Dragon Fruits (DF) In Melaka (Still Haze in Malaysia)

I have brought one of my visitors to see and have a look at DF planting in Malaysia.

Mr. Vishal and  me visit one of DF farms in Melaka

DF grown for more than five years without much diseases.

DF sorting machine which sort for six weights

Eventhough, Malaysia was badly hit by haze from Indonesia, the DF plants seems to survive. It is quite difficult to measure how haze  caused  effects on plants. However, physiologically plants cannot trap lights for energy to be converted and manufacture carbohydrates. Although DF are Crassulacean Acid metabolism (CAM),   there is  a carbon fixation pathway that evolved.  In a plant using full CAM, the stomata in the leaves remain shut during the day to reduce evapotranspiration, but open at night to collect carbon dioxide (CO₂). Haze will cause heat to be trapped in the atmosphere that caused temperature to  rise which caused  growth rates increase with time resulted in less accumulation of dry matter. This in turn, which cause the plants will reduced in yield.

Dragon Fruits in India

India is vast continent . And its climatical conditions varies. Dragon fruits is a cactus plant that can survive in many climatical situations. Be it dry or wet. Unlike like Malaysia is tropical country where rainfall is very high  annually, dragon fruits suffers a lot of disease problems. This is especially when the plants have grown bigger with excessive water shoots.

Someone from India has approached  me about dragon fruit planting in India. To be exact the planting is  in Bombay, where dry weather persists. From the picture they sent, the farm is quite big and clean.Plants are quite young and did not encounter much problems.

A newly establish dragon fruit farm in Bombay India

From my comments is that the farms will anticipate many problems in future if necessary actions is not carried out.

Namely;

1. Surveillance
2. Pruning
3.Expertise
4.Fertilization
5.Post harvest handling
6.Planting materials for reselling.
7.Agricultural inputs.
8.Etc

I hope this farm will become a model farm in India, There are very big market in India especially for fresh consumption and planting materials supply.

Enquiry from Egypt that Wants to Grow Dragon Fruits

Someone from Egypt email me about grow dragon from there;

 

Dear Sir,

let me introduce my self , I am Mahmoud Abo Elkassem , from Egypt , Age 31 , working Software Developer .

from 5 month and i feel interested about Dragon Fruit , and looking to plant it in my home and in the future i will try to make it commercial.

once i check a lot of site a bout varieties in Malaysia , Philippines, Vietnam ,

i start get so confused, many varieties with different name in the Three country for example : in Philippines fruit name "Saniata" , in Vietnam  "Dragon Fruit" , in Malaysia a farmer create new varieties  "Orange Skin"

so which one is the parent and which one is the child "Clone" ,

what varieties good for me in both way to plant it in home aed commercial ?

My answer:

Asalaimualikum Mr.Mahmoud;

Thank you for your email. There three types of dragon fruits 1. Red skin white flesh (Hylocereus  undantus), 2. Red skin red flesh (Hylocereus Polyrhizus ) 3. Yellow skin white flesh (Selenicereus megalanthus).

The popular commercial types depend on the country. For instant in Vietnam the popular ones are red skin white flesh, in Malaysia the red skin red flesh but, in Colombia yellow skin white are popular.

Genetically , red skin  with white flesh and red skin white flesh are related may be clones or cultivar, but the yellow ones are    vareities.

In Malaysia we prefer the red skin with red flesh because it fetch high price.

Thank you

Dragon Fruits in Gujarat, India

I have  a grower  from Gujarat, India that has grown dragon fruits. His problems were  sun burn(excess heat) injury to these plants.  He has given 15:15:15  fertilizer  by drip irrigation and still continue with the same grade. Their  plants are now 12 months old.

He said that their plants have flowered this season and also are bearing few fruits and  would like  suggestions of how and what grade to fertigate and quantity of fertilizer by drip.

He also  asked me whether he could  spray fertilizers to get better quality and size of fruits to these plants? If yes in what quantity and what intervals should I spray?

The problem he said that is it necessary to sprinkle water on the canopy during high temperatures in summer, and can we cover the canopy with a shade net to protect from sun burn? If yes please suggest the color i.e green or white shade net, and should it be 50% or 75% shade net.

These are my answers:

 If your plants had flowers you should change your fertilizers to 12:12:17:2 instead of 15:15:15. If you continue to give the latter fertilizer your plants will have more vegetative growth meaning that your plants will be grow more green shoots rather than flowers.You can boost your plants with foliar fertilizers with high K mixed with fungicides ; spray for every two weeks. Once the fruits came out you should wrap with newspaper envelope to avoid insect attack or cracking.

To avoid scorching, you could cover your plants temporarily with green net  50% shade.

This area is  very dry and needs irrigation. As dragon fruit is heavy feeder it needs high amount of organic matter

Fruits need to be wrapped as it would damage by insects and cracking

This plants need foliar fertilizer as to enhance more branching. Branching will promote more flowers

The planting distant is OK however do not let insect from mango trees attack the fruits.

Note:
Fruit growers may ask me questions or advice. I am obliged to answer wherever I could. Please don't expect for me to answer immediately, or I try to answer to best of my ability. If they have money they could invite to their so that I could give my expertise.

Visit To Vietnam

During the school holidays  in June, I had the chance to visit Vietnam. I was waiting to that date because this is the time to see dragon fruits in Vietnam. The weather was sunny and dry, the temperature is around 37 C. We drove to the Bethan Street where most Malaysian do their shoppings. this street is very popular with many  hotels too. Of course I saw a lot of tropical fruits such as mangoes, mangoesteen, ciku,guava, durians,  jackfruits, DRAGON FRUITS, etc.

Vietnam is the main producer of dragon fruits in the world. I always wonder how this crop had become a major contributor to  Vietnam's economy besides rice and other goods. The secret is always the weather: hot dry. To my analysis dragon fruits like hot and dry weather meaning that  less disease  occurrence. Unlike Malaysia, the weather is hot but humid.

There were two varieties of dragon fruits i.e red and white flesh. It could be easily noticed from its 'scales' where short scales are red and long scales are white. The shape between each other also differs.

To me Vietnam is still a young nation. They had a lot opportunities if their people work hard.

Dragon fruits, guava, mangoes and mangoesteen sold in markets

Red dragon fruits 'Longdo'

Durians, jacfruits, ciku sold in market

White variety  dragon fruits

Mangoesteen sold in pieces.

Dragon fruits grown in one of the orchard.

Manual of Dragon Fruit Planting (In Bahasa Melayu)

I have just completed my write-up on Planting of Dragon Fruits in Malay language. It takes quite some to finish it . This manual is simple and practical ways of how to plant dragon fruits. I hope to publish as soon as possible so that it can be practised immediately by the growers or hobbyists alike.
This manual is of  my very own effort and much time is devoted to it. I will translate into English once I have completed my other book.

I have to race against time because there are a lot work to do. However, you will be satisfied once you accomplished something on your own. I don't rely on anybody either to type the words or sentences, take photo, arrange the contents, paragraphs and layout whats not. Writing books or articles takes patience otherwise well begun half done or Malay proverb says hangat-hangat tahi ayam (direct translation chicken dung is always warm when it is out of its butt! ..and later cool).

Manual on Dragon Fruit Planting. I will translate in English very soon.

Eat Local Fruits Especially Dragon Fruits

Dragon fruits in Malaysian supermarkets priced at RM 3.59 (about 1.2 USD) per kg. It is either packed as minimally processed or selling loose per fruit.

Dragon fruits is still the CHOICE  of fruits in the Malaysia dessert. Malaysian average per capita fresh fruit consumption is more 60 kg compared to advanced countries.

One may not be aware that the eat local fruit campaign has been conducted since 1972. The campaign has not only helped to promote local fruits as highly nutritious supplements but also helped farmers to market their fruits with the help of the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA).

FAMA is working closely with Malaysia Health Promotion Board  (MHPB) in encouraging the public to consume more local fruits as part of a healthy lifestyle.

MHPB also dismissed the view that local fruits like guava, ciku, pineapples, mangoes, papayas and seasonal fruits like durian, langsat, duku, pulasan, rambutan, jack fruit and others as contributors to health problems.

The local fruits are rich in nutrient and fibre. I'm of the opinion that the misconception that the durian is an `unhealthy' fruit must be corrected. Many are not aware that the king of fruits is rich in potassium There is no problem as long as the fruits are consumed moderately.

Strange Dragon Fruit Disease?

Some one from Puerto Rico (PR) has posted to me  about this strange 'disease' on dragon fruit. Just like look closely what is it? Send your findings to me.

What do you on the pitaya barnch?

Visit To Dragon Fruit, Kendal,Semarang Indonesia

I had the opportunity to visit Semarang again. This time is much easier to go there because there is a daily  flight from Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT ) via Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to Semarang; the journey took about two and half hours. Semarang is  the fourth biggest in Indonesia besides Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya. The airport is Ahmad Yani International Airport. The climate is hot and dry.

My way to Kendal, Semarang. The banner saying don't touch drugs or nacortics even a little bit

A beautiful big mosque in Kendal town, a two-hour from Semarang City

Red dragon fruits, not mature yet with little white spots.

'Choo Ka Nan' mango with anthracnose but could be controlled.

Discussion with Johnny and me in red white T-shirt together with others

I went to a dragon fruit farm which is about 6 hectares. The purpose of my visit is to observe how dragon fruits are grown on reclaim  soggy soil. The soil is black and very wet, but they manage the soil by mounting. Meaning that they make small mounts at each stake to drain the water. The growth of  dragon fruits is extremely good with lightings. I only manage to see a little disease and they kept the field very clean.   All pruned branches were grounded and mixed with left-over shrimps in containers for fourty days. The organic fertilizer is done sprayed to plants as foliar fertilizers. They also added extra manure to each stake. The yield mentioned is about 1-2 ton per hectare during this season and can be  more. The plants were only four-year old.I observed that the self-made organic fertilizer is natural and contains chitin from prawn that is able to protect from diseases naturally. Adjacent to the farm, they had  about 25 big shrimp ponds and six power station was installed.

Besides, they grow mango in this farm with Choo Ka Nan variety. I tasted the fruits and it is extremely sweet and less fibre. I asked them why they are interested to plant this variety. The answer is that the price is very much higher than Indonesian mangoes like Harumanis or Mana Lagi. However, this Thailand variety need good pre-harvest treatment because it is sensitive to disease and insect attacks. One obvious disease I observe is anthracnose  which cause black spots on the fruits and the other is bruising due to mite attack.

Dragon fruits grown or reclaim soils with lightings installed

Well developed  four-year old dragon fruits plants

Me and Johnny at  one hectare wax apple plants

Ciku or sapota  roots infected by disease

Other plants I manage to observe was chiku or 'sawo' or sapota. This plants thrieve well on reclaim soil, however there are few root disease which attack the plants.The 'sawo' or chiku is very very sweet and flowering was tremendous. There are also 'anona' or custard apple, which is growing well.

There was also 'jambu air' or aqua. It is very crunchy,seedless and sweet. The trees had very intense canopy. I manage to advise so that to prune 'open-center' system in which the central leader is cut-off and let  the light pass through. It encourages ventilation and flowering.

My host Pak Harsono and wife after having dinner at Hotel Candi, Semarang. We had delicious dinner with fish and big prawns specially cooked for us. My wife Yati also with me.

  

Some Questions from Readers about Dragon Fruits

Here are email sent to me asking about dragon fruits.

Emily Voon	3:19 PM (3 hours ago)
to me

Dear Zainudin,

I was looking around for improving dragon fruits farming and increase production and yield.  Here I found your website on this.  

Do you have watsapp with the MP 6012-3535411 ?   

Have you seen brown spots which caused dragon fruits stems to rot and it spreaded and the tree will die ?

Any idea on the soil type ?  Diseases of dragon fruits ?  Any opportunities for other types of agric products eg. mushroom growing ?

I look forward to hear from you.

With regards,

Emile Voon

Answer:

Dear Emily;

Stem rot on dragon fruits are caused by diseases. There many types ; either caused by bacteria or fungus. Diseases caused by bacteria will results in softening of the tissues, later oozing of liquid and later the plants will die. However, diseases caused by fungus will cause browning, patches or even spots. So, crop husbandry is very important meaning that sanitation of the farm should be always clean.

There are occasionally disease could be originated from soils. If the previous land was not treated then, disease may occur on the present plants.

You can read my articles at  http://www.scribd.com/doc/91726161/Dragon-Fruits-Cutivation-in-Malaysia.

Regards,

zainudin

 

How To Buy Dragon Fruits in Supermarkets

Dragon fruits have high antioxidants particularly betacynin besides, it also contains phytoalbumins. These phytochemicals are good for the body especially to fight against cancer and bowels movement. But, if you want to buy dragon fruits from supermarkets here are some clues.
Look for fresh fruits, makesure the 'bracts' are not bruised or damaged. The fruits are soft and crush-free, reddish and round shape. (Some had oval shapes). The weight of the fruit is heavy and hard. It is also good if individual fruit are wrapped with soft polystyrene plastic or cover, so that fruits could not easily bruised.

One true story that I would like to share is that  one my friend who is about to conceive a baby. She was waiting quite sometime to have labour. While waiting, she took 2 or three  dragon fruits. Gosh.. it goes. She conceive easily. Happily after.

Another story, a friend of mine said his son had hypertension with 200/100 pressure. The doctor told his son to take about 8 pills, so he took it but nothing happen.Suddenly, his father got an idea and  gave his son  3 dragon fruits to eat- morning, afternoon and evening. You know what happen? the blood pressure went down to 140/80. So can try.

Dragon fruits sold in supermarkets.It is better if they are individually wrapped with polystyrene wrappers.

Email from India (Cultivation of Dragon Fruit in India)

Email from sabari uma (India)

Dear sir,

Thanks for sharing your article with me , it was useful but i have few question for you , what is the right temperature to grow this fruit . 

for example i have farms in hill station where the max temp is 35 to 36 and the min temp is 17 to 20 c . and i have farm with 38 to 40 high temp and min of 20 to 22 c . so which climate is best to cultivate dragon fruit ? is my first question and what is best variety to cultivate ?

please guide me in detail to get more information on dragon fruit cultivation .

Thanking you ,

Kind Request , 

Answer

Thank you. You can read my article at http://www.scribd.com/doc/91726161/Dragon-Fruits-Cutivation-in-Malaysia. Should need help pls contact me.

My Article in Newspaper (Bahasa Melayu)

I was not aware that my article was published earlier. It can be read at http://www.sinarharian.com.my/rencana/tanam-buah-naga-ikut-spesifikasi-sirim-1.8570.

Mechanized Dragon Fruit Harvesting

Here are some videos of how mechanized of post harvest in dragon fruit is done. I hope you can get some idea. This amateur video was taken by me and not well organized. Ii includes washing, weighing and grading.

Research and Development in Tropical Fruits

MAHA International

Malaysia is proud to have this event that is to be scheduled Nov.23 to Dec.2, 2012. This event will take off for every two years. We are exciting to be there. Numerous meetings are held at every level now and then, to ensure this event happens and become one of the best agricultural festival in the country.You can browse at 
http://www.maha.gov.my/2012/. 

For those who would like to buy  agricultural produces like fruits, vegetables, ulam, kueh-kueh, fertilizers, whats not; please bring your trolleys and wear proper attire and umbrella as well. Normally, in December it always rain.(Of course your money too).

I will be presenting a poster at one of the conference that is to be held concurrently. 

Since, this an international event, many technologies esp. in  agriculture will be shown. We will see many new things related to agriculture. 

Dragon Fruits Harvesting

I have visited a farm in Malacca, 80 km from Kuala Lumpur to observe dragon fruit harvesting. The farm is around 20 ac. situated nearby roadside. It was not a peak season during our visit however, the owner was kindly enough to take some photos to be posted in my blog. I hope there is some interesting to note and observe how washing, grading and sorting is done once the fruits are harvested.(The pics are not in sequence)

Malaysian Dragon Fruit Growing Going Strong

Despite disease outbreak in Malaysia; some dragon fruit farms managed to escape from the catastrophe.This is due to the patience and unrentless effort to combat the disease problems.Farmers had managed to move forward from their past experiences to uphold this lucrative industry.While researchers at their utmost doing research to support the industry be it in farm production or by products. Research must be geared up in order to find new innovations and technological advancements as to cater future problems like climate change and organic farming.
A technical visit was made to a 10-acre in Selangor, to observe what are the problems faced by the growers.There are few problems that I encountered;

1. Weed control is still a challenge and this is due to high cost in weedicides like BASTA. Manual circle weeding is very tedious and laborious.
2. High cost of fertilizers. Agricultural inputs like fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and  other chemicals have risen very high to almost 50% increase.
3. Farm management especially mechanization. Large farms should consider machinery as to ease in spraying and in-field transportation.Appropriate planting distant had to be considered and proper planning in field design should be from experts.Such as water source, sunrise and sunset (angle of the sun), etc.
4. Harvesting and grading. There should be grades for fruits like A (450-500 g), B(350-450 g),C (less than 300g), D (small).

Mr. Kelvin from Singapore and  Dr.Zainudin during field visit 

Dragon fruit farm on hillside 

Intra rows - too close for machinery to go in 

Dragon planting intercrop with soursop and chempedak. Note weed problems.

Organic fertilizer used.

Close planting of dragon fruits.

PECTINS FROM DRAGON FRUIT (Hylocereus polyrhizus) PEEL

PECTINS FROM DRAGON FRUIT (Hylocereus polyrhizus) PEEL

NAZARUDDIN, R.1*, NORAZELINA, S.M.I.1, NORZIAH, M.H.2 and ZAINUDIN, M.3
1School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2School of Industry Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
3Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
*Email: naza@ukm.my

ABSTRACT

The extraction of pectin from a by-product of dragon fruit processing, was identified as an alternative source for commercial
pectin. In this work, dried alcohol-insoluble residues (AIR) of dragon fruit peels were treated separately with ammonium
oxalate/oxalic acid 0.25 %, pH 4.6, 85oC; HCl 0.03 M, pH 1.5, 85oC; and deionised water, 75oC. The pectin obtained
from these methods were compared in term of yield, color, gelling characteristic and chemical structure. The highest yield
for the extracted pectin from dragon fruit peels was 20.1 % (dry weight basis) by ammonium oxalate/oxalic acid extraction,
contained 11.2 % moisture and 6.9 % ash. Extraction by deionised water yielded 15.4 % pectin, 11.3 % moisture and 11.6
% ash. Whereas, the acid extraction gave the lowest yield 15 %), 11.1 % moisture and 12 % ash. The amount of pectin
from all extraction conditions were comparable to pectin obtained from commercial apple (12 %) or citrus (25 %). Gel
hardness test was performed for gelling properties measurement. The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
was useful in the identifying dragon fruit pectins. Different conditions used in the extraction do not show a difference in
the pectin structure. With a good recovery yield and gelling properties, ammonium oxalate-extracted dragon fruit pectin
present good characteristics to be exploited industrially as food additive.
ABSTRAK
Pengekstrakan pektin daripada sisa pemprosesan buah naga telah dikenal pasti sebagai sumber alternatif bagi pektin
komersial. Dalam kajian ini, pepejal tak larut alkohol (AIR) kering daripada kulit buah naga diperlakukan secara berasingan
dengan ammonium oksalat/asid oksalik 0.25 %, pH 4.6, 85oC; HCl 0.03 M, pH 1.5, 85oC; dan air ternyahion, 75oC. Pektin
yang diperolehi melalui kaedah ini dibandingkan dari segi hasil, warna, ciri penggelan dan struktur kimia. Hasil pektin
tertinggi daripada kulit buah naga ialah 20.1 % (berat kering) menggunakan ekstraksi ammonium oksalat/asid oksalik,
mengandungi 11.2 % air dan 6.9 % abu. Ekstraksi menggunakan air ternyahion menghasilkan 15.4 % pektin, 11.3 % air
dan 11.6 % abu. Manakala, ekstraksi asid memberikan hasil yang terendah (15 %), 11.1 % air dan 12 % abu. Pektin yang
terhasil daripada semua keadaan pengekstrakan adalah setanding dengan pektin epal (12 %) atau sitrus (25 %) komersial.
Ujian kekerasan gel dilakukan bagi mengukur sifat penggelan. Spektroskopi inframerah (FTIR) amat berguna bagi mengenal
pasti pektin buah naga. Keadaan berbeza yang digunakan dalam pengekstrakan tidak menunjukkan perbezaan dalam struktur
pektin. Dengan perolehan hasil serta ciri penggelan yang baik, pektin buah naga hasil pengekstrakan menggunakan
ammonium oksalat/asid oksalik mempunyai ciri yang baik untuk diterokai secara industri sebagai bahan tambah makanan.
Key words: Dragon fruit; Pectin; Alcohol insoluble residue; Extraction conditions

Source: Malays. Appl. Biol. (2011) 40(1): 1P9E-C23TINS

Field Mechanization of Dragon Fruit Planting

Large scale dragon fruit plantation in Malacca 

To plant dragon fruits in a large plantation ; there is no doubt mechanization is very  necessary. It is a very important tool to speed up management activities such as spraying of insecticide,weeding, fertilization and so on.However, what is the optimum  size of plantation that need to be considered before machines to be introduced? As machines are very expensive and needs to be  maintenance, careful decision has to be made so that the investment is profitable.Otherwise, you put unnecessary budget that would incur the return.

The size,type and power of the machines have to sought from experts or experience person in order to buy the correct tool. We cannot just  copy or buy from hearsay  what machines are needed. Think twice.

Using boom sprayer to spray foliar fertilizer, insectides and fungicides

Dr.Zainudin inspecting dragon fruit plantation

Horticulture Research Centre Director Tengku Malik explaining something to visitors.