Antioxidant activity (ORAC) and total phenolics

Antioxidant activity (ORAC) and total phenolics of dragon fruits and fruits and vegetables compared to the selected tropical fruits


Fruit µM TE/g puree Total phenolic µg GA/g puree
--------------------------------------------------------------
blueberries 14 - 38 1810 - 4580
black raspberry 28.2 2670
blackberry 22.4 2260
garlic 19.4
red raspberry 18.2 2340
red guava 16.7 2317
strawberry 15.36
strawberry 14.9 1030
carambola 12.94 2208
spinach 12.6
white guava 9.9 1589
plum 9.49
red dragon 7.59 1076
orange 7.5
grape,red 7.39
mame 6.56 1010
kiwi fruit 6.02
lychee 5.42 770
grapefruit, pink 4.83
grape, white 4.46
longan 3.31 482
white dragon 2.96 523
banana 2.21
apple 2.18
ripe mango 2.17 509
carrot 2.1
tomato 1.89
green mango 1.49 50

Revolutionize Your Cultivation in Dragon Fruits

Normally farmers in Malaysia planted dragon fruits 3 meter X 3 meter, which makes 500 poles or stake to an acre using about 2,000 cuttings. However, with a high density planting concept (close planting) more plants could be planted to a unit area up to 10,000 plants per acre.
I have seen a farm which practice this technique. In this way yield could be increase tremendously.

I'm Back Again

I have been away for a month and half and now I'm back again. From I what I observed my visitor's counter has hit 10K. Not bad.
Actually during that absence I was doing my hajj pilgrimage in Makkah , Saudi Arabia. There I performed my prayer, thawaf, saie, wukuf , mabit and jamarat . During my presence, about 4 million people were there. They have to wear ihram ( 2- piece white seamless clothes for males). Every body is equal - rich or poor, strong or weak etc. No differences in races. Hajj video here.

The food in Saudi is very expensive . Fruits like banana may fetch up to USD 2 per kg. Apple -1 USD per piece.

The weather was extremely hot and hazy. In Madinah , 400 km north of Makkah. the weather was very cool in the morning - up 8 C.

Fruits like dragon fruits was hardly seen.However there is very great potential to export there.

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.