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A sweet fruit taste of passion fruit is produced by Passiflora ligularis, which adapts in around 1400 masl. Some P. edulis accessions which wide elevation adaptation was reported to have a sweet fruit taste. This study aimed to examine the morphological characteristics of progenies from red- and yellow-rind passion fruit and obtain an adaptive sweet passion fruit accession in low-elevation conditions. A total of 118 progenies of P. edulis classified as their parents’ rind color and fruit shape were germinated in October 2021 and transplanted to the field after two months in Padang city at 163 masl elevations. The characterization was conducted by observing all accessions which produced ripe fruits until September 2022. Results from 35 accessions showed variation in quantitative characters, while similar qualitative characters in stem, leaf, and flower among accessions, except tendril and stem color. The noticeable differences between the accessions are fruit characteristics. Round red-rind accessions have the heaviest fruit (102.05g). Yellow-rind passion fruit has a sweetness level of 19.5°brix, sweeter than oval red-rind (17.04°brix) and round red-rind (16°brix). Accession KK 42, ML 44 and MB 26 reveal high TSS, i.e. 20, 19 and 18°brix, respectively; however, no accession has a sweet taste fruit. A recessive allele may control the sweet taste character. Segregation of the genes that control carbohydrate metabolism into sugar in fruits and outcrosses occurring among accessions are responsible for the variation in fruit characteristics.

One of the problems of upland rice cultivation in dry land is the availability of water needed to maintain humidity and temperature around plant roots. Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica L.) mulch which has a long decomposed duration, can be an alternative to maintain the microclimate humidity and control weeds. This study aimed to obtain the best dose of cogon grass mulch on microclimate, weed management and upland rice yield on ameliorated ultisol soils. The research was carried out using a randomized complete block design with five doses of cogon grass mulch, i.e. 0, 10, 15, 20, and 25 tons/ha and three replications. Data were analyzed statistically by the F test at a 5% significance level and mean comparison using Tukey’s test. Results showed that applying cogon grass mulch could reduce temperature and increase the soil’s moisture. Biomass and species of weeds decreased with increasing doses of cogon grass mulch. Applied 10 tons/ha of cogon grass mulch effectively suppresses weed growth by 42.8%. Cogon grass mulch application did not affect upland rice growth variables, but 20 t/ha mulch significantly increased the yield by 21.7%.

Platelet degranulation allows the release of large secretable pools of biologically active proteins which are critical in wound healing initiation and angiogenesis. Exosomes, which can transport a diverse suite of macromolecules, derived from amniotic epithelial cells (AEC-Exo) improve wound healing and angiogenesis. However, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. In this investigation, we performed a user-friendly bioinformatics analysis system to identify association among the angiogenic and wound healing effects of AEC-Exo treatments. To this end, FunRich software was used, and linked to the Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) as a background database. Several enrichment analyses, including biological process, cellular component, molecular function, and protein domains were conducted on AEC-Exo proteome. Furthermore, to identify the proteins involved in platelet degranulation and evaluate protein–protein association information, comparative analyses and interaction network analyses were illustrated using the NCBI BioSystems, ExoCarta, and STRING databases. Our results indicated the statistically significant association between the proteome in AEC-Exo, platelet degranulation, and their corresponding processes. Therefore, the involvement of platelet degranulation in AEC-Exo proteins may elucidate the angiogenic and wound-healing effects of AEC-Exo treatments.

Okra attains its best fruit quality when the pods are still tender. The previous research reported that the crosses of the local okra, i.e. okra Merah and okra Hijau with introduced variety VE022 and B291 success to obtain plants with extended picking time. This research aimed to evaluate the fruit picking time and fruit characteristics of the F2 population and obtain the F2 genotypes that have a more extended fruit picking time. The research was conducted at the Research Station of the Faculty of Agriculture, Andalas University. The materials used are seeds collected from selfed-pollination of ten crosses [F2 populations] and okra Merah and okra Hijau cultivar as a control. Data collected based on an individual observation, and then the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and unpaired t-test at a 5% significance level. Results showed that a particular plant from the F2 population has a more extended picking time of up to nine days after anthesis, indicating improved fruit quality characters, i.e. fruit length, fruit diameter, and fruit weight. Plants obtained with a longer fruit picking time of nine and eight days after anthesis are 14.4% and 67.0%, respectively. Selected plants, i.e. FOHVE022-8-13, SOMVE022-10-1, and FOHVE022-8-13 that consistently reveal a high number of fruits per plant, larger fruit size, and heavier fruit weight, need to be self-pollinated and evaluated in further research before releasing as a variety.

Information about seed physical and chemical properties and their influence on seed dormancy, viability and vigor are barely established. The information can be useful to avoid seed deterioration and to maximize germination. This research aimed to observe the physical and chemical oil palm seed properties, and their relation to the viability and vigor. Three genotypes [Ts, Da, and Ce] from the Dura variety and one genotype [Gh] from the Pisifera variety were evaluated in a completely randomized block design with three replicates. Each genotype had different physical and chemical properties. Seeds of each genotype showed increasing amounts of carbohydrate and decreasing of water, protein, lipid, and lignin content after being held at 40°C for 45 days to break seed dormancy. Genotype Da had the highest viability and vigor compared to Ts and Ce. At the same time, there was no seed of genotype Gh germinate, probably due to the heat treatment was not suitable in breaking dormancy. There were correlations between seed weight, lipid, carbohydrate and lignin properties with seed viability and vigor. Seed protein content seems contributed less to germination compared to seed carbohydrate and lipid content.

Biscuits are one of the food products that have low moisture content so that they have the potential to have a long shelf life and are suitable for use as emergency food products. There are several ingredients to made biscuits. Ingredients such as sweet potato flour and denaturated whey protein concentrate are useful to fulfil macro nutrient needs, especially carbohydrate and protein content. In order to fulfil micro nutrient needs, mineral mix is added to emergency food. The amount of ingredients that added in biscuit will affect final product’s characteristics. Therefore, this research aims to determine the formulation of the addition of protein and mineral concentration which provides the characteristics of biscuit emergency food according to the standard. Some of the ingredients that added to the biscuit have their own characteristics which will affect the final results of the product. Hence, this research has hypothesis that the addition of mineral mix and denaturated whey protein concentrate with optimal concentration can produces biscuit formulations that are accordance with the standard. In this research, Response Surface Method was employed to optimize response. The independent variable is the addition of denaturated whey protein concentrate concentrations of 10%–15% and mineral mix concentrations of 2%–3.5%. The dependent variable is moisture content. The result of this experiment is protein and mineral with several concentration will not affected moisture content of biscuits.