Studies have revealed that Dioscorea hispida tubers contain a poisonous substance called alkaloid dioscorine. The method for removing alkaloid dioscorine in Dioscorea hispida is explored in this research through a soaking process. The tubers were peeled, washed, sliced, and soaked for 5 days in either 1.0 M sodium chloride (NaCl) or distilled water. The aim of this study was to firstly identify the amount of toxic dioscorine remaining after soaking for 5 days, and then determine the best solution for removing dioscorine compounds in the tubers that were obtained from a tropical area in Peninsular Malaysia. The liquid chromatography electrospray ionization mass spectrometric (LC-ESI-MS) systems were used to identify the presence of alkaloid dioscorine compounds within Dioscorea hispida tubers. The analysis showed that no dioscorine compounds were present in day 5 for samples soaked in the NaCl solution. However, the relative abundance in the distilled water solution at day 5 was 281000, indicating a 95% decrease of the relative abundance value of the dioscorine compounds. This work aimed to determine the minimum days needed to remove the poisonous element before Dioscorea hispida tubers could be used for food consumption or for any other applications.

Thermoplastic starch is a material that has the potential to be environmentally friendly and biodegradable. However, it has certain drawbacks concerning its mechanical performance and is sensitive to the presence of moisture. The current study assessed agar-containing thermoplastic sago starch (TPSS) properties at various loadings. Variable proportions of agar (5%, 10%, and 15% wt%) were used to produce TPSS by the hot-pressing method. Then, the samples were subjected to characterisation using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mechanical analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and moisture absorption tests. The results demonstrated that adding agar to starch-based thermoplastic blends significantly improved their tensile, flexural, and impact properties. The samples’ morphology showed that the fracture had become more erratic and uneven after adding agar. FT-IR revealed that intermolecular hydrogen bonds formed between TPSS and agar. Moreover, with an increase in agar content, TPSS’s thermal stability was also increased. However, the moisture absorption values among the samples increased slightly as the amount of agar increased. Overall, the proposed TPSS/agar blend has the potential to be employed as biodegradable material due to its improved mechanical characteristics.

Cymbopogan citratus fibre (CCF) is an agricultural waste plant derived from a natural cellulosic source of fibre that can be used in various bio-material applications. This paper beneficially prepared thermoplastic cassava starch/palm wax blends incorporated with Cymbopogan citratus fibre (TCPS/PW/CCF) bio-composites at different CCF concentrations of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 wt%. In contrast, palm wax loading remained constant at 5 wt% concentration using the hot moulding compression method. TCPS/PW/CCF bio-composites were characterised in the present paper via their physical and impact properties. The addition of CCF significantly improved impact strength by 50.65% until 50 wt% CCF loading. Furthermore, it was observed that the inclusion of CCF resulted in a little decrement in biocomposite solubility compared to neat TPCS/PW biocomposite from 28.68% to 16.76%. Water absorption showed higher water resistance in the composites incorporating 60 wt.% fibre loading. The TPCS/PW/CCF biocomposites with different fibre contents had 11.04–5.65% moisture content, which was lower than the control biocomposite. The thickness of all samples decreased gradually with increasing fibre content. Overall, these findings provide evidence that CCF waste can be utilised as a high-quality filler in biocomposites due to its diverse characteristics, including improving the properties of biocomposites and strengthening their structural integrity.