New Plants for Florida: Tropical Fruit

Bird damage to tropical fruit in south Florida

In Dade County, Florida, the production of tropical fruit is a major component of the agricultural industry with total sales amounting to $73.5 million in the 1997-1998 season. Two types of fruit in particular, lychee (Litchi chinensis) and longan (Euphoria longana), are rapidly emerging in economic importance with a combined annual value of over $19 million. For many lychee and longan growers,...

Protein from Tropical Plants

s of Workshop Papers Abstracts of Workshop Paperss of Workshop Papers TOBACCO LEAF PROTEIN Pilot-scale technology that extracts high-quality protein from young tobacco leaves has been developed. Soluble proteins extracted from tobacco plants might be added to foods as nutritional supplements or for functional properties (e.g., gelling, thickening). Although not fully tested, they might have a s...

Colors of Fruit Displays of Bird-dispersed Plants in Two Tropical Forests

Fruit-eating birds are the primary seed dispersers for many plant species in various habitats (Ridley 1930; van der PijI1969). Because seed dispersal is important for plants (Howe and Smallwood 1982), the criteria that birds use in choosing fruits should directly affect the reproductive success of plants that depend on avian seed dispersal. Any fruit trait that enhances the likelihood that an a...

Current status of tropical fruit breeding and genetics for three tropical fruit species cultivated in Japan: pineapple, mango, and papaya

Tropical fruit crops are predominantly produced in tropical and subtropical developing countries, but some are now grown in southern Japan. Pineapple (Ananas comosus), mango (Mangifera indica) and papaya (Carica papaya) are major tropical fruits cultivated in Japan. Modern, well-organized breeding systems have not yet been developed for most tropical fruit species. Most parts of Japan are in th...

Potential Antioxidants from Tropical Plants