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The aim of this study was to investigate the phytochemicals present in fermented castor seed (ogiri Igbo). 1kg of castor seed was dehulled and cleaned after which seeds were wrapped in banana leaves and boiled for 6-8 h. The boiled seeds which were still wrapped in the leaves were left to ferment for 4-6 days. Later, the seeds were mixed with ash from oil palm bunch and ground into paste. Subsequently, the condiment (ogiri Igbo) formed was wrapped in leaves in small portions.Phytochemical and GC-MS analysis were performed on the condiment using standard methods. Phytochemicals investigated were tannins, saponins, flavonoids, steroids, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides, phlobactannins, phenols, proteins, reducing sugars and anthraquinones. While steroids, reducing sugars and anthraquinones were absent in the condiment, flavonoids, phlobactannins, and alkaloids were present in abundance (++), the least abundant being the terpenoids, cardiac glycosides and phenols (+) and the most abundant phytochemicals reportedly present in the condiment were saponins and proteins. GC-MS analysis performed on the fermented castor seed (ogiri Igbo) showed that forty eight compounds were present in the said condiment and while the most abundant compound reported was 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-methyl ester (17.43%), the least abundant was 2-t-Butyl-3,6-dimethyl pyrazine (0.35%). In conclusion, although some of the relevant phytochemicals may have been lost to fermentation, the condiment still retains some health aiding phytoconstituents in appreciable amounts.

Histopathological manifestation of castor bean seed as fish toxicant upon gastro-intestinal system of Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) was investigated parallel with mohua oil cake as haemotoxic piscicidal agent in outdoor experimental tanks. Castor seed bean was proved to be an effective piscicide with activity potential comparative with mohua oil cake though the mortality rate was higher and quicker in the later. As plant derived toxicant castor bean exhibited strong histopathological lessions in intestinal mucosa and liver whereas, mohua oil cake exhibited severe respiratory distress to the test fish. Significant reduction of dissolved oxygen and concurrent increase in BOD1 of water under both the piscicides aggravated the distress of the test fish.

An 84 day feeding trial was conducted on the juveniles (42.51±0.09g) of hybrid catfish, Heteroclarias, in order to evaluate the nutritional potential of 30 minutes autoclaved castor seed cake isonitrogenous (40% crude protein) and isocaloric (3212Kcal/Kg) diets replacing soybean meal at 0, 12.5, 25, 37.5 and 50%, the diets being designated D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5 respectively. Prior to this, the castor seeds (Ricinus communis L.), ZiboCastor No. 3 variety, collected from Ado-Ekiti metropolis, Nigeria were subjected to 0, 20, 30 and 40 minutes autoclaved at 121oC, dehauled, grounded, oil extracted to form cake, then the proximate and antinutrients analysis were carried out. The preliminary tests on the seeds revealed 30 minutes level of autoclaved seeds was the best. The growth performance result showed that there were significant differences (p

The paper characterized and transesterified castor seed oil. The resulting product was tested as feedstock for biodiesel production. It was carried out at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, over a period of eight months. The oil was extracted in a soxhlet extractor with n-hexane as the solvent. The oil obtained was filtered and then characterized. Transesterification was carried out using a laboratory scale biodiesel processor. The fuel and physico-chemical properties of the oil and its biodiesel were determined following ASTM, EN and AOCS methods. The results revealed that all the properties of the biodiesel are within the ASTM limits for biodiesel except the kinematic viscosity. The oil contains 89% ricinoleic acid and has high solubility in methanol due to the hydroxyl group and requires minimum amount of catalyst to give maximum biodiesel yield. The heating value obtained for the oil and its biodiesel were 32 MJ/kg and 38 MJ/kg. The castor seed oil investigated has oil content of 34%, and the properties characterized are all within the limits for biodiesel. Castor oil has excellent solubility in methanol and hence theoretically an ideal feedstock for biodiesel production.

Ricin, a protein found in castor seeds, is a lethal toxin that is designated as a category 2 select agent, and cases of attempted ricin poisoning are relatively common. Many methods to detect protein toxins such as ricin use targeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to identify toxin peptides, usually tryptic peptides. The successful use of untargeted methods has also been reported. However, the use of untargeted proteomics methods, including database search, for peptide and protein identification is less common in forensic practice and may be unfamiliar to forensic science practitioners. Here, we propose a method to create spectral libraries of tryptic ricin peptides and use these libraries for ricin identification by spectral library search, which may be more familiar to forensic scientists because of the use of spectral libraries in small molecule identification. Peptide spectral libraries offer a direct comparison to an authentic standard, a key element of forensic analysis, but have not previously been used in a forensic context. To construct these spectral libraries, two pure ricin samples (one from a proposed standard reference material) were digested with trypsin and analyzed using a standard shotgun LC-MS/MS protocol. Spectral libraries were created from resulting tryptic peptides identified from filtered search results from four database search tools. The library was then used in a search using SpectraST on forensically realistic castor seed extracts. These castor seed samples were made using the crude methods commonly encountered in real-world ricin cases. Analysis showed that the spectral library search resulted in more peptides identified from crude castor seed samples compared to MS-GF+ and Sequest plus Percolator database searches. These results, the first published use of spectral library search to detect protein toxins in forensically relevant samples, suggest that computational comparison of putative ricin peptide spectra to library spectra can be an effective method to detect ricin in an unknown sample. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD013711.

Previous attempt to seek substitute locally available raw materials for sunflower oil, an imported raw material for surface coating manufacture has remained a challenge. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of organic fertilizer on the growth capacity of castor shrub since its oil has been found to be a close substitute to sunflower oil. This effort will drive backward integration in order to ensure sustained supply chain as required by local content policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria that will lead to developing local initiative for innovative technology. Data was obtained by measuring the progressive lateral growth parameters of the castor seed plant namely; plant height, stem diameter, leaf width, leaf length, petiole length and petiole diameter until maturity. A standard statistical package Minitab version 16.0 program was used to generate various plots which graphically depict and summarize the data while descriptive statistics of the data was solved using SPSS version 16.0 Software. The result showed that fertilizer type employed affects growth and development rate differently. In particular, poultry manure was found to be the most potent. The results also showed that the seed, upon sowing, sprouts in 7 days, and grows to maturity in about 146 days. It also suggest a growth capacity of 81.53 cm/kg which imports that in every 1 kg of soil considered, there is likely going to be available 1.51g of nitrogen. It is believed that this threshold amount of nitrogen would provide seemly quantity of nutrient that would sustain the growth.

Since the cost of feed is increasing due to the keen competition between humans and animals, there is a need to critically seek for a matching alternative. Castor seed cake, a residue after the extraction of oil from nutrients-rich castor seed constitutes a waste which can be converted into livestock feed. Thus, the study was carried out to investigate the effect of graded levels of castor seed cake diets on haematological and serum biochemical indices of weanling albino rats in an experiment that lasted 21 days. Thirty weanling Wistar albino rats were weighed individually and randomly assigned to 5 dietary treatments with 3 replicates of two rats in a completely randomized design. Diet 1 was a nitrogen-free diet (NFD), while diets 2, 3, 4, and 5 had 0% (without castor seed cake inclusion), 2, 4 and 6% castor seed cake replacing soyabean meal respectively. At day 21, blood samples were obtained from two rats per replicate for haematological and serum analysis. There were no significant differences (P>0.05) observed in all the parameters (packed cell volume, haemaglobin, red blood cell, white blood cell, lymphocyte, neutrophil, monocyte, eosinophil and platelet) measured. Similarly, diet had no effect on the serum biochemical indices (creatinine, urea, total protein and globulin) measured. Significant difference (P

In order to lower the high prices of individual feedstock, extend the life of a more limited feedstock and to improve the fuel properties of biodiesel it imperative to optimize process parameters for biodiesel derived from mixed feedstocks. Samples of castor seeds were collected from Jimma zone, southwest Ethiopia while sample of wet microalgal biomass was obtained from wastewater stabilization ponds using a 60µm filter screen. The castor seeds and algal biomass were sun-dried before further dried at 800C in an oven and ground to pastes. Oils were extracted from dried and milled castor seeds and micro-algae pastes with a Soxhlet apparatus using methanol. The extracted oil was purified and characterized before converted to biodiesel. A transesterification process designed using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD) experimental design was used to optimize the biodiesel production process parameters from mixed oil using alkaline catalyst. The Design Expert® 12 software was used to analysis experimental results. The effects of catalyst concentration, ethanol to mixed oil molar ratio and reaction temperature on the biodiesel yield were investigated using the experimental results. Accordingly, the optimum conditions for biodiesel production from mixed oil were a catalyst concentration of 1.23 % w.t of the oil, alcohol to mixed oil molar ratio of 5.94:1 (v/v) and reaction temperature of 51.300C. The yield of biodiesel under these conditions was 93.88%. Experiment was conducted under the specified optimum conditions to validate the result predicted by the software. The yield of biodiesel from the experiment was 93.36% which is very close to the value predicted by the software. The fatty acid composition of the biodiesel from mixed oil was analyzed using Gas chromatograph. The various fuel properties of biodiesel were determined using standard methods and results were compared with ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards. The physicochemical properties fulfill both standards.

The process conditions that affect the percentage yield of oil from small castor seed was optimized for maximum extraction. In this study, surface response methodology (RSM) that employed a two-factor, five-level factorial central composite design (CCD) was used. Thirteen (13) experiments with different combinations of reaction time and reaction temperature ranging from 1hr (60mins) to 10hrs (600mins) and 60oC to 100oC respectively were also performed. A quadratic model that is polynomial in nature was obtained to predict the percentage oil yield for the small castor seed. Within the experimental variables range, the optimal conditions were found to be 8.68hrs (520.92mins) and 94.14oC respectively. These values were fitted into the quadratic polynomial model that gave rise to the optimum value of small castor seed oil yield to be 55.76% with a p-value less than 0.05. The coefficient of determination R2 was obtained as 0.9530 representing 95.30% of variation in the original data. Our result also gave an adjusted R2 value of 91.95% and predicted R2 value of 66.59% which indicate that the model explains 67% variation in predicting original observations. The result of this study showed clearly the percentage yield of oil that could be extracted from small seeded varieties of castor seed and the optimum yield value possible at a certain reaction time and temperature. The result also established the reliability of response surface methodology to model and optimize the expression of oil from small seeded varieties of castor seed.

Soybean leaf roller known as Lamposema indicata. These insects attack the leaves of soybean plants by rolling up soybean leaves, that are launched 3-4 weeks after planting. The research aims to find out application of Jathropha curcas extract againts the mortality of soybean leaf roller pest (Lamposema indicata) and reduce damage to soybean plants. This research was conducted in the experimental garden, Faculty of Agriculture, Teuku Umar University in October to November 2019. The research was arranged in a non factorial Completely Randomized Design consisting of 4 levels with 5 replications. The factors experience is Jathropha curcas seed extract concentrate are E1 (control), E1 (20%, E2 (13.3% and E3 (10%). The results shows Lamprosema mortality shows the highest found in the E3 regulation, this is because in the E3 setting it has a high concentration so that the composition of the poisons contained is also high. Castor seed extract (Jatropha curcas) contains the composition of phorbol ester and cursin. Based on the observations displayed during the observation, namely changes in behavior, slowing movement of larvae, discoloration from clear green to pale yellow and compacting of the larva's body cavity.Keywords: Effectiveness of concentration, mortality, leafworm caterpillars

This study discusses how soil moisture influences the seed yield of two castor plant varieties in an arid zone in Mexico. An experiment was set up with two factors: soil moisture, with three levels (high = -0.05 MPa, medium = -0.31 MPa and low = -0.91 MPa), and castor variety (Krishna and Rincon). The combination resulted in a factorial 3 × 2 experimental design. The experiment was set up as a randomized block with four replications under a split-plot arrangement, where the whole plots were for soil moisture and the subplots were for the castor variety. The measured variables were plant height (PH), days to flowering of 50% of the plants (DF), leaf area (LA), dry weight (DW), source-sink relationship, harvest index (HI) and seed yield. Data were analyzed by ANOVA, mean tests (HSD at α = 0.05) and regression analysis. There were significant differences in PH, LA, DW, HI and yield among the treatments. The values of PH, LA and DW tended to be higher at higher soil moisture levels than at lower moisture levels. The source strength was generally lower than the sink strength in all the treatments. There were significant differences between the varieties for HI, and the interaction between soil moisture and variety was also significant. Significant differences were found in yield; the Krishna variety had a greater yield than the Rincon variety, but there was only a significant difference between the yield of the Krishna variety cultivated under low soil moisture (5200 kg ha-1) and that of the Rincon variety cultivated under high soil moisture (2570 kg ha-1). The results of this study indicate that castor plants can be cultivated in arid regions at suboptimal soil moisture levels with supplementary irrigation without compromising plant performance or yield.

In this work, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) developed from cobalt-ferrite catalyst on activated carbon (from castor seed), was used as an adsorbent for the removal of cadmium and hexavalent chromium ions. The effectiveness of the adsorbent for the uptake of Cd(II) and Cr(VI)ions from aqueous solution was investigated in a process batch adsorption study. The developed activated carbon and MWCNTs were characterized by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis, Fourier Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for the determination of surface area, functional group, and surface morphology, respectively. The BET surface area of activated carbon and developed adsorbent from Co–Fe/AC was 230.24 and 372.42 m2/g, respectively. The operational parameters evaluated on the adsorption efficiency were solution pH, temperature, adsorbent dosage initial metal ions concentration, and contact time. The adsorption of Cd(II) and Cr(VI) were found to have attained equilibrium positions in 60 min for the concentration range tested, respectively. The four linearized adsorption isotherm models; Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin Radushkevich (D-R) tested, when compared, revealed that Langmuir isotherm fitted well to the experimental data judging from the higher correlation coefficient values (R2) and lower values of the error functions (chi-square (χ2), the sum of square error (ERRSQ/SSE) and the sum of absolute error (EABS))with monolayer adsorption capacities of 404.858 and 243.902 mg/g for Cd(II) and Cr(VI) ions, respectively. Adsorption kinetic models investigated by pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elovich, and intraparticle diffusion showed the conformity of pseudo-second-order model to the process adsorption as informed by the higher values R2 and Adj, R2, maximum log-likelihood and smaller ERRSQ/SSE, χ2, Akaike information criterion (AIC), Bayesian information criterion (BIC), and Hannan-Quinn information criterion (HQIC). The intraparticle diffusion model plots indicated that intraparticle diffusion was not the only rate-limiting step. Thermodynamic adsorption parameters (ΔHo and ΔGo, ΔSo) showed that the adsorption of Cd (II) and Cr (VI) ions was spontaneous, endothermic, and increased in randomness between the adsorbate-adsorbent. The mean adsorption energy (E), the heat of adsorption (ΔHo), and activation energy (Ea) values, revealed the adsorption mechanism of Cd(II) and Cr(VI) onto MWCNTs as a combination of chemical and physical adsorption but dominated more by chemical adsorption., Chemical engineering; Castor seed; Activated carbon; Transition metals; MWCNTs; Adsorption isotherm

DNA methylation plays an important role in endosperm development and is involved in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. However, the epigenetic regulation of castor seed development has not yet been reported. In this study, methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) analysis was used to investigate the methylation level in castor. In 20-day-old castor seeds, 41.17% of the fragments were fully methylated and 15.61% were hemimethylated. In 60 day-old seed, the full methylation and hemimethylation rates were 19.77% and 7.56%, respectively, suggesting that some methylation level changes existed during the castor seed development. A total of 647 bands were identified with different methylation or demethylation patterns during the seed maturation. However, only 37 sequences were homologous to well-known proteins, such as phospholipid-transporting ATPase, phosphatases and methyltransferase. Therefore, these results clearly demonstrated that the MSAP technique is very useful for the analysis of the global DNA methylation state in castor and the complexity of DNA methylation changes during seed development. The different methylation levels may be correlated with the specific gene expression in different seed development stages.

This article examines the hedge ratio and hedging effectiveness in agricultural (castor seed, guar seed) and non-agricultural (copper, nickel, gold, silver, natural gas and crude oil) commodities traded in National Commodity and Derivative Exchange (NCDEX) and Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), respectively. Constant and dynamic hedge ratios are estimated by using ordinary least square (OLS), vector autoregression (VAR), vector error correction model (VECM) and vector autoregressive-multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity model (VAR-MGARCH). The results of constant as well as dynamic hedge ratios reveal that the Indian futures market provides higher hedging effectiveness in case of precious metal (65–75 per cent) compared to industrial metal and energy commodities (less than 50 per cent). Hedging effectiveness for castor seed and natural gas is even lower than 10 per cent. This study concluded that VECM and VAR-MGARCH both are providing higher hedging although VECM is providing the highest hedge ratio. It has been found that the next to near month futures provide better hedging effectiveness as compared to near month futures for crude oil and silver. It is recommended that the policy makers should pay attention towards the number of delivery centres, standard of quality of underlying assets and transaction costs in spot market.

This study reports the development and performance evaluation of a castor seed shelling with a winnowing system using locally available materials. The winnowing unit does the cleaning of the castor seed after shelling with the help of fan. The machine consists of a hopper, shelling cylinder, concave, bearing, bolt and nuts, cleaning unit, pulley, grain outlet, shaft, prime mover seat and frame. The developed machine was evaluated using variety of (IAR) castor seed in a factorial experiment with five levels of cylinder speed (220, 20, 260, 280 and 300 rpm), three levels of concave clearance (15, 20, and 28 mm) and three cylinder types (metal, rubber and wood) in a completely randomized design (CRD). Data collected for shelling efficiency, cleaning efficiency, mechanical grain damage, scattered losses and output capacity were analyzed using a statistical analysis software (SAS), where analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Duncan multiple range test (DMRT) were computed at 1 and 5% levels of significance. The results showed that the best cylinder types in descending order were metal, rubber and wood while cylinder speed of 220 rpm was optimum for all the cylinder types. However, the optimum concave clearance varies with the cylinder types as 15, 20, and 28 mm respectively. While the corresponding optimum values for output capacity, cleaning and scattered seeds were17.90 kg/h, 97.26, 78.20 and 0.51%;12.19 kg/h, 78.91 and 0.36%; 14.78 kg/h, 67.96, and 1.67%, respectively.Keywords—Keyword: Castor seed shelling machine, winnower, castor seed, and machine design.

Castor plant is a perennial shrub that can grow up to 3–5 m long and found across all the tropical and subtropical areas of the globe. India ranks first in the world with an average production of around 106 ton of castor seed and 3.5–5.0 ∗ 105 ton of castor oil. Castor oil has numerous industrial and medicinal applications, and its demand is increasing by 3%–5% per annum. The demand for castor oil derivatives is growing as they are biodegradable, cheap, and readily available. India needs to maintain its position in the global market by fulfilling the demand of castor seeds and oil. Research and development on hybrid castor seeds, implementation of modernized technology and production of derivatives through green chemical routes are the possible ways to enhance the economy of India in world castor market.