Ramesh S.V.

ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute · Physiology Biochemistry and PHT

Owing to the demand for the consumption of healthy extrudates, this study explored the infusion of neera (coconut inflorescence sap) honey in rice flour, corn flour and coconut milk residue blend-based extrudates. Neera honey, the concentrated coconut inflorescence sap, has numerous nutrients and a natural source of essential vitamins. Hence, the p...

Abiotic stressors associated with the climate change phenomenon are a serious threat to crop cultivation, especially in perennials like coconut (Cocos nucifera L.). In this challenging scenario, genomics-based crop improvement strategies are warranted to expedite the development of varieties resistant/tolerant to abiotic stresses and to enhance the...

Food bioactive components have garnered greater attention due to their effect in the prevention and therapeutic value against diseases. In this context, bioavailability of food bioactives refers to their prevalence in body fluids and accessibility for the tissues so that beneficial effects are harnessed. Hence, the metabolic processes that a food u...

Nutraceuticals are a portmanteau of “nutrients” and “pharmaceuticals” denoting substances that are rich in nutrients that confer immense health benefits. Plants are rich source of nutraceuticals as studies have demonstrated the link between the dietary intakes of plant-derived foods with that of abundant health benefits. A wide array of phytochemic...

The concept of plant-based human nutrition deserves a major shift in planning dietary requirements, identification of potential sources of nutrients, and to unravel its impending effects on human health. It also requires collaborative research approaches in the field of nutrition science, sociology, human medicine, plant breeding among others. A gl...

Beverage industry has significantly evolved in formulating diverse products to meet the requirements of nutraceutical or functional food category. In this context, plant-based extracts from diverse sources such as soybean, almond, coconut, oat, pulses, and rice called plant-based milk alternatives (PBMAs) or analogs form an integral component of be...

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is an economically important plantation crop grown widely in tropical and sub-tropical regions and coastal ecosystems worldwide. The impact of global warming on agriculture, in general, and perennials such as plantation crops, in particular, warrants the application of novel genomics-based approaches to safeguard the cro...

A study was conducted to understand the influence of climatic factors on nutrient use, and whole plant water use efficiency (WUE) of hydroponically grown coconut seedlings. Two dwarf (Chowghat green dwarf, CGD and Malayan yellow dwarf, MYD) and two tall (Kalpa Pratibha, KP and Kalpatharu, KT) coconut genotypes were grown in triplicates and their wa...

The potential of bio-preservatives, namely, nisin, natamycin, and polylysine, as viable alternatives to chemical preservatives for storage of tender coconut water (TCW) during refrigerated storage (5 ± 2°C) was explored. Bio-preservative treatments were carried out after optimized heat treatment (85°C for 5 min) of TCW to establish its storage char...

Background: Cocos nucifera (L.) is an important plantation crop with immense but untapped nutraceutical potential. Despite its bioactive potential, the biochemical features of testa oils of various coconut genotypes are poorly understood. Hence, in this study, the physicochemical characteristics of testa oils extracted from six coconut genotypes -...

Sprouted cashew kernel and cotyledon are highly nutritious but remain underutilized or wasted in cashew plantations. Since, surface microbial contamination of sprouts is known, suitable processing methods are required to utilize it properly. In order to eliminate the microbial load of cashew sprout and cotyledon (CSC) and to modify it into most acc...

The application of pesticides enhances food production vastly, and it cannot be prevented; longer fresh produce is contaminated with health-threatening pesticides even though traditional processing methods can remove these pesticides from food surfaces to a certain extent; novel emerging technologies such as cold plasma, ultrasound, electrolyzed wa...

The number of food frauds in coconut-based products is increasing due to higher consumer demands for these products. Rising health consciousness, public awareness and increased concerns about food safety and quality have made authorities and various other certifying agencies focus more on the authentication of coconut products. As the conventional...

The coconut palm is aptly described as the "tree of life" because of its myriad of uses and diversified value added products. Coconut and its derivatives are considered to be an emerging functional food. It is also called a "miracle food". In recent years, there have been conflicting reports regarding the consumption of coconut oil and its health b...

Plant retrotransposons are activated in response to various external stresses. However, little is known regarding the molecular response of retrotransposons to the virus infections in tomato. Hence, the expression profile of tomato homologs (Retrolyc1 and Kielia) of Tnt1 and Tto1 retrotransposons, respectively were evaluated in response to two dive...

The impacts of cocoa solids and coconut sugar on the sensory perception of bean to bar dark chocolate were investigated with mixture design using response surface methodology. The maximum and minimum levels of cocoa nibs, cocoa butter, and coconut sugar for the preparation of chocolate were 35–50%, 15–30%, and 20–35%, respectively. A suitable mathe...

Soybean is an agronomically important crop which is rich in seed protein (about 40%) and oil (about 20%), enriches the soil by fixing nitrogen through symbiosis with bacteria. It is widely used as food, feed, and for industrial purpose. In addition to human consumption, soybean is a major protein source in animal feeds. Soybean is also becoming a m...

Soybean is an agro-economically leading crop of the world. Soybean is rich in seed protein (about 40%) and oil (about 20%) and enriches the soil by fixing nitrogen through symbiosis with bacteria. It is widely used as food, feed, and for industrial purposes. In soybean, biotic stresses such as insects-pests and diseases have emerged as the major ch...

The present study is the first report of isolation and characterization of endophytic actinobacteria from cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica). A total of 179 morphologically distinct endophytic actinobacterial isolates were purified from the roots of two different genetic accessions of cactus. All these isolates were screened for their plant growth promo...

An examination of the structural composition of the arecanut rhizosphere microbiome, utilising 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing of arecanut palms from Yellow leaf Disease (YLD) endemic region of Sullia, Karnataka, reveals that higher abundance of phylum, Cand. Patescibacteria in the arecanut rhizosphere. These include Patescibacteria – Cand. Parcubacte...

In India, arecanut production has been hampered by environmental and diseases problems in recent years. Yellow leaf Disease (YLD) is a serious malady that causes marked production losses in certain arecanut growing regions. This study examines the structural composition of rhizosphere microbiome, with a special emphasis on microbiome associated wit...

Coconut sugar is prepared by concentration of inflorescence sap, popularly called as neera or Kalparasa®, collected by tapping the unopened coconut spadix. The sap in its original form contains 14–16% sucrose which upon heating at 90–95 °C turns into long threads followed by agitation or beating to form a crystalline or amorphous sugar. The coconut...

Effects of hot process-derived virgin coconut oil (VCO) on antiobesity, lipid-lowering and cardio-protection in male Wistar rat models fed with high-fat diet (HFD) were investigated for 7 weeks. The marked increase in body weight, liver weight, epididymal fat weight, and specific growth rate of HFD-fed rats were significantly attenuated when the HF...

Understanding the temperature profile of different packaging materials would be useful for selecting appropriate packaging material for in-bottle pasteurization. The temperature profile of polypropylene, polyethylene (PE), and polyethylene terephthalate bottles was investigated using COMSOL Multiphysics software to understand the temperature–time c...

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is a monotypic genus and an important plantation crop with an enormous application value as a food, fuel, and fiber. The crop has also been recently attaining great importance in the field of nutraceuticals worldwide. Development of high yielding cultivars, genotypes having high copra content, genetic sources with charac...

Genetic diversity is an important determinant of future yield security and hence is a significant factor for crop varietal improvement. Genetic diversity in coconuts is evidenced by differences in morphological characters such as plant height (tall and dwarf), nut size, nut shape and colour, leaf and leaflet length, width and colour, husk and endos...

The novel omics-based approaches have profoundly influenced the qualitative and quantitative improvement of staple crops and non-model species alike. Next-generation sequencing–enabled gene discovery and gene expression profiling technologies have assisted in deciphering the complex biological systems in an integrative manner. Plantation crops and...

This study compared rhizosphere microbiomes between healthy and YLD affected arecanut palms by amplicon sequencing.The rhizosphere soils were collected from the apparently healthy (YLD-AHR) palms, intensely diseased (YLD-DIR) palms and the non-rhizosphere (YLD-NR) regions in Sullia taluk, Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India. Our findings re...

The textural properties of coconut meat such as punching force, cutting force, punching energy, and cutting energy are the salient parameters for the efficient and ergonomic design of the fiber extraction machine and processing equipments such as coconut chips slicing machine and grating machine. As literature on these textural properties of coconu...

Pearl millet is a nutrient dense and gluten free cereal, however it's flour remains underutilized due to the onset of rancidity during its storage. To the best of our knowledge, processing methods, which could significantly reduce the rancidity of the pearl millet flour during storage, are non-existent. In this study, pearl millet grains were subje...

Polyphenol oxidases (PPO) and peroxidases (POD) are the major enzymes that affect the quality of tender coconut water (TCW). Advanced thermal treatment such as microwave treatment has the potential for the inactivation of food enzymes. The experiments were conducted at three different microwave power levels (450, 600, and 900 W) and five different...

Virus–host interaction at cellular and intra-cellular level is a constantly evolving process which results either in the host to resist or the virus to break host immunity and to establish the disease. We have put extensive efforts to understand the genomic organization and gene functions of important viral proteins involved in resisting or avoidin...

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) and its value-added products are rich in medium chain triglycerides, polyphenols and flavonoids with a significant anti-oxidant potential. However, coconut and its products are underutilized for the development of nutraceuticals. Coconut testa is a brown cover of the endosperm, which is characterized with the considerabl...

Arecanut (Areca catechu L.) is an important plantation crop cultivated predominantly in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal, and Maharashtra in an area of 5.19 lakh ha, with Karnataka State alone accounting for about 53.95% of the area and 67.22% of production. Arecanut production has recently been hampered due to environment...

Auxin response factors (ARFs) are a class of transcription factors with the ability to bind specifically to the promoter region of auxin-responsive genes in plants and thereby modulate various aspects of biological processes and responses to diverse environmental conditions. Identification and characterization of ARF gene families have been underta...

Iris yellow spot, caused by Iris yellow spot orthotospovirus (IYSV) (Genus: Orthotospovirus , Family: Tospoviridae ), is an important disease of Allium spp. The complete N gene sequences of 142 IYSV isolates of curated sequence data from GenBank were used to determine the genetic diversity and evolutionary pattern. In silico restriction fragment le...

The availability of enormous amount of sequence data, driven by next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques and multi-omics-integrated strategies, has contributed considerably to expanding and intensifying our understanding on the molecular make-up of plants. The use of ‘omics’-based technologies for molecular breeding in palms, especially coconut,...

Coconut palm is one of the important vegetable oil crops of the tropics and sub-tropics. Studies delineating the oil biosynthesis in coconut palm are of paramount importance due to its market potential and quality [high proportion of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), especially lauric acid]. The availability of coconut transcriptome data, coconut g...

The enormous potential of DNA-based molecular markers has greatly assisted crop improvement programs of various crops, including non-model species like plantation crops. Despite the perennial nature, analysis of genomic loci governing quantitative traits of economic importance in coconut has gained impetus due to rapid strides in utilization of DNA...

High-value coconut mutants offer competitive advantage of growing coconut palm vis-a-vis other oil seed crops including oil palm. Endosperms of Makapuno and aromatic coconut mutants generally fetch a premium price in the export market and thereby have a huge potential to earn valuable foreign exchange. In this chapter, the developments in the field...

In 2017, coconut joined the elite list of sequenced plant genomes. The genome sequence is of immense value to coconut researchers working in various fields, ranging from plant breeding, biotechnology to physiology and biochemistry. The recent accomplishments of genome sequences of two green dwarfs, via independent sequencing efforts in the Philippi...

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.), which belongs to family Arecaceae, is an important economic crop of the tropics. Despite its economic significance, applications of genomics science in the coconut crop improvement programs has gained momentum only in recent times. Besides the whole genome and transcriptome sequencing approaches, genomics of plastids an...

Adulteration of desiccated coconut powder (DCP) with coconut milk residue (CMR) is an emerging problem in the coconut processing industry. Consumers and industries are looking for a simple non-destructive device to measure the purity of DCP. vis-NIR (350–2500 nm) spectroscopy along with the chemometric techniques have been used to assess the purity...

This review summarizes the use of spectroscopic processes-based analytical tools coupled with chemometric techniques for the identification of adulterants in edible oil. Investigational approaches of process analytical tools such asspectroscopy techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), hyperspectral imaging (HSI), e-tongue and e-nose combined w...

Tender coconut water (TCW) possesses appreciable nutritional and health-promoting benefits. The high nutritional potential of the drink had raised the overall demand globally among the consumers. Nevertheless, the processing and appropriate shelf-life extension is significant hurdles in tapping the nutritional potential of TCW. Besides, the possibl...

The present study is the first report of isolation and characterization of endophytic actinobacteria from cactus ( Opuntia ficus-indic a). A total of 179 morphologically distinct endophytic actinobacterial isolates were purified from the roots of two different genetic accessions of cactus. All these isolates were screened for their plant growth pro...

Coconut is grown along the coasts and islands that are vulnerable to climate change-induced sea level rise. Though coconut is considered moderately salt tolerant, our understanding on the growth and physiological response to sea water, either inundation or subsurface water contamination, is very limited. This understanding will enable to effectivel...

Background Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative ailment having pathological hallmarks of plaques due to amyloid β (Aβ) peptides and neurofibrillary tangles in brain. These cerebral plaques and neurofibrillary tangles potentially affect the neuronal synaptic transmission and ultimately cause cognitive decline. In the absence o...

Background Salmonella infection has become a foremost health issue as it is the causative agent of several foodborne outbreaks. Currently, there is a huge demand for safe, healthy, and nutritious, fresh-like food products. It strongly suggests the food manufacturers to develop appropriate practices like expeditious testing, detection, and inactivat...

The coconut is an important fruit tree around the world, providing food, fuel and fibre for billions of people, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. As the palm has multiple uses it is aptly called the “the tree of life“. Coconut and its products are also known as a 'functional food,' since it provides health benefits over and beyond the...

Classical methods for assessing the quality of food grains are still in vogue, however, these methods are either destructive or time-consuming which demands an alternative. Spectroscopic techniques such as Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR), Near-infrared (NIR) and Raman spectroscopic techniques are intensively researched in evaluating their effici...

The study on fermentation kinetics of the coconut inflorescence sap is important to understand its shelf life at different storage conditions and to develop suitable value-added products. The coconut inflorescence sap collected by using an in-house developed coco-sap chiller device is called Kalparasa. The fermentation characteristics of Kalparasa...

Roasting is a food processing technique that employs the principle of heating to cook the product evenly and enhance the digestibility, palatability and sensory aspects of foods with desirable structural modifications of the food matrix. With the burgeoning demand for fortified roasted products along with the concern for food hygiene and the effect...

Virus-derived siRNAs (vsiRNAs) generated by the host RNA silencing mechanism are effectors of plant’s defense response and act by targeting the viral RNA and DNA in post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) and transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) pathways, respectively. Contrarily, viral suppressors of RNA silencing (VSRs) compromise the host RNA...

A comprehensive analysis of the structural composition of the arecanut rhizosphere microbiome was performed, utilising 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing of rhizosphere soils of arecanut palms from YLD endemic Sullia, Karnataka. The results reveal that the predominant nitrogen, Fe, S transformation bacterial taxa in arecanut rhizosphere include Rhizobial...

This book serves as the first comprehensive compilation describing the breeding strategies and genetics and genomics of the coconut palm. It describes gene evolution of economically important traits such as oil biosynthesis, aroma and fragrance, disease-resistant genes and small RNAs-mediated gene regulation of coconut. Application of “omics” appro...

Perennials utilize complex adaptive strategies and molecular mechanisms to cope with water-deficit conditions. Hence, in order to gain molecular insights regarding water-deficit stress, two-year-old coconut seedlings of the varieties Kalpa Sree and Kalpatharu were subjected to soil water-deficit regimes (25% of available of soil moisture and contro...

The reproductive phase of coconut is extremely sensitive to high temperature, manifesting as button (female flower) shedding and poor nut set. The progamic phase, which elapses from pollination to fertilization, is one of the most critical phases during the sexual reproduction processes in annuals and fruit trees and is extremely vulnerable to high...

Background: COVID-19 caused by the novel SARS Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is causing serious blockades in the global public health sphere. In the absence of a powerful antiviral treatment, exploration of plant-based products with antiviral potential has gained interest. Scope and Approach: This commentary presents the prospects of utilizing coconut...

Main conclusion: Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus-derived AC4 protein interacts with host proteins involved in auxin biosynthesis and reprograms auxin biosynthesis/signaling to help in viral replication and manifestation of the disease-associated symptoms. Perturbations of phytohormone-mediated gene regulatory network cause growth and developmenta...

Consumers generally prefer highly nutritious drinks in the form of 'ready to serve' and as a soft drink in bottles or as tetra packed beverages. Tender coconut is a noble gift of nature and the recent health awareness among the consumers has revitalized its importance as a drink of choice. Minimal processing technique for tender coconuts is being d...

Studies over the decades highlighted the role of lipids in modulating inherent glycaemic response of rice, still much needed to elucidate how the chain length and saturation of fatty acid (FA) influence this. Hence in this study, we investigated the in vitro glycaemic response, starch-lipid complexing ability and resistant starch (RS) formation in...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2020.00918.].

ICAR‐Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, India, has designed and developed a virgin coconut oil (VCO) cooker for the extraction of oil by the hot process. However, a number of VCO production processes being followed in India and elsewhere cause variations in the physicochemical properties, which in turn potentially affect the nutritional a...

Globally, yellow mosaic disease (YMD) remains a major constraint of mungbean production, and management of this deadly disease is still the biggest challenge. Thus, finding ways to manage YMD including development of varieties possessing resistance against mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) and mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV) is a resea...

Coconut inflorescence sap, traditionally called as neera, is a natural and healthy drink obtained by tapping the unopened immature spadix of coconut. The sap tapped by using the device coco-sap chiller, developed by ICAR-Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, is called Kalparasa®. The shelf life of the sap after extraction is 2–3 h in atmosph...

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.), belonging to the family Arecaceae, has earned the epithet ‘Kalpavriksha’ (“Tree of Life”) because of its multitude of uses. Changing and future climate scenarios have imposed severe constraints on the production of coconut with simulation studies revealing that productivity will be severely affected. Nevertheless, plant...

Full access: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1aK%7EY3I9F4D9In Background Biospeckle laser technique is an emerging non-destructive, quality detection tool used for the evaluation of biological samples. It is rapid, easy to operate and economical, and assures the quality and safety of the fresh produces. Scope and approach The biological activity o...

The mechanical properties such as punching force, cutting force, punching energy, and cutting energy of tender coconut at its different orientations are pertinent for the design and development of efficient and ergonomic tender coconut processing machineries viz., punch and cutter, trimming machine, and snowball machine. However, the mechanical pro...

Full access: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/6ZK9NGTKXUMK3HKSU2D9/full?target=10.1080/05704928.2020.1713801 Adulteration of spices has been a major threat in the past decades as it decreases the quality and causes illness to humans. Testing of species is essential for evaluating the quality and safeguards the consumer against bogus activities....

Consumption of fruits and vegetables is an indispensable component of human dietary preference, however; it is unfortunate that the enormous pesticide residues remain in the plant produces. Pesticides used to control the pests and diseases of the crops and livestock and its spill-over in the food production system has been an inevitable consequence...

Coconut milk residue (CMR) is the main co-product of coconut processing including coconut milk powder production, virgin coconut oil, flavored coconut milk, and coconut milk yogurt-based processing industries. It is a rich source of polyphenols and dietary fiber. The proximate composition of coconut milk residue flour is crude fiber (25.51%), dieta...

Coconut oil is one of the most important vegetable oils in the tropical region. Coconut oil is used extensively for various edible and industrial purposes. Of late, coconut oil has been liable to adulteration either accidentally or intentionally. Adulteration of food not only decreases its quality but also leads to a number of ill effects on health...