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Fly ash (FA) is a problematic solid waste, possessing essential elements which modifies the properties of soil and improve the plant growth. FA also contains toxic heavy metals, thus there is an urgent need to study the influence of heavy metals present in FA on the growth of plant. The present study was designed to analyze improvement in chemical composition and antioxidant defense mechanism of seed oil extracts from Jatropha curcas grown in different doses of FA (0% FA, 25% FA, 50% FA, 75% FA and 100% FA) along with garden soil (GS). A comparison of methyl esters of fatty acids was analyzed in oil extracts using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Sixteen compounds were detected, constituting 99.94% of the total oil constituents. Methyl esters of oleic acid, linoleic acid and hexadecanoic acid were the major compounds present. Comparative GC–MS analysis of the three samples showed an increase of 2.15 and 87.84-fold in 25% FA and 50% FA. The antioxidant potential was determined using 2–2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing potential (FRAP). Highest scavenging activity and lowest IC50 were observed in 50% FA sample followed by 25% FA and 100% GS. Activity of various antioxidant defense enzymes like SOD, CAT, POD and APX was analyzed. Treatment (50% FA with 50% GS) demonstrated enhanced chemical contents and antioxidant defense enzymes. These results suggest the utilization of FA as soil amendment for the growth of non-food crop J. curcas. altered chemical composition and antioxidative defense enzymes induced in response to FA amendment to soil reflects its suitability for phytoremediation.

A total of sixty-four bacterial isolates producing enzyme protease were isolated and screened from soil samples obtained from industries. A new potent solvent stable and alkaline protease producing isolate PI-C4 was isolated from Ghazipur Poultry waste site which was identified to be Bacillus cereus based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Consensus sequence of 1398 bp of the strain PI-C4 has been deposited in GenBank with accession number KM211501. Furthermore, the PI-C4 enzyme was subjected to precipitation using ammonium sulphate (70% saturation), dialysis and was further concentrated by ion exchange chromatography which resulted in purification fold of 2.47 and 57.7% yield. The alkaline protease was found to be 46 kDa. Enzyme PI-C4 was also characterized with respect to temperature and pH and was found to be active at pH 9.0 and 450C. The protease possesses significant stability (64.7-82.2%) in the presence of surfactants tested. The alkaline protease possesses higher stability in solvent DMSO (107%) followed by acetone (91%) and isopropanol (82%). The protease could therefore be useful for various applications like enzymatic leather treatment, feather degradation and recovery of silver.

Soybean oil has high contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids and hence susceptible to deterioration due to the presence of lipase and lipoxygenase (LOX) enzymes. These enzymes cause the severe impact in the reduction of shelf life. Therefore it is indispensable to adopt a stabilization step to increase antioxidant levels and to decrease the activity of lipase and LOX enzymes. To carry out this study soybean varieties were irradiated by low gamma doses radiation (0.5 kGy and 1.0 kGy) and oil was stored up to 60 days at 40 °C with 45% relative humidity. Results indicated the lowest activities of lipase (20.9%) and LOX (17.1%) at 60 days of storage respectively and also observed significantly low hydrolytic (22.6%) and oxidative rancidity (64%) respectively in Bragg oil under the condition of 0.5 kGy gamma irradiation. Total antioxidants were found to be increased including lipid soluble antioxidants like tocopherols and also found low level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) deposition in Bragg seeds irradiated with 0.5 kGy which suggests that low dose of gamma irradiation is highly effective in enhancing the oil stability and also in retaining antioxidants.

An investigation of an alkaline thermostable amylase secreted by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens MTCC-610 strain was carried out in order to test its compatibility and wash performance as a detergent additive. The optimum pH and temperature for amylase activity was found to be 8.0 and 50°C. The enzyme was quite stable for 1 h at 400C while at 500C, 50% of the original activity was lost, respectively. The compatibility of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens amylase with certain commercial detergents was shown to be good as the enzyme retained 96.4%, 94% and 86% of its activity after 1hr of incubation at 40°C in the presence of the detergent brands Surf Excel Blue, Surf Excel and Fena Bar respectively. The wash performance of detergents (7 mg/ml) prepared with enzyme amylase was studied on cotton, terrycloth and chiffon fabric samples stained with potato curry sample. Maximum stain removal was observed for chiffon samples where supplementation of the enzyme to the detergent Surf excel blue enhanced the cleansing ability of the detergent followed by cotton and terrycloth. We report here the compatibility and wash performance of alkaline amylase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens MTCC-610.

The in vitro antibacterial activity of various solvents and water extracts of aloe vera, neem, bryophyllum, lemongrass, tulsi, oregano, rosemary and thyme was assessed on 10 multi-drug resistant clinical isolates from both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and two standard strains including Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922. The zone of inhibition as determined by agar well diffusion method varied with the plant extract, the solvent used for extraction, and the organism tested. Klebsiella pneumoniae 2, Escherichia coli 3 and Staphylococcus aureus 3 were resistant to the plant extracts tested. Moreover, water extracts did not restrain the growth of any tested bacteria. Ethanol and methanol extracts were found to be more potent being capable of exerting significant inhibitory activities against majority of the bacteria investigated. Staphylococcus aureus 1 was the most inhibited bacterial isolate with 24 extracts (60%) inhibiting its growth whereas Escherichia coli 2 exhibited strong resistance being inhibited by only 11 extracts (28%). The results obtained in the agar diffusion plates were in fair correlation with that obtained in the minimum inhibitory concentration tests. The minimum inhibitory concentration of tulsi, oregano, rosemary and aloe vera extracts was found in the range of 1.56-6.25 mg/ml for the multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates tested whereas higher values (6.25-25 mg/ml) were obtained against the multi-drug resistant isolates Klebsiella pneumoniae 1 and Escherichia coli 1 and 2. Qualitative phytochemical analysis demonstrated the presence of tannins and saponins in all plants tested. Thin layer chromatography and bioautography agar overlay assay of ethanol extracts of neem, tulsi and aloe vera indicated flavonoids and tannins as major active compounds against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.