Biodiesel potential of (white melon) seed oil: A neglected and underutilized resource in Nigeria.

A major challenge in the biodiesel industry is the availability of high-quality vegetable oil feedstocks. Thus, there is a continuous search for quality biodiesel feedstock whose production will trigger economic impact on the agricultural sector, minimize land degradation and without significant disruption to the food chain. In this work, we extracted and analysed oil from neglected and underutilized Cucumeropsis mannii seeds for their potential in biodiesel production.

Bioinformatic characterization of a triacylglycerol lipase produced by isolated from the decaying seed of .

Lipases are enzymes of industrial importance responsible for the hydrolysis of ester bonds of triglycerides. A lipolytic fungus was isolated and subsequently identified based on the ITS sequence analysis as putative with accession number LC424503. The gene coding for extracellular triacylglycerol lipase was isolated from species, sequenced, and characterised using bioinformatics tools.

Quantification of Heavy Metals and Pesticide Residues in Widely Consumed Nigerian Food Crops Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and Gas Chromatography (GC).

More still needs to be learned regards the relative contamination of heavy metals and pesticide residues, particularly those found in widely consumed Nigerian food crops like cereals, vegetables, and tubers. In this current study, the heavy metals and pesticide residues detectable in widely consumed Nigerian food crops were respectively quantified using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and gas chromatography (GC). Specifically, the widely consumed Nigerian food crops included cereals (rice, millet, and maize), legume (soybean), tubers (yam and cassava), as well as leaf (fluted pumpkin, leaf, waterleaf, and scent leaf) and fruit vegetables (okro, cucumber, carrot, and watermelon).