FIELD EVALUATION OF AGRONOMIC PARAMETERS OF PROMISED-INTRODUCED TOMATO CULTIVARS (Solanum Lycopersicon Mill) IN WINTER-SPRING SEASON 2016–2017 IN THUA THIEN HUE, VIETNAM

Abstract: The main objective of this study is to evaluate the growth ability and yield of promised-introduced tomato cultivars during winter-spring season 2016–2017 in Thua Thien Hue province. A total of eight cultivar treatments were used, namely GC171, GC173, CLN2001A, CLN5915, CLN1621L, Hawai7996, Cherry, and ThuanDien. Three promising cultivars (CLN2001A, CLN5915, and CLN1621L) were selected from two previous experiments. The field experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Ten plants per replication were examined. The results show that CLN2001A, GC171, CLN1621L, CLN5915, and Hawai7996 have an early harvest period, ranging from 106 to 109 days, and their morphological and vegetative characteristics of are suitable under Thua Thien Hue conditions. Cultivars CLN5915, CLN1621L, and CLN2001A have a high actual yield with 15.7, 12.1, and 7.8 ton/ha, respectively. The Brix degree of high fruit quality ranges from 4.1 to 4.6 Bx. Therefore, these introduced cultivars can be considered as promising for tomato breeding and cultivation under the local conditions.Keywords: tomato, agronomic characteristics, yield, Thua Thien Hu

Characterisation and mapping of bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) resistance in the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) cultivar Hawaii 7996 and wild tomato germplasm

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Effect of plant density and foliar fertilizer spray on growth and yield of netted melon (Cucumis melo L.) ‘Inthanon RZ’

The cultivation of netted melon is becoming popular in vegetable farms in Vietnam. The netted melon cultivar ‘Inthanon RZ’ was evaluated for its growth ability, yield, fruit quality, and economic efficiency when treated with densities of 38,000 and 33,000 plants/ha and four foliar fertilizer sprays: Biotic foliar AMINO ACID 1000, NPK NUTRI-GOLD 29-10-10 + 3 MgO + TE, NPK HAI-CHYODA 14-17-12 + 12 S, and NPK DAU TRAU 30-10-5 + TE. The experiment was conducted in a plastic house at the Biotechnology Institute of Hue University from January to April 2019. The experiment area was 72 m2. The results indicate that plants have a similar growth time under the cultivation conditions. The plants grown with the density of 38,000 plants/ha exhibit a higher leaf area index. The actual yield ranges from 34.00 tons/ha (AMINO ACID 1000; 33,000 plants/ha) to 46.22 tons/ha (NPK HAI-CHYODA 14-17-12 + 12 S; 38,000 plants/ha). Applying NPK HAI-CHYODA 14-17-12 + 12S or NPK DAU TRAU results in the Brix grade higher than 12.0 for both plant densities. Powdery mildew is the most frequently observed in the treatments with NPK DAU TRAU. The yield and profit obtained from trading the melon are highest for the density of 38,000 plants/ha with fertilizer NPK HAI-CHYODA 14-17-12 + 12S

Influence of nitrogen level and plant density on growth parameters and economic efficiency of sunflower cultured in Thua Thien Hue province

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) cultivation is gaining popularity among Vietnamese farmers. Two separate experiments were conducted from January to April 2018 in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Four levels of each factor were included in the experiments: 0, 20, 40, and 60 kg/ha for nitrogen and 11, 13, 16, and 20 plants/m2 for the density. The nitrogen fertilizer (up to 60 kg/ha) substantially affects the leaf area, diameters of stem plant, receptacle and flower head, and cut flower vase life. Low plant density works well on plant height, leaf number, width and length at the flowering stage, with the largest head diameter (17.2 cm) at the 13 plants/m2 density. Based on the results of both growth ability and economic efficiency, we suggested applying N at 60 kg/ha and planting at 16 plants/m2 density for growing F1 cut sunflowers in Thua Thien Hue province

INFLUENCE OF GROWING MEDIA AND VARIETIES ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF MOKARA IN TAM KY, QUANG NAM PROVINCE

Abstract: Mokara Orchid is a trigeneric hybrid between the Ascocentrum, Vanda and Arachnis Orchids and was created in Singapore in 1969. Mokara is now popularly grown in Vietnam; however, research on variety or growing medium for Mokara orchid in Quang Nam has not been reported yet. The objective of this study is to identify adapted Moraka varieties and suitable growing media for the cultivation of Mokara orchids under the local conditions. The experiment was conducted from June 2016 to December 2017 at Truong Xuan Ward, Tam Ky City, Quang Nam province using a subplot design, where the growing medium is the main plot and Mokara orchid varietyis the split-plot. The experiment includes three Mokara varieties belonging to genus Mokara with 3 colors: yellow, lime, and pink spotand four growing media with different ratios of peanut shell, charcoal, and coir. The results show that the growing media significantly affect the plant height and flower yield, but they do not affect the leaf number, leaf length, leaf width, root number, and flower quality of the Mokara varieties. The varieties affect the growth and development, flower quality, and yield of Mokara. Using the same media, the pink spot Mokara variety gains the best growth and development, and the yellow Mokara variety provides the highest yield. These Mokara varieties gain the best flower quality. The growing medium with 50% coir and 50% peanut shell can be used to plant yellow Mokara (or pink spot Mokara) under the local conditions.Keywords: Mokara orchid varieties, growing medium, coir, peanut shell, yellow Mokara, pink spot Mokar

CORRELATIONS BETWEEN FRUIT’S YIELD WITH HORTICULTURAL TRAITS AND INHERITANCE OF MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS OF SPONGE GOURD (LUFFA CYLINDRICA)

Abstract: Enhancing the production yield fornew generations of each horticultural crop needseffective selecting programs to find outexcellent traits forming thisfruit yield. Therefore,this study aims to investigate the correlations between the fruit yield withhorticultural traits, mainly with yield’s components and inheritance of some morphological traitsofsponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica). An F2 population was generated from a cross between sponge gourds GBVN006904 (male) and GBVN005333 (female) at University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University,Vietnam. The positive correlations are observed between the fruit yield per plant andthe fruit diameter, fruit weight, and number of fruits per plant (0.901**). The male first flower appearance time showsa significant positive correlation with female first flower appearance one. The peduncle length correlates positively with the fruit length. The fruit length is enhanced when fruit weight increases. The total soluble solids and fruit diameter show a slightly negative correlation. Chi-square analysis for the leaf shape, depth of lobing, leaf color, and leaf pubescence shows a good fit to a ratio of 9:6:1, thus being controlled by duplicate genes interaction. The fruit color (dark-green:light-green) fits well to a ratio of 15:1, giving its control to duplicate genes with dark-green color being dominant, whereas the fruit shape assorts independently according toa ratio of 9:3:3:1. The fruit stripe color exhibits monogenic incomplete dominance, and the curvature of the fruit is a monogenic recessive trait. Fruit yield components, such as the number of fruit per plant, the fruit weight, and the fruit diameter,strongly affect the fruit yield of sponge gourd. The inheritance of morphological traits indicates that most of the traits are controlled by complete dominance at both gene pairs excepted for fruit strip color and curvature of fruit.Keywords: correlation, inheritance, morphological traits, sponge gourd, yield component

EFFECT OF SPENT MUSHROOM SUBSTRATE ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF THREE CULTIVARS OF MUSKMELONS (Cucumis melo)

Muskmelons are currently grown in several areas of Vietnam for domestic and international consumer markets. The fruit grows well in greenhouses in soil or soilless substrate such as coconut peat. Researchers in Vietnam are investigating the growth of muskmelons in a range of organic by-products. In this study, spent mushroom substrate was recycled for use as an organic substrate and to evaluate the growth, quality, and yield of three muskmelon varieties including RZ F1, PN 128, and TL3 in greenhouses over three months. The substrate was incubated for one month before use and contained 45% spent mushroom substrate, 30% manure, 7.7% rice husks, 1.5% phosphorus, 0.2% commercial Trichoderma (Tribac), 0.1% rice bran, 15% sand, and 0.5% micronutrients and water. Following incubation, the substrate had optimal pH for the growth of muskmelon and the concentration of nutrients and beneficial microorganisms had increased significantly. The growth of RZ F1 and TL3 cultivars was significantly better than PN 128 in terms of growth, fruit quality, and yield. Specifically, RZ F1 and TL3 species took 78 days and 75 days to complete their life cycle produced 1.76 kg and 1.62 kg of fruit, had a pericarp thickness of 4.0 cm, and possessed 14.20o Brix and 14.88o Brix of soluble solid content, respectively. These findings suggest that agricultural by-products, such as spent mushroom substrate, could be a valuable resource for the culture of muskmelons in Vietnam

Co-expression of recombinant single chain variable fragment recognizing blood antigen fused with sumo and chaperones in Escherichia coli

Single chain variable fragments (scFv) have widely been used in research, diagnosis and treatment, but the scFv is considered as difficult protein for expression in E. coli. In previous studies, we expressed a construction of recombinant single chain variable fragments again antigen specific for blood type A (antiA-scFv) individually or fused with Trx or SUMO. However, soluble fraction was low abandant and only approximately 40% when fused with Trx, the other cases were expressed in form of inclusion body. Therefore, it was difficult for purification, refolding and activity assesment. In thispaper, we demonstrated a suitable construction for soluble production of antiA-scFv fused with SUMO (SM/antiA-scFv) in presence of chaparones. Under fermentation with 0.1 mM IPTG at 20oC, the SM/antiA-scFv was entirely expressed in soluble form. Importantly, after cleavage from SUMO with SUMOprotease, antiA-scFv was still maintained in the supernatant fraction. Therefore, it can help ensure bioactivity and is useful for purification process. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing soluble recombinant scFv fused with SUMO in presence of chaperone for determination of blood group antigens. Thus, this result facilitates the optimal study of soluble expression, purification and bioactivity determination of the antiA-scFv recombinant antibody.

Expression of the recombinant single chain variable fragments recognizing blood antigen fused with thioredoxin in Escherichia coli

The technology of recombinant single chain variable fragments (scFvs) expression has been used in research, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In the previous study, we studied the expression of a recombinant single chain variable fragment recognizing blood A antigen (antiA-scFv) in E. coli. However, the protein was insoluble form resulting in difficulty for purification, refolding and activity assesment. Here, we present the study on fused expression of the recombinant scFv -specific blood A antigen with thioredoxin (Trx) in the expression vector pET32a (+). The results showed that the Trx/antiA-scFv fusion protein was expressed with molecular weight of 49 kDa in a soluble form reaching 40% of the total recombinant protein. This result facilitates the optimal condition of soluble protein expression, purification and bioactivity determination of the antiA-scFv recombinant antibody.

Influence of biofertilizer produced using drumstick (Moringa oleifera L.) unused parts on the growth performance of two leafy vegetables

The non-edible parts of Moringa oleifera, such as stems, branches or leaf petioles, have often been discarded while the leaves are consumed as a vegetable or are used to produce organic fertilizer. This study aimed to determine the optimal conditions for producing Moringa organic fertilizer (MOF) from previously unused parts and to compare these fertilizers with cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer. Seventy kilograms of the unused Moringa parts were blended with fifty kilograms of manure, 0.2 kilogram of Trichoderma-based product and two kilograms of superphosphate. The mixture was incubated at different intervals, including 5, 7 or 9 weeks. Next, the effects of MOF on the growth, yield, ascorbic acid content and Brix of lettuce and mustard spinach were also determined and compared with other organic fertilizers (cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer). Results of the study revealed that 25 tons per ha of MOF were significantly superior to those treated with cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer in the case of vegetable yields. Further, 7 weeks of MOF incubation was found suitable to produce an optimal yield during the various incubation period. These results suggested that the Moringa non-edible parts can make organic fertilizer and enhance growth, yield, and leafy vegetable production