NEWSLETTER: MARCH 2018

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1 NEWSLETTER: MARCH 2018 Dear stakeholder, How time flies when you are hard at work! We had aimed to have this newsletter out in the beginning of the year to wish you all a great 2018, but our exciting new developments have been keeping us busy brought some interesting changes to Dube AgriLab, with the addition of a laboratory supervisor, Lucia Tsotetsi, as well as two new propagators and 4 interns. This now brings our team up to 15 permanent members and 4 interns. We have recently been focusing our efforts on the development of ornamental plants and are excited to announce that we have begun exporting cultures to the Netherlands, see the article on grading and packing for export by Lucia Tsotetsi, while at the same time we are still developing new lines for the local market, such as subtropical crops like banana, pineapple and bamboo. Bamboo is an interesting crop with many uses and often a suitable substitute for traditional forestry crops. In her article, Melissa Timothy describes some of the benefits of bamboo. Our efforts to improve the delivery of sugarcane (NovaCane ) to our growers continue; in this newsletter we will highlight the successes in the last year. It is all about monitoring and controlling in order to optimise growth for young plants, to ensure they have the best start and a good chance to grow, whether it is in the field or a greenhouse; see the article by Lindani Nzimande on plant nutrition in ebb and flood systems. Dube AgriLab also participated in some trade shows last year. We are particularity proud to have received a bronze exhibitor award at the 2017 SASTA Congress! See us at the following events throughout 2018: Undercover Farming Expo and Conference: 7-8 March, CSIR, Pretoria Intensive Growers Association (IGA) symposium: o 15 March, Cedara College, Pietermaritzburg o 19 July, Durban (venue to be confirmed) South African Sugar Technologists Association (SASTA) Congress: August, Durban ICC I hope you enjoy the read! Marieke Mendes Senior Manager: Dube AgriLab The Dube AgriLab team SASTA

2 PREPARING FOR EXPORT By Lucia Tsotetsi We are excited to have had our first ornamental plant shipment to the Netherlands last July (2017). These plants were grown in our facility to meet our client s specifications and quality requirements. Controlling and monitoring the quality of plant tissue cultures at different stages is an imperative. Good quality inputs ensure quality outputs; factors such as the quality of the tissue culture media and the physical environment become key in ensuring this. The effects of media (nutrient base) on plant regeneration is crucial, therefore inputs, such as the water that is used in the preparation, has to be free of impurities to avoid unexpected reactions when mixing with other components. Macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, amino acids and growth regulators are used to produce a suitable media (nutrient base) for the optimal growth of a plant. The media quality is monitored by verified equipment in addition to visual inspections. Sterilization and physical checks are required before the media can be used, in order to comply with the set standards and procedures which prevent biological contaminants from causing adverse effects on plant growth. Light is another important environmental factor that controls plant growth since it is related to photosynthesis, phototropism and morphogenesis. Temperature, on the other hand, influences physiological processes such as respiration and photosynthesis. These are regularly monitored and kept within acceptable limits for plant growth. Environmental monitoring is also good practice to ensure that the air in our clean rooms is free from pathogens and this is achieved through a series of microbial tests. It is critical to work aseptically when grading and packing, therefore it is important to disinfect working surfaces regularly, using sterile utensils and working in a well-organized and ventilated space. Personal hygiene plays a major role, thus we ensure the following: Washing of hands before entering the laboratory; Clean gowns/lab coats and surgical gloves are worn; Frequent swabbing of gloves and surface with ethanol while working; and Use of personal protective clothing such as facemasks, hairnets and shoe covers. Each step of the process is traceable as we pride ourselves in supplying high quality, true to type and disease free plants to our valued clients! Sarracenia plantlet to be packed for export 2

3 NOVACANE : THE PAIN-FREE SEEDCANE By Marieke Mendes Propagation using tissue culture is one of the best ways to eliminate virus in planting material, while yielding vigorous young plants of new varieties. NovaCane is a process developed by the South African Sugarcane Research Institute (SASRI) and refers to SASRI varieties propagated through tissue culture. Dube AgriLab supplies NovaCane plants to farmers from our laboratory and greenhouse. Dube AgriLab recently supplied a batch of N12 to the Midlands North Seedcane Committee and we were in the field to monitor the progress of the plant. All NovaCane plants from Dube AgriLab come with a certificate from SASRI that confirms they are true-to-type and we only propagate from verified disease-free clones. There has been some concern by cane growers that NovaCane plants have thin stalks. While that might be true for some varieties in plant cane, this characteristic does not persist in the first ratoon (new crop grown from stubble after harvesting). Sometimes, an increased number of tillers may be observed when compared with transplants. Planting of NovaCane N12 in the field The same NovaCane two months later According to a recent report*, there is no yield compromise (biomass and ERC) in either the plant cane or first ratoon when NovaCane plants are compared with conventional transplant-based propagation. * Source: Field assessment of in vitro micropropagated NovaCane sugarcane (Saccharum spp. hybrids) by S.J Snyman, S.N. Shezi & S. Ramburan, Sugar Tech, DOI /s y. Published online, 13 January 18. Heat treated speedling vs NovaCane N53, KZN north coast NovaCane in the Dube AgriLab hardening greenhouse 3

4 BAMBOO: BENEFITS AND BIOREMEDIATION By Melissa Timothy Bamboo is one of the most important agricultural plants worldwide, generating key non-wood forestry products. Belonging to the family of grasses, Poaceae, it is a fast growing (i.e. ready for harvest after 3-5 years of planting), renewable and easy-to-grow crop whose biomass generation is unsurpassed in the plant kingdom. Bamboo is a very sustainable crop; it requires no irrigation and is grown without pesticides or chemical fertilisers. Its continuous nutrient-rich leaf drop makes it self-mulching, thus increasing topsoil and improving its moisture holding ability. This forest tree plays a significant role in the paper and pulp industry, construction, handicraft industry, fishery as well in the food sector (as edible tender shoots). Bamboo is also used as a biofuel and is an excellent soil erosion inhibitor. An additional interest in this valuable crop is bioremediation. Bioremediation is the term applied to technologies that accelerate natural processes for degradation of environmental pollutants in soil, groundwater and wastewater. These technologies employ living microorganisms (viz. bacterial types) to reduce or eliminate environmental hazards resulting from accumulations of toxic chemicals and other hazardous wastes. Bamboo (filamentous) is used as a carrier of such microbes, facilitating the remediation process by promoting denitration (i.e. removal of nitrates from wastewater or polluted water). The filamentous bamboo enables the formation of a rich microbial community that will then effectively purify waterways. This form of bioremediation is beneficial in that it is an effective means of water treatment without chemical input, and is a low cost (in comparison to other treatments) environmentally friendly process. However, despite its many benefits, one of the main challenges with bamboo is over exploitation in rural and industrial economies, which will lead to depletion of bamboo resources in years to come. To cope with the ever-increasing demand for bamboo, micropropagation via tissue culture offers a means to generate more planting stock on a large scale in a small area. Bamboo in various stages in the laboratory and hardening greenhouse 4

5 NUTRIENT ANALYSIS AND ADJUSTING RECIPES By Lindani Nzimande Dube AgriLab s 3000m² hardening greenhouse fertigates crops by using an ebb and flood system. After plant cultures have been dispatched from the laboratory, they are planted into their appropriate containers and put into the weaning zone on benches. Ebb and flood is a system whereby nutrient water floods a bench or a growing area for a set amount of time or volume of water. During this time, the plants take up nutrients and water and then what is not taken up by the plants is returned back into the tank, saving greatly on inputs such as fertilizer and water. Whilst this method is great on saving input costs, it also comes with a few challenges as the nutrients get taken up selectively, and there are chemical changes that take place whilst the water is standing in the tank. Typically, nutrient build up is one of our focus areas where we ensure that we do not over fertilize our plants to a point where it becomes detrimental. Nutrient solution has been thought to be one of the most important determining factors of crop yield and quality; therefore, we try to gain these necessary insights. During all irrigation, EC (electrical conductivity) and ph sensors serve the sole purpose of monitoring these values. Should there be a build-up, diluting the water is considered as one of the suitable approaches, provided the water quality is still maintained. At Dube AgriZone, a water quality technician regularly test the water and sends out a water quality and nutrient analytical report of our drain water on a monthly basis. This is very helpful, as we can then accurately know what is in our water, and in what quantities, after fertigation. This exercise enables us to feed our plants consistently and optimally, and to also gain an insight into how much the plants are taking up. Should there be an imbalance of nutrients, we then adjust our fertiliser recipes. This is coupled with visual inspection for any deficiency symptoms and the nutrient media may be further optimised. As we initially had no literature to reference from, we had to establish our own nutrient recipes for hardening of tissue-cultured sugarcane, and thereafter have maintained the correct nutrient balance using these findings. Curcuma are propagated in the laboratory, grown in the hardening greenhouse, and prepared for delivery Dube AgriZone, Harvest Avenue, La Mercy, KwaZulu-Natal, 4399 Tel: agrilab@dubetradeport.co.za Web: agrizone.dubetradeport.co.za 5