Nutrient Deficiency on Dragon fruits.

Nutrient defieciency is defined as lack of nutrient. There are basically 16 elements needed by the plants. They are N,P,K, Ca, Mg,Fe, Mg,Mn,Cu ,Bo etc. Of those N is very important . There are needed by the plants for growth and metabolism.

In one case I have seen dragon fruits suffered from N deficiency symptoms. This occurred in Kelantan, in the NW state of Malaysia - the soil is of bris type i.e. sand which is lack of organic matter. The symptom is shown in the yellowing of the whole mature branch and no disease detected.

If you encounter that problem, one should give a lot of organic manure or foliar spray .

The pic above how the symptoms look like. It is not actually disease but it is lack of N. If this matter continues the branch might dies and attack by pathogen which finally caused severe disease infection. Therefore, it should be prunned and cut off.


Should you have the same problem then you can email or contact me.

Pseudohaematuria

Do you know what is Pseudohaematuria? Pseudohaematuria can be due to dragonfruit ingestion
Have you eaten Dragon fruit lately? If you gorge on the stuff, be warned. Ingestion of Dragon fruit can cause a reddish discoloration of your urine and stool. This was discussed in the Dobbs forum recently, and for the unwary I guess it could be quite alarming. A quick Google search shows that local medical bloggers have already mentioned this.

Jellio also had a similar personal encounter.

Some other foodstuff which can discolor your urine: beetroot blackberries other naturally red foods carrots

Other causes of discolored urine: Medications (e.g. some laxatives, certain antibiotics eg rifampicin and some anti cancer drugs like anthracyclines)

Dyes Reddish discoloration of urine may of course be due to blood (haematuria) or haemoglobin (haemoglobinuria). Urine may be dark or tea colored in liver disease.

As always, you should consult your doctor, especially if there is any doubt.
Useful info link: Urine color

Antioxidant-Rich Product from Red Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus)

We have put up one poster on the above entitles " Starter Culture Development for Antioxidant-Rich Product from Red Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus)" at one of our conference next week. I hope the poster will be accepted by the panel to gain at least one medal either silver or bronze. Hope for the best.