Enriched rice husk biochar superior to commercial biochar in ameliorating ammonia loss from urea fertilizer and improving plant uptake.

Adding value to agricultural leftovers and turning them into biochar is a viable way to replenish soil nutrients and boost crop productivity. To further validate the efficacy of enriched rice husk biochar, an incubation study and a pot experiment were conducted: (1) to describe the effect of enriched rice husk biochar addition on soil total N, soil exchangeable NH4 + and available NO3 - and (2) to describe the effect of enriched rice husk biochar on improving N, P, K, Ca, and Mg uptake, use efficiency, and dry matter production of rice plants. The amount of NH3 loss that was considerably reduced by rice husk biochar at 5 and 10 t ha-1 was 34 % lower than the control. The availability of soil total N, exchangeable NH4 +, available NO3 -, available P, and exchangeable cations was greatly enhanced by the addition of rice husk biochar. Due to the effective nutrient uptake that occurs with an increase in soil nutrient level, the physical growth of the rice plant (height, tiller number, greenness, and panicle number) increeased significantly in treatments supplemented with 5 t ha-1 rice husk biochar. When rice plants were treated with 5 t ha-1 rice husk biochar, their absorption of N, P, and K increased by >80 %, respectively. The production of dry matter in rice plants increased as a result of the increased N intake. The application of 5 t ha-1 of rice husk biochar enhanced the soil nutrients by reducing NH3 loss and augmenting soil nutrients for efficient plant absorption, as demonstrated by the favourable enhancement of soil macro- and micronutrients and biomass of rice plants.

A Review on Recent Advances on Natural Plant Pigments in Foods: Functions, Extraction, Importance and Challenges.

Natural plant pigments have attracted researchers to investigate the application of these dyes in food products. Besides, public awareness of the adverse effects of synthetic dye also increased the demand for natural pigments. Various colours can be obtained from different plants. Interestingly, these pigments are not only beneficial in the appearance of final food products, but they are very advantageous to the plant itself, food and human nutrition. Hence, this article reviews the state-of-the-art establishment of plant pigment application in food products. This review starts with a brief explanation of plant pigment usage in food, followed by clarifications on the functions of six primary plant dyes and the extraction of the natural pigments. The importance of natural pigments is shared. A highlight of future challenges facing the food industry in utilizing natural pigment is also discussed.

Application of magnetic carbon nanocomposite from agro-waste for the removal of pollutants from water and wastewater.

Water pollution has significant impact on water usage, and various contaminants, such as organic and inorganic compounds, heavy metals, dyes, pharmaceuticals compounds, pathogens and radioactive compounds, are implicated. The quest for globalisation, structural developments and other related anthropogenic activities promote the release of contaminants that induce water pollution. Hence, treatment and remediation options that can remove pollutants from watercourses and wastewater have been developed. Applied nanotechnology using carbon nanocomposites has recently drawn attention because it has the advantages of low preparation cost, high surface area, pore volume and environmental stability. Magnetic carbon nanocomposites usually exhibit excellent performance in adsorbing contaminants from aqueous solutions, and thus expanding the use of nanotechnology in water treatment is of great importance. Therefore, this review explores the geographical outlook of water pollution, sources of water pollution and types of contaminants found in water and discusses the use of carbon nanocomposites as an emerging sustainable technology for water pollutant removal. The various properties of carbon-based composites influence the extent of pollutant adsorption during water treatment processes. Most carbon-based nanocomposites are generated from biomass produced by agro-waste materials. Magnetic activated carbon nanocomposites produced from walnut shells and rice husk waste can remove 78% of Cd(II) from contaminated aqueous systems. Magnetic nanocomposites from peanut shell, tea waste, curcumin nanoparticles, sunflower head waste, rice husk, hydrophyte biomass, palm waste and sugarcane bagasse facilitate hydrothermal carbonisation, chemical precipitation, co-precipitation, chemical activation, calcination and fast pyrolysis. These nanocomposites have benefitted wastewater treatment by increasing efficiency in removing pharmaceutical, dye and organic contaminants, such as promazine, ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin, rhodamine 6G, methyl blue, phenol and phenanthrene. Hence, this review discusses the relatively low costs, good biocompatibility, large surface-to-volume ratio, magnetic separation capability and reusability carbon materials and highlights the advantages of using magnetic carbon nanocomposites in the removal of contaminants from water or wastewater through adsorption mechanisms.