Central Tuber Crops Research Institute

About: Central Tuber Crops Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Starch & Fermentation. The organization has 475 authors who have published 587 publications receiving 10285 citations.

Paddy straw as a substrate for the cultivation of Lingzhi or Reishi medicinal mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum (W.Curt.:Fr.) P. Karst. in India.

Abstract: Lingzhi or Reishi medicinal mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, is generally cultivated on hardwood logs or sawdust/woodchips based formulations. More than 100 million tonnes of paddy straw is being produced in India per year, and almost 50% of the straw is potentially available for growing mushrooms. In the present study an attempt was made to use paddy straw as a substrate to cultivate G. lucidim. Different proportions of paddy straw were mixed with 0, 22.5%, 45%, and 67.5% sawdust and 10% rice bran. Spawn run period, fruiting initiation period, yield, moisture content, dry recovery, and fruiting body characteristics were recorded and compared. Fructification was observed with all the substrate formulations and they did not show any significant difference in yield. The highest biological efficiency (BE) (29.9%) was observed with the combination sawdust:paddy straw:rice bran 22.5:67.5:10, followed by saw dust:paddy straw:rice bran 45:45:10 with BE 27.3%. The current study demonstrated for the first time that the cultivation of G. lucidum is possible with paddy straw as the base substrate and indicated the enormous potential of paddy straw for the cultivation of G. lucidum.

Influence of fly ash mixtures on early tree growth and physicochemical properties of soil in semi-arid tropical Alfisols

Abstract: The beneficial effects of planting mixtures comprising of fly ash at the rate of 66%, 33% and 17% by soil volume were assessed for the early growth of two economic tree species, teak (Tectona grandis) and leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) in rainfed Semi-Arid Tropical (SAT) Alfisols in India. Measurements of tree growth were made at six monthly intervals over a 3-year period. Fly ash at 66% by soil volume of the planting pit significantly increased the diameter of teak at breast height (dbh). In leucaena, application of fly ash at 17% by soil volume was found to be effective in increasing dbh during most of the study period. Changes in soil physicochemical properties (bulk density, water retention at 0.033 and 1.5 MPa, profile moisture content, pH, soluble salt content and organic carbon) were simultaneously studied. Among these soil properties, plant available water (PAW) and organic carbon (OC) contents explained variations in diameter at breast height (dbh) in teak during most of the sampling period, while none of the soil properties significantly explained dbh in leucaena. The highest dose of fly ash applied (66% by volume) decreased bulk density (BD) and increased PAW in teak and to an extent in leucaena during the first 2 years of tree growth. Higher profile moisture content was noted in pits treated with 66% fly ash during the dry period of November (after the end of seasonal rainfall which occurred from June to October) during the first and second year after application.

Characterization of three depside compounds from a Western Ghat lichen Parmelia erumpens Kurok with special reference to antimicrobial and anticancer activity

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the major chemical compositions of the chloroform extract of lichen Parmelia erumpens from Western Ghats, Kerala, India and its antimicrobial and anticancer activities. Chloroform extract was purified by silica gel column chromatography to obtain three major compounds and their chemical structures were characterized by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, UV and HR-MS spectroscopic methods as atranorin (1), (+)-usnic acid (2) and 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid (3). The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) by the broth micro dilution and agar disc diffusion methods was used to record the antimicrobial activity. Out of three compounds tested, 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid recorded excellent antimicrobial activity especially against medically important bacteria and fungi and the MIC values ranged from 0.06 to 4 μg ml−1 against test bacteria and 0.12 to 16 μg ml−1 against test fungi. The best MIC of 0.06 μg ml−1 by 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid was recorded against Vibrio cholera, a human pathogenic bacterium responsible for causing life threatening diseases like profuse watery diarrhea. Anti cancer activity was initially screened by MTT assay in A549, B16F10, Caski and HepG2 cell lines. MTT assay results showed that the growth of cancer cells was suppressed by 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid in both dose- and time-dependent manners. A549, B16F10 and Caski cells treated with 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid showed typical apoptotic morphology when stained with acridine orange–ethidium bromide and hoechst staining. Cell cycle analysis clearly indicated that cell death was due to apoptosis. Enhancement in the proliferation of lymphocytes suggested immunomodulatory activity of this compound. To our best knowledge anticancer activity of 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid was reported here for the first time. Thus the results of the present study suggest that 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoic acid has a strong potential to be developed as an antimicrobial and anticancer drug target after further clinical evaluation.

Purification, characterization and application of thermostable exo‐polygalacturonase from streptomyces erumpens mtcc 7317

Abstract: Exo-polygalacturonase (exo-PG) has a wide range of applications in food processing, i.e., juice extraction, clarification of wine, bakery and distillery industries. Culture parameters for optimum production of extracellular exo-PG by thermostable Streptomyces erumpens Microbial Type Culture Collections 7317 were found to be incubation period (36 h), pH (7.0) and temperature (50C). Enzyme production was higher in beef extract (1%) as nitrogen source as compared with others (casein, peptone, yeast extract, ammonium nitrate, etc.). The purified enzyme (by ammonium sulfate precipitation) had a molecular mass of 63.0 kDa in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Crude PG from S. erumpens was compared with marketed pectinase (Pectinex, Novozyme, Bagsvaerd, Denmark) in extraction of juice from vegetables (beet roots, carrot and sweet potato) and fruits (guava and pineapple). A 15–20% increase in juice yield was observed from vegetables and fruits with application of S. erumpens PG over Pectinex. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The results showed that a moderately thermostable exo-polygalacturonase (exo-PG) was produced by the actinomycetes strain Streptomyces erumpens MTCC 7317 in submerged fermentation. This enzyme can be used in extraction, clarification and depectinization of vegetables and fruit juices whose pHs are around 7.0. Furthermore, the efficiency of the enzyme has been compared with that of standard pectinase (Pectinex, Novozyme, Bagsvaerd, Denmark) for extraction of juice from vegetables (i.e., beet root [Beta vulgaris L.], carrot [Daucus carota L.] and sweet potato [Ipomoea batatus L.]) and fruits (i.e., guava [Psidium guava L.] and pineapple [Ananas comosus L.]). There was 15–20% increase in juice yield from these vegetables and fruits with the application of crude S. erumpens exo-PG over Pectinex.

Effect of Fortification with Different Starches on Starch Digestibility, Textural and Ultrastructural Characteristics of Sweet Potato paghetti

Abstract: The effect of fortification with various sources of starch such as banana, lentil, black gram and sweet potato in reducing the in vitro starch digestibility and glycaemic index of sweet potato spaghetti was investigated at Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, India. Swelling index and cooking loss were more for the starch-fortified spaghetti than the control spaghetti. Among the starches, highest cooking loss was obtained for 10% lentil starch fortified sample. Crude protein content was higher for black gram and sweet potato starch fortified spaghetti. In vitro starch digestibility increased very slowly from 20-120 min, for the fortified samples compared to the unfortified controls. Accordingly, the rapidly digestible starch (RDS) was less and resistant starch (RS) was more for the starch-fortified samples. The estimated glycaemic index (EGI) was low for the spaghetti fortified with banana, lentil and sweet potato starches at 5 and 10% levels, indicating that these could be considered as low glycaemic foods. Firmness of cooked spaghetti was maximum for black gram starch fortification, while toughness was the maximum for lentil starch based cooked samples. Ultrastructural studies showed starch gelatinization and leaching with diffused granular shape for most spaghetti samples. Whey protein concentrate promoted starch-protein network formation leading to slow starch digestibility.