Acetylated African Oil Bean Seed Pod For Crude Oil Spill Mop

Oil spill remediation has continued to be a challenge in the world today. Thus efforts are still been made to develop more efficient oil spill mop up techniques. Natural adsorption with agricultural wastes, which otherwise constitute environmental pollution, has become an attractive technique for oil spill mop. Acetylation using acetic anhydride with iodine catalyst was carried out to improve the hydrophobicity of African oil bean seed pod (AOBSP), which is a lignocellulosic material and as such is naturally hydrophilic. Characterization of the raw and acetylated AOBSP were done using SEM, BET and FTIR analyses. Batch crude oil sorption tests were performed using both the raw and acetylated AOBSP. Isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamic studies were also carried out. FTIR analysis showed evidence of successful acetylation of AOBSP and adsorption of crude oil onto the raw and acetylated AOBSP. SEM and BET analyses showed improvement of the surface properties of AOBSP by the acetylation process. The BET surface area increased from 226.4 m2/g for the raw AOBSP to 310.0 m2/g for the acetylated AOBSP. Oil sorption was found to be by monolayer coverage, with monolayer sorption capacity of 5000mg/g and 12500mg/g for raw and acetylated AOBSP, respectively. The rate-controlling mechanism for the sorption processes was chemisorption. Negative values of ΔGo, ΔHo and ΔSo were obtained, showing that the sorption processes were feasible, spontaneous and exothermic, with a degree of orderliness at the solid–mixture interface. The results obtained from this study show that both raw and acetylated AOBSP are efficient oil sorbents with potentials for further improvement for oil spill mop.

Effect of Row Spacing and Plant Density on the Yield of Faba bean L. Under Very Differentiated Humidity Conditions

The research covered Polish low-tannin Faba bean ‘Albus’, and its yielding depending on the row spacing and plant density under very different humidity conditions across the research years. The mean multi-year faba bean seed yield was 4.01 t ha-1 and it was most correlated with the total rainfall in August and in June-August. Due to a considerable variation in the total rainfall and air temperature, the faba bean seed yield ranged from 0.69-2.14 t ha-1 in dry years (2018-2019) with high air temperature, from 6.64 to 6.59 ha-1 in humid years (2016-2017) with a considerably higher total rainfall and lower air temperature in June-August. There was no significant effect of the row spacing and plant density on the faba bean yielding, except for a significantly lower seed yield in 2019 following the application of the lowest plant density. Out of all the yield structure components, only the number of pods per plant for 60-75 plants per m2 was significantly lower than for 45 plants. The other yield structure components did not differ significantly due to the factors studied either, except for the LAI, the value of which for a narrow row spacing was significantly higher. There was found a significant correlation between all the plant traits and with the faba bean yield.

The evaluation of protease enzyme effectivenes in broiler chicken diet containing jack bean seed (Canavalia ensiformis) with different protein level toward internal organ size

This study was conducted with the intention of evaluating the use of the protease enzyme in broiler feed containing jack bean seed (Canavalia ensiformis) with the different levels of protein towards the internal organs of broiler chicken starter. Bird samples used were 24 broilers of the male lohmann strain taken from 120 chickens. The study design used was a factorial completely randomized design (FCRD) with 2 factors treatment and 3 replications (each replication used 2 samples of bird). The first factor was the level of protein (CP 22% and CP 19.5%) and the second factor was the use of enzymes (non-protease and protease). Data were analyzed by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The result showed that the use of low protein levels in broiler feed containing jack bean seed significantly (P <0.05) increased the percentage of pancreatic weights but could be improved by the use of protease enzymes. Levels of protein treatment did not significantly affect the percentage of heart, liver and bile weights. The use of protease enzymes significantly (P <0.05) decreased the percentage of pancreatic and bile weights but did not significantly affect the percentage of liver and heart weights.

Effect of different traditional thermal processing methods on the nutritional and anti-nutritional composition of the marginalized indigenous mung bean (Vigna radiata)

In the present study, the effects of fermentation, roasting, boiling, and boiling with potash on the nutritional and anti-nutritional composition of unsprouted mung bean seed was investigated. Mung bean (Vigna radiata), an underutilized bean was subjected to different processing methods such as boiling, boiling with potash, roasting, and fermentation. Chemical properties such as proximate, mineral, amino acid, and anti-nutrient analyses were done. A total of seventeen amino acids were assayed in mung bean subjected to different processing methods. The ordinary boiling method had the most significant (P<0.05) retention in the amino acid content of mung bean seed. The result of the statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant increase (P>0.005) in the glutamic acid content of mung bean subjected to different processing methods. Fermentation slightly increased the protein content from 25.45 to 25.70%, while the roasted sample had the lowest protein content of 22.15%. There was a fluctuation in the mineral content of processed mung bean. Roasting significantly increased the antinutritional (tannin) content from 0.057 to 0.094 mg/g, while saponin was reduced significantly from 35.73 to 6.67 mg/g. This study has shown that mung bean is on average high in protein content which can serve as a good supplement for dietary protein. Moreover, fermentation and boiling methods may better enhance the nutritional composition of mung bean in terms of retention of protein and reduction of antinutritional factors.

Isolation and Identification of Some Biocontrol Fungi and Evaluation of Their Efficacy Against Charchol Rot Disease Caused by Macrophomina phaseolina on Mung Bean

This study aimed to isolate and identify Macrophomina phaseolina fungus which was the causal aget of Charcol rot disease on mung bean (Vigna radita Wilczek L) from Elgadisia Governorate in order to isolate, diagnose, and evaluate efficacy of biological control fungal agents isolalated from the rhizosphere of the host plant. The biocontrol agents T. koningii, C. globosum and A. carbonarius were effective in inhibiting the pathogenic fungus under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Two isolates of M. phaseolina fungal pathogen were identified in most samples of infected mung bean. Pathogenicity tests showed the ability of M. phaseolina to attack the seeds and cause seed rot. Isolates 1 and 2 of the fungal pathogen reduced the seed germination rate to 71.56 and 63.75%, respectively, compared with 86.66% for the control. The results obtained indicated the presence of a significant difference between the two isolates in inducing seedlings damping-off which reached 40% and 30%, respectively, compared with 0% for the control. The disease severity of isolate 1 reached 75.3% and that of isolate 2 reached 63.6%. The inhibitory effect of the fungal antagonists T. koningii and C. globosum varied. A. carbonarius demonstrated level 3 of inhibition to the pathogenic fungus M. phaseolina, whereas C. globosum and T. koningii demostrated inhibitory levels of 2 and 1, respectively. Results obtained also indicated that treatments with antagonistic fungi T. koningii, C. globosum and A. carbonarius increased the growth parameters of the mung bean plant. The antagonistic fungus C. globosum increased the plant height, root fresh and dry weight and chlorophyll content compared with the control. Furthermore, the results showed that treatment with T. koningii increased the mung bean seed germination rate to 100% and decreased disease severity of mung bean charcoal rot disease to 45.88% as compared to 89.86% severity for the contol. Likewise, the other antagonistic fungi A. carbonarius and C. globosum also increased the mung bean seed germination , and decreased mung bean charcoal rot disease severity. Keywords : Charcoal rot disease, mung bean, Macrophomina phaseolina, T. koningii, C. globosum, A. carbonarius.

Effects of brassinosteroids and gibberellin on water uptake and performance of soya bean seeds under different temperatures

Low temperature has negative effects on seed performance and seedling growth in soya bean, reducing stand establishment. It was hypothesised, that seed treatment with plant hormones could improve seed imbibition and performance at low temperature. Therefore, the effects of 24-epibrassinolide (EBL) and gibberellic acid (GA3) on soya bean seed germination were studied. Seeds of 'CM60' and 'CM0701-24' were imbibed with 0.25 or 0.50 ppm EBL, 50 or 100 ppm GA3, or distilled water at 10, 15, 20 and 25°C. The seed imbibition patterns of the two soya bean varieties followed a similar trend. Low temperature delayed seed imbibition resulting in longer time to reach the end of phases 1 and 2 of seed germination as compared with high temperature. Soya bean seeds treated with 50 or 100 ppm GA3 showed increased germination index, shoot and root length and reduced mean germination time. Thus, 50-100 ppm GA3 could be used as a pre-soaking seed treatment to improve soya bean seed and seedling performance under low temperature.

The Informal Seed Business: Focus on Yellow Bean in Tanzania

This article explores the informal seed business, focusing on the yellow bean in Tanzania. The yellow bean is a major bean type traded, yet little is known about the seed supply that fuels it. The survey research in 2019 encompassed larger grain traders, informal seed traders, and retailers, covered major production, distribution and sale hubs, and was complemented by GIS mapping of seed and grain flows and DNA fingerprinting of yellow bean samples. Results showed that traders buy and sell grain and informal seed: it is not one business or the other, but both. Informal seed is an important moneymaker, representing between 15 and 40% of trader business in non-sowing and sowing periods, respectively. In the year monitored, 100% of the yellow bean seed was drawn from the informal sector, amounting to $US 4.35 million just among those sampled. Nevertheless, the informal and formal sectors are clearly linked, as over 60% of the beans sampled derived from modern varieties. Informal traders prove key for: sustaining the grain business, serving the core of the seed business, and moving varieties at scale. More explicit efforts are needed to link the informal sector to formal research and development partners in order to achieve even broader impacts.