Search Results

As a result of virus disease, producers have to renew passion fruit plantlets every year to ensure yield and fruit quality in Taiwan. Currently, the entire procedure—from the preparation of rootstock seeds to having plantlets ready for planting—may take ∼3 months. The shortage of grafted plantlets in internal and foreign markets is a continuous challenge for the industry. The objective of this study is to improve the production mode to establish a rapid production system of grafted plantlets. The results show that the germination rate and time of rootstock seeds improved remarkably at 30 °C. The final germination rate was 100% within 10 days on average. Application of a complex chemical fertilizer Hyponex No. 4 solution, diluted 1000-fold, by soil drench weekly resulted in seedlings ready for grafting 28 days after treatment. Stem diameter reached 2.5 mm and plant height was ∼10 cm. After grafting, keeping the plantlets at 25 °C with a relative humidity of more than 85% ensured all incisions were healed within 7 days. After moving the plantlets to a semishaded greenhouse for hardening, and maintaining the same temperature and relative humidity for another 7 days, the propagation process was complete. Compared with double-node and shoot-tip scions, the growth and plantlet height of the single-node scion were not the best. However, considering the convenience of scion acquisition and the high rate of propagation, the use of a single-node scion is recommended. It takes only 56 days to propagate grafted plantlets, which is 1 month less using current processes.

Ventilation and soil moisture influence greenhouse cultivation. Experiments were conducted at Xinxiang Irrigation Research Base of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Henan Province, China, to identify how ventilation and irrigation affected the greenhouse microenvironment. To develop ventilation and irrigation protocols that increase crop yield and improve the quality of drip-irrigated tomatoes grown in the greenhouse, three ventilation modes (T1, T2, and T3) were developed by opening vents in different locations in a completely randomized pattern. T1 had open vents on the north wall and roof of the greenhouse. T2 had open vents on the north and south walls and the roof. T3 had open vents on the north and south walls. Three irrigation treatments (W1, W2, and W3) were designed based on the accumulated water surface evaporation (E_p ) of a standard 20-cm evaporation pan. The irrigation quantities were 0.9×E_p (W1), 0.7×E_p (W2), and 0.5×E_p (W3). The spatial and temporal distributions of temperature and humidity were analyzed for different combinations of ventilation and irrigation to identify their effects on tomato yield and fruit quality. Major results were as follows: 1) In addition to solar radiation, ventilation had an important influence on E_p and, on a daily scale, ventilation had a significant effect on E_p (P < 0.05). 2) Ventilation had a significant effect on indoor wind speed, but the effect varied during different growth stages. During the flowering and fruit setting stage, wind speed for T2 significantly differed from those of T1 and T3 (P < 0.01). During the harvest stage, the three ventilation treatments had significantly different effects (P < 0.01). A correlation analysis showed high correlation between T2 wind speed and T3 wind speed (R = 0.831), but low correlation between T2 wind speed and T1 wind speed (R = 0.467). 3) The effect of ventilation on greenhouse humidity and temperature was greater than the effect of irrigation. The differences in air temperature among various combined treatments of ventilation and irrigation were significant for the flowering and fruiting stages (P < 0.05), but they were not significant for the late harvest stage (P > 0.05). There were significant differences in humidity on sunny days (P < 0.01), but no significant differences on cloudy or rainy days (P > 0.05). Air temperature at 2 m was greater than canopy temperature, but humidity at 2 m was less than that at canopy level. 4) Irrigation water quantity was positively correlated with tomato yield and negatively correlated with the fruit quality indicators total soluble solids, vitamin C content, organic acid content, and soluble sugars content. Ventilation had an effect primarily during the harvest period; it had no significant effect on yield (P > 0.05). However, it had a significant effect on vitamin C content and the sugar:acid ratio (P < 0.01). The combination treatment of T2W2 is recommended as the optimal treatment for greenhouse tomatoes using drip irrigation to produce an optimal combination of crop yield and fruit quality. This study provides theoretical and technical support for the improvement of greenhouse climate control by optimizing greenhouse ventilation and irrigation techniques to promote tomato yield and improve fruit quality.

Albino tea plants are mutants that grow albino young leaves owing to lack of chlorophylls under certain environmental conditions. There are two types of albino tea plants grown in production, i.e., light- and temperature-sensitive albino tea cultivars. The former grows albino leaves in yellow color under intensive sunlight conditions and the later grows albino leaves with white mesophyll and greenish vein as the environmental temperature is below 20 °C. Both albino teas attract great attention because of their high levels of amino acids and the “umami” taste. There have been many studies focusing on the temperature-sensitive albino tea plants, whereas little attention has been given to the light-sensitive albino tea cultivars. The characteristics of the albino tea cultivars and the mechanism underlying them were reviewed in the present article based on the published literatures, including chemical compositions, morphological characteristics, and molecular genetic mechanism.