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Spices have been known to be highly contaminated commodities with mycotoxins. The Codex Alimentarius reports that nutmeg is particularly contaminated with aflatoxins (AFs) and ochratoxin A (OTA). To eliminate contaminated commodities, visual sorting and bright greenish-yellow fluorescence (BGYF) sorting are used as low-cost technologies in production engineering. In Indonesia, nutmeg is mainly sorted by visual sorting and classified into three grades according to the Indonesian national standards, with importers further defining their own brand as imported products. In this study, we evaluate the efficacy of BGYF sorting as a further selection method to reduce AFs and OTA using the importer's own brand. Further, the level of these mycotoxins and the relationship between fungal flora and mycotoxin contamination were examined. These results showed that BGYF sorting effectively reduces AFs as well as OTA. In addition, BGYF-positive groups were infected by Aspergillus sections Flavi, Nigri, and Circumdati. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutmeg is an important spice and contributes significantly to the gross domestic product of Indonesia. The study examines the impact of climate change on Indonesia and the production of nutmeg over Banda Neira Island. For this, the outputs from high‐resolution regional climate models under different representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), within the framework of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5/Coordinated Regional Climate Down‐scaling Experiment‐Coordinated Output for Regional Evaluations (CMIP5/CORDEX‐CORE) over southeast Asia domain are employed. The representation of the spatial structure of rainfall and temperature climatology is found to be much better in ensembles as compared to individual model experiments. The behaviour of simulated rainfall and temperature from the model experiments is examined to check whether the projected climate favours an increase in nutmeg production. The study found that projected changes in the number of wet days (ideal 100–160 wet days), heavy rainfall events, rising mean temperature above the optimum temperature range (25–26°C), increasing heatwave spells, and prolongation of the warm period led to an unfavourable climate for nutmeg production. Based on the analysis of dynamically produced (model simulated) climate variables, the study rejects the forecasted increase in nutmeg production using a statistical regression model due to the unfavourable climatic conditions that are likely to affect the growth, production and quality of nutmeg. The changing climate not only reduces regional agricultural production but also impacts the socio‐economic condition of the people of Indonesia. Therefore, the study emphasizes implementing stringent climate laws and policies at global, regional and local levels to curb greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the negative impact of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of tropical fisheries often fails because of a limited sectoral approach that disregards the livelihoods of small-scale fishermen. Fishermen are viewed as specialists, although many fisheries cannot provide an income that is large and stable enough to allow for such specialisation. The economic outcome of the enterprise is linked to the production patterns of the resource, and the dynamics of the resource affect the livelihood strategies of the people exploiting these resources. The limiting factors for specialisation in four enterprises exploiting natural resources (purse-seine fishery, sago extraction, nutmeg and clove cultivation) were studied in terms of size, patterns and uncertainty in production and income in the coastal community on Ambon and the Lease Islands (Moluccas, Indonesia). This was done for labourers and owners of fishing gear and land. Only owners of purse-seine vessels have sufficient mean income to maintain their families (27.5 rice equivalents per day), although the basic uncertainty in their daily income is extremely high (CV=410%). For owners of the other three enterprises income is not enough to maintain a household, because of the small scale of the production units, being only tens of trees. For labourers, the daily incomes from fishing and sago extraction are too low (mean income=3.2 and 4.1 rice equivalents per day) to maintain their households of six members at the poverty level (0.88 rice equivalents per capita per day), although both activities can be practised almost year round. Moreover, daily income for labourers from the fishery is highly uncertain because of the uncertainty in daily catches (CV=220%), which is not reduced by price compensation. Although the sharing system reduces the basic uncertainty in the daily income of labourers, the resulting income is still highly uncertain, ranging from 0 to 78 rice equivalents per day (CV=170%). Mean daily income from nutmeg and clove picking are several times higher (8.4 and 13.9 rice equivalents per day), but because of the limited temporal availability of these resources (roughly two months per year for both spices), they cannot provide enough income to maintain a household. The low income and high uncertainty for the labourers involved mean that the purse-seine fishery cannot provide a stable basic income: to stabilise it, other sources of income are needed. This has consequences for many characteristics of the fishery, such as the large proportion of part-time fishermen, the allocation of fishing effort and the type of technical innovations implemented in the fishery. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Myristica fragrans (Myristicaceae) is a tropical evergreen tree that yields the two famous spices: nutmeg and mace. Despite its socio-economic importance, the spatial distribution of its genetic diversity is barely documented. In this aim, 48 nuclear microsatellite markers were isolated of which 14 were polymorphic in M. fragrans. Number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 6. The level of observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.038 to 0.929 across loci. Transferability of these microsatellites in other Myristica species (M. fatua, M. argentea, and M. crassipes) and Myristicaceae species (Horsfieldia palauensis) was tested and successful. These new microsatellites will be useful for future investigation on genetic diversity and population structure of M. fragrans and phylogenetically-related species.