National Durian Vol. 21

Thailand emphasizes on the production of Golden Pillow, D158 and other durian varieties that have been exported for a long time. “They also have a lot of Kampung durians which origin is unknown to the locals,” said Tan Kok Siang. Tan Kok Siang is the manager of a durian orchard in Simpang Renggam, Johor, Malaysia. He is also a businessman who has long been dealing with durians at the Malaysia-Thai border. With his help, our team managed to successfully interview Thai durian farmers who still grow the local specialty, Kampung Durian in Betong, Thailand. However, as mentioned earlier, these farmers have no idea of the origin of the Kampung Durian. BITTER THOMROI WITH BRIGHT YELLOW FLESH “We named it Thomroi due to the shape of the fruit,” said Mr. Sutat…

How does high rainfall affect durian cultivation? Let’s take a look at Stephen Chow’s experience. Covering an area of 40 to 50 acres of land, Stephen Chow’s orchard is located in Bentong, Pahang. With the recent climate change, rainfall has increased tremendously in the area. “I have another orchard in Sungai Klau, which is almost the same size. However, the usage of fertiliser is double the amount in my Bentong orchard compared to the Sungai Klau orchard,” said Stephen Chow helplessly. He said that the fertilisers applied are easily washed off in his Bentong orchard due to high rainfall. Durian trees need to be supplemented with fertilisers to stay healthy. Thus, if there is rainfall once fertilisers have been applied, the durian trees have to be sprayed with fertilisers again.…

Chin Woon Khong’s durian orchard is located in Cheroh, Raub, Pahang, covering an area of about 3 acres. There are 40 old trees left by the previous owner and when Chin Woon Khong took over in February 2022, he gradually replanted new durian seedlings in the vacant space in his orchard. “Before taking over, the orchard had hill slopes and was full of overgrowth. There were various fruit trees such as java apple, pineapple, Long Kong, etc,” said Chin Woon Khong. The previous owner was not keen on commercial production of durians. This was apparent since there were different management methods of various fruit trees. The handful of available durian trees in the orchard was not given the best care. “After taking over, I cut down the other fruit trees…

That is chlorosis? It is a yellowing and/or bleaching phenomenon especially on the leaf of a plant. This happens when the organelle chloroplasts responsible for photosynthesis, are deprived of the pigment chlorophylls that give the plant its color green. To maintain the healthy state of chlorophylls sufficient amount of nutrients has to be supplied to the pigments at all time. However, there are many factors that may cause deprivation of nutrients needed to maintain the chlorophyll. And these factors can be categorized to biotic and abiotic factors. A biotic factors are causes that are brought about by non-pathogenic phenomena. Nutrient availability and optimality are the primary source that maintains the chlorophylls in plants. Plants require about 16 types of elements in order to grow and develop healthily. These elements can…