Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) has gained attention as an excellent packaging material due to its high crystallinity, biodegradability, low interaction with food matrices, and favorable mechanical properties. This study explores the development of PHB films incorporated with potassium sorbate (KS) and gallic acid (GA) via solvent casting, followed by a 30-day biodegradation test in soil. The films are analyzed for physicochemical and microbiological properties using X-ray diffraction, tensile testing, and disk diffusion assays. The soil-buried PHB films demonstrate accelerated biodegradation, likely driven by increased microbial and fungal activity, as well as moisture absorption. Incorporating KS and GA significantly enhances the antimicrobial efficacy of the films against both Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, with greater inhibition observed against S. aureus. This difference may stem from the additional lipopolysaccharide membrane in E. coli. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) of the films, both pre- and post-biodegradation, provides further insights into their structural changes. These findings underscore the potential of PHB antimicrobial films in advancing sustainable food packaging applications.

PurposeThe present work aims to prepare biocomposites blend based on linear low density polyethylene/ starch without using harmful chemicals to improve the adhesion between two phases. Also, the efficiency of essential oils as green plasticizers and natural antimicrobial agents were evaluated.Design/methodology/approachBarrier properties and biodegradation behavior of linear low density polyethylene/starch (LLDPE/starch) blends plasticized with different essential oils including moringa oleifera and castor oils wereassessed as a comparison with traditional plasticizer such as glycerol. Biodegradation behavior forLLDPE/starch blends was monitored by soil burial test. The composted samples were recovered then washed followed by drying, and weighting samples after 30, 60, and 90 days to assess the change in weight loss. Also, mechanical properties including retention values of tensile strength and elongation at break were measured before and after composting. Furthermore, scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to evaluate the change in the morphology of the polymeric blends. In addition to, the antimicrobial activity of plasticized LLDPE/starch blends films was evaluated using a standard plate counting technique.FindingsThe results illustrate that the water vapor transition rate increases from 2.5 g m-2 24 h-1 for LLDPE/5starch to 4.21 g m-2 24 h-1 and 4.43 g m-2 24 h-1 for castor and moringa oleifera respectively. Also, the retained tensile strength values of all blends decrease gradually with increasing composting period. Unplasticized LLDPE/5starch showed highest tensile strength retention of 91.6% compared to the other blends that were 89.61, 88.49 and 86.91 for the plasticized LLDPE/5starch with glycerol, castor and M. oleifera oils respectively. As well as, the presence of essential oils in LLDPE/ starch blends increase the inhibition growth of escherichia coli, candida albicans and staphylococcus aureus.Originality/valueThe objective of this work is to develop cost-effective and environmentally-friendly methods for preparing biodegradable polymers suitable for packaging applications.

Pyroligneous acids (PAs) amendments could reduce soil antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) pollution, but their impacts on horizontal transformation of extracellular ARGs (eARGs) remain unclear. Here, a wood residues derived PA was selected to investigate its effect on ARG dissemination via transformation using a soil microcosm experiment and an in vitro transformation system. The PA application effectively decreased the abundances of representative ARGs and mobile genetic elements, demonstrating that the weakened horizontal gene transfer alleviated ARG pollution in the soil. PA showed an amount-dependent inhibition on the transformation as well as the three distilled fractions and chemical components, proving that their important roles in inhibiting eARG transformation. The relatively low-amount (1 mu L mL-1) of PA suppressed the transformation mainly by destroying the plasmid pBR322 structure, while the high-amount (10-100 mu L mL-1) of PA inhibited the transformation due to the inactivation of recipient Escherichia coli DH5 alpha by inducing oxidative stress and destroying cell membrane, and damages of plasmid by reducing eARGs abundance and broking the base deoxyribose, and phosphate skeletons. These findings expand the understanding of PA amendments mitigating ARG pollution in agricultural soils via inhibiting horizontal gene transformation, and also provide a practical strategy to remediate soil ARG pollution.

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is one of the fungi that cause plant diseases. It damages plants by secreting large amounts of oxalic acid and cell wall-degrading enzymes. To meet this challenge, we designed a new pH/enzyme dual-responsive nanopesticide Pro@ZnO@Pectin (PZP). This nanopesticide uses zinc oxide (ZnO) as a carrier of prochloraz (Pro) and is encapsulated with pectin. When encountering oxalic acid released by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, the acidic environment promotes the decomposition of ZnO; at the same time, the pectinase produced by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum can also decompose the outer pectin layer of PZP, thereby promoting the effective release of the active ingredient. Experimental data showed that PZP was able to achieve an efficient release rate of 57.25% and 68.46% when pectinase was added or under acidic conditions, respectively. In addition, in vitro tests showed that the antifungal effect of PZP was comparable to that of the commercial Pro (Pro SC) on the market, and its efficacy was 1.40 times and 1.32 times that of the Pro original drug (Pro TC), respectively. Crucially, the application of PZP significantly alleviated the detrimental impacts of Pro on wheat development. Soil wetting experiments have proved that PZP primarily remained in the soil, thereby decreasing its likelihood of contaminating water sources and reducing potential risks to non-target organisms. Moreover, PZP improved the foliar wettability of Pro, lowering the contact angle to 75.06 degrees. Residue analyses indicated that PZP did not elevate prochloraz residue levels in tomato fruits compared to conventional applications, indicating that the nanopesticide formulation does not lead to excessive pesticide buildup. In summary, the nanopesticide PZP shows great promise for effectively managing Sclerotinia sclerotiorum while minimizing environmental impact.

Crop plants are vulnerable to a variety of diseases, including anthracnose, caused by various species of Colletotrichum fungi that damages major crops, including apples and hot peppers. The use of chemical fungicides for pathogen control may lead to environmental pollution and disease resistance. Therefore, we conducted this research to develop a Bacillus subtilis-based biological control agent (BCA). B. subtilis GYUN-2311 (GYUN-2311), isolated from the rhizosphere soil of an apple orchard, exhibited antagonistic activity against a total of 12 fungal pathogens, including eight Colletotrichum species. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and culture filtrate (CF) from GYUN-2311 displayed antifungal activity against all 12 pathogens, with 81% control efficiency against Fusarium oxysporum for VOCs and 81.4% control efficacy against Botryosphaeria dothidea for CF. CF also inhibited germination and appressorium formation in Colletotrichum siamense and C. acutatum. The CF from GYUN-2311 showed antifungal activity against all 12 pathogens in different media, particularly in LB medium. It also exhibited plant growth-promoting (PGP) activity, lytic enzyme activity, siderophore production, and the ability to solubilize insoluble phosphate. In trials on apples and hot peppers, GYUN-2311 effectively controlled disease, with 75 and 70% control efficacies against C. siamense in wounded and unwounded apples, respectively. Similarly, the control efficacy of hot pepper against C. acutatum in wounded inoculation was 72%. Combined application of GYUN-2311 and chemical suppressed hot pepper anthracnose to a larger extent than other treatments, such as chemical control, pyraclostrobin, TK (R), GYUN-2311 and cross-spraying of chemical and GYUN-2311 under field conditions. The genome analysis of GYUN-2311 identified a circular chromosome comprising 4,043 predicted protein-coding sequences (CDSs) and 4,096,969 bp. B. subtilis SRCM104005 was the strain with the highest average nucleotide identity (ANI) to GYUN-2311. AntiSMASH analysis identified secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes, such as subtilomycin, bacillaene, fengycin, bacillibactin, pulcherriminic acid, subtilosin A, and bacilysin, whereas BAGEL analysis confirmed the presence of competence (ComX). Six secondary metabolite biosynthetic genes were induced during dual culture in the presence of C. siamense. These findings demonstrate the biological control potential of GYUN-2311 against apple and hot pepper anthracnose.

In this study, the influence of the incorporation of eucalyptus (EO), tea tree (TT) and rosemary (RO) essential oils and Chiriyuyo extract (CE) on the structure and properties of thermoplastic starch (TPS) obtained from potato starch, glycerin and water was evaluated. All oils and the extract were used at a concentration of 0.5 g/100 g of TPS, while for TT, the effect of the concentration was also studied. The mixtures obtained were processed by extrusion and thermocompression molding. The sheets were characterized by XRD, FTIR, TGA, SEM and analyses of their mechanical properties, antimicrobial characteristics and biodegradability. The results show that the use of small concentrations of the oils in 70TPS does not induce changes in the TPS structure according to the results of XRD, FTIR and TGA, with each essential oil and CE affecting the mechanical properties unevenly, although in all cases, antimicrobial activity was obtained, and the biodegradability of TPS in soil was not modified. An increase in the concentration of TT in 60TPS causes marked changes in the crystallinity of TPS, providing a greater modulus with a higher concentration of TT. Regardless of the amount of TT, all sheets maintain antimicrobial characteristics, and their biodegradation in soil is delayed with a higher oil content.

A novel Streptomyces strain, designated 3_2(T), was isolated from soil under the black Gobi rock sample of Northwest China. The taxonomic position of this strain was revealed by a polyphasic approach. Comparative analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that 3_2(T) was closely related to the members of the genus Streptomyces, with the highest similarity to Streptomyces rimosus subsp. rimosus CGMCC 4.1438 (99.17%), Streptomyces sioyaensis DSM 40032 (98.97%). Strain 3_2(T) can grow in media up to 13% NaCl. The genomic DNA G + C content of strain 3_2(T) was 69.9%. We obtained the genomes of 22 Streptomyces strains similar to strain 3_2(T), compared the average nucleotide similarity, dDDH and average amino acid identity, and found that the genomic similarity of the new isolate 3_2(T) to all strains was below the threshold for interspecies classification. Chemotaxonomic data revealed that strain 3_2(T) possessed MK-9 (H-6) and MK-9 (H-8) as the major menaquinones. The cell wall contained LL-diaminopimelic acid (LL-DAP) and the whole-cell sugars were ribose and glucose. The major fatty acid methyl esters were iso-C-16:0 (23.6%) and anteiso-C-15:0 (10.4%). The fermentation products of strain 3_2(T) were inhibitory to Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus thuringiensi. The genome of 3_2(T) was further predicted using anti-smash and the strain was found to encode the production of 41 secondary metabolites, and these gene clusters may be key to the good inhibitory activity exhibited by the strain. Genomic analysis revealed that strain 3_2(T) can encode genes that produce a variety of genes in response to environmental stresses, including cold shock, detoxification, heat shock, osmotic stress, oxidative stress, and these genes may play a key role in the harsh environment in which the strain can survive. Therefore, this strain represents a novel Streptomyces species, for which the name Streptomyces halobius sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 3_2(T) (= JCM 34935(T) = GDMCC 4.217(T)).