Humic and fulvic acids as biostimulants in horticulture

Tremendous efforts have been devoted to the development of electrode materials, electrolytes, and separators of energy-storage devices to address the fundamental needs of emerging technologies such as electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. However, binders, as an important component of energy-storage devices, are yet to receive similar attention. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has been the dominant binder in the battery industry for decades despite several well-recognized drawbacks, i.e., limited binding strength due to the lack of chemical bonds with electroactive materials, insufficient mechanical properties, and low electronic and lithium-ion conductivities. The limited binding function cannot meet inherent demands of emerging electrode materials with high capacities such as silicon anodes and sulfur cathodes. To address these concerns, in this review we divide the binding between active materials and binders into two major mechanisms: mechanical interlocking and interfacial b...

Exploring Chemical, Mechanical, and Electrical Functionalities of Binders for Advanced Energy-Storage Devices

Polysaccharides, Protein and Lipid -Based Natural Edible Films in Food Packaging: A Review.

Recent years have witnessed great developments in biobased polymer packaging films for the serious environmental problems caused by the petroleum-based nonbiodegradable packaging materials. Chitosan is one of the most abundant biopolymers after cellulose. Chitosan-based materials have been widely applied in various fields for their biological and physical properties of biocompatibility, biodegradability, antimicrobial ability, and easy film forming ability. Different chitosan-based films have been fabricated and applied in the field of food packaging. Most of the review papers related to chitosan-based films are focusing on antibacterial food packaging films. Along with the advances in the nanotechnology and polymer science, numerous strategies, for instance direct casting, coating, dipping, layer-by-layer assembly, and extrusion, have been employed to prepare chitosan-based films with multiple functionalities. The emerging food packaging applications of chitosan-based films as antibacterial films, barrie...

Emerging Chitosan-Based Films for Food Packaging Applications

Humic acids: Structural properties and multiple functionalities for novel technological developments

Fusarium wilt disease incited by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum (FON) is the utmost devastating soil-inhabiting fungal pathogen limiting watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) production in Malaysia and globally. The field disease survey of fusarium wilt was carried out during December 2019 and November 2020, in three major production areas (3 farmer fields per location) in Peninsular Malaysia namely, Mersing, Serdang and Kuantan and disease incidence of 30 and 45%, was recorded for each year, respectively. Infected watermelon plants showed symptoms such as vascular discoloration, brown necrotic lesions to the soil line or the crown, one-sided wilt of a plant, or a runner or the whole plant. Infected root and stem tissues, 1-2 cm pieces were surface sterilized with 0.6% NaOCl for 1 minute followed by double washing with sterile water. The disinfected tissues were air-dried and transferred onto semi-selective Komada's medium (Komada 1975) and incubated for 5 days. The fungal colonies produced were placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) to attain a pure culture and incubated at 25±2℃ for 15 days. The pure fungal colony was flat, round and light purple in color. Macroconidia were straight to slightly curved, 18.56-42.22 µm in length, 2.69-4.08 µm width, predominantly 3 septate and formed in sporodochia. Microconidia measured 6.16-10.86 µm in length and 2.49-3.83 µm in width, kidney-shaped, aseptate and were formed on short monophialides in false-heads. Chlamydospores were single or in pairs with smooth or rough walls, found both terminally or intercalary. To confirm their pathogenicity, two-week-old watermelon seedlings (cv. NEW BEAUTY) were dipped into spore suspension (1 ˟ 106 spores/ml) of representative isolates of JO20 (Mersing), UPM4 (Serdang) and KU41 (Kuantan) for 30 second and then moved into 10 cm diameter plastic pots containing 300 g sterilized soil mix. Disease symptoms were assessed weekly for one month. Control seedlings were immersed in sterile distilled water before transplanting. The inoculated seedlings showed typical Fusarium wilt symptoms like yellowing, stunted growth, and wilting, which is similar to the farmer field infected plants. However, the seedlings inoculated by sterile distilled water remained asymptomatic. The pathogen was successfully re-isolated from the infected seedlings onto Komada's medium, fulfilling the Koch's postulate. For the PCR amplification, primers EF-1 and EF-2 were used to amplify the tef1-α region. A Blastn analysis of the tef1-α sequences of the isolates JO20 (accession nos. MW315902), UPM4 (MW839560) and KU41 (MW839562) showed 100% similarity; with e-value of zero, to the reference sequences of F. oxysporum isolate FJAT-31690 (MN507110) and F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum isolate FON2 790-2 (MN057702). In Fusarium MLST database, isolates JO20, UPM4 and KU41 revealed 100% identity with the reference isolate of NRRL 22518 (accession no. FJ985265). Though isolate FJ985265 belongs to the f. sp. melonis, earlier findings had revealed Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. are naturally polyphyletic and making clusters with diverse groups of the Fusarium oxysporum species complex (O'Donnell et al. 2015). The isolates JO20, UPM4 and KU41 were identified as F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum based on the aligned sequences of tef1-α and molecular phylogenetic exploration by the maximum likelihood method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of F. oxysporum f. sp. niveum as a causative pathogen of Fusarium wilt disease of watermelon in Malaysia. Malaysia enables to export watermelon all-year-round in different countries like Singapore, Hong-Kong, The United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Netherlands. The outburst of this destructive soil-borne fungal pathogen could cause hindrance to watermelon cultivation in Malaysia. Thus, growers need to choice multiple management tactics such as resistant varieties, cultural practices (soil amendments and solarization), grafting, cover crops and fungicide application to control this new pathogen.

https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PDIS-04-21-0780-PDN

First Report of Fusarium wilt disease on Watermelon Caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum (FON) in Malaysia

Optimizing parameters on the antioxidant capacity of watermelon pulp using conventional orbital shaker and ultrasound-assisted extraction methods

Increasing knowledge and growing concern about the elevated cost of inorganic fertilizers or chemical pesticides with their vast applications on various crop plants has raised interest in the alternative method of plant disease protection caused by plant parasitic nematodes. These alternative methods are not only cost-effective but also eco-friendly to the environment and human health. Among the various rhizospheric microorganisms, opportunistic fungi like Paecilomyces lilacinus, Pochonia chlamydosporia, and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi have the potential to reduce the severity of diseases caused by plant parasitic nematodes and also improved the plant growth and biomass production. This chapter provides an overview on the biocontrol potential of opportunistic as well as AM fungi on the growth and development of various crop plants. The details about the interactions between these fungi and plant parasitic nematodes have been discussed. An overview of the recent cost-effective technologies used for the mass propagation of these beneficial rhizospheric microorganisms is also discussed.

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Biocontrol of Plant Parasitic Nematodes by Fungi: Efficacy and Control Strategies

Current strategies, perspectives and challenges in management and control of postharvest diseases of papaya

Microbial fortified organic amendment in chili cultivation may affect plant development and disease suppression. Microbial infused rice straw compost, commercial rice straw compost, and fungicide Benomyl for chili (Capsicum annum L.) cultivation and control of Sclerotium foot rot were studied under glass house condition. Chili seed cv. Kulai were sown in the Sclerotium rolfsii infested and non-infested soil. After two weeks, five healthy seedlings were transplanted into planting bags. Growth performance and development of disease symptoms associated with S. rolfsii foot rot infection were assessed. Applying microbial infused rice straw compost increased seed germination and plant growth, and suppressed development of foot rot compared to using commercial rice straw compost and the Benomyl. A higher disease reduction (84.6%) occurred with 15 Mg · ha−1 microbial infused rice straw compost (62.7%), followed by Benomyl (53.8%), and 15 Mg · ha−1 commercial rice straw compost (46.2%). Application of mi...

/pdf/bio-efficacy-of-microbial-infused-rice-straw-compost-on-4wl21xc9qe.pdf

Yasmeen Siddiqui

Papers

First Report of Fusarium wilt disease on Watermelon Caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum (FON) in Malaysia

Optimizing parameters on the antioxidant capacity of watermelon pulp using conventional orbital shaker and ultrasound-assisted extraction methods

Biocontrol of Plant Parasitic Nematodes by Fungi: Efficacy and Control Strategies

Current strategies, perspectives and challenges in management and control of postharvest diseases of papaya

Bio-Efficacy of Microbial Infused Rice Straw Compost on Plant Growth Promotion and Induction of Disease Resistance in Chili