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Barnyard(Echinochloautilis),Finger (Eleusinecoracana), Foxtail (Setaria italic), Kodo (Paspalumsetaceum) Little (Panicum sumatrense),Pearl (Pennisetumglaucum), and Proso(Penicummiliaceum) millets are staple foods for Indian and African diets.Post harvest handling primarily the storage conditions during rainy season leads to significant losses of millets in Asia and Africa.Poor storage conditions during rainy seasons lead to germination and fungal growth due to poor storage infrastructure facilities in Asia and Africa. To prevent food losses and to understand the irradiation influence on biopolymer functionality, the millets were irradiated at a dosage of 2.5 and 5 kGy at 12% and 14% moisture contents and milled to prepare the flour.The flour was analysed for microbial count and changes in structural and functional properties to understand the implications on end-use. Post irradiation, oil absorption, emulsion capacity, and water absorption decreased significantly (p≤0.05), while foaming capacity, emulsion stability, and foaming stability increased. Hunter color values L*, a*, and b* showed different trends with an increase in dosage of irradiation.FTIR studies revealed that there were shifts in the functional groups, primarily a decrease in the intensities of O-H, C-H, and O=C stretches and the bending mode of water.Scanning electron microscopy at 2500x magnification revealed different morphological shapes from spherical, polygonal, and a few spherical granules. In our studies we observed that gamma irradiation decreases the nicrobial count and at the same time deactivates the germinating enzymes.Therefore the irradiation treatment is an affordable and effective methodology to prevent post harvest losses of millets In general, irradiation influenced the millet flour functionality and a decrease in microbial with irradiation , therefore,irradiation can help prevent post-harvestmillet lossesin developing nations. Studies on controlled irradiation can help improve the flour properties for better end use

The present study demonstrates the effect of seed priming with carbon nanotubes and silicon dioxide nanoparticles on field performance of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea var. NRCDR 2) crop. A randomized block design study was conducted in research fields in which 3 groups of nano-primed seeds were sown in three replications. Two groups comprised treatments with 5 different concentrations (25, 50, 75, 100 and 125 μg/ml) of hydroxyl (–OH) functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) nanoparticles, and the third group was water treated seeds referred to as the control group. Sixteen different agronomic traits were considered, out of which three (leaf petiole length, siliquae length and number of seeds per siliqua) were found to have increased significantly, five traits (leaf length, length of main inflorescence, number of siliquae per plant, harvest index and biological yield) got decreased and nine traits (leaf width, plant height, number of primary and secondary branches, number of siliquae per main inflorescence, 1000 seed weight, oil content and seed yield) were not altered significantly as compared to control group. This first detailed report on field performance of a crop grown using seed priming as a mode of application of nanomaterials, demonstrated various alterations in agronomic characteristics of Brassica juncea, which were dosage dependent and were also influenced by the type of nanomaterials used to prime the seeds.

Heavy metal contamination of water bodies has been a cause of grave concern around the globe. Analysis of various industrial effluents has revealed a perilous level of Cr (VI) and Ni (II). Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) producing bacterium. EPS has a great potential in the sequestration of heavy metal ions. In the present study efforts have been made to understand the effect of time, pH, and temperature on production of EPS by P. aeruginosa (MTCC 1688). The extracted EPS has been applied for removal of Ni (II) and Cr (VI) ions from aqueous system. The results revealed that highest EPS yield (26 mg/50 mL) can be obtained after 96 h of incubation at pH 6 and 32 °C temperature in 50 mL of culture. Treatment of 10 mg/L Cr (VI) and Ni (II) with 30 mg/L EPS resulted in the removal of 26% and 9% of Cr (VI) and Ni (II), respectively. Fourier-transform infrared spectral analysis revealed the involvement of –OH, –NH, C–O, diketone, and ester functional groups of EPS in the attachment of Cr (VI) ion while involvement of amide and –CO groups in Ni (II) binding with EPS. Scaling-up the production of EPS using bioreactor may further help in developing an efficient process for treatment of water polluted with Cr and Ni.