6 new dragon fruit varieties launched By Reynaldo E. Andres Contributor The Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) and the Ilocos Agriculture and Aquatic Resources Research and Development Consortium (ILAARRDEC) have launched six dragon fruit varieties in addition to the existing variety that is common in the Ilocos region. Dubbed as Saniata 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, the new varieties have local names as Imee, Imelda, Miriam, Edit, Mimi and Elena, respectively. The launching was held at the MMSU Teatro Ilocandia during the opening program of the third Saniata Dragon Fruit Festival last July 9. All the six varieties of Saniata were named after the people who shared their support in expanding the dragon fruit production in the province. Saniata 1, which was imported from Taiwan, is named after Ilocos Norte Gov. Maria Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos. Harvesting season of Saniata 1 is April to November with a potential yield of 37 tons per hectare. Saniata 2 is a variety from Thailand and is named after former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos who is concurrently the representative of the province’s second congressional district. Harvesting season of this variety is from April to December with a potential yield of 20 tons per hectare. Saniata 3, or the Miriam variety, came from Vietnam and is named after MMSU President Miriam E. Pascua and the harvesting season of this variety is May to November with a potential yield of 15 tons per hectare. Saniata 4 (Edit) and Saniata 5 (Mimi) came from Thailand and are named after farmer-scientist Edita A. Dacuycuy and her daughter Mildred, respectively. Harvesting season of Saniata 4 is April to December, while Saniata 5 is May to December. They have potential yields of 30 tons and 15 tons per hectare, respectively. On the other hand, Saniata 6 or the Elena variety was a clone variety from Central America and is named after Mrs. Elena Saljay, the grandmother of Councilor Greg Saljay III of Pigcawayan, Cotabato City, who developed the variety. Imee and Imelda varieties have light green stems, while Miriam, Edit, Mildred and Elena have green stems except that in Miriam and Mildred, their stems have white edges and are curly, respectively. In choosing what variety to plant, a farmer can easily distinguish his preference by the color, length and distance of the scales. For instance, the scales of Imee are green with dark red tip having an average length of 6.05 cm and these are set at 1.5 cm apart from each other. Imelda has yellow green with red tip scales having a length of 5.1 cm with a distance of 3.14 cm. Miriam has light green tip scales having a length of 3.41 cm with a distance of 2.78 cm. Edit has green with black tip scales having a length of 4.54 cm with a distance of 2.6 cm, while Mildred has green with red tip scales having a length of 3.76 cm with a distance of 1.28 cm. On the other hand, Elena has yellow with greenish tip scales with a length of 1.0 cm and is set at 0.75 cm distance from each other. When ripe, Imee and Imelda have light red peels, while Miriam, Edit, Mildred and Elena have hot pink, Canada red, sunset glow and yellow peels, respectively. Except for Miriam and Elena, which have white flesh, all the four varieties have brick red and crimson red flesh. The sweetest of them all is Imee and Elena, which have 13.6 and 13.5 degrees Brix, respectively. All the other varieties have sweetness, which ranged from 11.2 to 13.3 degrees Brix. Brix is a measurement used to determine sweetness in fruits.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 03:11:22 +0000
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