Drought and salt stress are two major abiotic factors significantly impacting crop growth and yield. Climate change leads to increasing drought and soil salinization issues, rising significant challenges to agricultural production. Amylases play a crucial role in enhancing the tolerance of crops to these stresses by regulating physiological and enzymatic activities. Previous study identified MeAMY1 and MeBAM3 as key genes involved in cassava starch metabolism under drought stress. To investigate their functions under drought and salt stress, MeAMY1 and MeBAM3 genes were cloned and over-expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana in the current study. Overexpression of MeAMY1 in Arabidopsis enhances amylase activities, promotes starch hydrolysis, releases soluble sugar and thus enhances osmotic balance in transgenic Arabidopsis. In the mean while, expression of BAM1 and SEX1 were depressed by MeAMY1 to maintain the protects cells closed under stress and preserved starch for adapting the stressful environments. Overexpression of the MeBAM3 in Arabidopsis can increase the expression levels of AMY3 and RVE1, promotes starch hydrolysis, releases soluble sugar from the chloroplasts to the cytoplasm and thus enhances osmoregulatory substance content, reducing stress-induced damage to antioxidant enzymes and cell membranes and improving stress tolerance. The principal component analysis further indicated that MeAMY1 and MeBAM3 overexpression lines responded similarly to drought stress, while MeBAM3 overexpression provided greater resilience to salt stress.
Silicon monoxide (SiO) is highly attractive as an anode material for high-energy lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its significantly higher specific capacity. However, its practical application is hindered by substantial volume expansion during cycling, which leads to material pulverization and an unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer. Inspired by the natural root fixation in soil, we designed a root-like topological structure binder, cassava starch-citric acid (CS-CA), based on the synergistic action of covalent and hydrogen bonds. The abundant -OH and -COOH groups in CS-CA molecules effectively form hydrogen bonds with the -OH groups on the SiO surface, significantly enhancing the interfacial interaction between CS-CA and SiO. The root-like topological structure of CS-CA with a high tolerance alleviates the mechanical stress generated by the volume changes of SiO. More encouragingly, the hydrogen bond action among CS-CA molecules produces a self-healing effect, which is advantageous for repairing damaged electrodes and preserving their structural integrity. As such, the CS-CA/SiO electrode exhibits exceptional cycling performance (963.1 mA h g-1 after 400 cycles at 2 A g-1 ) and rate capability (558.9 mA h g-1 at 5 A g-1 ). This innovative, topologically interconnected, root-inspired binder will greatly advance the practical application of long-lasting micron-sized SiO anodes. (c) 2025 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
This study investigates the collision model of cassava seed stems in precision planters. Utilizing a physical property analyzer and a custom test platform based on collision dynamics principles, we measured and analyzed the forces and recovery coefficients of seed stem collisions. Mixed orthogonal and one-way tests were conducted to identify the main factors affecting the collision recovery coefficient of seed stems, including collision contact material, drop height, seed stem mass, moisture content, drop direction, and seed stem variety. The results from the orthogonal tests indicated that the factors influencing the collision recovery coefficient were ranked as follows: collision contact material > drop height > seed stem mass > moisture content > drop direction > seed stem variety. Notably, the effects of impact contact material, drop height, stem mass, and moisture content were significant, while the effects of drop direction and seed stem variety were relatively insignificant. The one-way test results revealed that the collision recovery coefficients for cassava seed stems with structural steel Q235, rubber sheet, seed stems, and sandy loam soil decreased progressively, with values for SC205 being 0.8172, 0.6975, 0.6649, and 0.6341, respectively, and values for GR4 being 0.7796, 0.7132, 0.6913, and 0.6134, respectively. Furthermore, as drop height increased, the collision recovery coefficient of cassava seed stems decreased; similarly, higher stem mass and moisture content correlated with lower coefficients. To minimize impact during critical stages of cassava planting, transportation, and processing, materials with lower recovery coefficients should be prioritized in equipment design. Incorporating rubber coatings can effectively mitigate collision effects in components such as seed supply and planting mechanisms. These findings provide valuable insights for designing and enhancing key mechanical features in machinery used for planting, transporting, and processing cassava.
The increasing issue of plastic waste necessitates improved solutions, and biodegradable food packaging is a promising alternative to traditional plastic. In this study, we prepared packaging films using cassava starch (CV), chitosan (CT) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), with glycerol as a plasticizer. However, these films require modifications to enhance their mechanical properties. Therefore, we modified the films by adding vanillin as the crosslinking agent and gingerol extract stabilized silver nanoparticles. The films were fabricated using the filmcasting method and characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TGA, mechanical property test, biodegradability test, antibacterial test and food packaging evaluation test. Among these films, CT/CV/V/CMC/Gin-AgNPs1 exhibited superior mechanical properties and demonstrated excellent anti-bacterial property both for gram-positive (S. aureus) and gram-negative (E. coli) bacteria and biodegradability, losing over 50% of its weight after 21 days of burial in soil and effectively preserved grapes at 4 degrees C for 21 days.
In light of the problems of large operation resistance and small soil fragmentation during the harvesting operations of existing cassava harvesters, a long- and short-toothed digging shovel was designed. A virtual simulation soil trough model of cassava ridge soil particles was established using the discrete element method, and the Hertz-Mindlin with JKR contact model was employed to simulate the operation quality of the long- and shorttoothed digging shovel and the original digging shovel. In the movement and force analysis of the digging shovel, the angle of entry, the advance speed of the machine, and the height of the digging adjustment were the test factors. The response surface test was conducted on the digging rate and the damaged cassava rate. The results of the experimental field trial showed that the average digging rate of harvested cassava increased by 2.56%, and the average rate of damaged harvested cassava decreased by 1.54%, compared with the original digging shovel. The digging operation process was stable and met the requirements of cassava harvesting field operations. The results of this study may inform future studies on the design and improvement of a cassava harvester.
Cassava is one of the world's top three tuber crops, and its harvesting mechanization level is low. Digging- pulling cassava harvester is the main research direction of cassava harvesters. However, the soil-loosening components of the existing digging-pulling harvesters have poor loosening effect, high tuber damage rate, and large pulling force of cassava tubers after loosening. The two-sided loosening shovel that digs and loosens the soil on both sides of the tubers has low working resistance and is not easy to damage the tubers, but there are few reports on the impact of its operating performance. Therefore, this study focuses on three common types of two-sided soil-loosening shovels: the offset-wing shovel (OWS), L shovel (LS), and double-wing shovel (DWS). A two-factor, three-level orthogonal experiment is conducted, taking tillage depth (h) and shovel distance (b) as variables, then range analysis and factor impact analysis are carried out. Finally, through comprehensive comparison and optimization, a shovel type with best operational effects and its optimal working conditions are identified. The results show the LS demonstrated optimal performance when the breakage rate and pulling force were minimized. At the optimal combination of h of 0.25 m and b of 0.6 m, the LS has a breakage rate of 7.576% and a pulling force of 291.608 N. This study can provide basis for optimizing the design of loosening parts of digging-pulling cassava harvester.
In an era marked by growing environmental concerns and the need for sustainable living, the development of environmentally friendly and biodegradable products has become paramount. This work proposes the preparation of eco-friendly and sustainable value-added products like carry bags and garbage bags from cassava starch. A cassava starch: plasticizer ratio of 1:0.05 has been optimized to prepare bioplastics with good mechanical properties. We have used nearly spherical shaped silver nanoparticles ranging between a particle size of 9-15 nm and spherical zinc oxide nanoparticles ranging between 12 and 38 nm prepared by green methods which were characterized using XRD, SEM and TEM. Using the optimum cassava starch:plasticizer ratio, two sets of bioplastics were prepared-one containing varying amounts of silver nanoparticles and the other with varying amounts of zinc oxide nanoparticles. For both types of bioplastics, 1% nanoparticle addition gave maximum tensile strength of 4.8037 N/mm2 for zinc oxide incorporated bioplastics and 4.3320 N/mm2 for silver incorporated bioplastics. The addition of nanoparticles did not much change the thermal stability of bioplastics. Soil, air and water degradation studies were done for 31 days. The rate of soil degradation increased on nanoparticle addition. The durability of the bioplastics was confirmed during air degradation studies. The nanoparticle incorporated samples showed lesser degradation in air and water. Thus, addition of nanoparticles customizes the properties of bioplastics, making them suitable substitutes for traditional plastics in a wide range of uses.