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<p class="p1">Vibrational spectroscopic techniques have advantages over conventional microbiological approaches towards identification &amp; detection of pathogens. Since unique spectral fingerprint is obtained, one can identify very closely related bacteria using such methods. In this study Raman microspectroscopy in combination with chemometric method has been used to classify four strains of <em>E</em>. <em>coli </em>(two pathogenic &amp; two non-pathogenic). Different multivariate approaches such as hierarchical cluster analysis, principal component analysis &amp; linear discriminant analysis were explored to obtain efficient classification of the Raman signals obtained from the four strains of <em>E.coli</em>. It was observed that multivariate analysis was able to classify the bacteria at strain level. Linear discrimination analysis using PC scores (PC-LDA) was found to give very good result with as high as 100% accuracy. This hybrid technique (Raman spectroscopy &amp; multivariate analysis) has tremendous potential to be developed as a tool for bacterial identification.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most significant causes of economic loss in cereal crops, resulting in a loss of $50–300 million for Canadian agriculture. The infected grain (containing Fusarium-damaged kernels (FDKs)) is often both lower in quality and kernel weight, and it may be unsuitable for human and animal consumption due to mycotoxin presence. However, it still contains a considerable amount of nutrients. A method to recover the nutrients without the mycotoxins should be beneficial for the agricultural economy. In this study, our objective was to examine recovery methods of the nutrients in relation to mycotoxin accumulation in the insect. The FDKs were fermented with Aspergillus oryzae and/or Lactobacillus plantarum (solid-state fermentation (SSF)). The SSF kernels were then provided to 50 young, black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) for 12 days. Weight gain, chemical composition, and mycotoxin bioaccumulation of BSFL and spent feed were evaluated. After 12 days of insect culture, the BSFL grew 5–6 times their initial weight. While the overall weights did not significantly vary, the proteins and lipids accumulated more in SSF FDK-fed insects. During the active growth period, the larval biomass contained deoxynivalenol (DON), a mycotoxin, at detectable levels; however, by day 12, when the larvae were in the pre-pupal stage, the amount of DON in the insect biomass was nearly negligible, i.e., BSFL did not accumulate DON. Thus, we conclude that the combination of BSFL and SSF can be employed to recover DON-free nutrients from FHB-infected grain to recover value from unmarketable grain.

Cadmium contamination in industrial wastewater is an environmental issue posing a great threat to human and animal life. However, the available methods for the removal of cadmium toxicity at lower concentrations are limited. Such processes are often accompanied by sludge formation and lead to heavy metal wastage. This paper focuses on the application of electrosorption process using modified Activated Carbon Felt (MACF) electrodes for the removal and recovery of lower concentration of cadmium from simulated wastewater sample without sludge formation. Activated Carbon Felt (ACF) electrodes were treated with 20% HNO3 for removing surface impurities and improving the surface area. The effect of the electrode modification was analyzed by performing various characterization including SEM, FTIR, XRD and cyclic voltammetry. The adsorption isotherm and kinetic models have also been studied. The effect of operating parameters including pH, voltage, initial concentration and time were analyzed and optimized using Box-Behnken design and were obtained as 6.42, 1.44 V, 0.50 mg/L and 131.51 min respectively. During the regeneration of electrodes, a concentrated cadmium solution of 18.55 mg/L, which showed the possibility of cadmium recovery. The maximum cadmium removal was 60.60% at the optimized conditions revealing the significance of electrosorption for heavy metal treatment.

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