest dry matter content (90.19%) has been accumulated using Ecoflavon + Canelys. The most significant (11.64%) crude fibre content in 2014 has been obtained under Canelys application, while in 2015, significantly the highest result (14.26%) has been collected by the control. Significantly the highest quantity of crude ash (19.44%) in 2014 has been determined when the plants were treated with Canelys, however in 2015, the best result (21.86%) has been obtained after the use of the Oleorgan. The most significant (20.07%) crude protein content in 2014 has been accumulated when the plants were treated with Ekoflavon. Therefore, in 2015 significantly the highest (16.68%) crude protein content was found in the treatment Ekoflavon + Canelys, still the result did not differ significantly from the treatment when only Ecoflavon was used.
The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of some biological products on the growth and qualitative characteristics of sweet basil.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.