Chandran Matheyambath Ajila

Extraction and Analysis of Polyphenols: Recent trends

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in diets rich in fruits and vegetables and this is mostly due to their presumed role in the prevention of various degenerative diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. This is mainly due to the presence of bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, carotenoids, among others. Polyphenols are one of the main classes of secondary metabolites derived from plants offering several health benefits resulting in their use as functional foods. Prior to the use of these polyphenols in specific applications, such as food, pharmaceutical, and the cosmetic industries, they need to be extracted from the natural matrices, then analyzed and characterized. The development of an efficient procedure for the extraction, proper analysis, and characterization of phenolic compounds from different sources is a challenging task due to the structural diversity of phenolic compounds, a complex matrix, and their interaction with other cellular components. In this light, this review discusses different methods of extraction, analysis, and the structural characterization of polyphenolic compounds.

Encapsulation of ligninolytic enzymes and its application in clarification of juice.

The thermal stability, physico-chemical properties and effect on juice clarification of hydrogel formulations of ligninolytic enzymes from Phanerochaete chrysosporium were evaluated. The results showed that enzyme entrapment increase significantly (P<0.05) the thermal stability of enzymes at 4 and 75 °C. At 75 °C, maximum activity decreased to non detectable values of 7.9% for free laccase, manganese peroxidase (MnP), lignin peroxidase (LiP), respectively; to 94%, 97%, 93% for laccase, MnP and LiP entrapped into Polyacrylamide/pectin, 94%, 98%, 88% for laccase, MnP and LiP encapsulated respectively into polyacrylamide/ gelatine and to 87%, 91%, 87% for laccase, MnP and LiP entrapped, respectively into polyacrylamide/carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). When particle size and viscosity of the formulation increased, enzyme stability increased. The polyphenolic reduction and clarity amelioration in mixed juice of berry and pomegranate was more significant (p>0.05) using encapsulated enzymes treatment than free enzymes. This suggested that enzymatic treatment was efficient for the juice clarification.

Bio-processing of agro-byproducts to animal feed

Agricultural and food-industry residues constitute a major proportion (almost 30%) of worldwide agricultural production. These wastes mainly comprise lignocellulosic materials, fruit and vegetable wastes, sugar-industry wastes as well as animal and fisheries refuse and byproducts. Agro-residues are rich in many bioactive and nutraceutical compounds, such as polyphenolics, carotenoids and dietary fiber among others. Agro residues are a major valuable biomass and present potential solutions to problems of animal nutrition and the worldwide supply of protein and calories, if appropriate technologies can be used for their valorization by nutrient enrichment. Technologies available for protein enrichment of these wastes include solid substrate fermentation, ensiling, and high solid or slurry processes. Technologies to be developed for the reprocessing of these wastes need to take account of the peculiarities of individual wastes and the environment in which they are generated, reprocessed, and used. In particular, such technologies need to deliver products that are safe, not just for animal feed use, but also from the perspective of human feeding. This review focuses on the major current applications of solid-state fermentation in relation to the feed sector.

Sustainable Solutions for Agro Processing Waste Management: An Overview

Technological revolution in the field of agriculture has tremendously increased the agriculture production. The net impact by the revolution in agriculture has resulted in fast development on food processing industries all over the world. As a result of this rapid development, significant quantities of agricultural products are subjected to processing to make them suitable for consumption, increased storage stability, improved nutrition and sensory quality. Food industrialization has generated large quantity of food products, provided employment to large number of people and uplifted the economic status, at the same time; it generated waste in huge quantities causing environmental pollution. Pollution has not only scientific aspects but also sociological and economical, causing adverse impacts on human beings and its environment. The food wastes can be classified into different categories, such as crop waste and residues; fruits and vegetables by-products; sugar, starch and confectionary industry by-products; oil industry by-products; grain and legumes by-products; distilleries and breweries by-products. Food industry wastes and by-products are geographically scattered comprising large volume and low nutritional value. Consequently, collection, transportation and processing cost of the by-products can exceed the selling price. If we could produce valuable products from food industry by-products through new scientific and technological methods, these by-products could be converted into products with a higher economic value than the main products. Different ways of utilization of by-products from food processing industry can be mainly classified into five categories, such as source for food/feed ingredients, as a carbon source for growing useful microorganisms, as fertilizer by composting, as a source for direct energy generation/biogas production and as a source for high value-added products. This chapter provides a brief discussion on the utilization of agro-processing wastes as a source of nutrients, phytochemicals, and fermentable substrate.