Diversity of Catechin in Northeast Indian Tea Cultivars

Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) leaf contains a large amount of catechins (a group of very active flavonoids) which contribute to major quality attributes of black tea. Based on morphological characters tea plants were classified as Assam, China, and Cambod varieties. The present study is an attempt for biochemical fingerprinting of the tea varieties based on catechin composition in green leaf of cultivars grown in Northeast India. Assam variety cultivars contained the highest level of catechins followed by Cambod and China. The average catechin contents were 231 ± 7 mg g−1, 202 ± 5 mg g−1, and 157 ± 4 mg g−1 of dry weight of green leaf for Assam, Cambod, and China cultivars, respectively. Among the individual catechins the variations in epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and epigallocatechin (EGC) were the most prominent among the varieties. High EGC content was found to be a characteristic of Assam variety which was further corroborated through multivariate analysis

Role of Various Extractants in Removing Group-IIB Elements of Soils Incubated with EDTA

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation undertaken to evaluate different extractant solutions viz. HCl, Mg(NO3)2, and DTPA with the range of concentration from 0.001 to 0.1N after incubation with group-IIB metals (Zn, Cd, and Hg) and EDTA to understand the capability to remove Zn, Cd, and Hg from soils. Two noncontaminated soils, one acidic (GHL) and the other alkaline (KAP), in reaction were taken from an agricultural field of West Bengal, India for this investigation. Experiments were conducted on these two soils spiked with ZnII, CdII, and HgII in concentrations of 612, 321, and 215 mg/kg for soil GHL and 778, 298, and 157 mg/kg for soil KAP, respectively, which simulate typical electroplating waste contamination. The removal of Zn, Cd, and Hg in soil GHL within the range of HCl concentrations was 8.216.5, 12.219.1, and 4.36.9 whereas these were 6.57.6, 8.514.1, and 3.25.2 in soil KAP. The removal of Zn, Cd, and Hg in soil GHL within the range of Mg(NO3)2 concentrations were 12.228.5, 19.124.6, and 18.219.1 whereas these were 9.112.1, 8.312.1, and 10.648.1 in soil KAP. For DTPA extractant, the percent removal of metal was found to be significantly higher than the other two extractants, which corroborates that DTPA is a better extractant for soil cleaning

Thermodynamics of Cadmium Sorption on Different Soils of West Bengal, India

A sorption study was conducted on different soils collected from five agroecological zones of West Bengal, India, to understand the soil environmental behavior and fate of cadmium. For this purpose batch adsorption experiments were carried out at the native soil pH and at three different temperatures (25 ∘ C, 35 ∘ C, and 45 ∘ C). The adsorption data fitted by a linear least squares technique to the different sorption isotherms. Most data obtained give the good fit to both Freundlich and modified Langmuir isotherms, but they are not consistent with the linear Langmuir adsorption model. Thermodynamic parameters, namely, thermodynamics equilibrium constant at a particular temperature ( 0 ), Gibbs free energy at a particular temperature (Δ 0 ), and change of enthalpy (Δ 0 ) and change of entropy at temperature (Δ 0 ), were also determined by applying sorption value and concentrations of Cd in equilibrium solution within the temperature range. The thermodynamic parameters revealed that Cd sorption increases as the values of 0 , Δ 0 , Δ 0 , and Δ 0 were increased on reaction temperatures. The spontaneous sorption reaction can be concluded due to high values of Δ 0 . The positive values of Δ 0 indicated that the Cd sorption is an endothermic one. Under these present conditions, the soil and its components possibly supply a number of sites having different adsorption energies for cadmium sorption

Comparative Assessment of Copper, Iron, and Zinc Contents in Selected Indian (Assam) and South African (Thohoyandou) Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) Samples and Their Infusion: A Quest for Health Risks to Consumer

The current study aims to assess the infusion pattern of three important micronutrients namely copper (Cu), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) contents from black tea samples produced in Assam (India) and Thohoyandou (South Africa). Average daily intakes and hazardous quotient were reported for these micronutrients. Total content for Cu, Fe, and Zn varied from 2.25 to 48.82 mg kg−1, 14.75 to 148.18 mg kg−1, and 28.48 to 106.68 mg kg−1, respectively. The average contents of each of the three micronutrients were higher in tea leaves samples collected from South Africa than those from India while the contents in tea infusions in Indian samples were higher than in South African tea samples. Results of this study revealed that the consumption of 600 mL tea infusion produced from 24 g of made tea per day may be beneficial to human in terms of these micronutrients content. Application of nonparametric tests revealed that most of the data sets do not satisfy the normality assumptions. Hence, the use of both parametric and nonparametric statistical analysis that subsequently revealed significant differences in elemental contents among Indian and South African tea

Heavy Metal Accumulation in Soil Amended with Roadside Pond Sediment and Uptake by Winter Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. PBW 343)

The risks of heavy metal accumulation and the dynamics related to roadside pond sediment application in comparison to control of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were investigated in field experiments. Selective sequential extraction procedures revealed that application of pond sediment in soil increases the labile pools of the studied heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn). Risk assessment codes concluded that Cu and Pb were in the high-risk zone in both pond sediment and soil amended with pond sediment, whereas Zn and Cu were found in the medium-risk zone for control soil. Heavy metal accumulation by wheat straw and grain (39.38, 1.18, 23.73, 0.36, 0.18, and 16.8 mg kg-1 for Zn, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, and Pb, respectively, for wheat grain) was significantly increased through application of pond sediment. However, metal accumulation did not thwart the enhancement of wheat yield when pond sediment was applied. Health risk indexes of analyzed heavy metals were found to be within the Indian permissible limit for foodstuffs. Pond sediments help to fortify wheat grain by increasing the concentration of Zn and Cu as a source of micronutrients in the diet. However, a significant increase of Pb in wheat grain through pond sediment could be a health concern for its long-term application. Therefore, pond sediment would be a valuable resource for agriculture as an alternative organic supplement, but long-term use may require the cessation of the excavated sediment as agricultural landfill in order to restrict heavy metal contamination through it

Asymmetric Price Transmission: A Case of Wheat in India

In the present paper, horizontal and vertical integration was carried out on the wholesale and retail prices of wheat in the major markets of India. On confirming cointegration between the wholesale and retail prices of wheat in all needs, the vector error correction model (VECM) was applied to find the speed of adjustment in the corresponding price channel. The results revealed that price signals are transmitted across regions, indicating that price changes in one market are consistently related to price changes in markets and can influence the prices in other markets. In addition to studying cointegration, threshold autoregressive (TAR) and Momentum TAR (MTAR) models were applied to test for asymmetric cointegration. Hasen and Seo’s test was used to test for the presence of threshold cointegration. It revealed a significant presence of asymmetric and nonlinear cointegration in many markets. Accordingly, a threshold VECM (TVECM) model with two regimes was applied. The results indicate that the retail price significantly responds to the deviations from the long-run equilibrium compared to the wholesale price

Role of Various Extractants in Removing Group-IIB Elements of Soils Incubated with EDTA

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation undertaken to evaluate different extractant solutions viz. HCl, Mg(NO 3 ) 2 , and DTPA with the range of concentration from 0.001 to 0.1N after incubation with group-IIB metals (Zn, Cd, and Hg) and EDTA to understand the capability to remove Zn, Cd, and Hg from soils. Two noncontaminated soils, one acidic (GHL) and the other alkaline (KAP), in reaction were taken from an agricultural field of West Bengal, India for this investigation. Experiments were conducted on these two soils spiked with Zn II , Cd II , and Hg II in concentrations of 612, 321, and 215 mg/kg for soil GHL and 778, 298, and 157 mg/kg for soil KAP, respectively, which simulate typical electroplating waste contamination. The removal of Zn, Cd, and Hg in soil GHL within the range of HCl concentrations was 8.2-16.5, 12.2-19.1, and 4.3-6.9 whereas these were 6.5-7.6, 8.5-14.1, and 3.2-5.2 in soil KAP. The removal of Zn, Cd, and Hg in soil GHL within the range of Mg(NO 3 ) 2 concentrations were 12.2-28.5, 19.1-24.6, and 18.2-19.1 whereas these were 9.1-12.1, 8.3-12.1, and 10.6-48.1 in soil KAP. For DTPA extractant, the percent removal of metal was found to be significantly higher than the other two extractants, which corroborates that DTPA is a better extractant for soil cleaning

Evaluation of Composts from Agricultural Wastes with Fish Pond Sediment as Bulking Agent to Improve Compost Quality

Composts with five different ratios of agricultural wastes, viz. rice straw (RS), wheat straw (WS), potato plant (PP), and mustard stover (MS) were prepared with or without fish pond bottom sediment to investigate the compost maturity and their suitability for field application. The composting process was monitored through the changes in physico‐chemical parameters and germination index (GI) at every 7 days interval of the composting process. All the composts were dark brown and smelled like forest soil within 56 days of composting, which reflected its matured status. On the basis of the physico‐chemical parameters (bulk density: 0.84 g/cm3; pH 7.05; electrical conductivity: 3.52 mS/cm; cation exchange capacity:82.4 cmol/kg; total carbon:321.4 g/kg; total nitrogen: 16.9 g/kg; As: 6.8 mg/kg; Cd: 2.96 mg/kg; Cr: 29.6 mg/kg, Cu: 243.6 mg/kg; Hg: 0.019 mg/kg; Ni: 24.3 mg/kg; Pb: 62.1 mg/kg and Zn: 812 mg/kg) and GI (89–96%), it could be concluded that RS/WS/PP/MS, 1:1:2:1 v/v/v/v with fish pond sediment produced better compost in accordance with the Indian compost standard. Application of a combined randomized block design analysis revealed that there is a significant difference in the responses of the five composts, in relation to the time of composting. Hierarchical clustering algorithm was applied with a view to form homogeneous groups of five different composts on the basis of different physico‐chemical parameters. Therefore, the ratio of waste incorporation is an important decision for composting and addition of pond sediment can improve the quality of compost