Budidaya Tanaman Tomat/ Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum)

The tomato is a savory, typically red, edible fruit, as well as the plant (Solanum lycopersicum) which bears it. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler climates.

The tomato fruit is consumed in diverse ways, including raw, as an ingredient in many dishes and sauces, and in drinks. While it is botanically a fruit, it is considered a vegetable for culinary purposes (as well as by the United States Supreme Court, see Nix v. Hedden), which has caused some confusion. The fruit is rich in lycopene, which may have beneficial health effects.

The tomato belongs to the nightshade family. The plants typically grow to 1–3 metres (3–10 ft) in height and have a weak stem that often sprawls over the ground and vines over other plants. It is a perennial in its native habitat, although often grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual.


Budidaya Tanaman Tomat

Budidaya Tanaman Jahe/ Ginger Plant (Zingiber officinale)

Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed whole as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family (Zingiberaceae). Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal.

Ginger cultivation began in South Asia and has since spread to East Africa and the Caribbean. It is sometimes called root ginger to distinguish it from other things that share the name ginger.

The characteristic odor and flavor of ginger is caused by a mixture of zingerone, shogaols and gingerols, volatile oils that compose one to three percent of the weight of fresh ginger. In laboratory animals, the gingerrols increase the motility of the gastrointestinal tract and have analgesic, sedative, antipyretic and antibacterial properties.[4] Ginger oil has been shown to prevent skin cancer in miceand a study at the University of Michigan demonstrated that gingerols can kill ovarian cancer cells. 6]gingerol (1-[4'-hydroxy-3'-methoxyphenyl]-5-hydroxy-3-decanone) is the major pungent principle of ginger, the chemopreventive potentials of -gingerol present a promising future alternative to expensive and toxic therapeutic agents

Ginger contains up to three percent of a fragrant essential oil whose main constituents are sesquiterpenoids, with (-)-zingiberene as the main component. Smaller amounts of other sesquiterpenoids (β-sesquiphellandrene, bisabolene and farnesene) and a small monoterpenoid fraction (β-phelladrene, cineol, and citral) have also been identified.

The pungent taste of ginger is due to nonvolatile phenylpropanoid-derived compounds, particularly gingerols and shogaols, which form from gingerols when ginger is dried or cooked. Zingerone is also produced from gingerols during this process; this compound is less pungent and has a spicy-sweet aroma. Ginger is also a minor chemical irritant, and because of this was used as a horse suppository by pre-World War I mounted regiments for feaguing.

Ginger has a sialagogue action, stimulating the production of saliva, which makes swallowing easier.
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Budidaya Jahe Merah_ Jahe Gadjah_ dan Jahe Emprit

First Documented Case Of Pest Resistance To Biotech Cotton

A pest insect known as bollworm is the first to evolve resistance in the field to plants modified to produce an insecticide called Bt, according to a new research report.

Bt-resistant populations of bollworm, Helicoverpa zea, were found in more than a dozen crop fields in Mississippi and Arkansas between 2003 and 2006.

"What we're seeing is evolution in action," said lead researcher Bruce Tabashnik. "This is the first documented case of field-evolved resistance to a Bt crop."

Bt crops are so named because they have been genetically altered to produce Bt toxins, which kill some insects. The toxins are produced in nature by the widespread bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, hence the abbreviation Bt.

The bollworm resistance to Bt cotton was discovered when a team of University of Arizona entomologists analyzed published data from monitoring studies of six major caterpillar pests of Bt crops in Australia, China, Spain and the U.S. The data documenting bollworm resistance were first collected seven years after Bt cotton was introduced in 1996.

"Resistance is a decrease in pest susceptibility that can be measured over human experience," said Tabashnik, professor and head of UA's entomology department and an expert in insect resistance to insecticides. "When you use an insecticide to control a pest, some populations eventually evolves resistance."

The researchers write in their report that Bt cotton and Bt corn have been grown on more than 162 million hectares (400 million acres) worldwide since 1996, "generating one of the largest selections for insect resistance ever known."

Even so, the researchers found that most caterpillar pests of cotton and corn remained susceptible to Bt crops.

"The resistance occurred in one particular pest in one part of the U.S.," Tabashnik said. "The other major pests attacking Bt crops have not evolved resistance. And even most bollworm populations have not evolved resistance."

The field outcomes refute some experts' worst-case scenarios that predicted pests would become resistant to Bt crops in as few as three years, he said.

"The only other case of field-evolved resistance to Bt toxins involves resistance to Bt sprays," Tabashnik said. He added that such sprays have been used for decades, but now represent a small proportion of the Bt used against crop pests.

The bollworm is a major cotton pest in the southeastern U.S. and Texas, but not in Arizona. The major caterpillar pest of cotton in Arizona is a different species known as pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella, which has remained susceptible to the Bt toxin in biotech cotton.

Tabashnik and his colleagues' article, "Insect resistance to Bt crops: evidence versus theory," will be published in the February issue of Nature Biotechnology. His co-authors are Aaron J. Gassmann, a former UA postdoctoral fellow now an assistant professor at Iowa State University; David W. Crowder, a UA doctoral student; and Yves Carrière, a UA professor of entomology. Tabashnik and Carrière are members of UA's BIO5 Institute.

"Our research shows that in Arizona, Bt cotton reduces use of broad-spectrum insecticides and increases yield," said Carrière. Such insecticides kill both pest insects and beneficial insects.

To delay resistance, non-Bt crops are planted near Bt crops to provide "refuges" for susceptible pests. Because resistant insects are rare, the only mates they are likely to encounter would be susceptible insects from the refuges. The hybrid offspring of such a mating generally would be susceptible to the toxin. In most pests, offspring are resistant to Bt toxins only if both parents are resistant.

In bollworm, however, hybrid offspring produced by matings between susceptible and resistant moths are resistant. Such a dominant inheritance of resistance was predicted to make resistance evolve faster.

The UA researchers found that bollworm resistance evolved fastest in the states with the lowest abundance of refuges.

The field outcomes documented by the global monitoring data fit the predictions of the theory underlying the refuge strategy, Tabashnik said.

Although first-generation biotech cotton contained only one Bt toxin called Cry1Ac, a new variety contains both Cry1Ac and a second Bt toxin, Cry2Ab. The combination overcomes pests that are resistant to just one toxin.

The next steps, Tabashnik said, include conducting research to understand inheritance of resistance to Cry2Ab and developing designer toxins to kill pests resistant to Cry1Ac.

Although preparation of this article was not supported by organizations that may gain or lose financially through its publication, the authors have received support for other research from Monsanto Company and Cotton, Inc. One of the authors (B. T.) is a co-author of a patent application filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization on engineering modified Bt toxins to counter pest resistance, which is related to research published in 2007 (Science 318: 1640-1642. 2007).

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Technology Protects Cotton from Caterpillar's Appetite

The furry-looking insects start their development smaller than the head of a pin, but the caterpillars soon develop an appetite for cotton as big as the crop.

To demonstrate the insects' destructive power, Clemson University entomologist Jeremy Greene planted two cotton varieties -- one genetically modified to provide protection from caterpillars, one not -- in a demonstration field at the Edisto Research and Education Center.

The non-protected cotton was planted in a pattern that spelled the word "Tigers." Aerial photographs taken near harvest show that while the genetically modified crop survived intact, the unprotected plants provided three square meals a day for the crop-hungry herbivores.

The demonstration crop was planted in late May last year and grew through the summer.

"We wanted to show the kind of damage caterpillars can do when they're allowed to eat unprotected cotton freely," Greene said.

Cotton is a multimillion dollar crop in the Palmetto State involving hundreds of farms and thousands of jobs.

Nearly all cotton varieties planted in South Carolina contain genes found in the naturally occurring Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, that help the plant make its own insecticide.

Bt cotton is genetically modified with specific genes from Bacillus thuringiensis. Think of it as in-plant insecticide, Greene said. This technology has been commercially available since 1996, but improvements over the years have enhanced the control of major pests.

The plant makes the proteins just like the bacterium does. The particular strain of Bacillus thuringiensis available in cotton, which was planted for the demonstration, works only on immature lepidopterans, or caterpillars. Lepidoptera is the insect order for moths and butterflies. The toxic proteins have no ill effects on other organisms.

"During 2010, we had a very high population of bollworm that infested cotton acres at the Edisto research center," Greene said. "We planted a non-Bt variety where you see the word 'Tigers' and a two-gene Bt cotton where you see the fluffy white cotton lint."

The striking difference in appearance is due to bollworms eating all of the green cotton bolls in the non-Bt variety that did not have protection from the insects.

Greene applied no insecticides to control caterpillars in this field, so the difference between the Bt and non-Bt varieties is illustrated clearly.

A color-coded yield map, produced by precision agriculture specialist Will Henderson at the Edisto center, illustrates the crop after harvest using one of the center's pickers that is equipped with a yield monitor. The map shows "good" yields in green and "bad" yields in red.

The damage potential of important lepidopteran species, such as bollworm, is not new, Greene said. Moths have flown into fields, laid eggs and hatched as injurious caterpillars for decades.

Transgenic Bt technology and its improvement over the years are relatively recent advances that represent effective, economical and environmentally friendly control of these insects in agriculture, he said.

"We know what they can do to non-Bt cotton versus Bt cotton -- the photographs speak for themselves," Greene said.

Source

PAGAR HIDUP SEBAGAI PENGHASIL PAKAN TERNAK

Hijauan merupakan sumber pakan utama untuk ternak ruminansia (sapi, kerbau, kambing dan domba), sehingga untuk meningkatkan produksi ternak ruminansia harus diikuti oleh peningkatan penyediaan hijauan pakan yang cukup baik kuantitas, kualitas maupun kontinuitasnya.

Hijauan pakan ternak yang umum diberikan untuk ternak ruminansia adalah rumput-rumputan yang berasal dari padang penggembalaan atau kebun rumput, tegalan, pematang serta pinggiran jalan. Bagi sebagian besar peternak, pakan ternak merupakan salah satu kendala untuk mengembangkan usaha peternakannya termasuk juga dalam hal penyediaan hijauan pakan ternak.

Beberapa faktor yang menghambat penyediaan hijauan pakan adalah terjadinya perubahan fungsi lahan yang sebelumnya sebagai sumber hijauan pakan menjadi lahan pemukiman, lahan untuk tanaman pangan dan tanaman industri.

Di lain pihak, sumberdaya alam untuk peternakan berupa padang penggembalaan di Indonesia semakin berkurang. Di samping itu secara umum di Indonesia ketersediaan hijauan pakan juga dipengaruhi oleh iklim, sehingga pada musim kemarau terjadi kekurangan hijauan pakan ternak dan sebaliknya di musim hujan jumlahnya melimpah.

Untuk mengatasi kekurangan hijauan pakan ternak salah satunya adalah dengan memanfaatkan pagar hidup sebagai penghasil pakan ternak. Dilihat dari potensi Indonesia memiliki berbagai jenis tanaman yang dapat digunakan sebagai pagar hidup dengan menghasilkan hijauan yang cukup.

Pagar hidup adalah tanaman tahunan yang ditanam mengikuti batas pemilikan lahan yang mempunyai berbagai fungsi seperti mengamankan lahan dari masuknya ternak, sebagai penahan angin, penahan erosi, sumber kayu bakar dan sumber bahan organik/mulsa dapat diperbaiki menjadi sistem pagar hidup.

Pagar hidup berfungsi sebagai umber pakan ternak, bahan mulsa penyubur tanah, melindungi tanaman dari angin kencang dan untuk mengurangi kecepatan aliran permukaan bila ditanam di lahan yang berlereng curam.

Sumber: http://sinartani.com/mimbarpenyuluh/pagar-hidup-sebagai-penghasil-pakan-ternak-1294640449.htm

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