Cashew Seeds Research Articles

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This experiment was established to investigate the comparative effect of organic and inorganic soil amendments on the growth of cashew seedlings. Cashew nuts were planted in potting medium filled with well drained loamy soil and placed in a screenhouse. Cashew seeds with 8 to 9 g weight were selected and viability test was carried out using Tetrazolium test (TZ) viability test to ascertain how viable the seeds were before sown in a potting medium. After two weeks of germination, amended with the following treatments at various levels; NPK 15:15:15, composted cow dung, composted poultry dropping, sunshine organo-mineral, pig manure and control (No fertilizer). Complete randomized design (CRD) was used for the experimental layout with three replicates. Agronomic parameters in the study include; stem girth, plant height, number of leaves, leaf length and width. Cashew seedlings were more responsive to the animal sourced fertilizers (organic manure) compared to the inorganic (NPK 15, 15, 15) and control (No fertilizer). Composted poultry droppings fertilizer (PDF) showed higher significant differences on stem girth, plant height and cow dung gave significant difference on number of leaves from 2 to 8 weeks of growth after treatments application, sunshine organomineral and composted poultry droppings fertilizer gave higher significant differences at 8 weeks on leaf length and width respectively. Key words: Cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale L.), seedlings, organo-mineral, soil amendments.

Effects of Polybag Size and Seedling Age at Transplanting on Field Establishment of Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) in Northern Ghana

Cashew cultivation in Ghana has been seriously hampered by high cost of production. This necessitated investigation into practices that will reduce establishment cost and improve field performance of cashew transplants. An experiment was conducted at Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana’s (CRIG) substation at Bole (9° 01' N, 2° 29' W, altitude 309 m a s l) for optimizing the size of polybag to reduce volume of top soil required for nursing seedling, ease seedling conveyance and also improve plant establishment. Cashew seeds were sown in polybags measuring 17.5 cm x 25 cm (Large), 14.0 cm x17.8 cm (medium), 12.7 cm x 17.8 cm (small) and 10.2 cm x17.8 cm (smaller) and transplanted at 6 and 8 weeks after sowing. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Data collected included percentage survival and growth of cashew transplants two years after transplanting and ease of seedling portage. The results showed that seedling survival was not significantly (P > 0.05) affected by the size of the polybag and age at transplanting. However bag size significantly (P < 0.001) influenced plant growth. Large polybag size produced more vigorous plants in the field. Growth of plants Original Research Article Adu-Yeboah et al.; AJEA, 7(5): 308-314, 2015; Article no.AJEA.2015.132 309 nursed with the medium bag sizes were also superior (P < 0.05) to the small sized bags. Seedling age did not significantly affect plant girth and height but plant leaf number was significantly (P < 0.05) affected with 8 weeks transplants producing more leaves. Seedlings in medium and small sized bags were easier to be conveyed at planting time. It is recommended that polybag sizes 14.0 cm x 17.8 cm and 12.7 cm x 17.8 cm should be used to raise cashew seedlings and transplanted at 6-weeks old to achieve higher establishment success.

Energy Analysis of Baby Boiler for Steaming of Raw Cashew Nut Seeds

The steaming of raw cashew seeds prior to shelling is adopted widely in small-scale cashew nut processing mills with the help of baby boiler. The wide variations in energy intensity of these mills reveal the scope for energy conservation. The baby boiler coupled with cooker commonly used for steaming of raw seeds was evaluated. The variation in steam pressure, temperature and operating time with respect to fuel was observed along with thermal efficiency of a boiler. The energy intensity to produce the steam using different fuel sources determined. The study revealed that the thermal efficiency of boiler using electricity as a fuel was higher (69.31%) as compared to 4.66% (Wood) and 4.47% (Cashew nut shell). It was observed that, the energy consumed per kg of cashew nut steaming using electricity (248.99 kJ/kg) was minimum followed by wood (3829.96 kJ/kg) and cashew nut shell (3835.64 kJ/kg). The variation of energy consumption for cashew nut steaming revealed the scope for energy conservation in biomass combustion system. The improvement in the biomass combustion efficiency for steam generation could results in less fuel consumption and shorter period.

Preventing Ralstonia solanacearum adhesion with glycans from cashew, cocoa, coffee, pumpkin, and tomato seed extract

Ralstonia solanacearum wilts many plants, causing heavy agricultural losses. Its pathogenic strain ATCC 11696 produces 2 hemagglutinating lectins: RSL and RS-IIL. These lectins may bind to terminal l-fucose-, d-arabinose-, and d-mannose-bearing seedling xylem cell wall glycans, thus enabling pathogen adhesion to them, with devastating infection establishment. Blocking the active sites of these lectins with seed embryo-surrounding oligo- and poly-saccharides hampers binding of the lectins to the embryos. The current study shows that seeds of cashew, cocoa, coffee, pumpkin, and tomato contain low and high molecular mass glycans that block RSL and RS-IIL (like its homologous Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA-IIL lectin). The blocking of the pathogen lectins, which is attributable to the documented composition of the oligo- and poly-saccharides of these seeds, is similar to that observed with animal glycoproteins of avian egg whites (protecting their embryos from infections) and of milk and royal jelly, which likewise protect mammal and bee neonates, respectively. RSL was most strongly inhibited by cashew seed glycans, and RS-IIL by coffee seed glycans. Western blot analyses with these lectins instead of antibodies revealed the hitherto undescribed presence of lectin-binding glycoproteins in the coffee, pumpkin, tomato, and cashew (but not cocoa) seeds. The use of these lectins for unveiling potent embryo-protecting seed glycans might be helpful for seedling-bioprotection projects similar to those planned for animal protection against antibiotic-resistant infections.

Eco-friendly utilization of parabolic concentrating solar cooker for extraction of cashew nut shell oil and household cooking

India is the largest producer, processor, exporter, and second largest consumer of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) in the world. India processed about 11,80,000 million tonnes of raw cashew seeds. The large quantity of cashew shell is unutilized due to the expensive method of oil extraction and liberation of acidic flumes during direct combustion. The parabolic concentrating solar cooker (sk-14) was evaluated for cooking and generation of heat for cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) extraction. The CNSL extractor was developed and evaluated for thermal profile and CNSL recovery. The no-load temperature of 320 °C was reached inside the extractor. The average oil recovery was reported to be 55–70%. The physical properties (specific gravity, viscosity, proximate analysis, pH, iodine value, and calorific value) of solar-heated untreated oil was evaluated and compared with standard properties as per IS840-1964. The de-oiled cashew shell waste was evaluated for fuel properties using the ASTM D-3173-3175 method.

Pollution Sources and Standards of Cashew Nut Processing

Problem statement: India is largest producer, processor, exporter and second largest consumer of cashew in the world with annual production of 6,20,000 MT. India processed about 1.18 million MT of raw cashew seeds through 3650 cashew processing industries scattered in many states of country. The cashew industries employed different unit operations/ methodologies for processing depend on variety of raw material, location, technological mechanization and availability of secured energy supply. Approach: There are two commonly followed methods of cashew nut processing, viz., roasting process and steam (roasting) process. The sources of different environmental pollutant discharged in to the atmosphere during the cashew nut processing have been revealed in the article. Results: The environmental standards for air pollution emission for roasting process, steam cooking process and broma oven have been presented. The solid waste disposal practice and new and relocation sitting criteria have been discussed for cashew processing industries. Conclusion: The cashew nut processing by cooking (steam roasting) process, which is relatively less pollution intensive and an alternative process to roasting process may be considered to reduce the environmental discharge load.

The germination and early growth of cashew (Anacardium occidentale)

AbstractCashew seeds soaked in water for 24 h and sown at 4cm depth gave better germination and growth than cracked seeds or those sown at 8 or 12 cm. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd

Effect of pre-soaking in organic solvents on seed germination and seedling growth of cashew

Pre-soaking of cashew ( Anacardium occidentale L.) seeds (which are actually nut-fruits) in chloroform or acetone for 2 h hastened and partially synchronised germination as well as field emergence. The organic solvents removed the waxy layer of the pericarp and thereby facilitated water imbibition and phenol exudation. The rapid germination further resulted in a significant increase in seedling vigour expressed as total dry weight of the seedling.

Toxicity of Certain Pyrethroids and Carbamates to the CS Strain of Oncopeltus fasciatus

Log-dosage vs. probit mortality curves have been determined for a few pyrethroid and many carbamate insecticides on adults of the CS strain of the large milkweed bug reared on cashew and sunflower seeds for 12 generations. The very prolonged knockdown and the close correlation of LD50 values with those for synergist-treated house flies, Musca domestica L., suggest that detoxication in O. fasciatus is extremely slow. LD50 values for many carbamates do not differ markedly from values obtained on milkweed-reared O. fasciatus and correlate closely with those for Lygus Hesperus Knight. Males are somewhat more susceptible than females; 5th instar nymphs tend to be less susceptible and more variable than adults. Adult virgin males show no change in susceptibility during the 1st 2 months of life; adult virgin females are as susceptible as males during the 1st week but become slightly more tolerant after egg maturation and laying start. The ease of rearing very large numbers of this O. fasciatus strain on commercially available seeds, their wry limited power of detoxication, and their long useful life indicate that they will be valuable hemipterans for insecticide screening and toxicological experimentation.