The agri-food supply chains in Asia face multiple challenges and threats, such as malnutrition, environmental degradation and unexpected risks. Here, we suggest possible interventions to improve nutrition and health, increase resource use efficiency and reduce adverse environmental impacts. To comprehensively explore the priority of each stage and potential pathways along the agri-food supply chains, this chapter introduces various interventions for crop production, storage, transportation, processing, consumption, food environment and policy perspectives resulting from an extensive literature review. Furthermore, this research illustrates four case studies in which these interventions are comprehensively estimated or successfully implemented in India, China and Singapore. Improving agri-food supply chains requires synergies along all sections, co-operation among multiple sectors, policy innovations and effective investment.

BACKGROUND:Zinc (Zn) deficiency in humans is of worldwide concern. The objective of this study was to investigate the Zn intake gap in Chinese adults and identify the potential role of biofortification technologies for wheat and rice, including crop nutrient management and breeding, in filling the gap. RESULTS:We use data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey in 2011 to identify food consumption patterns and dietary Zn intake of 4512 adults to define and quantify the Zn intake gap in the population. The dietary Zn intake gap of surveyed adults ranged from -0.8 to 6.53 mg day-1 across nine provinces and differences were associated with differences in food consumption patterns. Both dietary Zn intake and Zn gap for males were higher than for females. The potential of changes in five management strategies (improved nitrogen fertilization, improved phosphorus fertilization, foliar Zn fertilization, improved water management and growing varieties reaching the grain Zn breeding target) was analyzed. Breeding and foliar Zn fertilization were shown to be the two most effective management strategies that could increase dietary intake by 1.29 to 5 mg Zn day-1 dependent on sex and province. CONCLUSION:This study shows that the Zn gap varied across regions in China, with some large enough to warrant interventions. Wheat and rice as two major Zn sources could be targeted without a direct need for dietary diversification. By promoting both biofortification breeding of wheat and rice and Zn fertilization, dietary Zn intake could be enhanced to contribute to human health improvement in China. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

The formation and stability of soil organic matter (SOM) is crucial for food security, soil health, and climate change mitigation. Although various SOM stabilization mechanisms have been proposed and investigated, the contribution of plant- and microbial-derived carbon into physical and chemical stabilization processes remain unclear. Therefore, this study investigates lignin phenols, microbial necromass, soil aggregation and SOM chemical composition under three cropland management and two natural restoration strategies: NPK, NPK + manure (NPK + M) and NPK + peat vermiculite (NPK + PV) after 5 years, and natural restoration for 10 and 40 years (NR10 and NR40, respectively). Addition of manure or peat vermiculite and NR40 increased soil organic carbon (SOC) by 86-122 % and 16 %, respectively, compared to the NPK fertilization. Lignin phenols and bacterial necromass-C were the highest under NPK + M, and lignin phenols increased by 0.07 g and microbial necromass-C by 0.44 g with each additional 1 g of SOC. Fungal necromass-C in NPK + PV was 0.14-1.1 times higher than in other treatments. The mean weight diameter of aggregates was the highest, while macroaggregate turnover was the slowest under NPK + PV, indicating increased soil aggregation and physical stability. Natural restoration reduced lignin phenols by 33-40 % and labile O-alkyl C by 4-9 %, but increased resistant alkyl C by 9-15 % compared with other treatments, reflecting the highest chemical stability. High fungal necromass was beneficial to the accumulation of particulate and mineral-associated C and aggregate stability, and decelerated macroaggregate turnover. Aromatic C increased but aliphatic-C/aromatic-C decreased with increasing fungal necromass-C. Consequently, fungal necromass C increases SOM physical stability by slowing aggregate turnover and enhances the chemical stability through the accumulation of recalcitrant C under improved cropland management and natural restoration.

As consumers’ interest in nature-sourced additives has increased, zein has been treated hydrothermally under alkaline conditions to prepare a nature-sourced emulsifier. The effects of mild hydrothermal–alkaline treatment with different temperatures or alkaline concentrations on the emulsifying properties of zein were investigated. The emulsification activity and stability index of zein hydrolysates increased by 39% and 164%, respectively. The optimal simple stabilized emulsion was uniform and stable against heat treatment up to 90 °C, sodium chloride up to 200 mmol/L, and pH values ranging from 6 to 9. Moreover, it presented excellent storage stability compared to commonly used food emulsifiers. The surface hydrophobicity caused the depolymerization of the tertiary structure of zein and the dissociation of subunits along with exposure of hydrophilic groups. The amino acid composition and circular dichroism results reveal that the treatment dissociated protein subunits and transformed α-helices into anti-parallel β-sheets and random coil. In conclusion, mild hydrothermal–alkaline treatment may well contribute to the extended functional properties of zein as a nature-sourced emulsifier.

Zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe) deficiency remain global public health problems. While much information is available in the literature on the effect of fertilization with Zn and Fe on the concentration of these micronutrients in rice grain, the absence of a quantitative synthesis of previous studies constitutes an important knowledge gap. Here we report the first global meta-analysis based on 816 records from 56 publications. Compared with a no Zn control, soil-applied fertilizer (0.5-50 kg ha-1, 12.2 & PLUSMN; 0.48 kg ha-1 on average) increased Zn mass concentration by 3.33 & PLUSMN; 0.72 mg kg-1 on average while foliar-applied fertilizer (0.12-24 kg ha-1, 2.88 & PLUSMN; 0.24 kg ha-1 on average) resulted in an average increase of 7.76 & PLUSMN; 0.80 mg kg -1. Combined soil and foliar application of Zn (soil: 1.3-50 kg ha-1, 16.3 & PLUSMN; 0.72 kg ha-1 on average; foliar: 0.49-24 kg ha-1, 1.63 & PLUSMN; 0.33 kg ha-1 on average) increased mass concentration by 13.0 & PLUSMN; 0.81 mg kg -1. Foliar application of Fe (0.13-1.8 kg ha-1, 0.33 & PLUSMN; 0.07 kg ha-1 on average) increased grain Fe mass concentration by 9.62 & PLUSMN; 4.18, while grain Fe mass concentration was not significantly affected by the application of Fe to the soil (5.32 & PLUSMN; 4.34 mg kg -1) or combined soil and foliar Fe application (5.37 & PLUSMN; 4.32 mg kg -1). The greatest increases in grain Zn mass concentration were obtained with foliar applications at ripening stage and with more than two foliar applications combined with a basal soil Zn application. No significant relationship was found between grain yield and grain Zn or Fe mass concentra-tions. Thus, our findings indicate that combined soil and foliar application of Zn fertilizer and foliar application of Fe fertilizer can efficiently enhance rice grain Zn and Fe mass concentration, respectively. This knowledge can be used to design effective fertilization strategies for enhancing nutritional quality of rice.

Lysozyme can kill bacteria by its enzymatic activity or through a mechanism involving its cationic nature, which can facilitate electrostatic interactions with the viral capsid, the negatively charged parts of nucleic acids, and polymerase, so binding to nucleic acids may be another biological function of lysozyme. Here, PCR was used as a research tool to detect the effects of intact lysozyme and lysozyme fragments cleaved by different digestive enzymes on the replication and transcription of nucleic acids. We found that lysozyme and its hydrolysate can enter cells and inhibit PCR to varying degrees in vitro, and degraded lysozyme inhibited nucleic acid replication more effectively than intact lysozyme. Lysozyme selectively bound polymerase over the DNA template and had a stronger inhibitory effect on class I and class II polymerase than class III polymerase. Our findings provide a theoretical basis for further explaining the pharmacological effects of lysozyme, such as antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, and immune regulatory activities, and directions for the development of new pharmacological effects of lysozyme and its metabolites.

The distinct Tibetan regional diet is strongly influenced by the regional biogeography, indigenous traditions, popular religious beliefs and food taboos. In the context of the nutritional transition in Tibet, studies seldom report on the food consumption and dietary patterns of Tibetan residents. This is a cross-section study of 552 local adults (≥18 years old, 277 men and 275 women) living in 14 agricultural countries along the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Dietary intakes were assessed by a culturally specific FFQ and compared with the Chinese Dietary Pagoda (2016). Dietary Patterns were extracted by using PCA method. The binary logistic regression model was applied to assess the association between independent variables (genders, regions and age groups) and adherence to dietary patterns. With the exception of meat (100 ± 260 g/day) and soybean nuts (42 ± 12 g/day), which exceeded the recommended dietary intakes of CDP, the dietary intake of other foods were not up to the recommended value. In particular, the intake of aquatic products (2 ± 0.1 g/day), vegetables (90 ± 19 g/day), dairy products (114 ± 29 g/day), cereals (117 ± 27 g/day) and fruits (97 ± 25 g/day) were seriously inadequate, which were 95%, 70%, 62%, 53.2% and 51.5% lower than the recommended intakes, respectively. Four dietary patterns were identified. “Local traditional diet” was characterized by a high intake of tsampa (roasted highland barley flour), culturally specific beverages (sweet tea and yak buttered tea), potato and yak beef and was associated with female, rural and older adults (≥51 years old). The male, urban and 18~30 years old group had a higher adherence score with the “Han diet”, which was comprised of rice, pork, dumplings, eggs, milk and cabbage. The “Beverage diet”, which mainly include tsampa, chang (homemade barley wine) and sweet tea, was associated with the following group: female, urban and aged 18~30 years. The “Out-sourced diet” pattern, consisting of mainly rice, steam bread and some processed meat, was associated with being male, urban and 18–30 years of age. These findings indicate that the dietary practice of the Tibetan people still has strong local characteristics, but it is also undergoing a dietary transition with the penetration of the Chinese Han diet and the increased consumption of outsourced (processed) foods. The unbalanced dietary intake of Tibetan residents should be taken seriously by all parties.

Self-healing materials have received increased attention because of their automatic detecting and repairing damage function. In this paper, a novel self-assembly and self-healing bionanocomposite was developed as a coating material for controlled release fertilizers. This nanotechnology-enabled coating is environmentally friendly and highly efficient and possesses a tunable nutrient-releasing characteristic. In the synthesis process, bio-based polyurethane coated urea (BPCU) was prepared by the reaction of bio-polyols with isocyanate. The BPCU was then modified by the layer-by-layer technology to prepare self-assembling modified BPCU (SBPCU). Last, hollow nano-silica (HNS) particles loaded with the sodium alginate (SA) were used to modify SBPCU to fabricate of self-assembling and self-healing BPCU (SSBPCU). The results show that the self-assembled materials were synthesized through electrostatic adsorption. The self-healing was observed through scanning electron microscopy and 3D-X-ray computed tomography, revealing the mechanism was that the repair agent released from HNS reacted with the curing agent to block the pore channels and cracks of the coating. As a result, the SSBPCU exhibited the highest hydrophobicity and surface roughness and thus the slowest release rate. For the first time, this work has designed a novel strategy to solve the bottleneck problem that restricts the development of a controlled-release fertilizer.

The pulp black liquor accounts for about 90 percent of pollution of the whole paper and pulp industry. The clean production technology of extracting useful bio-based substances from pulp black liquor can increase wastewater utilization and benefit the environment. This paper examines chemical characteristics and biological activities of fulvic acid-like substance extracted from leonardite (FA1), which serves as the benchmark, and from pulp black liquor (FA2). Instrumental analyses with Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, C-13-nuclear magnetic resonance (C-13-NMR) spectroscopy and H-1-nuclear magnetic resonance (H-1-NMR) spectroscopy indicated that FA1 and FA2 shared common functional groups existed in typical fulvic acid. A series of rice seed germination bioassays proved that FA2 had the same growth promotion function as FA1. The optimal concentration for water absorption and seed germination was 5 mg/L for FA1 and 60 mg/L for FA2. FA1 and FA2 treatments also increased the activity of alpha-amylase under the action of hydrolytic enzymes and promoted root development by increasing cell size and cell division. The study implied that pulp black liquor can be used for bio-renewable and ecofriendly production of fulvic acid for wide applications in agriculture. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Increasing environmental concerns about organic waste in paper mill effluents demand alternative wastewater management technology. We reported novel activation of fulvic acid-like in paper mill effluents using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidizer and titanium oxide (TiO2) as catalyst. Spectroscopic characteristics of fulvic acid-like in paper mill effluents before and after activation (PFA and PFA-Os, respectively) were compared with a benchmark fulvic acid extracted from leonardite (LFA). Results indicated that PFA-Os exhibited less lignin structures, more functional groups and lower molecular weight than PFA, sharing much similarity with LFA. Among PFA-Os with varying degrees of oxidation, PFA-O-3 activated with 1:2 vol ratio of paper mill effluent and 30% H2O2 for 20 min digestion at 90 °C stands out to be the optimal for further examination of its biological activity. Bioassays with rice seed/seedling indicated that applications of LFA at 2-5 mg-C/L and PFA-O-3 at 60-100 mg-C/L significantly increased rice seed germination rate and seedling growth under salt stress imposed with 100 mM NaCl. The mechanism was mainly through reduced oxidative damage via activation of antioxidative enzymes and lipid peroxidation. This study provides the needed technical basis of safer and cleaner technologies for innovative management of paper mill effluents.

Although commercialized slow-release fertilizers coated with petrochemical polymers have revolutionarily promoted agricultural production, more research should be devoted to developing superhydrophobic biopolymer coatings with superb slow-release ability from sustainable and ecofriendly biomaterials. To inform the development of the superhydrophobic biopolymer-coated slow-release fertilizers (SBSF), the slow-release mechanism of SBSF needs to be clarified. Here, the SBSF with superior slow-release performance, water tolerance, and good feasibility for large-scale production was self-assembly fabricated using a simple, solvent-free process. The superhydrophobic surfaces of SBSF with uniformly dispersed Fe3O4 superhydrophobic magnetic-sensitive nanoparticles (SMNs) were self-assembly constructed with the spontaneous migration of Fe3O4 SMNs toward the outermost surface of the liquid coating materials ( i.e., pig fat based polyol and polymethylene polyphenylene isocyanate in a mass ratio 1.2:1) in a magnetic field during the reaction-curing process. The results revealed that SBSF showed longer slow-release longevity (more than 100 days) than those of unmodified biopolymer-coated slow-release fertilizers and excellent durable properties under various external environment conditions. The governing slow-release mechanism of SBSF was clarified by directly observing the atmosphere cushion on the superhydrophobic biopolymer coating using the synchrotron radiation-based X-ray phase-contrast imaging technique. Liquid water only contacts the top of the bulges of the solid surface (10.9%), and air pockets are trapped underneath the liquid (89.1%). The atmosphere cushion allows the slow diffusion of water vapor into the internal urea core of SBSF, which can decrease the nutrient release and enhance the slow-release ability. This self-assembly synthesis of SBSF through the magnetic interaction provides a strategy to fabricate not only ecofriendly biobased slow-release fertilizers but also other superhydrophobic materials for various applications.

To improve fertilizer use efficiency, reduce irrigation requirement, and minimize negative environmental impact, a novel large-grained-activatedlignite-slow-release fertilizer (LAF) with good water retention was developed by mechanical extrusion of activated lignite and conventional fertilizer. A 3D molybdate-sulfur hierarchical hollow nanosphere (3D-MoS2-HN) catalyst was successfully fabricated via a simple route, and the lignite was activated by 3D-MoS2-HN to increase its water-soluble humic acid content and nutrient adsorption ability. After activation, the amounts of small molecular active groups and water-soluble humic acid of activated lignite were significantly higher than those of raw lignite. The activation also increased adsorption ability of the activated lignite for nutrients. LAF prepared from the activated lignite had a preferable slow-release property and good water-holding capacity in soil. Moreover, a pot trial further demonstrated that LAF effectively improved the growth of an apple plant. With outstanding water-retention and slow-release capacities, this new fertilizer is economical and eco-friendly, and thus is promising in field applications.

The treatment of spent cooking liquor is critical for clean production of pulp and paper industry. There is a compelling need to develop a cost-effective and green technology for reuse of organic matter in spent cooking liquor to mitigate the negative impacts on the environment. The objective of this study is to examine the chemical structure of fulvic acid-like substances extracted from spent cooking liquor (PFA) and their relationship with bioactivity in plant growth. Compared with the benchmark Pahokee peat fulvic acid (PPFA), PFA has less aromatic structure, but higher content of lignin, carbohydrates, and amino acid. After fractionation, protein/amino proportion decreased with increasing molecular weight, but the aromaticity increased. Under salt stress, rice seedling growth was promoted by PFA with low molecular weight (<5 kDa), but inhibited by fraction with high molecular weight (>10 kDa). Principal component analysis suggested that promoted growth was more related with chemical structure (O- and N-alkyl moieties) than with molecular weight. This study provided the theoretical basis for development of an innovative green technology of sustainable reuse of spent cooking liquor in agriculture.

To improve nitrogen (N) use efficiency and minimize environmental pollution caused by fertilizer overuse, novel bio-based large tablet controlled-release urea (LTCRU) was prepared using bio-based coating materials to coat large tablet urea (LTU) derived from urea prills (U). Nano fumed silica (NFS) was added to the bio-based coating materials to improve the slow-release properties. The surface area of the LTU and U was measured by three-dimensional scanning. In comparison to U, LTU had a smaller surface area/weight ratio, which can reduce the coating materials. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the addition of NFS in bio-based coating materials reduced the porosity of the coating shells of LTCRUs and, thus, enhanced the N release longevity of the controlled-released fertilizer. Dependent upon the pores on the coating shells of LTCRU, two N release patterns were revealed. Because of the good release characteristics, the novel LTCRU shows great potential to support sustainable agricultural production.

For 46 years (1957-2002), irrigation with wastewater has increased the amount of heavy metal and organic contaminants in soils and altered bacterial communities in Shenyang, northeastern China. There has been characterization of the different heavy metal and petroleum contaminants in two types of land uses (cornfields and paddy fields). The Nemerow composite indices of heavy metal contaminants have been higher in cornfields (1.17-4.73) than those in paddy fields (0.57-1.64). Molecular-based techniques and biochemical-based techniques were used to analyze soil microbial diversity in our study. The metabolic activity of soil microbe communities was higher in paddy sites than that in cornfields. Organic pollutants such as saturated and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have significantly affected soil bacterial compositions. Heavy metals differed in how they disturbed the microbial communities. Arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) shifted the community composition and decreased microbial diversity; copper (Cu) reduced bacterial abundance in soil; and cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) lowered the metabolic capabilities of bacteria. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.