Jiangsu Normal University

The development of natural preservatives from agricultural by-products is essential for sustainable food systems. This study valorized burdock leaves by extracting a bioactive polysaccharide with yield of 6.422%. A burdock leaf polysaccharide (BPS) was identified as an acidic heteropolysaccharide (molecular weight 1.616 × 10⁵ Da) with a triple-helix structure, mainly composed of galactose and arabinose. It exhibited strong antioxidant activity and notable antibacterial efficacy against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC₅₀) = 25 mg/mL). Mechanistic analyses revealed that BPS disrupted membrane integrity, elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and induced DNA damage. When applied as a beef coating and stored in a refrigerator at 4 °C, BPS extended shelf-life from 6 to over 12 days by preserving color, limiting weight loss and pH increase, and suppressing bacterial growth and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) accumulation. These findings highlight BPS as a promising clean-label preservative derived from agricultural waste.

Spontaneous coal combustion (SCC) is a hidden danger in gob areas of underground working faces and is characterized by strong concealment and difficulty in detection.Gas is a key indicator used to characterize the degree of SCC.It is feasible to classify SCC risk areas using the gas volume fraction and its variation patterns.In this study, taking the gas in the gob area of the 401,103 working face in the Mengcun Coal Mine as the research object, the variation features of CO and O₂ vs. the length of the gob area were analyzed; on the basis of the nonparametric kernel d. estimation method, the kernel d. distribution patterns of the volume fractions of O₂ and CO were analyzed, the early warning threshold of SCC was determined, and a classification method for SCC risk areas was proposed.The results in this study revealed the following: The statistical features of the gas showed that the O₂ volume fraction of the gob area changed linearly, and the CO volume fraction met second-order polynomial change features. The kernel densities of the CO and O₂ volume fractions increased with increasing gob area length.The highest kernel d. of CO was distributed within 10 m behind the shelf, and the highest kernel d. of O₂ was distributed in the range of 20 ∼ 25 m. The length of the critical gob area for SCC at the 401,103 working face was approx. 30 m, and the critical volume fractions of O₂ and CO were 15% and 0.009%, resp. The early warning critical value divided the gob area into four quadrants and three risk levels of safe, potential risk and danger.The dynamic effect of the change in the gas volume fraction on the risk level was analyzed.Compared with the traditional use of single data points to classify SCC risk areas, the determination of SCC early warning thresholds and the classification of danger areas on the basis of gas statistical features significantly improved the accuracy of early warnings.This study provides novel ideas for the early warning of SCC.

This study evaluated the role of an isolated strain, Trichoderma sp. BZ01A, in enhancing the composting of Flammulina filiformis spent mushroom substrate (SMS) for producing bio-organic fertilizer. The objective was to determine how inoculation influences microbial community dynamics, compost properties, and the resulting biocontrol efficacy against cucumber-wilt disease. Amendment with Trichoderma sp. BZ01A significantly altered the compost environment, reshaped microbial communities by reducing the relative abundance of fungal pathogens such as Fusarium (from 15% to <1%) and Aspergillus, while increasing the inoculated Trichoderma to over 95% dominance. Community assembly analysis indicated a shift towards stochastic processes, and co-occurrence network analysis revealed a simplified fungal community with higher modularity and reduced connectivity for Fusarium. These microbial changes were associated with significant improvements in the final compost product. The germination index increased significantly (P < 0.05), and pot trials demonstrated that application of the Trichoderma-amended compost significantly reduced the incidence of cucumber-wilt disease by over 50% compared to the control, whereas the uninoculated compost exacerbated disease. Statistical analyses (PLS-PM) indicated that the fungal community composition was the primary factor influencing disease suppression. The results demonstrate that inoculating Trichoderma sp. BZ01A during SMS composting effectively steers the microbial community toward a suppressive state, leading to a high-quality compost with significant biocontrol potential against a major soil-borne disease.