Influence of forced-air precooling time on the changes in quality attributes and consumer acceptance of Musa AAA Berangan

A good temperature management, such as precooling and cold storage, can delay deterioration of fresh produce. In this study, different forced-air precooling times were applied on Musa AAA Berangan to investigate the influence of forced-air precooling time on the changes of quality attributes and consumer acceptance. The banana was subjected to forced-air precooling treatment (5 ± 1°C) for 0, 14, 50, and 120 min and then stored in a cold room (13 ± 1°C) for 2 weeks. Then, all the fruits were transferred to a ripening room (25 ± 2°C) and initiated to ripen with ethylene gas. Quality attributes analyses and sensory evaluations were conducted when the fruits reached maturity index 5. Quality parameters, such as soluble solids concentration, titratable acidity, pulp firmness, and peel colour, showed no significant differences when fruits were precooled at different times. Blackening of peel as a result of chilling injury occurred in fruits treated with forced-air precooling for 50 and 120 min. This blackening significantly influenced consumer acceptance, although it did not affect the pulp colour and taste

Pengaruh Mononatrium Glutamat pada Pertumbuhan, Tanah, dan Hasil Bayam Hijau (Amaranthus gangeticus)

This study aims to influence the use of monosodium glutamate (MSG) on soil chemical properties and the growth and yield of green spinach (Amaranthus gangeticus) on Silabukan soil. Spinach is grown in polybags with six types of MSG treatment: without MSG (control), with 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 g, with three repetitions. This study used a Complete Randomized Design, and the differences between treatments were analyzed using the least significant difference and Duncan methods. Observations were made under the auspices of rain at the Faculty of Agriculture Lestari, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, for four weeks. The parameters recorded are the components of plant growth, namely the circumference of the trunk, the number of leaves, the height of the tree, as well as the yield components in the form of wet weights and dry weights. The parameters of soil properties selected are soil pH, electrical conductivity, salinity, cation exchange rate, available-phosphorus, carbon content, hydrogen content, and aluminum exchange, taken before and after planting. Based on the analysis, the use of MSG negatively affects the growth and yield of green spinach. On the other hand, the control treatment showed very high growth and yield. Therefore, using MSG is not recommended to increase the growth and yield of green spinach grown in Silabukan soil. However, MSG increases the soil's pH, electrical conductivity, and salinity.   Keywords: Amaranthus gangeticus, agricultural soil, green spinach, soil fertility, soil p

Plant vegetative stages and drying methods affect flavonoid content of Clinacanthus nutans extracts

Background: Clinacanthus nutans, also known as ‘Sabah snake grass’ or ‘Belalai gajah’, is a herb well known locally for its medicinal values. The primary chemical constituents of the leaves are schaftoside, vitexin, isovitexin, orientin and isoorientin, and antiviral activity is shown by two glycoglycerolipids. Despite the importance of C. nutans, complete information with respect to commercial production and postharvest handling of the herb in the local herbal industry is still lacking. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the optimum postharvest handling processes that could retain the quality of phytochemicals of C. nutans.Materials and Methods: The flavonoid compounds of C. nutans were analysed by using ultra fast liquid chromatography (UFLC). Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were determined using a spectrophotometer.Results: The total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity in C. nutans were found to be higher in the young vegetative stage than in the mature vegetative stage. Flavonoid compounds (schaftoside, isovitexin, vitexin and orientin) were also found to be highest in the young vegetative plant compared to the mature vegetative plant. All of the assayed phytochemicals and flavonoid compounds levels were found to be highest in oven dried samples compared to the sun, air and solar dried samples.Conslusion: This study suggests that oven-drying young vegetative C. nutans plant material is the optimum method to retain postharvest quality.Keywords: Flavonoid, Sabah snake grass, schaftoside, vitexin, dryin

IMPROVING FERTILITY OF ACID SULFATE SOIL USING VARIOUS LIME SOURCES FOR RICE GROWN IN MALAYSIA

The main problems of acid sulfate soils are high acidity and Al and/or Fe toxicity to the soil. This problem causes rice root inhibition, hence retard plant nutrient uptake for its growth. Improving these conditions is important; hence, liming seems to be a common practice to ameliorate this soil, especially for rice cultivation. A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of applying ground magnesium limestone (GML), hydrated lime and liquid lime on the growth of rice under glasshouse conditions. MR 219 rice variety was used in this experiment. It was found that the application of 4 t ha-1 of GML had produced the highest rice yield of 8.2 t ha-1 under glasshouse condition. The result showed that as panicle length increase, spikelet per panicle also increases. Relative rice yield is negatively correlated with the soil pH, and this indicates that as soil acidity increase (observed with pH between 2 to 3), the rice yield decreases and vice versa. At harvest, due to liming practices, the soil pH exceeded 6 for all the treatment. It was also observed that as soil exchangeable Ca increase, soil pH also increases. Among the treatment, soil treated with 2 t ha-1 of hydrated lime gave the highest exchangeable Ca in the soil of 11.86 cmolc kg-1 soil with Ca concentration of 0.12% in the root. It was observed that liming increases soil pH and exchangeable cations in the soil. Therefore, liming is essential to ameliorate the acid sulfate soils for rice cultivation

TEST RESULTS ON COMPETITIVE NURSERY OF LOCAL WHEAT LINES WITH HIGH BREADNESSAND PROTEIN CONTENT

The varieties and lines that have reached a constant state at the Research Institute of Cereals and Leguminous Crops have been tested in the 3-year competitive variety test nursery in the experimental hybrid lines AC-2012-D3, AC-2010-D23, AC-2014-D7, AC-2013-D30, AC-2010-D21, AC-2012-D41-8, the IDK indicator of the lines was 70-80%, it was determined that they belonged to the I-group, and the productivity of the studied lines was a positive indicator for 3 years AC-2010-D33, AC-2010-D45 , in lines AC-2010-D21, AC-2012-D31, AC-2012-D14, AC-2013-D30, AC-2013-D33 was 70.0 to 81.7 ts/ha. Most of the lines achieved higher yields than the model varietie

Elevated carbon dioxide positively influences biomass and specialized metabolites of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni under high density horizontal farming

Stevia produces steviol glycosides, which are non-caloric natural sweeteners that are helpful in diabetics. Environmental and agronomic practices play an important role in plant productivity. However, there is a lack of information on stevia productivity under an elevated CO2 (eCO2) and planting density. Therefore, the current research was performed with the objective of evaluating the effect of eCO2 and planting density on the stevia biomass and specialized metabolites. The study used a nested design with randomized complete block design (RCBD) in four blocks with two factors (CO2 and planting density). Factor A, 'Carbon dioxide' (CO2) with two levels [eCO2 and aCO2 (ambient CO2], was applied across the block. In comparison, Factor B, with three levels- High-density Vertical (HDV), High-density horizontal (HDH) and Low-density horizontal (LDH)- were nested in Factor A (CO2). All the data were analyzed using an analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the SAS (9.4), and the mean were separated for significant differences using the least significant differences (LSD) test at P≤ 0.05. The study's results showed that eCO2 increased the total dry biomass, despite the density. However, a higher biomass was achieved from the HDV and HDH compared to the LDH. eCO2 treated plant produced significantly higher flavonoid by 17%, 24%, and 15% at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th month of planting (MAP). A similar trend was seen for the phenolic content. Steviosides and rebaudiosides A significantly increased with eCO2. Under aCO2, no significant differences were seen for steviosides at the 2nd and 4th MAP, while at the 3rd MAP, HDV was observed with a significantly low value. Under eCO2, the HDV had significantly low values for steviosides with no difference in the LDH and the HDH throughout the growth period. The finding indicates that eCO2 positively enhances the biomass and specialized metabolites regardless of the densities. However, the LDH and the HDH performed better than the HDV on individual plant base performance in terms of specialized metabolites

Plant vegetative stages and drying methods affect flavonoid content of Clinacanthus nutans extracts

Background: Clinacanthus nutans, also known as ‘Sabah snake grass’ or ‘Belalai gajah’, is a herb well known locally for its medicinal values. The primary chemical constituents of the leaves are schaftoside, vitexin, isovitexin, orientin and isoorientin, and antiviral activity is shown by two glycoglycerolipids. Despite the importance of C. nutans, complete information with respect to commercial production and postharvest handling of the herb in the local herbal industry is still lacking. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the optimum postharvest handling processes that could retain the phytochemicals quality of C. nutans. Materials and Methods: The flavonoid compounds of C. nutans were analysed by using ultra fast liquid chromatography (UFLC). Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were determined using a spectrophotometer. Results: The total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity in C. nutans were found to be higher in the young vegetative stage than in the mature vegetative stage. Flavonoid compounds (schaftoside, isovitexin, vitexin and orientin) were also found to be highest in the young vegetative plant compared to the mature vegetative plant. All of the assayed phytochemicals and flavonoid compounds levels were found to be highest in oven dried samples compared to the sun, air and solar dried samples. Conslusion: This study suggests that oven-drying young vegetative C. nutans plant material is the optimum method to retain postharvest quality

Characterization of liquid organic fertilizer (LOF) derived from unmarketable vegetables and fruits

The Malaysian government has been challenged with handling unmarketable vegetables and fruit waste that pollutes the environment and emits greenhouse gases, mainly methane and nitrous oxide. These greenhouse gases have been contributing to climate change. In contrast, these wastes consist of high moisture and readily biodegradable nutrients that can serve as the perfect substrate rate for fermentation. The valuable nutrients contained in these wastes can produce liquid organic fertilizers (LOF), which help improve the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological characteristics and reduce the demand for inorganic fertilizers and costs to farmers. In this regard, a study was conducted to produce and characterize LOF derived from unmarketable vegetables and fruit waste. The waste was identified from the nearest wet market, collected, and incubated in containers with a ratio of 1: 2: 0.1 (10 kg unmarketable vegetable and food waste: 20 L water: 1 kg inducer) for 30, 45, and 60 days. The unmarketable vegetables and fruits were fermented using three different types of inducers: yeast (Y), brown sugar (BS), and shrimp paste (SP). Unmarketable vegetables and fruit waste with no inducer were also included as a control. Samples from the produced LOF were taken after 30, 45, and 60 days of fermentation, filtered, and subjected to analysis for pH, electrical conductivity (EC), macro-, and micronutrients. These experiments were laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The highest nitrogen (0.95%), phosphorus (0.31%), potassium (1.68%), copper (0.23 ppm), and manganese (9.03 ppm) were obtained from LOF fermented for 60 days using yeast, indicating that it improved the nutrient availability of agricultural waste. Moreover, this treatment provided optimum pH and EC values for the growth and development of plants. Thus, LOF derived from unmarketable vegetable and fruit waste can be considered an attractive alternative for supplementing chemical fertilizers

Effect of hydroponic and conventional production systems on plant growth performance and nitrate content of green coral lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. Crispa)

Overfertilization on leafy vegetables could accumulate high nitrate content. Exceeded recommended limit of nitrate content can cause detrimental effects on the environment and human health, such as methemoglobinemia and stomach cancer. Green coral lettuce (GCL) is a leafy vegetable commonly grown under various production systems. Production system and physiological age have affected the growth and accumulation of nitrate levels in most leafy vegetables. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effects of hydroponic and conventional production on the growth performance and nitrate concentration of GCL at different harvest ages. This research was conducted in a randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement of treatments. A stagnant hydroponic was prepared using stock A and B complete Hoagland nutrient solutions as liquid fertilizer. A commercial biofertilizer (NPK 8: 8: 8) was applied at the rate of 100 g per plant. Plant growth performance, including plant height, number of leaves, and leaf length, was measured at 7, 14, 21, 28, 31, 34, 41, and 44 days after transplanting (DAT). The fresh weight and nitrate content were measured at 31, 34, 41, and 44 DAT. The results showed hydroponic GCL exhibited higher plant height than conventional GCL. However, both productions were not significantly affected regarding the number of leaves, leaf length, and fresh weight. At 41 and 44 DAT, the hydroponic GCL was markedly higher in nitrate content than conventional. This study found that conventional production was recommended for GCL because lower in nitrate content compared to hydroponic and fair in growth performance