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The in vitro activities of 39 polysaccharides from different parts of 13 lotus root varieties were evaluated and introduced into multiple linear regression analysis to explore the structure-activity relationships using their chromatographic fingerprint features as independent variables. Their 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl/hydroxyl radical scavenging abilities, ferric reducing antioxidant powers and growth-inhibitory effects against HepG2 and SGC7901 cancer cells were all diverse, with the variable-coefficients ranging from 24.49% to 87.76%, while their macrophage immunostimulatory activities evaluated by nitric oxide production and tumor necrosis factor-alpha secretion showed relatively low variations. Lotus root polysaccharides (LRPs) from the peels and nodes possessed stronger activities than those from the fleshes. Their fingerprint-activity relationship models indicated that monosaccharide composition was closely related to the activities, but not molecular weight. LRPs have health-improving potentials, and their activities can be partly predicted by the quantitative fingerprint-activity relationship model.

The formation of adventitious roots (ARs) is an important process for lotus (Nelumbo nucifera), which does not have a well-formed main root. In lotus, the removal of leaves above the waterline significantly promoted AR formation, while the removal of leaves below the waterline inhibited AR formation. Proteins were identified using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantization technique. The number of proteins decreased with increasing sequencing coverage, and most of the identified proteins had fewer than 10 peptides. In the A1/A0 and A2/A1 stages, 661 and 154 proteins showed increased abundance, respectively, and 498 and 111 proteins showed decreased abundance, respectively. In the B1/B0 and B2/B1 stages, 498 and 436 proteins showed increased abundance, respectively, and 358 and 348 proteins showed decreased abundance, respectively. Among the proteins showing large differences in abundance, 17 were identified as being related to AR formation. Proteins involved in the glycolytic pathway and the citrate cycle showed differences in abundance between the two types of leaf removal. The transcriptional levels of nine genes encoding relevant proteins were assessed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results of this study illustrate the changes in metabolism after different types of leaf removal during AR formation in lotus.

Heat treatments of fresh lotus root ( Nelumbo nucifera G.) at 40, 50 and 60 °C effectively prevented moisture loss, browning and microbial growth but increased soluble solids, total volatile compounds and firmness during storage at 25 °C for 15 d (p

The feasibility was investigated of 4D printing of lotus root gel compounded with a pigment that responds to pH change and alters colour. The pigment comprised of a combination of anthocyanins and lemon yellow; it was used in gel preparation for printing. The flowability and self-support properties of the lotus root-pigment gel were studied to evaluate its 3D printing performance. The gel viscosity decreased with the increase of printing temperature over the range 40, 50, and 60 °C. The gel with a ratio (lotus root powder/compound pigment) of 0.35 extruded smoothly and maintained high formability at temperatures below 60 °C. The pH response of compound pigment enabled the printed sample to change colour from reddish/yellowish to green after spraying with NaHCO3. The a* and b* values decreased significantly (p

Hydraulic scouring is the most effective approach to harvest lotus roots, but its application is largely restricted by the low harvesting rate. After hydraulic scouring, some mature lotus roots are still partially buried in the soil. Therefore, it is highly necessary to develop an appropriate approach to harvest semi-buried lotus roots. In this work, we for the first time studied the interaction between semi-buried lotus roots and soil, as well as analyzing the pull-out process and the factors affecting the pull-out force of semi-buried lotus roots. Firstly, a simple testing platform was designed based on the virtual prototype technology and the tests on pull-out force were conducted on five lotus roots with similar shape but different weights, with the burial depth and pull-out speed as the experimental factors. The results revealed that the maximum pull-out force is not significantly affected by the pull-out speed, whereas it is significantly influenced by the burial depth and the surface area of lotus roots. The maximum pull-out force increased with increasing lotus root surface area and burial depth. In addition, the discrete element method was employed to simulate the pull-out process of lotus root at different pull-out speeds. The simulation results indicated that a higher pull-out speed would result in a greater pull-out force at the same displacement of the lotus root from the soil. Both experimental and simulation results revealed that soil adhesion contributes the most to the pull-out resistance. It was also observed that a slight loosening of semi-buried lotus roots could drastically reduce the pull-out force. These results suggest that some kind of mechanical structure or improvement of water flow can be applied to the existing lotus root harvester to reduce the adhesion between lotus roots and soil. Overall, our findings provide a novel direction for optimizing hydraulic harvesting machines of lotus roots.

Fibre‐rich fractions were obtained from nodes of lotus root and micronised by nine different ball‐milling treatments. The optimum milling conditions were screened out by comparing its effects on physicochemical and hydration properties of micro‐sized particles of lotus node powder fraction (LNPF). The micronisation by ball‐milling treatments was carried out at different speeds (200–400 r min⁻¹) and time (4–12 h). Ball‐milling treatments could effectively (P

The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel lotus root filled tube (LFT) for improving the energy absorption capability of crash box under axial impact loading. The LFT consists of a lotus root like core and a basic tube (BT). Firstly, a finite element (FE) model of the LFT is established. Secondly, the FE model is used to study the energy absorption capability of LFT with variations in the thickness of square tube (t 1), the thickness of lotus root like core (t 2), the height of the cell structure (h), as well as the length of the cell structure (l 1 , l 2). Finally, to determine the optimal geometric parameters, multiobjective design optimization (MDO) is performed by integrating optimal Latin hypercube sampling (OLHD), response surface method (RSM) and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II). The results have demonstrated that the proposed LFT has great energy absorption efficiency and is able to improve vehicle crash performance under frontal impact loading.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of vacuum impregnation (VI) with maltose syrup on the quality characteristics, thermo-physical and sensory properties of frozen lotus root slices. The results showed the addition of maltose syrup significantly affected the glass transition behaviour of lotus root matrix. VI increased the process efficiency for attaining desired frozen lotus root product characteristics. The optimal VI conditions obtained by response surface methodology were as follows: maltose syrup, 10.99%, vacuum level, 0.04 MPa and treatment time 60 min. Under the optimal VI conditions, the desired crispiness quality of frozen lotus root (1267.54 g, Hunter L* value, 84.51, ascorbic acid, 27.06%) was achieved. The sensory and SEM microstructural analyses confirmed the positive effect of VI with maltose syrup on the storage quality of frozen lotus root slices. The results of kinetic study showed a significant improvement in ascorbic acid stability.

The purpose of this study is to prepare an oxyresveratrol (Oxy) microemulsion (ME) with improved Oxy's solubility and stability and to investigate its antibrowning effects on fresh-cut lotus root slices. The formula of OxyME consisted of ethyl butyrate, Tween 80, PEG400, and water with w/w of 4%, 10.67%, 5.33%, and 80%, respectively. Encapsulating Oxy into OxyME greatly increased its solubility and stability compared with that of in water. Strong antibrowning effects were observed on fresh-cut lotus root slices treated with OxyME, even better than 4-hexylresorcinol. The addition of ascorbic acid (VC) into OxyME greatly improved the Oxy stability in long-term storage and antibrowning effects on fresh-cut lotus root slices. However, the simultaneous addition of calcium chloride and VC did not obviously improve the antibrowning effects compared with the addition of VC alone. These results indicated that Oxy+VCME may be suitable as an antibrowning agent for fresh-cut vegetables.

Lotus root (Nelumbo nucifera G.) is a high economic value crop in the world. In this study, the storage characteristics (color, sensory, texture, and fatty acids) of lotus root (“Elian No.5″) were evaluated at different harvest periods (September 2018, October 2018, November 2018, December 2018, and January 2019). Moreover, the storage characteristics were evaluated after the short- term and long-term storage of lotus root at 4 °C and 20 °C. The hardness of lotus root significantly decreased at both temperatures (4 °C and 20 °C) during the first 3 days of storage. In contrast, the decrease in hardness delayed at 4 °C (beyond 3 days of storage). Further, genes related to hardness at different storage temperatures were identified using the RNA-seq and qRT-PCR. The results of this study provide a reference for lotus root storage and a basis for the molecular breeding of longterm-storable lotus root.

In this study, the combination of parameters required for optimal extraction of anti-oxidative components from the Chinese lotus (CLR) and Malaysian lotus (MLR) roots were carefully investigated. Box–Behnken design was employed to optimize the pH (X1: 2–3), extraction time (X2: 0.5–1.5 h) and solvent-to-sample ratio (X3: 20–40 mL/g) to obtain a high flavonoid yield with high % DPPHsc free radical scavenging and Ferric-reducing power assay (FRAP). The analysis of variance clearly showed the significant contribution of quadratic model for all responses. The optimal conditions for both Chinese lotus (CLR) and Malaysian lotus (MLR) roots were obtained as: CLR: X1 = 2.5, X2 = 0.5 h, X3 = 40 mL/g, MLR: X1 = 2.4, X3 = 40 mL/g. These optimum conditions gave (a) Total flavonoid content (TFC) of 0.599 mg PCE/g sample and 0.549 mg PCE/g sample, respectively, (b) % DPPHsc of 48.36% and 29.11%, respectively, (c) FRAP value of 2.07 mM FeSO4 and 1.89 mM FeSO4, respectively. A close agreement between predicted and experimental values was found. The result obtained succinctly revealed that the Chinese lotus exhibited higher antioxidant and total flavonoid content when compared with the Malaysia lotus root at optimum extraction condition.

Lotus root, which is a water plant cherished by people in the Asian continent and some other parts of the world, is manually inspected for quality by experts to detect impurities. There is the need to update this inspection process in order to improve the quality and safety of lotus root. Machine vision systems and techniques are used for consistent, efficient, effective, and reliable inspection of images. The lotus root inspection system has been proposed to inspect the lotus roots for impurities. The detection algorithms use the size, shape, texture and color of the lotus root images as parameters to analyze the quality of lotus roots. The lotus root undergoes some processes before image acquisition and image processing. The camera and illumination used, in collaboration with the edge detection, and image segmentation techniques, efficiently and effectively exposed the impurities in the lotus root at a much faster rate. Also, it is less expensive compared to the traditional human inspections.

The feasibility of using microwave to stimulate the color change of curcumin lotus root gel printed by 3D was discussed. Curcumin emulsion was prepared and added into lotus root powder gel for 3D printing. The heat generated by microwave made curcumin exposed to an alkaline environment. The color change from yellow to red was realized by the deprotonation of curcumin. Mainly, the color change of the printing sample before and after the microwave treatment (MT) was measured, and the influence of the emulsion addition and the MT time on it was analyzed. The chroma of the printed sample changed after MT: L* and b* value decreased, while a* value increased. Using a variety of materials could achieve interesting color changes. The textural properties of printed sample changed significantly (p Industrial relevance Based on the traditional 3D printing technology, this work uses microwave as the stimulus source to realize the color change of printed product, and provides a new method for producing colorful and attractive food through 4D printing.

Bat lotus root stuffed with meat, also known as lotus, is a kind of fried food wrapped with batter. It is crispy and golden outside, tender and juicy. It is popular among people. The innovation of dishes with meat has regularity and rationality: ingenious conception, high conception and complete nutrition.

Blackening and deformation disease (called “kurokawa-senchu-byo” in Japanese) of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) is a critical issue in lotus cultivation that is known to be caused by the plant-parasitic nematodes Hirschmanniella diversa Sher and H. imamuri Sher. To evaluate the extent of the disease, a damage index that classifies the nematode damage into five stages according to the surface condition of the lotus tubers has been proposed; however, this method requires considerable experience to perform an accurate evaluation. In this study, we quantified H. diversa and H. imamuri populations using a 5.8S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene/internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region-targeted quantitative PCR (qPCR) technique in lotus root and soil samples collected from 24 fields in Japan. We attempted to reveal the relationship between the damage index values and the abundance of lotus-parasitic nematodes based on the gene copy numbers of the 5.8S rRNA/ITS region in order to predict the in situ contamination level of lotus cultivation fields. Through the use of template DNA extracted from lotus roots, we successfully detected both H. diversa and H. imamuri at 6.8 ± 0.24 and 5.0 ± 0.32 log10 copies/g-fresh lotus root, respectively. Moreover, many large variations as well as samples in which Hirschmanniella spp. were not detected were observed in the soil samples, indicating that using lotus root-derived DNA could more precisely quantify the abundance of plant-parasitic nematodes in the lotus cultivation fields. Linear regression analyses showed a strong correlation between the density of H. diversa and the damage index values, while there was no significant correlation between the H. imamuri density and the damage index values. These results indicate that H. diversa, rather than H. imamuri, may act as a major causative agent of “kurokawa-senchu-byo” in lotus cultivated in Japan and that 6.4 log10 copies/g-fresh lotus root of H. diversa density represents an economic injury level (damage index = 2) for lotus cultivation.

Adventitious roots (ARs) directly affect lotus seedling growth and product quality because principal root is not well developed. However, the details of AR formation at the molecular level have not been determined in lotus. Therefore, three stages were chosen to identify the change of proteins abundant during rhizome formation, using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantization coupled with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms involved in AR formation. We totally obtained 323,375 spectra during AR formation. After filtering to eliminate low-scoring spectra, 66,943 spectra, including 53,106 unique spectra, were identified. These unique spectra matched 28,905 peptides, including 24,992 unique peptides, which were assembled into 6686 proteins. In the C0/C1 and C1/C2 stages, 66 and 32 proteins showed enhanced abundance, and 173 and 73 proteins showed decreased abundance, respectively. Seventeen important AR formation-related proteins from the three stages were identified, and the expressions of nine genes from the above-identified proteins were assessed by qRT-PCR. This article provides a comprehensive understanding of the changes in metabolism during AR formation, and is helpful to accelerate the progress of breeding in fulture in lotus root.

Chalcones and their derivatives have attracted great interests in recent years for their comprehensive biological activities. In this study, 2,4,2',4'-tetrahydroxychalcone and its two derivatives, 1,3,5-tris-(2,4-dihydroxy-phenyl)pentane-1,5-dione (new compound) and 7,2',4'-trihydroxyflavanone, were synthesized through one-pot green procedure catalyzed by boric acid in polyethylene glycol 400. Their structures were identified by ESI-MS and NMR spectral. Tyrosinase inhibitory activity and antibrowning test results showed that compounds 1-3 exhibited strong tyrosinase inhibitory activities and significant antibrowning effects on the fresh-cut lotus root slices at room temperature in 48 h. Among them, 0.01% 1,3,5-tris-(2,4-dihydroxy-phenyl)pentane-1,5-dione combined with 0.5% VC showed the best antibrowning ability. In brief, this study offers a protocol for one-pot green synthesis of high efficiency tyrosinase inhibitors which may be suitable as antibrowning agents for fresh-cut vegetables. More important, this study developed a new type of 1,5-dione derivative which may serve as new lead structures for novel tyrosinase inhibitors discovery.

This study aimed to examine the nutrient utilization of rump round meat and lotus root using young (32 wk) and aged hens (108 wk) as an animal model. Rump round meat and lotus root were prepared with or without enzymatic treatment. For each age group of laying hens, a total of 24 Hy-Line Brown laying hens were randomly allotted to one of two dietary treatments with six replicates. For rump round meat, the true total tract retention rate (TTTR) of dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) were unaffected by either enzymatic treatment or hen age. However, aged hens had greater (p

Lotus root imitated implant scaffolds with highly flexible drug release patterns were fabricated. Several critical release parameters could be conveniently prearranged through creating a precisely customized inner chamber via 3D printing. Furthermore, when postoperative infection caused hyperthermia, the inner drugs could be spontaneously released to inhibit the invasive pathogens.

In order to extend the shelf life of fresh-cut vegetables, the principle of preservation of Bacillus subtilis antimicrobial peptides was discussed. Fresh potatoes, yam and lotus root were used as test materials, and the prepared Bacillus subtilis antimicrobial peptides were used for soaking treatment, soaked in clean water as a control, and stored at 4°C. The sensory quality changes during storage were analyzed and their physiological and biochemical indexes were determined. The results show: compared with the control group, the group treated with Bacillus subtilis antimicrobial peptides had the best sensory quality during storage, significantly inhibited the increase in electrical conductivity, reduced cell membrane damage, and had significant POD and PPO enzyme activities (P < 0.05). The reduction effectively inhibits the proliferation of microorganisms during the storage of fresh-cut vegetables, thereby better maintaining the quality of fresh-cut vegetables and effectively extending their shelf life.

This study aimed to compare the effects of pulsed electric field (PEF) pretreatment on fresh-cut lotus root and its frying quality with those under blanching (80 °C, 3 min). The lotus root slices were treated by 10,000 pulses at different electric field strength (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 kV/cm) with specific energy levels (5.56, 22.20 and 50.00 kJ/kg). PEF treatment decreased the reducing sugar content in fresh samples and then diminished the Millard reaction, including lower browning index and 25.9% reduction in acrylamide content. Besides, membrane disintegration occurred when the cells were subjected to PEF, resulting in soft tissue structure and a reduction of oil inhalation of 15%. Results imply that PEF treatment can be used as a viable alternative to blanching to pretreat lotus root slices, effectively saved thermal energy required for industrial production and delivered more positive effects on quality of fried slices.

With the emergence of environmental problems, the green, degradable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly electronic device has become one of the current research hotspots. In this work, an organic biomemristor device was prepared using the lotus root as a functional layer on a fixable substrate, which shows an excellent memristive memory performance. Further, we studied the effect of acidity and alkalinity (pH) on the memristive performance of the device, in which it can be found that the pH can regulate the memristive behavior and memory window. Moreover, an apparent memristive behavior and stable reading-writing characteristic in neutral condition (pH = 7.0) were observed, and the high-resistance state/low-resistance state resistance ratio under the neutral condition is significantly larger than that under acid and alkali conditions. Therefore, our device can be used in lightweight and portable wearable device. In a word, this research can provide meaningful insights for developing sustainable bioelectronic devices with potential applications in information technology.

A gel delivery system was developed in the present work using whey protein isolate and lotus root amylopectin via regulating pH. The texture, thermodynamics, rheology and microstructure of gels were evaluated. Results showed that pH at 7.0 induced a more compact and stable gel structure than other pH. The composite gel formed at pH 7.0 was accordingly employed to encapsulate vitamin D3. Results exhibited that the encapsulation of composite gel of whey protein isolate and lotus root amylopectin could enhance the storage stability of vitamin D3 and protect vitamin D3 from photochemical degradation. Moreover, this encapsulation could control the release of vitamin D3 in simulated intestinal fluid. Animal experiments exhibited that the bioavailability was significantly increased after vitamin D3 was encapsulated by the composite gel. This work indicated that the whey protein isolate-lotus root amylopectin gel is a good delivery system to improve the stability and bioavailability of vitamin D3.

Untethered and wirelessly-controlled microrobots have many applications in the field of biomedicine. Therefore, many laboratories and scientists have invested more scientific research into magnetic microrobots which can make more contributions to medical care. Many magnetic field devices and microrobots are manufactured. In the development of micro-robots, helical microrobots have been well developed. Rigid-body robots account for the majority of these, but they may cause damage to human organs during treatment. However, soft and deformable robots can relieve more medical restrictions. In general, helical microrobots are driven by uniform fields which have their own limitations while the gradient magnetic field can relieve more restrictions and have more functions. This paper presents a flexible deformable helical swimmer controlled in a rotating gradient magnetic field. Helical swimmers are covered with magnetic nano-particles and the helical structure is derived from the inner fiber structure of the lotus root. The soft helical swimmers are controlled to swim several special trajectories in the rotating gradient magnetic field and we analyze the frequency and other factors for velocity or other effects.