Assessment of Pricing Efficiency and Levels of Concentration in Cashew Nuts Market in South Western Nigeria

Cashew nuts market in south western Nigeria is characterized by price fluctuations through space and time. This may be linked with the large number of market intermediaries who act between the primary producers and the markets. The sample for the study comprised 250 cashew nuts marketers who were randomly selected from the five south westem states of Nigeria. About 76 % of the cashew nuts marketers had up to secondary school education and 86% of them had 15-year marketing experience and below. Pricing efficiency of the marketers was highest in Ogun state with average efficiency level of85.1% and least for Oyo state （68.9%）. In all, 720 tonnes were transacted in the region with 206 marketers handling maximum of 2 kg per month per individual. Gini-coefficient estimate of 82.3% implied that there was a concentrated market for the cashew nuts. To further increase the pricing efficiency of the commodity it is necessary to reduce the costs incurred on various physical aspects in marketing system. Corporate organizations, government agencies and co-operative societies should assist the cashew nuts marketers in the provision of credit facilities so as to ensure a higher level of pricing efficiency, stable market prices and reduced level of concentration of the marketers.

Comparative Study of Physical Properties of Cashew Nuts from Three Main Production Areas in Côte d’Ivoire

The aim of our study was to evaluate physical properties of cashew nuts from the three main production areas in Côte d’Ivoire namely Bondoukou, Dabakala and Mankono after 6 months of storage in identical conditions. Sample cashew nuts have been collected from farmers randomly selected in 20 localities far enough apart and also veritable purveyors of nuts. The physical traits of the raw cashew nuts and their different parts were evaluated by standard methods. As results, our data showed that despite the similar mass (in mean 6.23 g) of cashew nuts independently of the origin, the mass of the kernels nuts from Bondoukou (2.17 g) were significantly higher than those from Dabakala (1.90 g) and Mankono (1.81 g) respectively in contrast to the shell mass indicating the best kernels yield at Bondoukou. Nuts water content diminished slowly from nuts at Bondoukou (3.86%) but rapidly at Mankono (5.68%) after 6 months of storage. For the morphometric characteristics, our results revealed that the nuts from Bondoukou were statistically shorter but the kernels were thicker (15.1 ± 0.50 mm) versus and for Dabakala (11.4 ± 0.16 mm) and Mankono (11.2 ± 0.19 mm) respectively. There is a clear correlation between the arithmetic diameter of the kernels and their sphericity (r = 0.99). Concerning the technological properties, out-turn was average ranged from 44.09 to 46.69 with defective up to 18% at Dabakala. Taken together, our results suggested that the cashew nuts presented different physical properties according to each region of production in Côte d’Ivoire requiring appropriated agricultural practices.

Development of Renewable Woodceramics Synthesized from Cashew Nuts Shell Oil

The international issue to be addressed towards realizing a low-carbon society is to reduce the amount of carbon-based underground reserves such as coal, petroleum, and coke, and strongly encouraged to use carbon neutral biomass-derived resources. Woodceramics is a hybrid porous carbon material composed of wood-based biomass and phenolic resin, characterized by high far-infrared emissivity and large specific surface area. Woodceramics has been studied as heating elements and humidity and gas sensors, etc. If this is applied to the inner walls of aging and grain drying furnaces for vegetables and fruits, both ripening and drying are greatly promoted and fossil fuels used in boilers can be significantly reduced. In fact, it can produce black garlic with far infrared rays using a woodceramics brick efficiently. Furthermore, as a substitute for phenolic resin, if plant-based liquefied materials from cashew nut shell oil can be prepared and can be used for manufacturing woodceramics, then all carbon neutral circulating woodceramics made from wood-based biomass is possible to manufacture. On the other hand, woodplastics is a composite material that can be made of wooden materials and plastics, and able to expect the effective use of wood-based biomass and waste plastics.

HYPERSENSITIVITY OF CASHEW NUT

Cashew nut hypersensitivity can cause severe reactions even life threatening. In the past few years,there are more cases of cashew nut allergy than before in Beijing. Thirty patients with cashew nut allergywere analyzed in this paper. Case history, skin test, specific IgE and oral blinded challenge were used inthe diagnosis.

Corrosion Inhibition of Amino Pentadecylphenols (APPs) Derived from Cashew Nut Shell Liquid on Mild Steel in Acidic Medium

In this study, corrosion inhibiting properties of amino pentadecylphenols (APPs) derived from Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) on mild steel in aerated 0.10 M HCl at 303 K were studied using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization measurements. Both methods indicated the potential of a mixture of amino pentadecyphenols to serve as a corrosion inhibitor in mild steel in 0.10 M HCl. Corrosion inhibition efficiencies were observed to increase with increase in the inhibitor concentration, with maximum corrosion inhibition of about 98% at inhibitor concentration of 600 ppm. The adsorption of the inhibitor on mild steel surface was found to obey Temkin adsorption isotherm, signifying physical adsorption of the inhibitor molecules on mild steel surface.

Synthesis of Poly(APP-co-EGDMA) Particles Using Monomers Derived from Cashew Nut Shell Liquid for the Removal of Cr(III) from Aqueous Solutions

This work was aimed at synthesizing Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) based polymer particles for adsorption of Cr(III) ions from aqueous solutions. Natural CNSL was used as a starting material in synthesizing amino pentadecylphenols (APP). This was achieved through isolating anacardic acid from the CNSL via calcium anacardate procedure, followed by hydrogenation of the alkenyl side chains, and subsequently decarboxylating the product to form 3-pentadecylphenol, which was then nitrated and reduced to a mixture of APP. APP were co-polymerized with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) to form poly(APP-co-EGDMA) particles. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by Fourier Transform IR and 1H-NMR. The co-polymer particles were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to establish their morphological properties. The prepared co-polymer particles were found to have-NH loading of 46 mmol/g and a maximum adsorption capacity for Cr(III) ions of 16 mg per g of dry polymer particles. The spent polymer particles were recoverable and reusable.

Disparities in Agricultural Practices According to Cashew Nut Production Regions in Côte d’Ivoire and Probable Incidence on Nut Quality

Improving the quality of agricultural products depends largely on production process. In the absence of data on farmers’ practices and the average quality of cashew nuts in Côte d’Ivoire, the present study aimed to provide a detailed description of the cashew nut production process. Thus, a survey was carried out in the zones of Mankono, Dabakala and Bondoukou among 386 cashew producers selected at random and interviewed using the face-to-face technique. The results revealed that intercropping was practiced in cashew cultivation (42% - 62% of the producers), modern cultivation technique (72% - 98% of the producers) but with rare use of selected seeds (8% - 20% of the producers), labour/ha during nut harvesting (2.6 - 12 workers/ha). Concerning the harvesting process, the time taken to pick the nuts varies from 1 to 14 days;the use of pesticides during harvesting (14% to 97% of the producers) and the absence of sorting of the nuts in 42% of the Mankono producers justify the probable conservation of defective and immature nuts in their production. For drying, the main dryers were the slatted table, the cemented surface and the tarpaulin, but other dryers were found such as the mosquito net, the propylene rice bag, the fertiliser bag and the black bag. Generally, the drying time of cashew nuts was very short: 2 days (43% - 77% of the producers interviewed) but surprisingly 1 day (7% - 27% of the producers interviewed). For Mankono, the use of chemicals was permanent during all stages of the cashew production process. Overall, the results suggest the need to assess the real impact of farmers’ practices on the quality of cashew nuts from Côte d’Ivoire.

The Overview and Prospects for Production and Marketing of Cashew Nut in the World

In this article,we analyze the cultivation and production of cashew in the world during the period 2005-2010,and make a concrete analysis of the import and export trade of cashew nut in the world in recent years.In particular,we give an overview of the production and trade in major producing countries of cashew such as Vietnam and India.Finally,we analyze the nutritional value,pharmaceutical and industry role of cashew nut,and look into the future of development of the cashew nut industry in the world.

Gasification of Cashew Nut Shell Using Gasifier Stovein Mozambique

Mozambique relies on wood biomass for meeting its household energy demand. This has been for long referred to as one of the main causes of the ongoing deforestation, mainly around the large cities and village. On the other hand, the country produces large quantities of agricultural crops residue which are still not being appropriately and integrally used as additional source of energy, especially for communities in the countryside where these residues are generated. Cashew nut shells (CNS) are among those residues. This kind of feedstock is said to be of high energy content. However, its utilization as energy source within the country is still poor.In Mozambique, 90% of the households depend on biomass for cooking. Biomass has already emerged in the renewable energy area as one of the promising candidates for the future energy source. Historically, biomass has been a major source of fuel from the existence of making rapid urbanization, but widespread use of fossil fuels in the industrialization has relegated it to a minor source of energy. The CNS Gasifier Stove developed has a thermal efficiency of 35.5% and an energy output of 2.19 kW. The corresponding values for LPG stove and Kerosene stove are 53.53% (0.69 kW) and 39.3% (0.6 kW), respectively. Though the use of CNS gasifier as a fuel is less efficient than the aforementioned one, with the rising oil prices and the search for alternatives to contemporary cooking fuels, it is still a viable alternative in this comparison.

Prediction of performance, combustion and emission characteristics of diesel-thermal cracked cashew nut shell liquid blends using artificial neural network

This paper explores the use of artificial neural networks （ANN） to predict performance, combustion and emissions of a single cylinder, four stroke stationary, diesel engine operated by thermal cracked cashew nut shell liquid （TC-CNSL） as the biodiesel blended with diesel. The tests were performed at three different injection timings （21°, 23°, 25℃A bTDC） by changing the thickness of the advance shim. The ANN was used to predict eight different engine-output responses, namely brake thermal efficiency （BTE）, brake specific fuel consumption （BSFC）, exhaust gas temperature （EGT）, carbon monoxide （CO）, oxide of nitrogen （NOx）, hydrocarbon （HC）, maximum pressure （Pm~,,） and heat release rate （HRR）. Four pertinent engine operating parameters, i.e., injection timing （IT）, injection pressure （IP）, blend percentage and pecentage load were used as the input parameters for this modeling work. The ANN results show that there is a good correlation between the ANN predicted values and the experimental values for various engine performances, combustion parameters and exhaust emission characteristics. The mean square error value （MSE） is 0.005621 and the regression value ofR2 is 0.99316 for training, 0.98812 for validation, 0.9841 for testing while the overall value is 0.99173. Thus the developed ANN model is fairly powerful for predicting the performance, combustion and exhaust emissions of internal combustion engines.

Effect of partial and complete replacement of soybean with discarded cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale L) on liver and stomach histology of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822)

The need for replacement of highly priced soybean meal(SM)in fish diets with unconventional plant materials has become imperative for the sustainability of aquaculture production.This study addressed the effect of replacing SM with discarded cashew nut meal(DCNM)on the liver and stomach histology in African catfish(Clarias gariepinus).Total 90 juveniles(24.83±1.52 g)were fed DCNM based diets,inclusion level of 0,50%and 100%.Fish were fed twice daily(8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.)at 5%body weight for 56 days.The histology of liver and the stomach were assessed.Histo-morphological changes of the liver tissue were moderate at 100%DCNM fed fish compared to 50%DCNM and control(0 DCNM).Photomicrograph of stomach of 50%DCNM fed fish showed normal histo-morphological features,while moderate to severe histological distortions were observed in the stomach of 100%DCNM fed fish.The findings of the present study showed that partial(50%)replacement of SM with DCNM had no adverse nutritional consequence while total(100%)replacement of SM with DCNM in the diet of C.gariepinus resulted to moderate histological distortions of the liver and stomach.

Assessment of the Natural Landscape Changes Due to Cashew Plantations in the Department of Niakaramandougou (North of Côte d’Ivoire)

In the past twenty years, C?te d’Ivoire has risen from being an insignificant producer of raw cashew nuts to becoming the world’s largest producer. A rapid increase of cashew plantations has significantly changed the natural landscape in the North part of C?te d’Ivoire. This study was conducted in the department of Niakaramadougou to assess the natural landscape change due to cashew plantations from 1989 to 2017. Satellite image data were used in order to evaluate land use land cover (LULC) change. The maximum likelihood pixel-based on classification method was used to analyze the spatio-temporal LULC dynamics for the years 1989, 2000, and 2017. The results showed an increase in cashew culture by 20.68% between 1989 and 2017 to the detriment of the savannah. Thus, the land devoted to old fallows or to other crops such as rice, maize, yams, peanuts, sorghum) is decreasing and the natural vegetation is becoming more and more fragmented, with consequences that are not yet known. This surely contributes to the reduction of plant diversity.

Improvement of Cashew Apple Juice (<i>Anacardium occidentale</i>L.) by Association with Passion Fruit Juice (<i>Passiflora edulis</i>)

Despite many advantages, the many technologies studied to eliminate astringency from cashew apple juice are not all accessible and not adopted by processors due to the lack of financial means to access these sophisticated technologies. Thus, the formulation of mixed juice based on cashew apple juice and passion fruit juice has proved to be a way of adding value to the cashew apple, a co-product of the production of the nut. After the formulation of the mixed juice in different proportions and the sensory evaluation, it appears that the juice of formulation E is more appreciated by the tasters. Indeed, this juice has preferred sensory characteristics in terms of color (6.90), flavor (5.47), odor (6.42), settling (6.28) and overall acceptance (6.53). These characteristics are similar to those of passion fruit juice in terms of color, odor, and overall acceptance, where the latter obtained scores of 6.94, 7.17 and 6.00 respectively;and also, to those of cashew apple juice in terms of flavor and decanting, where the latter obtained scores of 5.19 and 6.14 respectively. Therefore, the addition of passion fruit juice to cashew apple juice results in a new product that is more appreciated when mixed with proportions of 90 mL of passion fruit juice and 10 mL of cashew apple juice. For example, passion fruit juice, due to its color, flavor, and odor, has helped reduce the pronounced astringency of raw cashew apple juice. Ultimately, formulation E is recommended to improve the organoleptic value of cashew apple juice.

越南腰果出口的SWOT分析及中越合作建议

越南腰果产业在全球农产品市场占据着举足轻重的地位,成为越南主要的农产品出口之一。多年来,越南腰果出口额一直居全球首位,对越南的出口贸易具有至关重要的作用。尽管越南腰果在出口方面具备品质优良等显著的优势,但也存在生产成本上升、国际知名品牌相对欠缺的问题,并面临国际市场激烈竞争和进口国的技术要求提高等挑战。随着越南与需求国签署自由贸易协议以及新冠疫情后各国市场需求逐渐复苏,越南腰果出口迎来了新的机遇。中越两国应展开深度合作,通过共商贸易协议、共建电商平台、共同研究生产技术等领域的合作,联合打造越南腰果品牌并提升生产技术水平,从而实现越南腰果产业的可持续发展,推动越南与中国之间的腰果贸易发展,并进一步深化中越两国经济贸易合作。

腰果CBF基因家族的鉴定及响应冷胁迫的表达模式

腰果(Anacardium occidentalie Linn)属于典型的热带果树,主要在我国的云南省、海南省等地种植。腰果具有重要的经济价值、社会价值、生态价值,为农民增产创收,实现共同富裕和乡村振兴战略具有重要价值。腰果对于低温十分敏感,在8℃时就会受到严重伤害,生长停止。所以低温胁迫是制约腰果生长的重要非生物胁迫。CBF转录因子是植物在应对低温、干旱、盐等非生物胁迫下中发挥重要作用的转录因子。然而CBF基因家族在腰果中的作用尚未阐明,该家族在低温胁迫下的表达模式尚不清楚。本研究对腰果AoCBF基因家族的基本特性进行探究,通过生物信息学方法,在腰果转录组中鉴定并获得6个AoCBF基因家族成员,分别对其系统发育、理化性质、蛋白结构、低温诱导下表达模式和启动子作用元件进行分析。理化性质分析结果表明:6个AoCBF蛋白长度为189~334 aa,蛋白分子量为21.31~37.89 kDa,等电点均小于7,表明该蛋白呈酸性,且均包含AP2/ERF结构域。基序分析表明:AoCBF基因存在5个基序,不同AoCBF基因Motif的缺失暗示着相关功能的缺失性。系统发育树分析表明:6个AoCBFs可分为A、B两个亚组,其中A组包含1个基因,B组仅包含5个基因。启动子顺势作用元件分析得出,AoCBF可能参与激素响应及非生物胁迫响应过程。荧光定量表达分析显示,AoCBFs对低温冷胁迫均有不同程度的响应,表明AoCBF在响应低温胁迫生物学过程中发挥着一定的作用。本研究分析了AoCBF基因家族的基本特性,为后续AoCBF的深入研究和应用积累基础数据。

腰果酚的应用研究进展

腰果酚是腰果壳油的主要成分,是一种具有独特长链烷烃的天然生物质酚。腰果酚及其加氢产物3-十五烷基酚在高档工业用材料方面的开发使用有着巨大的市场潜力,广泛用于酚醛树脂、环氧树脂、聚酰胺树脂、偶氮苯树脂的改性,且在表面活性剂和卟啉类化合物的合成以及分子自组装技术上也有一定的应用。介绍了腰果酚的结构、化学性能及其提取方法,综述了腰果酚及3-十五烷基酚国内外研究现状,分析了腰果酚在研究开发中存在的问题,并展望了其未来发展。

腰果蛋白的功能特性研究及其氨基酸组成分析

采用碱提法最优条件提取并酸沉得到腰果蛋白,研究了p H和温度对腰果蛋白的溶解性、起泡性及起泡稳定性、乳化性及乳化稳定性、持油性等功能特性的影响,并分析了腰果蛋白的氨基酸组成。结果表明:腰果蛋白的溶解性随p H的增加呈先降低后升高的趋势,在p H4附近溶解度最低,仅为15.90%。起泡性和乳化性随p H的变化曲线与溶解度曲线一致,在p H10时起泡性和乳化性最好,分别为13.92%、24.70 m2/g。腰果蛋白的起泡稳定性随p H的增加而逐渐增加,在p H8时达到最大为9.42%,而后趋于稳定。在碱性环境中,腰果蛋白会表现出较好的乳化稳定性,并且在80℃时其持油性最佳,为2.84 g/g。氨基酸分析表明,腰果蛋白中含有17种氨基酸,其中7种是人体必需氨基酸,含量皆高于FAO/WHO/UNO成人推荐标准,赖氨酸为第一限制性氨基酸,谷氨酸和精氨酸含量最高,分别为22.46%和9.02%。

腰果壳油改性Novalac酚醛树脂的合成及其模塑材料性能研究

采用一次投料法合成了腰果壳油(CNSL)改性的Novalac型酚醛树脂。利用FT-IR、GPC研究了腰果壳油改性的Novalac酚醛树脂的结构和相对分子质量,结果表明,CNSL已化学接枝于酚醛树脂分子链上,CNSL的加入使酚醛树脂的相对分子质量增大,相对分子质量分布系数变宽。进一步对以CNSL改性Novalac酚醛树脂为基质、木粉为填料制得的模塑材料性能研究发现,当加入的腰果壳油为10份(质量份数,下同)时,改性Novalac酚醛树脂模塑材料的缺口冲击强度和弯曲强度分别提高了10．7％和14．8％,而热变形温度只降低了1．9％。

硼酸、腰果油双改性酚醛树脂的合成及其耐热性研究

本文通过正交实验讨论了硼酸、腰果油改性酚醛树脂的合成方法。对于树脂的热重分析结果表明此树脂的耐热性优于普通的酚醛树脂。最后本文还确定了较好的改性剂加入量。