Sudarshana Somasiri

Industrial Technology Institute | ITI

Infrastructure is often a limiting factor in microplastics research impacting the production of scientific outputs and monitoring data. International projects are therefore required to promote collaboration and development of national and regional scientific hubs. The Commonwealth Litter Programme and the Ocean Country Partnership Programme were de...

Informal sector foods are considered a vector of unhealthy fatty acids linked to noncommunicable diseases (NCD). This study is aimed at investigating the hazardous and nutritional fatty acids and sterols in commonly consumed ready-to-eat (RTE) street foods ( n = 108 ) in Sri Lanka using modified and validated AOAC and AOCS test methods. Significant...

Microplastics (MP) are the plastics with 1 μm-5 mm dimensions. Meanwhile, compost has been identified as a major source of MP in the soil, although compost is a great plant nutrient source, and it provides tremendous benefits for crops. This is primarily ascribed to most of the compost being produced through Municipal Solid Waste Management project...

Rice is the staple food over half of the world including Sri Lanka which has numerous rice varieties. Identification of Sri Lankan rice varieties (RVs) at the grain level is a great challenge due to its high diversity. Further, extremely limited research has been carried out on this topic to date. The present study aimed to characterize widely cult...

Coconut oil is the main edible oil used in South and Southeast Asian countries. Different types of coconut oils are available in the market including virgin coconut oil (VCO), copra coconut oil (CCO), coconut oil extracted by desiccated coconut (DC oil), and refined bleached and deodorized coconut oil based on the manufacturing process. Due to rece...

Nitrogen loss of urea is a major constraint in sustainable agriculture and it directly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. In this study, slow release bio char-urea inclusion composite (BUIC) was developed to reduce the nitrogen loss via leaching and increase the nitrogen usage efficiency (NUE) in plants. Urea was dissolved...

Properties of high temperature grease can be improved by adding graphite, polymer additives and fillers. This study focuses on the effects of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with graphite. Initially, the grease was prepared and varying percentages of PEG and later 25% graphite was added to each sample. The ASTM D 2265 method was adopted in dropping point...

Heavy metal pollution has become a serious threat to coastal aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, this study, aimed to assess the spatial distribution of five selected heavy metals/metalloids, arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg), in surface sediment samples collected from the Kalametiya Lagoon in southern Sri Lanka. Six...

Ethephon which is used as the yield stimulant in commercial rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations is an essential agrochemical when practicing low intensity harvesting systems. Locally developed new water-based ethephon formulation has been tested against commercially available water based and oil based formulations in a commercial plantation to...

Study presents the variation in free amino acids (FAAs) and total AAs in rice at different milling degrees. Two rice cultivars; Pachchaperumal and Bg 406 were subjected to three (4%, 7%, 12%) degrees of milling, and the variations in AA composition of milled rice and resulting bran were studied. Milling caused significant ( p < .05) reduction (5.7%...

This study evaluated fatty acid profiles (FAPs) of fifteen pigmented and non-pigmented traditional and new improved rice varieties (RVs) of Sri Lanka. Fat was extracted from rice flour, derivatized to methyl esters and analyzed by gas chromatography (n=3 each). Results showed significant (P < 0.05) differences in FAPs among the tested RVs. Total fa...

Cooking accounted for significant (p<0.01) loss in free and total amino acids (AAs) in rice. Fully milled raw rice reported relatively the lowest loss in total AAs (TAAs) over majority of cooking techniques. Cooking rice with draining excess water, cooking after discarding the soaked water and cooking with higher water to rice ratios accounted for...

With the aim of assessing the feasibility of utilization of amino acid (AA) profiles in characterization of rice varieties grown under distinct influential conditions, the impact of seasonal, geographical and varietal variations on AA and organic acid profiles in rice was investigated. Seven traditional rice varieties with diverse grain and agronom...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the backbone of Sri Lankan agriculture with the accomplishment of the daily nutritional requirements of humans. This study is intended to explore the cultivation seasonal variation on minerals in selected rice varieties and to examine the possible health risks due to toxic heavy metal contamination. Twenty-six different ri...

Toddy is an oyster white, translucent alcoholic drink produced from the sap obtained from various species of palms around the world, including Sri Lanka. The inflorescence of the palm is cut to collect the fresh sap and left to ferment by microbes such as airborne wild yeast and inoculums of previous batches. The resultant beverage is consumed as a...

Heavy metal (HM) pollution has become a serious threat to coastal aquatic ecosystems. This study, therefore, aimed at assessing the spatial distribution of selected heavy metals/metalloids including Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb), and Mercury (Hg) in surface sediment (0–15 cm) samples collected across Kalametiya Lagoon in sout...

Parboiling imparts significant changes to nutritional composition of rice. The study presents the variations in amino acid (AA) composition of rice observed during parboiling process, observed in selected Sri Lankan rice cultivars. Upon parboiling, the change in levels of free and protein bound amino acids inconsistently varied across the rice cult...

Investigation made on the variation in amino acid compositions among selected traditional and newly improved rice varieties cultivated in Sri Lanka is presented. The free amino acid (FAA) composition including gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) and protein bound total amino acids (TAAs) of eleven traditional and seven improved rice cultivars grown at...

Quantification of Sodium Content in Commonly Consumed Foods and beverages in Sri Lanka

Salt content of commonly consumed foods in Sri Lanka with respective to traffic light labeling system (Colour coding system)

Graphite is a naturally occurring form of crystalline carbon found in metamorphic and igneous rocks. The layered structure of graphite makes it an ideal source of lubricants. This research focuses on improving the quality of grease with the addition of graphite which is very important as it can add different properties to conventional grease. Prepa...

This study investigated the amino acid composition of eight local and three imported rice varieties frequently consumed by consumers in the capital of Sri Lanka. Investigation included twenty free amino acids (FAAs) analysed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS/MS) and sixteen protein bound amino acids analysed using high perf...

The purity of coconut oil is important in assuring the benefits to the consumers as well as to the food industry. In the study, palm olein adulteration in copra coconut oil (CCO) and Virgin coconut oil (VCO) was respectively quantified by Fourier Transform near Infrared (FT-NIR) Spectroscopy combine with partial least square (PLS) model. NIR spectr...

Adaptable to any routine laboratory, the study presents the validation results of a simple, accurate and reliable method developed for the analysis of total amino acids (TAAs) in rice using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (RP-HPLC-DAD). Exhibiting excellent selectivity with resolution (Rs) ≥ 2 for sevente...

The study presents the variation in free amino acids (FAAs) and total amino acid; (TAAs) in rice upon different degrees of milling. With the use of 0.2 g of the sample, amino acid levels in two rice cultivars resulting from three degrees of milling (DOM) (4%, 7%, well milled) and the resulting bran collected, each in three replicates were studied....

In Press, Corrected Proof Development and validation of a method for direct, underivatized analysis of free amino acids in rice using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry Author links open overlay panel G. rights and content Highlights • A method was developed and validated for analysis of free amino acids(FAAs) in rice. • The method enab...

Inspired by the apparent relationship of free amino acids (FAAs) which are present in minute quantities with the organoleptic characteristics of food, there is an increased demand for analytical methods sensitive in trace level detection. This study presents the validation results of a simple and rapid method developed for direct, underivatized ana...

The tropical Madu-ganga Wetland is an important Ramsar Convention site on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka. This study aimed to evaluate spatial and temporal hydro- and sediment dynamics in Madu-ganga Estuary for developing future sustainable management strategies. In this study, physicochemical parameters such as conductivity, pH and turbidity wer...

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), an important bioactive component of tea, acts as a major inhibitory neurotransmitter and is considered to influence other physiological processes in human as well as in planta. In the hereby presented study, the content of this valuable metabolite was investigated in two novel types of Ceylon Tea, explicitly “Silver Tips...

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important cereal crop in the developing world and is the staple food for over half the world's population including Sri Lanka. Rice is grown widely on all continents and under all agro-climatic conditions. This wide adaptation has led to evolution of thousands of varieties of rice having diverse cooking, eating, a...