Durian Production Research Articles

Climate change and adaptation on selected crops in Southern Philippines

Purpose – This paper aims to assess the vulnerability of the farmer-respondents in Southern Philippines, specifically Region XI and XII, to climate change. Design/methodology/approach – This study conducted an empirical analysis of the impact of climate change on maize (Zea mays), banana (Musa sapientum) and durian (Durio zibethinus) production. Furthermore, it estimated the determinants of adaptation to climate change and its corresponding effect on farm productivity. The analysis used primary data from 541 farmer-respondents producing maize, banana and durian in the 6 provinces and 18 municipalities of the sample areas. Findings – Based on the probit estimate results, farmers adaptation decisions were influenced by information about future climate change conditions, social capital, access to formal extension and farmer-to-farmer extension. The author found from the stochastic frontier estimation in the production function that climate change adaptations exerted a significant impact on farm productivity. It helped in coping with the adverse effects and risk of climate change while increasing agricultural productivities of the farmer-respondents. Originality/value – This research paper will be an addition to the body of knowledge on the socioeconomic aspects on the climate change and adaptation on the production of maize, banana and durian in the case of a developing country like Southern Philippines. This will bring more insights into the adaptation strategies that are crucial to cope with climatic variability and change.

CURRENT STATUS OF DURIAN BREEDING PROGRAM IN THAILAND

Selection and evaluation of 1st and 2nd generation F1 hybrids and study on inheritance characteristics were selected and released with the desirable characters: early, moderate and late maturity, good eating quality, fine flesh texture, good fruit setting and phytophthora tolerant characters for durian production in Thailand during 2006 to 2010. Promising early maturity lines are hybrid No. 12-21-1 and 10-432-6, moderate maturity lines are hybrid No. 11-341-1 and 11-241-9 and late maturity lines is 5-441-13. Promising F1 hybrids of durian for processing is hybrid no. 5-451-5. Promising F1 hybrids with most tolerance to Phytophthora palmivora is IIICN5-4-3-6. Selection and evaluation of F2 durians showed that the hybrids No. 5-441-13-16-2 and 5-441-13-14-4 had growth, flowering and yield better than others. Regional yield trial for promising F1 hybrids of durian for production and export showed that hybrid no 6-413-7 grew better than others. Fertilizer response of selected F1 hybrids of durian showed that ‘Monthong’ was the most to respond to the fertilizer followed by ‘Chanthaburi 1, 2 and 3’ and nutrient content of soils showed that nitrogen most affected growth of durian. Effect of Phytophthora disease on selected F1 hybrids of durian showed that hybrid No. IIICN5-4-3-6 was the most tolerant on the stem and leaves. Commercial comparison for yield and marketable acceptance of new F1 hybrids of durian showed that ‘Chanthaburi 1’ grew better than others. Substitute of original cultivar with new F1 hybrids of durian showed that side grafting technique was successfully between 20-70%. Up to the present, based on evaluation from durian data during 2006 to 2010, it is expected that at least three promising lines of F1 hybrid cultivars will be released as new recommended durian cultivars in 2012 and will be officially named as ‘Chanthaburi 4’, ‘Chanthaburi 5’ and ‘Chanthaburi 6’.

EFFECT OF UNICONAZOLE ON FLOWERING, YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY ON DURIAN

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of uniconazole (UCZ) on inducing early flowering, fruit yield and quality in durian cultivar ‘Monthong’. In the 1st year, a single foliar spray at a high concentration of 2,500 mg L-1 UCZ was made, compared to multiply sprays of 1.5 mg L-1 brown seaweed extracts, a conventionally used solution. The results showed that UCZ sprayed at mature leaf stage after 2nd leaf flushing could hasten flower emergence. UCZ very strongly inhibited inflorescence length, shortening the fruit stalk. There was no significant effect of UCZ on fruit yield but UCZ reduced fruit size. Analysis of fresh fruit showed that UCZ decreased both fresh weight and normal seeds. In vivo pollen germination, observation showed that UCZ delayed pollen tube growth. In the 2nd year, the experiment was conducted to find a suitable concentration for early durian fruiting. Lower concentrations of UCZ could induce both early flowering and more flowering branches than non-chemical application. All lower concentrations of UCZ had no effect on fruit yield. Spraying of 100 mg L-1 UCZ had no effect on suppression of inflorescence elongation and fruit size. UCZ at 250 and 500 mg L-1 inhibited only fruit width, whereas no other fruit size characteristics were suppressed. All lower concentration of UCZ decreased both fresh weight and the number of normal seeds. These results suggest that UCZ promoted flowering in durian by shortening the time of bud release. The reduction of pollen tube growths caused by UCZ could be attributed to the inhibition of normal seed development. We recommended the lower concentration of UCZ at 100 mg L-1 for early durian production.

Collection, conservation, evaluation and use of durian germ plasm at Horana

Unavailability of high quality varieties is one of the constraints in commercial durian production. Aprogram to collect durian gerrnplasm was initiated at Horana. Fruits from 26 seedling trees wereevaluated for fruit weight. number of arils, number of seeds, weight of husk and seeds using six fruitper tree. Aril size, seed size, % rind, % seed and % aril were calculated. Aril color, flavor and overallacceptability were also recorded with a panel test. Results showed high variability in fruit quality traitsexists among trees. Highest variabil ity was found in number of seeds per fruit (CV=36.2%) while %rind showed the lowest variability (CV=7.26%). Number of seeds varied from 3.7 -19.2 per fruitwhile % rind varied from 60.5-79.5%. Nine accessions selected were planted with five replicates forfurther evaluation. Plant height and stem girth showed significant differences at early stages butbecame non significant by three years after planting. At 42 months after planting plant height variedfrom 368-492 ern while stem girth ranged from 42.0 - 52.8 cm. Principal component analysis ofseiected fruit and leaf characteristics of six accessions showed that first three PCs accounted for89.35% of the variation in the characteristics used for the analysis indicating that the varieties of thecollection are diverse. Collection of gerrnplasrn continued with establishment of a field gene bank toconserve accessions with two replicates. Nine selections were also further tested in farmer fields foradaptability.

Organic Production Practices and Technical Inefficiency of Durian Farms in Thailand

The primary purpose of this study is to measure and investigate organic production practices affecting technical inefficiency of durian farms in Thailand. This study applies a stochastic frontier production function approach to measure farm-specific technical inefficiency using the 2011 farm-level cross-sectional survey data of Thai durian farms in a single estimation technique applying the maximum likelihood estimation method. The non-negative technical inefficiency effects are modelled as a function of farm-specific socio-economic, organic production practice and other production management factors. The empirical results suggest two important findings. First, there is confirmation that producer's education, the application of organic farm system and soil improvement practices influenced the technical inefficiency of durian farms. Second, the considerable variability of fertiliser types does not have different impacts on technical inefficiency in Thai durian production in different farms. The results indicate advantages in increasing years of schooling and using organic farm practices in Thai durian farms. Therefore, the policies on encouraging farmers to increase continuing education and suggesting the farmers to use organic production practices in Thai durian farms are recommended to increase technical efficiency in durian production in Thailand.

Automatic Ripeness Grading of Durian Pulp Using Color Histograms and Density

Grading of durian is an important preprocess in durian production line. In this process, since destructive ways such as manual way, etc lose apart of pulp. processing time and quality, nondestructive way is required. This paper proposes an automatic ripeness grading of durian pulp by using color histograms and density. In this method, both color and density of durian pulp are utilized to classify the pulp ripeness. Since in case of ripe pulp, the color changes from white to yellow and density increase, we employ color obtained from video cameras. density from video cameras and weight measurement unit. Ripe pulp is graded by determining appropriate threshold values of color and density. In the experiments, we can classify the ripeness of durian pulp with 87.5% of accuracy

Ecological factors affecting durian production in the forest gardens of West Kalimantan, Indonesia

Whereas a natural ecosystem is stochastically created by mechanism of natural selection, an agroecosystem is systematically fashioned by farmers in response to specificperceived ecological and economic constraints. In this paper, I employ a geographical information systems (GIS) based analysis to examine the beliefs of forest garden owners in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, regarding ecological factors involved in maximizing durian fruit (Durio zibethinus) production. Factors that I tested included individual tree characteristics (age, size, color), microsite factors (on or off ridge, near stream, slope, proximity to rock outcrops, in dry or swampy site), species associations (with other types of trees, spacing to nearest large tree), and the overall position of the garden (on flat land or hill, distance to natural forest). I first conclude that respondents generally had accurate perceptions as to how ecological factors influence durian production. I then briefly discuss how the findings of this study could be used to improve existing and future durian gardens. Finally, I discuss the potential for studying slow-growing agroforestry systems using cross-sectional data collected from plots owned and managed by individual house-holds through the use of a GIS and statistical control.