ESTIMATED DAILY INTAKE AND EXPOSURE OF SODIUM BENZOATE AND POTASSIUM SORBATE THROUGH FOOD PRODUCTS IN SCHOOL CHILDREN OF TIRUPATI, INDIA

Objective: According to Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) the preservatives, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate belong to permitted class II preservatives. The aim of this study is to determine the concentration levels of these preservatives in food products that are consumed by school children and to assess the chronic dietary exposure by conducting the Total Diet Study (TDS).Methods: The quantitative determination was carried out by UV spectrophotometer. The absorbance for sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate were measured at 228 and 250 nm respectively. The 24-hour diet recall method was used to estimate the amount of food ate in last 24 hours. For estimation of preservative exposure dietary modelling techniques were utilized which combine the amount of preservative concentration present in that food with the amount of food consumed. Then the dietary exposure was assessed by considering the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI).Results: The results include chemical concentration levels of the foods analyzed as well as estimated dietary exposures and contributions to the exposure from different foods. The obtained mean concentration of sodium benzoate was found to be425 ppm for sauces, 161 ppm for pickles and 80 ppm for soft drinks. Potassium sorbate was found to be 130 ppm for fruit juices,302 ppm for jellies and 380 ppm for jams. The highest mean dietary exposure for both the preservatives was observed in children of 2-7 years age group, the percentage exposure of sodium benzoate was 33% of the ADI and potassium sorbate was 17 % of the ADI.Conclusion: This study can enlighten the public on the consumption of preservative containing food products within the limit and encourages to eating fresh preservative free foods.Â

Technology for Kisan Samanvayam: Nutrition Intelligibility of Groundnut Plant using IoT-ML Framework

Neolithic Demographic transition resulting the reduction of habitable land for cultivation. Hence the smart agriculture is the only way to cater higher food demand. The farming community of developing countries like India needs Kisan Samanvayam with futuristic technologies for financially viable cultivation. Technology place vital role in economically nourishment of soil fertility and crop management. In this regard we proposed IoT-ML framework for remotely assessing the soil nutrients (N, P,K), PH and early stage detection of crop deceases. Android APP which is a part and parcel of the frame work enable the farmer to have real time visual statistics of the soil nutrients, notifications and suggestions regarding to the crop management. JXCT Soil NPK sensors, PH sensors, Dual Core ESP32 Controllers, Firebase Cloud and Random Forest Decision Tree machine Learning Algorithm, Micromlgen serve this purpose. Unlike Solitary sensor for entire field, we have divided a hector into four subregions for effective monitoring local region needs. The presence of IoT with TinyML increased the robustness of the framework and results are encouraging with sandy loam soil

Molecular characterization of sugarcane viruses and their diagnostics

Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableSugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) one of the causative viruses of mosaic disease in sugarcane occurs in sugarcane growing countries worldwide. India is the second largest sugarcane producing country and genome of SCMV from India has not been characterized so far. Hence detailed studies were carried out to characterize the virus isolates based on its complete genome. Comparative genome analyses of five new isolates were performed with previously reported SCMV full genome sequences of isolates infecting sugarcane, maize, sorghum and canna. Sequence identity matrix and phylogenetic analyses clearly represented that Indian isolates are closely related to sugarcane infecting isolates reported from Australia, Argentina, China and Iran and they are diverged as a separate subgroup from other reported maize infecting isolates from Mexico, China, Ohio, Spain, Germany, Iran, Ethiopia, Kenya and Eucador. Selection pressure analysis clearly depicted the predomination of strong purifying selection throughout the viral genome, and strongest in CI and HC-Pro gene. Evidence for few positively selected sites was identified in all the cistrons except in 6K1 and Nib rep. Among the genomic region, CI gene has exhibited comparatively more recombination hotspots followed by HC-Pro unlike other reported isolates. As the cultivation of sugarcane was first originated in India, our results from the recombination events strongly suggest that Indian SCMV populations contribute for the emergence of upcoming new recombinant SCMV isolates not only within the sugarcane isolates but also with maize infection isolates of SCMV in other countries irrespective of geographic origin and host type.Not Availabl

Sugarcane: Ratoon stunting and Grassy shoot

Not Availabl

Not Available

Not AvailableSugarcane (Saccharum spp hybrid) is an important field crop grown for sugar and biofuel in more than 110 countries in the world under varied agro climatic conditions. Viral diseases viz. mosaic caused by Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), Sugarcane streak mosaic virus (SCSMV) and Sorghum mosaic virus (SrMV) in different countries, leaf fleck by Sugarcane bacilliform virus (SCBV) and yellow leaf disease by Sugarcane yellow leaf virus (SCYLV) are the important diseases reported across the sugarcane growing regions. Vegetative propagation favours transmission of these diseases through planting materials and subsequent generations. Increasing titre of virus(es) in the canes adversely affects cane growth, leading to varietal degeneration in popular varieties thereby severe losses to sugarcane cultivation. With the advancements in molecular diagnosis, impact caused by these viruses have been clearly established in the recent years. Several molecular diagnostics right from PCR to qRT-PCR are being widely used to detect the viruses, further all the viruses have been characterized up to complete genome level. The complete genome analyses revealed existence of genomic variation within the population of same virus even in the same geographical region indicating occurrence of new strains. SCSMV earlier described as unassigned member of Potyviridae was characterized as a new genus ‘Susmovirus’ and the same was renamed as Poacevirus in the family based on its distinct sequence variation to the existing genera. In case of other viruses, new virus species, genotypes and strains of the viruses were reported. New recombinants were reported based on its nucleotide and amino acid sequence variations. Under Indian context, all the viruses were characterized based on complete genomes and existing variability among the viruses has been brought out. Characterization of the viruses led to developing molecular tools especially PCR and q-RT-PCR assays, developing recombinant antisera for the viruses and duplex/multiplex RT-PCR assays for different viruses. These assays have helped in the production of healthy planting materials through tissue culture techniques. Now it is established that tissue culture derived planting materials free from the viruses exhibit varietal vigour and the viral diseases can be efficiently managed by this approach. Further works are required to develop sensitive diagnostics for field level diagnosis of the viruses to address the problems in the field and seed selection at the farmer’s holdingsNot Availabl