Removal of iron and manganese from groundwater sources using nano-biosorbents

Background The presence of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) ions in rocky beds leads to groundwater pollution. Moreover, their excessive concentration causes bad taste and color stains of water. Methods Tea leaves-derived char (TLC), rice straw-derived char (RSC), and nanosilica (NS) were used to adsorb Fe and Mn ions from water sources. The effects of parameters such as contact time, composition percentage, and particle size of biosorbents in a fixed-bed adsorption column were investigated. Results The study on the adsorption of Fe and Mn ions showed that the amount of adsorption increased significantly by decreasing the particle size. Furthermore, the combination of nano-biosorbents with nanosilica improved the adsorption. The Thomas and Adams–Bohart models adequately indicated the adsorption of Fe and Mn ions onto nano-biosorbents in the column mode. The TLC and RSC with NS are applicable for the removal of Fe and Mn ions from groundwater. Conclusions According to the BET analysis results, with more crushing of biosorbents by ball mill and placing them in the furnace, specific surface area of tea leaves and rice straw increased from 0.29 to 3.45 and from 3.70 to 10.99 m2/g, respectively. The absorption of iron and manganese from the aqueous solution increased with the percentage of nano-silica. According to breakthrough curves, under best conditions (the seventh mode), nano-biosorbents could remove 98.05% and 97.92% of iron and manganese ions, respectively. The maximum equilibrium capacity of the adsorption column (mg/g) was 256.56 for iron and 244.79 for manganese. Graphical abstract

HPLC and high-throughput sequencing revealed differences of tea-leaves quality components and soil microbial community structure between modern and ancient tea plantations in Lincang Region

BackgroundAncient tea plantations with an age over 100 years still reserved at Mengku Town in Lincang Region of Yunan Province, China. However, the characteristic of soil chemicophysical properties and microbial ecosystem in the ancient tea plantations and their impact on tea-leaves chemical components remained unclear. Tea-leaves chemical components including amino acids, phenolic compounds and purine alkaloids, and soil chemicophysical properties including pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil organic matter (SOM), soil organic carbon (SOC), total total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total potassium (TK), alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (AN), available phosphorous (AP) and available potassium (AK), and microbial community structure of modern and ancient tea plantations in five geographic sites (i.e. Bingdao, Baqishan, Banuo, Dongguo and Jiulong) were determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and high-throughput sequencing, respectively. ResultsTea-leaves chemical components, soil chemicophysical properties and microbial community structures including bacterial and fungal community abundance and diversity evaluated by Chao 1 and Shannon varied with geographic location and tea plantation type. The ancient tea plantations possessed significantly (P<0.05) higher free amino acids, gallic acid, caffeine and EGC in tea-leaves, as well as soil fertility. The bacterial community structure kept stable, while fungal community abundance and diversity significantly (P<0.05) increased in ancient tea plantation because of higher soil fertility and lower pH. The long-term plantation in natural cultivation way significantly (P<0.05) improved the abundances of Nitrospirota, Methylomirabilota, Ascomycota and Mortierellomycota phyla. ConclusionsDue to the natural cultivation way, the ancient tea plantations still maintained relatively higher soil fertility and complete soil microbial ecosystem, which contributed to the sustainable development with higher quality in tea-leaves.

Transcriptomics analysis reveals the signal transduction mechanism of brassinolides in tea leaves and its regulation on the growth and development of Camellia sinensis

Background Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a type of sterol plant hormone that play an important role in various biochemical and physiological reactions such as promoting cell growth, increasing biomass, and improving stress resistance. Results To investigate the regulatory and molecular mechanism of BRs on the growth and development of tea plants (Camellia sinensis L.), changes in cell structure and gene expression levels of tea leaves treated with exogenous BRs were analyzed by electron microscopy and high-throughput Illumina RNA-Seq technology. The results showed that the number of starch granules in the chloroplasts and lipid globules increased and thylakoids expanded after BR treatment compared with the control. Transcriptome analysis showed that in the four BR treatments (CAA: BR treatment for 3 h, CAB: BR treatment for 9 h, CAC: BR treatment for 24 h, and CAD: BR treatment for 48 h), 3861 (1867 upregulated and 1994 downregulated), 5030 (2461 upregulated and 2569 downregulated), 1626 (815 upregulated and 811 downregulated), and 2050 (1004 upregulated and 1046 downregulated) differentially expressed genes were detected, respectively, compared with CAK (BR treatment for 0 h). Using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases, metabolic pathway enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes of CAA vs. CAK, CAB vs. CAK, CAC vs. CAK, and CAD vs. CAK significantly enriched the functional categories of signal transduction, cell cycle regulation, and starch, sucrose, and flavonoid biosynthesis and metabolism pathways. We also found that after spraying BR, the key genes for caffeine synthesis were downregulated. The results of qRT-PCR coincided with the findings of transcriptomic analysis. Conclusions The present study improved our understanding of the effects of BRs on the growth and development of tea leaves and laid the foundation for the in-depth analysis of signal transduction pathways of BRs in tea leaves.

Protective Effect of Probiotics Isolated from Traditional Fermented Tea Leaves (Miang) from Northern Thailand and Role of Synbiotics in Ameliorating Experimental Ulcerative Colitis in Mice

This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of probiotics and synbiotics from traditional Thai fermented tea leaves (Miang) on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice, in comparison to sulfasalazine. C57BL/6 mice were treated with probiotics L. pentosus A14-6, CMY46 and synbiotics, L. pentosus A14-6 combined with XOS, and L. pentosus CMY46 combined with GOS for 21 days. Colitis was induced with 2% DSS administration for seven days during the last seven days of the experimental period. The positive group was treated with sulfasalazine. At the end of the experiment, clinical symptoms, pathohistological changes, intestinal barrier integrity, and inflammatory markers were analyzed. The probiotics and synbiotics from Miang ameliorated DSS-induced colitis by protecting body weight loss, decreasing disease activity index, restoring the colon length, and reducing pathohistological damages. Furthermore, treatment with probiotics and synbiotics improved intestinal barrier integrity, accompanied by lowing colonic and systemic inflammation. In addition, synbiotics CMY46 combined with GOS remarkedly elevated the expression of IL-10. These results suggested that synbiotics isolated from Miang had more effectiveness than sulfasalazine. Thereby, they could represent a novel potential natural agent against colonic inflammation.

Community Empowerment to Improve the Village Economy through the Utilization of Tea Leaves in Bahbutong Village, Simalungun Regency

The community empowerment program is an activity that aims to increase the understanding and knowledge of the community in utilizing the existing potential. The level of understanding and knowledge of the community in Bahbutong Village is still limited in carrying out activities to utilize the potential of the village, this is related to the not optimal community empowerment efforts carried out. One of the potentials that can be pursued and reprocessed so as to get direct benefits that can be felt by the village community is tea leaves. So far, people only know that tea leaves are only for food and drink, so they have not been able to make a big contribution to the village economy. Utilization of tea leaves in Bahbutong Village can be an effort to improve the village economy through community empowerment activities carried out by the village government. The tea leaves in question are unused leaves or leftovers from tea plantations in Bahbutong Village. The method used in this research is the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) method. The results obtained in this study are new innovations in the use of tea leaves, namely the manufacture of tea aromatherapy candles that can provide relaxation for breathing and can also optimize community empowerment programs so that the village economy can increase

Characteristics and sensory properties of lemongrass, roselle, and ginger formulation herbal tea

Herbal tea is a general term used for beverages that are not derived from Camellia sinensis tea leaves. Herbal teas are made from the flowers, seeds, and roots of various plants. Lemongrass, roselle, and ginger are plants that have the potential to be used as herbal tea ingredients. This study aims to obtain the best formulation of lemongrass, roselle, and ginger herbal teas. This research was conducted using a single Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 4 concentrations of dried lemongrass, roselle, and ginger treatments. the lemongrass, roselle and ginger formulations used in this study were 1:1:1; 2:1:1; 1:2:1; and 1:1:2. The best formulation is the ratio of lemongrass, roselle, and ginger 1:2:1 with total phenol characteristics of 11.159 mg GAE/g; antioxidant activity 79.7%; acidity 3.24; and the description of the colour Dark Moderate Orange with organoleptic test results showed a rather like result on overall acceptance.

Community Empowerment with Training in the Making of Spice Tea Beverages in Banjaragung Village, Tuban District

Community Service is one of the Tri dharmas of Higher Education to be one of the accesses to achieve this vision. The community in Banjaragung Village was chosen as a partner to introduce Health Tea drinks made from pure spices. Through this activity, the author hopes to be able to carry out the mission to realize the learning process in the field of creative economic entrepreneurship with qualities that are relevant to the needs of today's society. Spices and especially sappan wood in Banjaragung Village have not been processed properly and lacked innovation. Considering that today's society needs drinks and food that can increase the body's immune system with spices, community service is made to make training to process secang wood and spices such as red ginger, lemongrass, cinnamon and tea leaves into products that are quickly consumed. by making health tea bags. Secang wood plant or the Latin nameCaesalpinia sappan is one type of spice that can be used for its woody stems or fruit. The components of bioactive compounds contained inwood, namely brazilian, brazilein, 3'-O-methyl braziline, sappansappan, chalcone, sappancalchone are known as antioxidants. Research on sappan wood as an antioxidant and can be used as a natural dye has been a lot. The counseling carried out is expected to provide insight to the community in Banjaragung Village about how to make Health Tea drinks so that they can help improve the economic level of the community.