Purpose: Biochar addition to soil is immensely beneficial for increasing plant productivity and C sequestration, attenuating nutrient leaching loss, counteracting heavy metal contamination and organic waste triggered environmental pollution. To understand the sustainable benefits of biochar, two pot experiments were conducted under net house condition in Khulna University, Bangladesh. Methods: Biochar was prepared from banana peel waste through slow pyrolysis process under limited oxygen condition. Three lower rates (1, 2 and 3%) of banana peel biochar (BPB) were added with agricultural soil along with control with three replications for each. After incorporation of BPB into soil, pots were kept under field condition for 7 days and then the seeds of Ipomoea aquatica were sown. Plants were harvested after 42 days from seeds sowing and plant height, leaf number, fresh weight, and dry weight were measured. Another pot experiment was also conducted under sand medium to test the BPB as K-rich soil amendment where K was applied from two different sources (KCl and BPB) along with control. Seeds of Cucurbita moschata were sown and 40 days after seed sowing, K deficiency was observed in control treatments. Results: Banana peel biochar was found to be rich in K content. Plant productivity and above-ground biomass were reduced in 1% BPB treatments, but increased in 2 and 3% BPB treatments as compared to control but statistically insignificant (p < 0. 05). In case of second experiment, K deficiency symptoms were observed in 40 days aged Cucurbita moschata seedlings under control treatments, whereas no K deficiency symptom was noticed in plants grown under K supplied from both KCl and BPB. Moreover, the plant grown with BPB was found healthy, stronger and greener in appearance. Conclusion: This positive influence of BPB on plant growth suggests the alternative way to overcome the use of chemical fertilizer and effective way of utilization of agricultural wastes through recycling.

In this paper, the adsorption of Basic Blue159 (BB159) onto banana peel as a low-cost material was studied. At first, the banana peel was sieved. Later, banana peel particles were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) techniques.Batch adsorption experiments were carried out as a function of pH, contact time, initial dye concentration, the mass of adsorbent and mixing speed. Batch adsorption models, based on the assumption of the Pseudo-first-order, Pseudo-second-order, Elovich and Intraparticle diffusion mechanism, showed that kinetic data follow closely the pseudo-second-order model.Results indicate that banana peel could be used as an adsorbent to remove the cationic dyes from contaminated watercourses.

Background and Aim: Candidiasis is a common fungal disease in the oral cavity. Recently, due to drug resistance and known side effects of medications, there has been an increasing tendency toward the use of medicinal plants. This study aimed to evaluate antifungal effect of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of banana pulp and banana peel (Musa AAA group, Cavendish subgroup) on standard Candida Albicans. Materials and Methods: In this in vitro study, aqueous and alcoholic extracts of banana pulp and peel (Cavendish banana) were prepared at concentrations of 5, 2.5, 1.25, 0.62, and 0.31 mg/ml (n=32). The antifungal effects of the extracts were assessed using the disc diffusion method on agar. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the extracts were determined in comparison with nystatin. For analyzing data SPSS software version 26 and repeated measures ANOVA test was used. Results: The highest mean diameter of the inhibition zone in all groups belonged to nystatin, concentrations of 5 mg/ml, 2.5 mg/ml, 1.25 mg/ml, 0.62 mg/ml, and 0.31 mg/ml, respectively. There was no significant difference in the mean inhibition zone diameters between banana peel extracts and banana pulp extracts (p=0.09). However, the mean inhibition zone diameters of alcoholic extracts were significantly higher than those of aqueous extracts (p<0.001). The mean inhibition zone diameters of all concentrations were significantly lower than that of nystatin (p<0.05). Conclusion: Aqueous and alcoholic extracts of banana (Musa AAA group, Cavendish subgroup) inhibited the growth of Candida Albicans, although their efficacy was lower than that of nystatin.

Xylitol is the first rare sugar that has global market due to having beneficial health properties and being an alternative to current conventional sweeteners. Biotechnological production of xylitol by Candida tropicalis DSM 7524 as an alternative to chemical method for the fermentation of xylose to xylitol was studied. Banana peel was used as a substrate for xylitol production. Hydrolysate was detoxified by neutralization, activated charcoal treatment and vacuum evaporation. Effect of pH was tested for C. tropicalis at three different levels and pH value of 2.5 was found to be the best; producing 24.7 g L-1 xylitol. Rusks were prepared by replacing sucrose with xylitol at different levels. Physicochemical analysis of rusks at different intervals of storage i.e. 0, 10, 20 and 30 days was carried out. Hardness decreased significantly (P<0.05) from the treatment having 100% sucrose (4,950.6 g) to 100% xylitol (3,090.3 g) upon replacing sucrose with xylitol, while fracturability value increased from 71.90 to 74.26 mm for the treatment containing 100% xylitol. Color value and water activity of rusks increased significantly with the replacement of sucrose with xylitol. The increase in moisture content and decreasing trend in other parameters with storage were observed in rusks. Xylitol has low calorific value as compared to sucrose so it can be incorporated into dietetic foods which may help in controlling sugar level in diabetic patients.