Microplastics in freshwater systems: A review on occurrence, environmental effects, and methods for microplastics detection.

Studies of the effects of microplastics on aquatic organisms: What do we know and where should we focus our efforts in the future?

Evidence of microplastic accumulation in agricultural soils from sewage sludge disposal

https://pure.knaw.nl/ws/files/7087721/6554_Qi.pdf

Macro- and micro- plastics in soil-plant system : Effects of plastic mulch film residues on wheat (Triticum aestivum) growth

Atmospheric microplastics: A review on current status and perspectives

Distribution and importance of microplastics in the marine environment: A review of the sources, fate, effects, and potential solutions

The increased consumption of legume seeds as a strategy for enhancing food security, reducing malnutrition, and improving health outcomes on a global scale remains an ongoing subject of profound research interest. Legume seed proteins are rich in their dietary protein contents. However, coexisting with these proteins in the seed matrix are other components that inhibit protein digestibility. Thus, improving access to legume proteins often depends on the neutralisation of these inhibitors, which are collectively described as antinutrients or antinutritional factors. The determination of protein quality, which typically involves evaluating protein digestibility and essential amino acid content, is assessed using various methods, such as in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestibility, protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (IV-PDCAAS), and digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS). Since most edible legumes are mainly available in their processed forms, an interrogation of these processing methods, which could be traditional (e.g., cooking, milling, extrusion, germination, and fermentation) or based on emerging technologies (e.g., high-pressure processing (HPP), ultrasound, irradiation, pulsed electric field (PEF), and microwave), is not only critical but also necessary given the capacity of processing methods to influence protein digestibility. Therefore, this timely and important review discusses how each of these processing methods affects legume seed digestibility, examines the potential for improvements, highlights the challenges posed by antinutritional factors, and suggests areas of focus for future research.

/pdf/legume-seed-protein-digestibility-as-influenced-by-1nyeesc3.pdf

Legume Seed Protein Digestibility as Influenced by Traditional and Emerging Physical Processing Technologies

The southwestern part of Nigeria, particularly Ogun State, is more vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change due to the high dependence on rain-fed agriculture and limited capacities to respond to climate change. In this study, factors influencing climate change adaptation strategies and its impacts on household food security of smallholder rice farmers in Ogun State were estimated. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select 120 smallholder rice farmers in the study area. The factors influencing the adoption of climate change adaptation practices and their impacts on household food security among smallholder rice farmers in Ogun State were examined using a probit model and an endogenous switching probit model (ESPM). According to the results of household dietary diversity score (HDDS), adopters of climate change adaptation techniques have higher levels of food security than non-adopters. The outcome of the ESPM shows that access to market information, access to extension agents, gender, off-farm income, and membership in cooperatives all contribute to the variations in food security experienced by both adopters and non-adopters of climate change adaptation strategies. A unit increase in adoption of climate change adaptation measures will increase household food security by about 3 units while decreasing severity in food insecurity by about 3.2 units. Therefore, it is recommended that policies that would support smallholder farmers’ decisions to embrace measures for coping with climate change should be encouraged in order to stimulate their adaptive capacity. Additionally, in order to secure the inclusive sustainability of the agricultural sector, stakeholders and NGOs must collaborate with each other to enhance the circumstances under which farmers may receive climate change information, timely agricultural loans, and policy incentives.

/pdf/does-adoption-of-climate-change-adaptation-strategy-improve-3vuk5s9q.pdf

C.U Emenike

Papers

Distribution and importance of microplastics in the marine environment: A review of the sources, fate, effects, and potential solutions

Legume Seed Protein Digestibility as Influenced by Traditional and Emerging Physical Processing Technologies

Does Adoption of Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Improve Food Security? A Case of Rice Farmers in Ogun State, Nigeria