Web repositories of natural agents promote pests and pathogenic microbes management.

The grand challenge to meet the increasing demands for food by a rapidly growing global population requires protecting crops from pests. Natural active substances play a significant role in the sustainable pests and pathogenic microbes management. In recent years, natural products- (NPs), antimicrobial peptides- (AMPs), medicinal plant- and plant essential oils (EOs)-related online resources have greatly facilitated the development of pests and pathogenic microbes control agents in an efficient and economical manner. However, a comprehensive comparison, analysis and summary of these existing web resources are still lacking. Here, we surveyed these databases of NPs, AMPs, medicinal plants and plant EOs with insecticidal, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal activity, and we compared their functionality, data volume, data sources and applicability. We comprehensively discussed the limitation of these web resources. This study provides a toolbox for bench scientists working in the pesticide, botany, biomedical and pharmaceutical engineering fields. The aim of the review is to hope that these web resources will facilitate the discovery and development of potential active ingredients of pests and pathogenic microbes control agents.

Production of biodiesel from non-edible herbaceous vegetable oil: Xanthium sibiricum Patr.

In this study, Xanthium sibiricum Patr oil, a non-edible oil, was investigated for the first time to produce biodiesel. X. sibiricum Patr has very good environmental adaptability and thus has plenty of wild resources. Its seed has a high oil content (42.34%) which gives potential annual output of 100,000 tons just in China. And the oil acid value is pretty low (1.38 mg KOH/g). Under the optimal conditions, the FAME content and yield of X. sibiricum biodiesel were 98.7 wt.% and 92.0%, respectively. The properties of the biodiesel product were tested and most properties were in accordance with EN 14214-08, ASTM D6751-10 and GB/T 20828-07 standards, except cetane number and oxidative stability. The results indicated that X. sibiricum Patr is a promising species as a biodiesel feedstock in China.

Production and selected fuel properties of biodiesel from promising non-edible oils: Euphorbia lathyris L., Sapium sebiferum L. and Jatropha curcas L.

A comparative study on the composition, biodiesel production and fuel properties of non-edible oils from Euphorbia lathyris L. (EL), Sapium sebiferum L. (SS), and Jatropha curcas L. (JC) was conducted. Under optimal conditions, the FAME content and yield of the three oils were greater than 97.5 wt.% and 84.0%, respectively. The best biodiesel was produced from EL due to its high monounsaturation (82.66 wt.%, Cn: 1), low polyunsaturation (6.49 wt.%, Cn: 2, 3) and appropriate proportion of saturated components (8.78 wt.%, Cn: 0). Namely, EL biodiesel possessed a cetane number of 59.6, an oxidation stability of 10.4 h and a cold filter plug point of -11 °C. However, the cetane number (40.2) and oxidative stability (0.8 h) of dewaxed SS kernel oil (DSSK) biodiesel were low due to the high polyunsaturation (72.79 wt.%). In general, the results suggest that E. lathyris L. is a promising species for biodiesel feedstock.