Search Results (10,556)

Fruit peels represent an abundant source of bioactive compounds with potential applications in green nanotechnology and plant protection. This study comparatively evaluated ethanolic extracts obtained from pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck), and persimmon (Diospyros kaki L.) peels and the corresponding silver nanoparticle (AgNP)-containing phytosynthesis preparations. The extracts were characterized for phytochemical and antioxidant properties and used for AgNP phytosynthesis, followed by UV-Vis, FTIR, BF-STEM, and EDS characterization. Their effects on Triticum aestivum L., Zea mays L., and Cucumis sativus L., as well as their antifungal activity against selected fungal strains, were comparatively assessed. Pomegranate peel extract showed the highest total phenolic content (147.52 mg g⁻¹ fw) and the strongest antifungal activity against Penicillium hirsutum, with an inhibition zone of 30 mm, followed by orange (27 mm) and persimmon (17.33 mm) peel extracts. The AgNP-containing preparations generally produced lower inhibition zones than the corresponding crude extracts. Antioxidant activity also decreased following phytosynthesis, with the most pronounced reduction observed for the orange peel system (90.72% to 35.17%). Plant responses were species- and treatment-dependent, with maize showing the lowest overall sensitivity to the investigated treatments. Overall, the results demonstrate that conversion of fruit peel extracts into AgNP-containing preparations does not necessarily enhance their biological activity and emphasize the importance of considering both the phytochemical characteristics of the starting extracts and the biological target when developing fruit-waste-derived systems for potential plant-protection applications. Full article

Automatic classification of Ataulfo mango (Mangifera indica L.) ripeness is essential to ensure consistent quality, standardize post-harvest processes, and reduce the subjectivity of traditional visual inspection, which is unreliable and error-prone. This paper aims to develop a computationally efficient image classification system for Ataulfo mango ripeness by combining explicit color and texture feature extraction with a traditional machine learning model, thereby reducing the high computational costs typically associated with deep convolutional architectures. For this purpose, a dataset containing 10,400 images was created and divided into four maturity categories: green-ripe, partially ripe, firm-ripe, and soft-ripe. We select an optimal Multilayer Perceptron trained on compact 33-dimensional feature vectors and compare its performance with classical machine learning algorithms and pretrained deep neural networks, including MobileNetV2, MobileNetV3, and ResNet18. Our proposal achieves an accuracy of 0.8821, a macro-F1 score of 0.8784, and an AUC of 0.9751, which are better than those of classical classifiers and MobileNet-family models, while reducing computational cost by three orders of magnitude (GFLOPs). The ResNet18 model achieved a 3.56% relative improvement in macro-F1 score compared to our proposal, but its computational cost increased by four orders of magnitude in GFLOPS. In all evaluated architectures, the remaining classification errors occur between adjacent maturity stages and likely reflect the visual similarity inherent in the continuous ripening process. These findings demonstrate that manual feature engineering and model selection via hyperparameter tuning remain highly competitive and more sustainable for low-cost edge implementations in agriculture. Full article

The development of functional ingredients from perishable tropical fruits supports sustainable food systems by reducing postharvest losses while retaining bioactive compounds. This study developed and optimized black lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) extracted powder (BLEP) by spray drying and evaluated its physicochemical characteristics and antioxidant stability during storage. A 2² factorial design was employed to investigate the effects of maltodextrin concentration (5–30%) and inlet temperature (160–200 °C). Graphical optimization using an overlay plot identified 17.80% maltodextrin and an inlet temperature of 200 °C as the best compromise among the significant responses within the range tested. The optimized BLEP contained vanillic acid and epicatechin as the predominant phenolic compounds together with essential amino acids, including leucine. Degree of glycation (DG) and HMF were measured as indirect indicators of Maillard reaction progress. Over six months at 4, 25, 35, and 45 °C, color parameters, DG, and HMF remained stable, whereas total phenolic content (TPC) declined from 437.11 to 225–252 mg GAE/100 g db and ABTS radical scavenging activity declined progressively. TPC was strongly associated with antioxidant capacity (r = 0.914 with ABTS, p < 0.01), and its degradation followed zero-order kinetics (adjusted R² = 0.931–0.971) with a predicted half-life (L₅₀) of 199–220 days. The optimized powder therefore showed good physical and chromatic stability with partial loss of antioxidant-related compounds over time. Full article

Aqueous Chlorella extract (CE) is a functional feed additive derived from widely cultivated microalgae. It is rich in proteins, polysaccharides, pigments, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and other bioactive compounds. CE possesses great potential to improve the health status and physiological performance of aquatic animals. This study investigated the effects of dietary CE on inflammatory response, non-specific immunity, antioxidant capacity, lipid metabolism, immune gene expression, intestinal histomorphology and intestinal microbiota in Litopenaeus vannamei. Shrimp were fed diets containing 0%, 1%, or 5% CE for 60 days. The 1% CE treatment produced stronger responses in several non-specific immune and antioxidant-related indicators and induced broader changes in immune-related gene expression. In contrast, the 5% CE treatment showed more pronounced changes in inflammation-related factors, lipid metabolism, and intestinal morphology. CE supplementation also altered intestinal microbial composition and predicted microbial functions, with different response patterns between the two inclusion levels. A distinctive feature of this study is the integrated identification of inclusion-level-specific response patterns across host physiological and intestinal microbial endpoints, rather than a simple increase in effects with increasing CE inclusion. Overall, the 1% treatment was more closely associated with immune and antioxidant-related responses, whereas the 5% treatment was more closely associated with anti-inflammatory, lipid-regulatory, and intestinal effects. These findings demonstrate the potential of CE as a functional aquafeed additive for improving aquatic animal health and provide a scientific basis for its application in sustainable shrimp aquaculture. Full article

Heavy metal pollution has become a global environmental problem. Achieving efficient, stable, and sustainable immobilization of heavy metals by phosphorus (P)-modified biochar remains challenging because of the potential risk of P release. In this study, chitosan-embedded P-modified biochar (CPBC) was produced for the remediation of Pb(II), Cd(II), and Cr(VI). The specific surface area of CPBC was 5.5 times higher than that of the pristine biochar (BC), and the surface was enriched with functional groups such as -OH and -NH₃. P-modification facilitated the precipitation of the heavy metals, and chitosan blocked the precipitates inside the biochar. The nature of BC safeguarded the ability to transfer electrons and reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III), which was further enhanced by the chitosan. Hence, the maximum sorption capacities of CPBC for Pb(II), Cd(II), and Cr(VI) were 29.23%, 129.13%, and 122.12% greater than those of BC. The sequential extraction confirmed that the immobilized Pb(II), Cd(II), and Cr(VI) on CPBC were highly stable, with the sum of acid-soluble and nonbioavailable fractions accounting for 89.14%, 83.73%, and 93.53%, respectively. In addition, chitosan effectively suppressed P release from the P-modified biochar, thereby improving its environmental safety while maintaining excellent heavy metal immobilization performance. The present study demonstrates that CPBC is an effective, environmentally friendly, and universal sorbent to remediate heavy metal pollution in water. Full article

The stable production of crops such as corn, wheat, soybeans, and canola is increasingly threatened by widespread pest infestations. Conventional manual pest surveys are hampered by low operational efficiency, subjective assessment bias, and delayed feedback, thereby impeding their ability to satisfy the demands of precision agriculture. To address these challenges, we proposes an intelligent pest detection framework based on EfficientNet and Feature Pyramid Network (FPN) for fast and accurate field pest identification. EfficientNet is adopted as the lightweight attention-embedded backbone to extract hierarchical features, and multi-scale detection plus hierarchical FPN fusion are integrated to improve recognition performance for tiny, inconspicuous pests. The experimental results on 37 common pest species in field crops showed that the proposed model achieves a mean average precision at Intersection-over-Union (IoU) threshold 0.5 (mAP@0.5) of 98.89%, 1.57% average recognition error rate, and with an average inference time of merely 0.048 s per image, balancing outstanding detection accuracy and real-time performance. Furthermore, this approach delivers a lightweight, reliable, and automated monitoring solution for field pest surveillance, thereby facilitating data-driven, precise pest management and advancing the practice of sustainable, green precision agriculture. Full article

Moringa oleifera leaf extract (MOLE), including polysaccharides, polyphenols, amino acids and other extracts, are increasingly being used as feed additives in ruminant nutrition due to their high profiles of bioactive compounds. This comprehensive narrative review aims to review current research on their use in ruminant production regarding their productive performance, immune status, rumen microbiota and fermentation. Dietary supplementation with MOLE enhances growth rates and feed conversion efficiency, as well as immune status, milk yield and rumen microbiology, in ruminants by improving nutrient digestibility and metabolic efficiency. Additionally, MOLE exerts significant immunomodulatory effects, and studies indicate that immunoglobulins, antioxidants, cytokines, and enzymes reduce oxidative stress markers and incidence of subclinical diseases in dairy animals. Furthermore, supplementation with MOLE often increases milk fat and protein content while reducing somatic cell counts (SCCs) in milk. MOLE enhance the function of the rumen fermentation profile by increasing volatile fatty acid (VFA) production, especially propionate, and also regulating the stability of rumen pH. Additionally, it also selectively promotes microbial community diversity, enhances the population of cellulolytic bacteria and has a suppression function in protozoa and methanogens. Moreover, MOLE also contributes to improving fiber degradation and reducing the emissions of methane. In conclusion, MOLE is considered as a viable natural strategy to promote productivity, immune function, health, and environmental sustainability while decreasing methane production in ruminant production. Full article

Rapid and unplanned urbanization in Dhaka is reshaping land use, intensifying peripheral expansion, and increasing pressure on urban and ecological resources. Understanding these growth dynamics is essential for effective urban growth boundary delineation and sustainable planning, yet integrated assessments of historical and future urban growth remain limited. The current study evaluates spatiotemporal urban expansion from 2010 to 2025, delineates the urban growth boundary using a morphological framework, and simulates future growth for 2030 through a coupled cellular automaton-neural network model. Multi-temporal Landsat imagery (2010, 2015, 2020, and 2025) was classified in Google Earth Engine using supervised Maximum Likelihood Classification. Urban growth patterns were quantified using the urban expansion intensity index (UEII), annual urban expansion rate (AUER), and landscape expansion index (LEI). The urban largest continuous patch index (ULCPI) approach was applied to extract functional urban boundaries. Model performance was validated using the Chi-square (χ²) goodness-of-fit test. Results show a substantial increase in built-up land from 115.85 km² to 171.42 km² between 2010 and 2025, accompanied by a decline of approximately 60 km² in urban green spaces. LEI results demonstrate a transition from compact infilling growth (2010–2015) to dominant edge and outlying expansion (2015–2020), indicating progressive peri-urbanization. The urban largest continuous patch (ULCP) nearly doubled from 78.58 km² to 152.13 km² over the same period, accentuating rapid spatial consolidation. The 2030 projection anticipates continued corridor-oriented expansion, particularly toward the northern and eastern peripheries, with predictive agreement from the CA–ANN model (χ² = 0.03 < 7.8). The study identifies a clear transition from monocentric compactness to polycentric expansion, emphasizing the necessity for enforceable growth containment, transit-oriented development, and ecologically responsive planning strategies to ensure long-term urban sustainability. Full article

Efficient wood logistics is essential for a sustainable wood supply chain. In Poland, mounting symptoms of inefficiency highlight the need for a systematic and comprehensive performance assessment across the entire supply chain. Previous studies have predominantly focused on individual supply chain segments or specific stakeholder perspectives, but a comprehensive evaluation of wood supply chain efficiency in Poland remains unrealized. The study aimed to assess the efficiency of the timber supply chain at the Regional Directorate of State Forests level. The analysis encompasses the entire process from harvest planning to delivery to wood processing plants. The business-as-usual scenario derived from historical data is compared with improvement scenarios using a simulation–based optimization approach implemented in ArcGIS Pro 3.4.0. The scenarios are structured according to their decision-making impact: strategic logistics, tactical infrastructure, and operational routines. In total, 18 scenarios are developed to assess total operational costs, including environmental costs per m³ of timber. This covers harvesting, extraction, and transport across all feasible equipment combinations in Poland. The model’s performance was verified for timber harvesting and skidding. Full article

Since arable-land availability is limited worldwide, research on other sustainable practices to improve crop productivity is needed. Seaweed extracts are known for their crop growth- and yield-promoting properties and as a sustainable solution. The application of three seaweed extract brands (Acadian, Afrikelp, and Kelpak) was tested on three crops under field (common bean) and screen-house (bell pepper and tomato) conditions for two consecutive seasons/crops. The study was conducted as an RCBD with five blocks using a drip irrigation system. The three seaweed extracts + water-only (control) treatments were randomly distributed in each block. The extracts were applied to the foliage five times in each growing season at a 1:75 extract/water dilution rate and all crops received N-P-K fertilizer based on the recommended rates for each crop. Analysis of variance and Tukey’s mean separation were conducted on the collected data. All three extracts significantly outperformed the control across all crops and seasons. For bush bean, seaweed treatments significantly increased SPAD, yield, and protein content, with the treatment order Afrikelp > Acadian ≥ Kelpak > Control. For tomato, significant improvements were observed in SPAD, yield, and fruit weight, with yield increases driven primarily by fruit count and average; the treatment order was Afrikelp > Kelpak ≥ Acadian > Control. For bell pepper, SPAD, yield, and BRIX were significantly increased, with the treatment order Afrikelp > Kelpak > Acadian > Control. Overall, Afrikelp consistently produced the highest responses across all crops, achieving up to 48.8, 60.3, and 58.6% yield increases for bush bean, tomato, and bell pepper, respectively. The results showed that seaweed extract can serve as a sustainable amendment for crop improvement. Full article

Plant-mediated green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) predominantly relies on single botanical sources, constraining reduction efficiency and forfeiting the therapeutic potential of residual biomass. This study employed aloe vera and birch bark extracts as reducing agents. A combination of single-factor analysis and response surface methodology was employed to prepare monodisperse 30 nm AgNPs (with a Zeta potential of −35.3 mV and confirmed by XPS as metallic Ag⁰). It was loaded into carboxymethyl chitosan-vanillin-polyvinyl alcohol (CVP) gel microneedles using the vacuum casting method. The mechanical strength of these microneedles reaches 0.302 N/needle, exceeding the skin penetration threshold. Throughout the entire preparation process, both its Ag⁰ chemical state and crystal structure were maintained (by FT-IR and XRD). The MIC values of AgNPs@CVP against four pathogens ranged from 0.977 to 7.813 μg/mL, with a biofilm disruption rate exceeding 70%, and demonstrated excellent biocompatibility (hemolytic rate < 1.6%, cell survival rate > 80%). In a rat wound infection model, high-dose microneedle therapy reduced the residual wound area to 10.9% by day 9. This strategy inhibited the secretion of TNF-α and IL-6 while promoting epithelial regeneration, angiogenesis, and collagen deposition. This bifunctional Aloe-Birch strategy converges green nanomaterial synthesis with therapeutic delivery within a single bio-based platform, advancing sustainable nanomedicine paradigms and providing a resource-efficient blueprint for clinical infectious wound management. Full article

Tagetes erecta L. is an important industrial source of lutein and other phytochemicals with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and glucose- and lipid-metabolizing potential. This review analyzes its phytochemical composition, biological mechanisms, potential applications in the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases, and emerging uses of nanotechnology to enhance biomass and secondary metabolite production. A structured search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar using terms related to T. erecta, carotenoids, flavonoids, metabolic health, nanoparticles, nanoelicitation, and agro-industrial valorization. The evidence indicates that lutein, zeaxanthin, quercetagetin derivatives, patuletin, quercetin, and phenolic acids can modulate oxidative stress, inflammatory signaling, carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, lipid accumulation, and cell protection. Furthermore, the flowers, leaves, and extraction residues can be used as reducing and stabilizing matrices for the sustainable synthesis of functional nanomaterials. Nanoelicitors, nanofertilizers, and nanoencapsulated systems could stimulate the methylerythritol phosphate pathway, chromoplast differentiation, and the expression of genes related to carotenoid biosynthesis. Taken together, T. erecta represents a promising platform for the development of nutraceuticals, nanobiotechnology, and circular bioeconomy applications; however, phytochemical standardization, clinical validation, mechanistic studies supported by omics sciences, and pilot-scale evaluations are still required. Full article

Interest in sustainable protein sources is increasing because of environmental concerns related to animal agriculture and the growing burden of chronic non-communicable diseases. Plant-derived bioactive peptides (PDBAPs), amino acid sequences released from dietary proteins, are gaining attention because experimental studies have reported activities relevant to hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and cancer-associated processes. Although animal proteins have long been major sources of bioactive peptides, plant materials may offer advantages such as abundance, potentially lower production costs, and broad cultural acceptability; however, these benefits depend on the source, processing requirements, safety, and scale-up conditions. This review integrates plant sources, processing technologies, proposed mechanisms of action, and translational barriers. Current research covers traditional sources, including legumes and cereals, as well as agro-industrial by-products such as potato peels, spent coffee grounds, and broccoli stems. Modern processing strategies increasingly combine enzymatic hydrolysis or microbial fermentation with process-assisting technologies, including ultrasound treatment and subcritical water processing, to improve protein recovery or peptide release. Recent studies also examine proposed mechanisms of PDBAP activity, including Keap1/Nrf2-associated responses and inhibition of enzymes involved in metabolic disorders. Evidence is interpreted according to the stage of experimental validation, from computational prediction and cell-free assays to cellular, animal, and human studies. Key challenges remain, particularly digestive instability, uncertain systemic bioavailability, bitterness, safety standardization, and limited human clinical evidence. Future work should prioritize standardized extraction and analytical methods, optimized delivery systems, and robust clinical trials. Full article

Synthetic dyes are widely used in industry; however, their release into the environment without adequate treatment poses serious risks because of their toxicity and adverse effects on human health and aquatic ecosystems. Although conventional methods are effective, they are often costly and have limited sustainability. In this context, ATPSs are proposed as an environmentally friendly alternative aligned with the principles of green chemistry, offering an efficient and cost-effective route. In this study, Tartrazine (Tart), an azo model dye, was used to evaluate the efficiency of an ATPS formed by PEG + salt + H₂O. The effects of the cation and anion nature, PEG molar mass, and pH on Tart partitioning were investigated by determining the partition coefficient of Tart (K_Tart) and the Gibbs free energy of transfer (Δ_trG°). The PEG 1500 + Na₂SO₄ + H₂O ATPS at pH 3.0 exhibited the best performance among the systems evaluated, with a spontaneous transfer process evidenced by Δ_trG° values as low as −21.62 kJ mol⁻¹. The extraction efficiency exceeded 99%, and the ATPS was successfully applied to the removal of Tart from river water and wastewater samples, demonstrating high performance and considerable potential as an alternative technology for the removal of this dye from industrial aqueous solutions. Full article

Water hyacinth leaves (WHL) are an inexpensive renewable fuel resource that can be employed for energy creation through hydrolysis of simple fermentable reducing sugars. In this work, a hybrid microwave irradiation (MWI)–ternary deep eutectic solvent (TNDES) system involving choline chloride (ChCl) as a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA), triethanolamine (TEOA) as an amine-based hydrogen bond donor (HBD), monoethylene glycol (MEG), diethylene glycol (DEG), or triethylene glycol (TEG) as polyol-based HBD components was employed as an efficient and green material for pretreatment of WHL for further transformation of the polysaccharide portion. The results showed that hybrid MWI/TNDES (ChCl-TEOA-MEG, ChCl-TEOA-DEG, and ChCl-TEOA-TEG) pretreatments were very efficient for lignin removal from WHL, with efficacy ranging from 80.4 ± 3.2 to 87.7 ± 3.8% compared with pretreatment using hybrid MWI/binary NDES (ChCl-TEOA) (75.6 ± 2.4%). The higher efficacy of the hybrid MWI/TNDES pretreatment was attributed to the impacts of MWI on extracting biological materials and the lower viscosity, higher pH, and lower density associated with the TNDESs. The results indicate that WHL pretreated using hybrid MWI and ChCl-TEOA-MEG, ChCl-TEOA-DEG, and ChCl-TEOA-TEG resulted in significantly boosting cellulose digestibility (4–5 times that of pristine WHL and 1.5 times that of hybrid MWI/ChCl-TEOA-treated WHL). The effect of MWI/TNDES pretreatment was confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) pictures, and lignin and hemicellulose elimination were clearly observed in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. The lignin-rich material separated by the hybrid MWI/TNDES pretreatment was analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to obtain the thermal behaviors of this hybrid, pretreated WHL material. In our experimentation with hybrid MWI/TNDES, under optimum circumstances of MWI time of 6 min, MWI power of 300 W, and a temperature of 90 °C, 43–49 g/L TRS yield was achieved by acid-catalyzed hydrolysis employing WHL substrate after being optimized by the single-factor experiments (SFE) approach, while the optimized TRS for untreated WHL and hybrid MWI/binary ChCl-TEOA were estimated to be 12 g/L and 32 g/L, respectively. The hybrid MWI/ChCl-TEOA-TEG pretreated WHL resulted in a high ethanol yield (ca. 22.3 g/L) by Saccharomyces cerevisiae after 72 h of fermentation. This work demonstrates the potential of WHL as a sustainable bioenergy feedstock for bioethanol production in industrial biorefineries. The research establishes effective and green solvent pre-treatment materials and methods (based on hybrid MWI/TNDES) for the efficient removal of lignin and hemicellulose from WHL and cellulose recovery. In general, the research contributes to the development of environmentally friendly and cost-effective hybrid MWI/TNDES processes for WHL biomass conversion and offers strong evidence that hybrid MWI/TNDES processes represent a high-potential method for managing WHL infestations while generating useful products. Future studies should further investigate ways to enhance the efficacy of acid-catalyzed hydrolysis processes and assess the scalability of the technology for industrial applications. Full article