Postharvest Handling of Indigenous and Underutilized Fruits in Trinidad and Tobago

This chapter briefly outlines the origin of some indigenous and underutilized fruit crops found throughout Trinidad and Tobago. It also examines the current situation, current practices, and maturity standards for postharvest handling of these commodities and examines the principle causes of postharvest losses and poor quality. Finally, the chapter includes some recommendations on the best postharvest practices for these indigenous and underutilized fruits, including field harvesting practices, storage and transportation, and cool storage

Herbicide Use and Increased Scourge of Parthenium hysterophorus in Vegetable Production in Trinidad and Tobago

This chapter highlights a survey of vegetable-producing areas to determine the occurrence, distribution and importance of Parthenium hysterophorus in Trinidad. The weed can significantly reduce crop yields and quality due to its aggressive growth habit, competitiveness and allelopathic interference. Due to its invasive capacity and allelopathic properties, Parthenium hysterophorus has the potential to disrupt the natural ecosystem and threaten the biodiversity. It is a difficult weed to manage, and a wide variety of methods, starting with prevention and containment, is necessary to reduce the incidence and spread of this weed. An integrated approach using cultural, physical, chemical and biological techniques is necessary to be successful. Focus is made on specific herbicides currently being used to manage this weed in vegetables. Despite the negative impact of this weed on the biodiversity, this chapter also explores the potential of the beneficial properties of Parthenium hysterophorous as a mechanism of management

The significance of climate in the pollinator dynamics of a tropical agroforestry system

Even though many globally important tropical agroforestry crops are partially or completely dependent on insect pollination, the conditions influencing pollinator abundance in these systems are often incompletely understood. This is particularly the case for cocoa midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), which are essential for cocoa pollination and thus yield, but agro-ecological management frequently neglects them. We report the first assessment of cocoa midge population dynamics from two Caribbean countries across a full year, and relate this to seasonal climate variables. We used static suction traps along transects to sample insects monthly, from six cocoa farms across three Caribbean islands, with a particular focus on known pollinators of cocoa. A total of over 87,000 insects were captured, including more than 1800 cocoa midges. Midges were present in all months of the survey and on all sites, but typically comprised less than 2% of the total insects caught. At least twelve different species of cocoa midges were identified from this survey. The previous month’s rainfall positively predicted cocoa midge absolute abundance and further analysis also revealed a relationship between rainfall and relative midge abundance. In particular, during drought periods, midge numbers were very low, consistent with their larval ecology. Humidity and mean daily maximum and minimum temperatures did not relate to midge abundance. Rainfall negatively influenced the Shannon-Weaver index. The findings highlight the possible threat of droughts to cocoa pollination services and the importance of proactive farm management to support them

Floral odors and the interaction between pollinating Ceratopogonid midges and Cacao

Most plant species depend upon insect pollination services, including many cash and subsistence crops. Plants compete to attract those insects using visual cues and floral odor which pollinators associate with a reward. The cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, has a highly specialized floral morphology permitting pollination primarily by Ceratopogonid midges. However, these insects do not depend upon cacao flowers for their life cycle, and can use other sugar sources. To understand how floral cues mediate pollination in cacao we developed a method for rearing Ceratopogonidae through several complete lifecycles to provide material for bioassays. We carried out collection and analysis of cacao floral volatiles, and identified a bouquet made up exclusively of saturated and unsaturated, straight-chain hydrocarbons, which is unusual among floral odors. The most abundant components were tridecane, pentadecane, (Z)-7-pentadecene and (Z)-8-heptadecene with a heptadecadiene and heptadecatriene as minor components. We presented adult midges, Forcipomyia sp. (subgen. Forcipomyia), Culicoides paraensis and Dasyhelea borgmeieri, with natural and synthetic cacao flower odors in choice assays. Midges showed weak attraction to the complete natural floral odor in the assay, with no significant evidence of interspecific differences. This suggests that cacao floral volatiles play a role in pollinator behavior. Midges were not attracted to a synthetic blend of the above four major components of cacao flower odor, indicating that a more complete blend is required for attraction. Our findings indicate that cacao pollination is likely facilitated by the volatile blend released by flowers, and that the system involves a generalized odor response common to different species of Ceratopogonidae

POTENTIAL FOR HERBS AND SPICES PRODUCTION IN TRINIDAD & TOBAGO AND METHODS OF THEIR PROPAGATION

The potential for herbs and spices production in Trinidad and Tobago is favourable on account of the climatic and soil conditions. At present there is a flourishing trade in manufactured packaged spices, but due to high cost of production and unavailability of suitable planting material, spice cultivation will be restricted to tumeric, ginger, peppers and now cardamoms. A review of the methods of propagation of a wide range of culinary, medicinal and perfumery herbs and spices is presented. ----- Las posibllidades de produccidn de hierbas y especias en Trinidad y Tobago son favorables, debido a las condiciones del clima y del suelo. Existe actualmente un comercio floreciente de especias manufacturadas y envasadas, pero, debido a los altos costes de producci6n y la inasequibilidad de material de pIantaci6n adecubdo, el cultivo de especias se restdingira a la curcuma longa, eljengibde, las pimientas y, ultimamente, los cardamomos. Seresume los metodos de propagaci6n de una serie de hierbas y especias usadas en Ia cocina, la medecina y la perfumeria

A STUDY OF CANDIDATE BIOMASS BRIQUETTES FOR LOCAL FUEL CONSUMPTION

Charcoal briquettes are widely used in Trinidad and Tobago for outdoor recreational cooking. This study evaluated two invasive plant species Syzygium and Gliricidia as well as dry coconut husks as raw materials for charcoal briquettes. Samples were collected, dried and made into charcoal from a method adopted from MIT D-Lab. Cassava porridge was used as a binder for combining crushed charcoal samples into cylindrical briquettes using a manual mold and mechanical press. Each charcoal briquette sample was tested for burning time, ash content, calorific value, organic carbon, moisture content and phosphorus content. All three charcoal briquette samples displayed burning times of 2.5-3 hours, ash content 8-11%, calorific values 6100-6700 Kcal/Kg, organic carbon 2-4%, moisture content 10-16% and phosphorus < 1.5%. These results are comparable to briquettes sold commercially and validate further research into commercializing charcoal briquettes from the sample raw materials

Health system dynamics analysis of eyecare services in Trinidad and Tobago and progress towards Vision 2020 Goals

Avoidable blindness is an important global public health concern. This study aimed to assess Trinidad and Tobago's progress towards achieving the Pan American Health Organization, 'Strategic Framework for Vision 2020: The Right to Sight-Caribbean Region,' indicators through comprehensive review of the eyecare system, in order to facilitate health system priority setting. We administered structured surveys to six stakeholder groups, including eyecare providers, patients and older adult participants in the National Eye Survey of Trinidad and Tobago. We reviewed reports, registers and policy documents, and used a health system dynamics framework to synthesize data. In 2014, the population of 1.3 million were served by a pluralistic eyecare system, which had achieved 14 out of 27 Strategic Framework indicators. The Government provided free primary, secondary and emergency eyecare services, through 108 health centres and 5 hospitals (0.26 ophthalmologists and 1.32 ophthalmologists-in-training per 50 000 population). Private sector optometrists (4.37 per 50 000 population), and ophthalmologists (0.93 per 50 000 population) provided 80% of all eyecare. Only 19.3% of the adult population had private health insurance, revealing significant out-of-pocket expenditure. We identified potential weaknesses in the eyecare system where investment might reduce avoidable blindness. These included a need for more ophthalmic equipment and maintenance in the public sector, national screening programmes for diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity and neonatal eye defects, and pathways to ensure timely and equitable access to subspecialized surgery. Eyecare for older adults was responsible for an estimated 9.5% (US$22.6 million) of annual health expenditure. This study used the health system dynamics framework and new data to identify priorities for eyecare system strengthening. We recommend this approach for exploring potential health system barriers to addressing avoidable blindness, and other important public health problems