Vegetative and reproductive phenology of dragon fruit in West Garo Hills of Meghalaya

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) is a tropical and subtropical fruit that undergoes multiple ripening cycles throughout the year. Accurate monitoring of the flower and fruit quantities at various stages is crucial for growers to estimate yields, plan orders, and implement effective management strategies. However, traditional manual counting methods are labor-intensive and inefficient. Deep learning techniques have proven effective for object recognition tasks but limited research has been conducted on dragon fruit due to its unique stem morphology and the coexistence of flowers and fruits. Additionally, the challenge lies in developing a lightweight recognition and tracking model that can be seamlessly integrated into mobile platforms, enabling on-site quantity counting. In this study, a video stream inspection method was proposed to classify and count dragon fruit flowers, immature fruits (green fruits), and mature fruits (red fruits) in a dragon fruit plantation. The approach involves three key steps: (1) utilizing the YOLOv5 network for the identification of different dragon fruit categories, (2) employing the improved ByteTrack object tracking algorithm to assign unique IDs to each target and track their movement, and (3) defining a region of interest area for precise classification and counting of dragon fruit across categories. Experimental results demonstrate recognition accuracies of 94.1%, 94.8%, and 96.1% for dragon fruit flowers, green fruits, and red fruits, respectively, with an overall average recognition accuracy of 95.0%. Furthermore, the counting accuracy for each category is measured at 97.68%, 93.97%, and 91.89%, respectively. The proposed method achieves a counting speed of 56 frames per second on a 1080ti GPU. The findings establish the efficacy and practicality of this method for accurate counting of dragon fruit or other fruit varieties.

Phenological growth stages of dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) according to the extended BBCH-scale

Dragon fruit Hylocereus polyrhizus and Hylocereus undatus are familiy of cactus, grown in Malang. The high consumption of dragon fruit, have an impact on the fruit skin buildup that simply disposed of as trash. Dragon fruit skin is known to have a source of natural red dye, which is Betacyanin. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of the dragon fruit peel extract Betacyanin Hylocereus polyrhizus and Hylocereus undatus as well as the stability of the organoleptic jelly, which will be developed into a learning materials atlas for class VIII Junior High School. The study was conducted in September-October 2015. The study was conducted in three stages. This type of research phase I and II is True Experimental, and phase III is development. The results of phase I shows that various concentrations of ethanol (70% and 90%) have an effect on the characteristics of the extract Betacyanin skin dragon fruit Hylocereus polyrhizus and Hylocereus undatus, but very significant effect on skin extract dragon fruit Hylocereus undatus the treatment of N2, EI at pH 4,5. Later in the phase II study results showed that different concentrations of extracts of the best Betacyanin significantly affect the organoleptic stability of jelly. The results of phase III is the development of phase I and II studies into Atlas media for 8th grade of Junior High School.

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus & H. undatus) is a rapidly growing commodity in Taiwan. The production acreage has been tripled since 2011, with an estimation of over 2,800 ha in 2019. From disease survey conducted in July 2020, reddish orange to blackish brown lesions similar to stem canker caused by Neoscytalidium dimidiatum on dragon fruit cladodes (Supplementary Fig. S1, Q) were observed from two orchards in Central Taiwan. Diseased cladodes were brought back to the lab, surface disinfested with 70% ethanol for 15 to 30 sec, and then blotted dried with a paper towel. Small pieces (about 3x3 mm) of necrotic spots were excised, placed on 2% water agar (WA) plates, and incubated with 12 h photoperiod at 28 ± 2 ℃ for 3 days. Among the necrotic spots that were used for fungal isolation, some were detected to have N. dimidiatum accounting for 21 isolates, while three isolates detected in other spots were unknown. Single hyphal tips of the three unknown fungal colonies with similar morphology were transferred on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Brownish- to grayish-white colonies with fluffy aerial mycelium were observed on PDA (Supplementary Fig. S1, A, B, E, F, I and J) after 8 days of incubation. To induce the sporulation, all the fungal isolates were cultivated on autoclaved cowpea pods on 2% WA plates with 12 h photoperiod at 25 ± 2 ℃ for 3 weeks. Black pycnidia embedded in cowpea tissues and creamy yellowish exudates with pycnidiospores extruding from the ostiole were observed (Supplementary Fig. S1, C, G and K). Alpha-conidia were characterized as aseptate, hyaline, smooth, ellipsoidal or fusiform, often bi-guttulate and measured about 6.0 to 6.5 μm × 2.0 to 2.3 μm (n = 50 for each isolate) (Supplementary Fig. S1, D, H and L). Beta-conidia were not observed. Morphological characteristics of these isolates were similar to Diaporthe spp. described by Udayanga et al. (2015). To further identify the fungal isolates, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), β-tubulin (TUB) and translation elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α) regions were amplified using primer pairs ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), Bt2a/Bt2b (Glass & Donaldson 1995) and EF1-728F/EF1-986R (Carbone & Kohn 1999), respectively. BLAST analysis of isolates CH0720-010 (ITS: OK067377; TUB: OK149767; EF1-α: OK149764), CH0720-013 (ITS: OK067378; TUB: OK149768; EF1-α: OK149765) and TC0720-016 (ITS: OK067379; TUB: OK149769; EF1-α: OK149766) showed 99.78 to 100% of ITS identity, 98.8 to 99.2% of TUB identity, and 100% of EF1-α identity with Diaporthe ueckerae (ITS: KY565426; TUB: KY569384; EF1-α: KY569388). Phylogenetic trees were constructed using concatenated ITS, TUB, and EF1-α sequences based on maximum likelihood with HKY+G model, maximum parsimony, and Bayesian inference method in MEGA X and Geneious Prime 2020.2.4. All isolates were clustered in D. ueckerae with similar topology based on aforementioned methods, hence the phylogram of maximum likelihood was presented (Supplementary Fig. S2). To confirm the pathogenicity, detached dragon fruit (H. polyrhizus and H. undatus) cladodes (20 to 30 cm in length) were surface disinfested, wounded with sterilized syringe (about 2 mm in depth), and inoculated with mycelial plugs (6 mm in diam.) from 5-day-old colonies on PDA. Each isolate had three mycelial plugs and the PDA plugs without mycelium were inoculated as negative control. Inoculated cladodes were placed in a moisture chamber and incubated at 30 ± 2 ℃ with 12 h photoperiod. Two days after inoculation (DAI), the agar plugs were removed and symptom development on the cladodes was photo recorded every other day. The inoculation experiment was repeated twice. At 6 DAI, round to irregular, dark-brown, and water-soaking lesions were observed on the cladodes of both species inoculated with the three D. ueckerae isolates whereas all negative controls remained asymptomatic (Supplementary Fig. S1, M-P). Morphologically identical fungi were re-isolated from inoculated cladodes, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Several Diaporthe species have been reported infecting dragon fruit in the southeastern Asian countries such as Thailand, Bangladesh and Malaysia (Udayanga et al. 2012; Karim et al. 2019; Huda-Shakirah et al. 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first report of stem rot caused by D. ueckerae in Taiwan. Since the field symptoms may be easily confused with those caused by N. dimidiatum, the potential threat of Diaporthe species complex on dragon fruit should be aware and may warrant further study.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the viability of the micrografting of yellow dragon fruit (Selenicereus megalanthus) on different rootstocks, based on DNA content and anatomical analyses. The used rootstocks were: yellow dragon fruit, white dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus), Saborosa (Selenicereus setaceus) dragon fruit, and the Cebra and Orejona red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) varieties. The experimental design was completely randomized with five treatments and four replicates of five plants. After 30 days of cultivation, the following traits were evaluated: length and diameter of the micrografts and microrootstocks; and root length, percentage of setting, and fresh mass of the micrografts. Flow cytometry analyzes were performed before and after micrografting to verify genetic stability and the occurrence of endoreduplication. In addition, histological sections were made in the micrografting region to verify the connections of vessels and tissues between the graft and the rootstock. Endoreduplication was observed in all treatments. The amount of DNA in the yellow dragon fruit micrograft increased on the red Orejona variety. The presence of vessel connections was verified between the micrografts and microrootstocks. The yellow dragon fruit was also more vigorous when grafted on Orejona. Based on DNA content and anatomical analyses, in vitro yellow dragon fruit micrografting is feasible in all used rootstocks.

*Natural Dyes from Cannonball Tree and Dragon Fruit: A Sustainable Solution for Textiles* This study investigates the potential of using natural dyes from the Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) and Dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) as a sustainable and non-toxic alternative to synthetic dyes in the textile industry. Driven by increasing environmental concerns, the research aimed to develop a viable, non-toxic coloring method. Dyes were extracted from dragon fruit peel and the fruits and flowers of the Cannonball tree. A 10\% citric acid solution and a four-day maceration period were used for dragon fruit to maximize anthocyanin yield. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) identified the key components: the dragon fruit extract showed an R_f value of 0.62 (betacyanin), and the Cannonball tree extract yielded an R_f value of 0.57 (indigo dye). The extracted dyes were applied to cotton fabrics, and their color fastness was evaluated. The results indicated excellent color retention even after multiple washes. The findings conclude that both the Cannonball tree and dragon fruit are promising, eco-friendly sources for natural dyes, offering a sustainable solution to reduce the environmental impact of conventional textile dyeing processes. *Natural Dyes from Cannonball Tree and Dragon Fruit: A Sustainable Solution for Textiles* This study investigates the potential of using natural dyes from the Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) and Dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) as a sustainable and non-toxic alternative to synthetic dyes in the textile industry. Driven by increasing environmental concerns, the research aimed to develop a viable, non-toxic coloring method. Dyes were extracted from dragon fruit peel and the fruits and flowers of the Cannonball tree. A 10\% citric acid solution and a four-day maceration period were used for dragon fruit to maximize anthocyanin yield. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) identified the key components: the dragon fruit extract showed an R_f value of 0.62 (betacyanin), and the Cannonball tree extract yielded an R_f value of 0.57 (indigo dye). The extracted dyes were applied to cotton fabrics, and their color fastness was evaluated. The results indicated excellent color retention even after multiple washes. The findings conclude that both the Cannonball tree and dragon fruit are promising, eco-friendly sources for natural dyes, offering a sustainable solution to reduce the environmental impact of conventional textile dyeing processes.

<i>Hylocereus undatus</i> (dragon fruit).

Dragon fruit is classified as a non-climacteric fruit, so to obtain the best quality, harvesting and storage conditions must be optimized. The aim of this experiment was to determine the effect of packaging using Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) plastic and paper during cold storage on the sugar fractions of fructose, glucose, and sucrose in red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) and white dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus). The experiment was conducted using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications and involved two factors. The first factor was packaging (no packaging, plastic packaging, and paper packaging), and the second factor was storage temperature at 15°C. Sugar fraction characterization was done using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that paper packaging was the best packaging method to maintain the sugar fractions, particularly fructose and glucose, in both red and white dragon fruit until day 21 of storage compared to no packaging. The fructose content in red dragon fruit with paper packaging was 46% higher, while glucose content did not show significant differences. An increase in both fructose and glucose content also occurred in white dragon fruit with paper packaging, with a 28% increase in fructose and a 17% increase in glucose.

Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya or strawberry pear, is a vine cactus species belonging to the family Cactaceae. There are three species of dragon fruit in the genus Hylocereus and one species in the genus Selenicereus. Varieties of dragon fruit, including Hylocereus undatus, Hylocereus polyrhizus, and Hylocereus megalanthus. Vietnam, China, and Indonesia are the three major countries contributing to more than 93% of the world's dragon fruit production. In India, dragon fruit cultivation has increased significantly in recent years, with major states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal promoting commercial production. Dragon fruit thrives in tropical climates with an optimum temperature range of 20°C to 30°C and well-distributed annual rainfall of 100- 150 cm. It prefers light acidic soil with a pH ranging from 5.5 to 6.5. The fruit is rich in various nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers, making it a beneficial superfood for weight loss, diabetes control, cholesterol reduction, and strengthening the immune system. Dragon fruit has a short shelf life and should be stored at around 10°C with 93% relative humidity to maintain its quality and freshness for up to 15 to 17 days. Various value-added products can be derived from dragon fruit, such as dragon fruit jelly, jam, seed oil extraction, and even the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles from dragon fruit peel. Overall, dragon fruit is a versatile and nutritious fruit that has become a significant economic fruit species worldwide, catering to the growing demand for exotic and health-promoting foods.

Dragon fruit contains fiber, which is good for digestion and oral health. Fiber can help clean teeth by binding to plaque and food particles that can cause gum disease. The vitamin C contained in dragon fruit is a powerful antioxidant and can help strengthen gum tissue. This can help prevent gum inflammation (gingivitis), which is the initial stage of gum disease. Because dragon fruit has a high water content, consuming this fruit can also help maintain oral moisture, which is important for healthy teeth. A dry mouth can increase the risk of plaque formation. This study aimed to determine the potential for consuming dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) against plaque reduction in students at SD Negeri 106806 Cinta Rakyat, Percut Sei Tuan District, Deli Serdang Regency, Indonesia. This study is experimental research with a one-group pre and post-test approach. This study uses primary data obtained from measuring the degree of plaque on the teeth of research subjects. A total of 30 research subjects participated in this study, where the research subjects met the inclusion criteria. The results showed that the dental plaque scores of students at SD Negeri 106806, Cinta Rakyat, Percut Sei Tuan District, Deli Serdang Regency, decreased significantly before and after eating dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus), with a value of p=0.0001 (p≤0.05). These results indicate that there is an influence of dragon fruit consumption (Hylocereus polyrhizus) on reducing dental plaque in research subjects.

Occurrence of Anthracnose Disease Caused by<i>Colletotrichum siamense</i>on Dragon Fruit (<i>Hylocereus undatus</i>) in Andaman Islands, India

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus (F.A.C.Weber) Britton &amp; Rose) is an exotic and nutritious fruit that is gaining popularity; however, limited research on its cultivation restricts its potential for optimal growth and high yield. This study was conducted at Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan focuses on evaluating the impact of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) concentrations on rooting performance as well as to compare various growing media suitable for root development of dragon fruit. The experiment was carried out using seven combinations of treatments including, viz. T1: Soil (Control), T2: {IBA 500 ppm + (Soil + Sand) (1:1)}, T3: {IBA 1000 ppm + (Soil + Sand) (1:1)}, T4: {IBA 500 ppm + (Soil + farmyard manure (FYM)) (1:1)}, T5: {IBA 1000 ppm + (Soil + FYM) (1:1)}, T6: {IBA 500 ppm + (Soil + Sand + FYM) (1:1:1)} and T7: {IBA 1000 ppm + (Soil + Sand + FYM) (1:1:1)} using completely randomized design (CRD). Among the various treatments evaluated, T7 proved to be the most effective, showing significant improvements in growth parameters, including survival rate, plant height, shoot dry weight, number of shoots per cutting, shoot fresh weight, root dry weight, number of primary and secondary roots per cutting, root fresh weight, length of the longest root, average diameter of primary and secondary roots, diameter of the longest root and total root length. Therefore, selecting an appropriate rooting media seems essential for achieving superior root and shoot development in dragon fruit.

Dragon fruits are usually consumed by people directly or being processed into juice. Therefore, the major by-product of dragon fruits is the peel. As by-product, dragon fruit peels have higher antioxidant level than pulp especially for White Dragon Fruits (Hylocereus undatus). This research is carried out in order to evaluate the antioxidant level and sensory of dragon fruit peel tea which produced through a partially fermented process. The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of withering time and rolling time on antioxidant level and sensory of dragon fruit peel tea. Withering time varied in 30, 60, and 120 min while the rolling time varied in 10, 20, and 30 sec. 2, 2, diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) assay showed that radical scavenging activities of dragon fruit peel tea infusion increased with the longer withering time and shorter rolling time. Likewise the total phenol content (TPC) assay demonstrated the amount of phenol increased with the longer withering time and shorter rolling time. There were found that the dragon fruit peel had 29.58% in proportion compared with the whole fruit and vitamin C content in the peel higher than that in the pulp. The longer withering time and shorter rolling time will increase the phenol total content, antioxidant activity, and the lightness color, but decrease the acidity degree of tea infusions. In addition, the withering time was 120 min and rolling time was 10 sec had higher Antioxidant activity 41.19% and the total phenol 55.93 mg/L.

Hypercholesterolemia estimated to cause 2.6 million deaths and 29.7 million disability problems.The incidence of Noncommunicable diseases (NCD) such as coronary heart disease (CHD), type2 diabetes, and some types of cancer can be involved with hypercholesterolemiaed. Red dragonfruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) peel contains total phenolic compounds, flavonoids and dietary fiber.Red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus) peel, which was originally considered as trash can beused to produce yogurt. This study aimed to analyse the effect of red dragon fruit (Hylocereuspolyrhizus) peel yogurt on levels of fasting blood glucose, lipid profile and microbial activity inhypercholesterolemic Wistar rats. This was an experimental- research with pre and post-test control group design. A total of 25 male Wistar rats were divided into five groups randomly. Hypercholesterolemic conditions in the Wistar rats were obtained from consuming solution consisted of 1% of cholesterol powder and 0.5% of cholic acid for 14 days. Each Wistar rats received 20 g/day standard feed. The grouping were Group 1 (negative control group); Group 2 (hypercholesterolemic group); Group 3 (1.8 ml/kg b.wt/day of dragon fruit peel yogurt); Group 4 (2.7 ml/kg b.wt/day of dragon fruit peel yogurt); Group 5 (3.6 ml/kg b.wt/day of dragon fruit peel yogurt). The intervention was performed for 28 days. Blood glucose levels and lipid profiles weremeasured before and after the intervention. Blood glucose, lipid profiles and microbial activity weremeasured using GOD-PAP, automatic biochemistry analyser and pour plate method respectively.Data were analysed using paired t test and one-way ANOVA. Blood glucose, TC, LDL-C, TGlevels were decreased, and the other side HDL-C was increased significantly in the Group dragonfruit peel. There was no difference in the total number of microbes in all groups. Dragon fruit peelyogurt is effective in improving glucose levels and lipid profile of hypercholesterolemic Wistar rats.

SummaryThis study aims to investigate physical stability and antioxidant properties of spray‐dried red (Hylocereus polyrhizus) and white (Hylocereus undatus) dragon fruit powder upon storage at various relative humidity (RH). Inlet air temperatures of 120 °C (red dragon fruit) and 110 °C (white dragon fruit) as well as maltodextrin concentration of 30% (w/v) were selected as the spray drying conditions as powder was obtained at these minimum conditions. The powder was ranging from 3 to 7 μm in particle size with spherical morphology. The powder had lower antioxidant content and antioxidant activities compared with the control before spray drying. Storage of powder at 43%, 54% or 75% RH at 25 °C for 25 days resulted in structural changes correlating to the depression of glass transition temperatures (Tg) to below storage temperature. At 33% RH, no visible structural changes were observed. Antioxidant properties of the powder remained unchanged after 25 days' storage at the studied RHs.