A Review on Vegetable Oil Refining: Process, Advances and Value Addition to Refining by-Products

Nowadays, consumer food choices are driven by health awareness and sustainability concerns. As vegetable oil is an important component of the human diet, the source and the processing play an important role in consumer acceptability. To remove impurities that affect the color, palatability, stability, and safety of oil, crude vegetable oil must be refined. This review highlights the processes and steps used in vegetable oil refining. Depending upon the oil source type, either chemical or physical refining is employed to get the desired oil specifications. Oil refining steps are sequential, with each step removing one or more specific impurities. Refining advances aim towards minimizing chemical usage, nutrient losses, oil losses, and avoiding the formation of trans-fatty acids. The review also discusses the prospect of using the refining by-product stream for obtaining high-value products like phosphatidylcholine, tocopherols, and tocotrienols. The edible oil industry can be made more economical and sustainable through the valorization and integration of waste product streams obtained at different refining steps

Genomic Insights of Halophilic Planococcus maritimus SAMP MCC 3013 and Detail Investigation of Its Biosurfactant Production

Moderate halophilic bacteria thrive in saline conditions and produce biosurfactant (BS) which facilitates the oil scavenging activity in the oil polluted surroundings. Production of such unusual bioactive molecules plays a vital role for their survival in an extreme and adverse environment. Current research deals with isolation of Planococcus maritimus strain SAMP MCC 3013 from Indian Arabian coastline sea water for BS production. The bacterium tolerated up to 2.7 M NaCl demonstrating osmotic stress bearable physiological systems. We used integrated approach to explore the genomic insight of the strain SAMP and displayed the presence of gene for BS biosynthesis. The genome analysis revealed this potential to be intrinsic to the strain. Preliminary screening techniques viz., surface tension (SFT), drop collapse (DC) and oil displacement (OD) showed SAMP MCC 3013 as a potent BS producer. BS reduced SFT of phosphate buffer saline (PBS) pH: 7.0 from 72 to 30 mN/m with a critical micelle concentration (CMC) value of 1.3 mg/mL. Subsequent investigation on chemical characterization, using thin layer chromatography (TLC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR and 13C NMR) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) revealed terpene containing BS having sugar, lipid moieties. The genomic sequence analysis of P. maritimus SAMP showed complete genes in the pathway for the synthesis of terpenoid. Probably terpenoid is the accountable backbone molecule for the BS production, but the later stages of terpenoid conversion to the BS could not be found. Moreover, it is important to highlight that till today; no single report documents the in-detailed physico-chemical characterization of BS from Planococcus sp. Based on genomic and functional properties, the term terpene containing BS is denoted for the surfactant produced by P. maritimus

Synergistic Activity of Rhamnolipid Biosurfactant and Nanoparticles Synthesized Using Fungal Origin Chitosan Against Phytopathogens

Phytopathogens pose severe implications in the quantity and quality of food production by instigating several diseases. Biocontrol strategies comprising the application of biomaterials have offered endless opportunities for sustainable agriculture. We explored multifarious potentials of rhamnolipid-BS (RH-BS: commercial), fungal chitosan (FCH), and FCH-derived nanoparticles (FCHNPs). The high-quality FCH was extracted from Cunninghamella echinulata NCIM 691 followed by the synthesis of FCHNPs. Both, FCH and FCHNPs were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, DLS, zeta potential, FTIR, SEM, and Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA). The commercial chitosan (CH) and synthesized chitosan nanoparticles (CHNPs) were used along with test compounds (FCH and FCHNPs). SEM analysis revealed the spherical shape of the nanomaterials (CHNPs and FCHNPs). NTA provided high-resolution visual validation of particle size distribution for CHNPs (256.33 ± 18.80 nm) and FCHNPs (144.33 ± 10.20 nm). The antibacterial and antifungal assays conducted for RH-BS, FCH, and FCHNPs were supportive to propose their efficacies against phytopathogens. The lower MIC of RH-BS (256 μg/ml) was observed than that of FCH and FCHNPs (>1,024 μg/ml) against Xanthomonas campestris NCIM 5028, whereas a combination study of RH-BS with FCHNPs showed a reduction in MIC up to 128 and 4 μg/ml, respectively, indicating their synergistic activity. The other combination of RH-BS with FCH resulted in an additive effect reducing MIC up to 128 and 256 μg/ml, respectively. Microdilution plate assay conducted for three test compounds demonstrated inhibition of fungi, FI: Fusarium moniliforme ITCC 191, FII: Fusarium moniliforme ITCC 4432, and FIII: Fusarium graminearum ITCC 5334 (at 0.015% and 0.020% concentration). Furthermore, potency of test compounds performed through the in vitro model (poisoned food technique) displayed dose-dependent (0.005%, 0.010%, 0.015%, and 0.020% w/v) antifungal activity. Moreover, RH-BS and FCHNPs inhibited spore germination (61–90%) of the same fungi. Our efforts toward utilizing the combination of RH-BS with FCHNPs are significant to develop eco-friendly, low cytotoxic formulations in future

<em>Syzygium cumini</em> Mediated Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles for Reduction of 4-Nitrophenol and Assessment of its Antibacterial Activity

The biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has become more significant in the recent years owing to its applications in catalysis, imaging, drug delivery, nano-device fabrication and in medicine. We propose the synthesis of silver nanoparticles from the plant extract of Syzygium cumini and evaluation of its antibacterial and chemocatalytic potential. Synthesis of AgNPs carried out by using aqueous silver nitrate. The UV–Vis absorption spectrum of the synthesized AgNPs showed a broad absorption peak at 470 nm. TEM analysis shows the morphology of AgNPs as a hexagonal matrix with average particle size is about 50 nm. XRD analysis displays the crystalline structure of AgNPs. The presence of elemental silver was confirmed with EDX analysis. FTIR analysis shows that amide groups present in proteins are dominant reducing agents and play an important role in the bioreduction of Ag+ ions to Ag0. The bioreduced AgNPs demonstrated significant catalytic properties in a reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol using NaBH4 in an aqueous condition. The biosynthesized AgNPs have potent antibacterial activity against common clinical pathogens. Considering the remarkable antibacterial activity against common pathogenic microorganisms, AgNPs can be used in the pharmaceutical industries

Effect of Rhizobium Based Biofertilizer Combined with Saccharomyces cerevisiae on the Growth of Hyacinth Bean

Aim: To study the combined effect of Rhizobium isolate and Saccharomyces cerevisiae on the growth of Lablab purpureus (hyacinth bean plant) as a potential bioinoculum for preparation of a novel biofertilizer. Place of Study: The study was done in the laboratory of MITCON Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Center, Pune, India; between February 2013 to December 2013. Method: A pot experiment was arranged in two treatments (control and biofertilizer application) and provided with six replications each with 20 pots. Biofertilizer was prepared by mixing the Rhizobial inoculant with activated charcoal that acted as the carrier. Biochemical as well as genetic (16S rRNA sequencing) characterization proved that the isolate was from Rhizobium spp. Seeds were treated by placing in a solution containing S. cerevisiae. The seeds were then sown in pots and allowed to germinate in controlled conditions. Results: The application of biofertilizer had a significant impact on the growth of hyacinth bean. The treated plants showed 21.7% increase in the shoot length (P value &lt; 0.01), 6% in root length (P value &lt;0.001) and 13.7% increase in the wet weight (P value &lt; 0.01) as compared to control plants grown without the biofertilizer. Conclusion: The newly prepared biofertilizer shows a significant potential for farmers looking to increase their productivity