BACKGROUND Cassava starch, the economically important agricultural commodity in Thailand, can readily be cast into films. However, the cassava starch film is brittle and weak, leading to inadequate mechanical properties. The properties of starch film can be improved by adding plasticizers and blending with the other biopolymers. RESULTS Cassava starch (5%w/v) based films plasticized with glyc...

A carboxymethyl starch (CMS) film was prepared by a process in which gelatinized CMS was dried, and subsequently treated with water-soluble carbodiimide in the presence of zein in 70% ethanol or 70% acetone to form acid-amide cross-linkages in order to increase the hydrophobicity of the surface of the film. A small amount of zein protein was found to be present on the surface of the zein-CMS co...

The use of PLA and PLA-g-AA/starch as materials for the controlled release of encapsulated PSB was evaluated. The results showed that the bacterium degraded both the PLA and the PLA-g-AA/starch composite films, resulting in cell release. Severe disruption of the film structure occurred after incubation for 60-90 d. The PLA-g-AA/starch (20 wt.-%) films were more biodegradable than those made of ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Plant growth responses to the rare earth elements lanthanum (La) and cerium (Ce) have been reported, but little is known about the effects of these two elements on plant mineral nutrition. METHODS Corn (Zea mays 'Hycorn 82') and mungbean (Vigna radiata 'Berken') were grown in continuous flowing nutrient solutions containing 0, 0.2, 1.0 and 5.0 microm La or Ce. At harvest p...

Mungbean is an important pulse crop extensively cultivated in Southeast Asia for supply of easily digestible protein. Salinity severely limits the growth and productivity of mungbean, and weeding poses nutritional and disease constraints to mungbean cultivation. To pyramid both salt tolerance and protection against herbicide in mungbean, the AtNHX1 encoding tonoplast Na+/H+ antiporter from Arab...

The study was conducted at the On Farm Research Division (OFRD) farm, Rangpur from 2002-2003 to 2004-2005 to see the effect of inorganic fertilizers along with organic manure and mungbean residue on soil properties and yield of crops. For the first crop (maize), there were five treatments. After harvest of maize, mungbean and dhaincha (Sesbania) seeds were sown as per treatments. For T. Aman ri...

This article reports a study of the thermo-oxidation and biodegradation in the soil of low-density polyethylene/starch films (LDPE/starch) by infrared spectroscopy: Films of LDPE/Starch blends of different composition (starch content range from 0 to 15% w/w),were prepared and exposed to thermo-oxidation at different temperatures at 80, 90 and 100°C,and buried in the soil of public dump duri...

Enzymatic hydrolysates of different food proteins demonstrate health benefits. Search for diet related food protein hydrolysates is therefore of interest within the scope of functional foods. Mungbean is one of the popular foods in India because of rich protein source. In this study, mungbean vicilin protein (MBVP) was enzymatically hydrolysed by alcalase and trypsin under optimal conditions. W...

Including food production in non-food systems, such as rubber plantations and biofuel or bioenergy crops, may contribute to household food security. We evaluated the potential for planting rice, mungbean, rice cultivar mixtures, and rice intercropped with mungbean in young rubber plantations in experiments in the Arakan Valley of Mindanao in the Philippines. Rice mixtures consisted of two- or t...