Metabolomic exploration of CTC tea manufacturing waste validates its potentiality as organic fertilizer

Abstract

Valorization of agro-industrial waste resources is today’s main focus for agribiotechnologists. This research work was designed to valorise tea industrial waste, i.e., manufactured by-products from crush-tear-curl (CTC) tea factory. Physicochemical analysis has been carried out to characterize tea waste treated soil. Pot experiment with cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] was considered to study the impact of tea waste on plant growth. Morphological parameters such as length of plants and pods, and girth diameter were considered for growth study. Effect of tea factory waste on soil nutrition was found remarkable with increased organic carbon, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur content. Pot culture revealed impact of tea waste composted soil on boosted plant growth. GC-MS based metabolite profiling revealed xanthosine and caffeine as major compounds in tea waste extract. A possible pathway has been proposed to explain the role of xanthosine and caffeine breakdown in fertilization of soil and plant growth. Disposal of tea wastes produced during tea manufacturing can be managed in a sustainable manner if this research is implemented industrially. This research portrays a notable nutrient richness in tea waste treated soil. Detection of purine metabolites revealed remarkable fertilizing and plant growth promoting properties of CTC tea waste. 

Keywords

• pot culture
• GC-MS
• Soil nutrient
• Tea waste
• Xanthosine

References

1. Abdeltaif, S. A., SirElkhatim, K. A., & Hassan, A. B. (2018). Estimation of phenolic and flavonoid compounds and antioxidant activity of spent coffee and black tea (processing) waste for potential recovery and reuse in Sudan. Recycling, 3(2), 27.
2. Acharyya, S., Saha, S., Majumder, S., & Bhattacharya, M. (2021). Characterization of a mercury tolerant strain of Staphylococcus arlettae from Darjeeling hills with an account of its antibiotic resistance pattern and metabolome. Archives of Microbiology, 203(9), 5745-5754.
3. Angga, W. A., Rizal, Y., Mahata, M. E., Yuniza, A., & Mayerni, R. (2018). Potential of waste tea leaves (Camellia sinensis) in West Sumatra to be processed into poultry feed. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition, 17(6), 287-293.
4. Annabi, M., Houot, S., Francou, C., Poitrenaud, M., & Bissonnais, Y. L. (2007). Soil aggregate stability improvement with urban composts of different maturities. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 71(2), 413-423.
5. Anonymous (2022a). https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/tea-planters-urge-the-tea-board-to-provide-guidelines-for-tea-waste-xport/articleshow/70498311.cms
6. Anonymous (2022b). https://www.sdsoilhealthcoalition.org/technical-resources/chemical-properties/soil-electrical-conductivity/
7. Anonymous (2022c). https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_052803.pdf
8. Anonymous (2022d). https://www.genome.jp/pathway/map01120+C00385

9. Ashihara, H. (2012). Xanthosine metabolism in plants: metabolic fate of exogenously supplied 14C-labelled xanthosine and xanthine in intact mungbean seedlings. Phytochemistry Letters, 5(1), 100-103.
10. Bordeleau, L. M., & Prévost, D. (1994). Nodulation and nitrogen fixation in extreme environments. Plant and Soil, 161(1), 115-125.
11. Bray, R. H., & Kurtz, L. T. (1945). Determination of total, organic, and available forms of phosphorus in soils. Soil Science, 59(1), 39-46.
12. Brychkova, G., Alikulov, Z., Fluhr, R., & Sagi, M. (2008). A critical role for ureides in dark and senescence‐induced purine remobilization is unmasked in the Atxdh1 Arabidopsis mutant. The Plant Journal, 54(3), 496-509.
13. Cunliffe, M. (2016). Purine catabolic pathway revealed by transcriptomics in the model marine bacterium Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 92(1), Doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiv150
14. Das, A.K., Ghosh, A., Majumder, S., Saha, S., Acharyya, S., Sarkar, S., Chakraborty, S., Mukherjee, M., & Bhattacharya, M. (2020). Characterization of tea and tea infusion: A study of marketed black tea samples from some tea-growing regions of India. Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 9(5), 1532-1540.
15. Ferguson, B., Lin, M. H., & Gresshoff, P. M. (2013). Regulation of legume nodulation by acidic growth conditions. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 8(3), e23426.
16. Gammoudi, N., Nagaz, K., & Ferchichi, A. (2021). Potential use of spent coffee grounds and spent tea leaves extracts in priming treatment to promote in vitro early growth of salt-and drought-stressed seedlings of Capsicum annuum L. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 12(6), 3341-3353.
17. Ghosh, A., Majumder, S., Sarkar, S., & Bhattacharya, M. (2022). Insights into physicochemical assessment of shade tree litter biomass in tea plantations of Terai region. International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Research, 9(2), 46-54.
18. Gurav, M., & Sinalkar, S. (2013). Preparation of organic compost using waste tea powder. In National Conference on Biodiversity: Status and Challenges in Conservation-‘FAVEO (pp. 97-99).
19. Hudson, B. D. (1994). Soil organic matter and available water capacity. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 49(2), 189-194.
20. Hussain, S., Anjali, K. P., Hassan, S. T., & Dwivedi, P. B. (2018). Waste tea as a novel adsorbent: a review. Applied Water Science, 8(6), 1-16.
21. Iqbal Khan, M. A., Ueno, K., Horimoto, S., Komai, F., Tanaka, K., & Ono, Y. (2007). Evaluation of the physio-chemical and microbial properties of green tea waste-rice bran compost and the effect of the compost on spinach production. Plant Production Science, 10(4), 391-399.
22. Jackson, P. J., & Smith, A. C. (1956). A rapid method for determining potassium and sodium in coal ash and related materials. Journal of Applied Chemistry, 6(12), 547-559.
23. Jayasuriya, M. C. N., Panditharatne, S., & Roberts, G. (1978). Spent tea leaf as a ruminant feed. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 3(3), 219-226.
24. Kabir, M.M., Mouna, S.S.P., Akter, S., Khandaker, S., Didar-ul-Alam, M., Bahadur, N.M., Mohinuzzaman, M., Islam, M.A., & Shenashen, M. A. (2021). Tea waste based natural adsorbent for toxic pollutant removal from waste samples. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 322, 115012.
25. Khan, Z., Kakkar, S., Ghag, S., Shah, S., Patil, S., & Gupta, A. D. (2018). Recycling of tea waste for extraction of caffeine and production of a transdermal patch. World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 7(17), 1511-1521.
26. Kirk, P. L. (1950). Kjeldahl method for total nitrogen. Analytical Chemistry, 22(2), 354-358.
27. Kostić, D. A., Dimitrijević, D. S., Stojanović, G. S., Palić, I. R., Đorđević, A. S., & Ickovski, J. D. (2015). Xanthine oxidase: isolation, assays of activity, and inhibition. Journal of Chemistry, Article ID: 294858, Doi: 10.1155/2015/294858
28. Majumder, S., Ghosh, A., & Bhattacharya, M. (2020). Natural anti-inflammatory terpenoids in Camellia japonica leaf and probable biosynthesis pathways of the metabolome. Bulletin of the National Research Centre, 44(1), 1-14.
29. Majumder, S., Saha, S., Ghosh, A., Acharyya, S., Sarkar, S., Chakraborty, S., & Bhattacharya, M. (2021). Production of fermented tea petal decoction with insights into in vitro biochemical tests, antioxidant assay and GC-MS analysis. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition, 3(1), 1-10.
30. Majumder, S., Ghosh, A., Saha, S., Acharyya, S., Chakraborty, S., Sarkar, S., & Bhattacharya, M. (2022). Valorization of CTC tea waste through kombucha production and insight into GC-MS based metabolomics. Canrea Journal: Food Technology, Nutritions, and Culinary Journal, 5(1)38-56.
31. Mazzafera, P. (2002). Degradation of caffeine by microorganisms and potential use of decaffeinated coffee husk and pulp in animal feeding. Scientia Agricola, 59, 815-821.
32. Mekki, A., Arous, F., Aloui, F., & Sayadi, S. (2017). Treatment and valorization of agro-wastes as biofertilizers. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 8(3), 611-619.
33. Montes, Ó., Diánez, F., & Camacho, F. (2014). Doses of caffeine on the development and performance of pepper crops under greenhouse. Horticultura Brasileira, 32, 398-403.
34. Nakagawa, A., Sakamoto, S., Takahashi, M., Morikawa, H., & Sakamoto, A. (2007). The RNAi-mediated silencing of xanthine dehydrogenase impairs growth and fertility and accelerates leaf senescence in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Plant and Cell Physiology, 48(10), 1484-1495.
35. Ngan, N. M., & Riddech, N. (2021). Use of spent mushroom substrate as an inoculant carrier and an organic fertilizer and their impacts on roselle growth (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) and soil quality. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 12(7), 3801-3811.
36. Porter, W. M. (1980). Soil acidity: is it a problem in Western Australia?. Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, 21(4), 126-133.
37. Powlson, D. S. (1993). Understanding the soil nitrogen cycle. Soil Use and Management, 9(3), 86-93.
38. Rajapaksha, D. S. W., & Shimizu, N. (2020). Valorization of spent black tea by recovery of antioxidant polyphenolic compounds: Subcritical solvent extraction and microencapsulation. Food Science & Nutrition, 8(8), 4297-4307.
39. Ransom, F. (1912). The effects of caffeine upon the germination and growth of seeds. Biochemical Journal, 6(2), 151.
40. Ritchie, G. S. P., & Dolling, P. J. (1985). The role of organic matter in soil acidification. Soil Research, 23(4), 569-576.
41. Shalmashi, A., Abedi, M., Golmohammad, F., & Eikani, M. H. (2010). Isolation of caffeine from tea waste using subcritical water extraction. Journal of Food Process Engineering, 33(4), 701-711.
42. Sun, T., Pei, T., Yang, L., Zhang, Z., Li, M., Liu, Y., Ma, F., & Liu, C. (2021). Exogenous application of xanthine and uric acid and nucleobase-ascorbate transporter MdNAT7 expression regulate salinity tolerance in apple. BMC Plant Biology, 21(1), 1-14.
43. Sundberg, C., Yu, D., Franke-Whittle, I., Kauppi, S., Smårs, S., Insam, H., Romantschuk, M., & Jönsson, H. (2013). Effects of pH and microbial composition on odour in food waste composting. Waste Management, 33(1), 204-211.
44. Triplett, E. W., Blevins, D. G., & Randall, D. D. (1980). Allantoic acid synthesis in soybean root nodule cytosol via xanthine dehydrogenase. Plant Physiology, 65(6), 1203-1206.
45. Walkley, A., & Black, I. A. (1934). An examination of the Degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter, and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Science, 37, 29-38.
46. Webb, M. A., & Newcomb, E. H. (1987). Cellular compartmentation of ureide biogenesis in root nodules of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.). Planta, 172(2), 162-175.
47. Williams, C. H., & Steinbergs, A. (1962). The evaluation of plant-available sulphur in soils. Plant and Soil, 17(3), 279-294.
48. Xia, X., Ma, C., Dong, S., Xu, Y., & Gong, Z. (2017). Effects of nitrogen concentrations on nodulation and nitrogenase activity in dual root systems of soybean plants. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, 63(5), 470-482.
49. Yi, S. Y., Lee, M., Jeevan Rameneni, J., Lu, L., Kaur, C., & Lim, Y. P. (2021). Xanthine-derived metabolites enhance chlorophyll degradation in cotyledons and seedling growth during nitrogen deficient condition in Brassica rapa. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 16(6), 1913309.