Using methods of distant hybridization and embryo rescue, Greater Kaohsiung’s Agricultural Research and Extension Station introduced an orange-color gene from vanda orchids into moth orchids, and has developed new varieties of pure orange colored moth orchids.
The station has already developed more than 50 combinations by hybridizing moth orchids with the orange color genes from vanda orchids.
With the developed variety “Orange Lover” successfully registered at the Royal Horticultural Society in 2012, three other types of orange moth orchids — the “Orange Girl,” the “Orange Cinderella” and the “Orange Venus” — have recently been approved by the organization, marking the start of a new chapter for Taiwan as “moth orchid kingdom,” the station said.
Photo courtesy of the Kaohsiung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station
Station researcher Tsai Chi-chu (蔡奇助) said the moth orchid is one of the nation’s most important agricultural export products, with exports worth more than NT$100 million (US$3.33 million) a year since 2012.
Taiwan faces competition from Europe, China and Southeast Asia. especially with the Netherlands expanding efforts to collect and cross breed over the past decade, he said, adding that the Netherlands’ advanced cultivating skills and comprehensive marketing strategy has allowed it to become the largest moth orchid sprout producer in the world.
After the station’s success in breeding the new pure orange-colored orchid variety, improving the mottled orange color of moth orchids, it hopes Taiwan’s orange moth orchids will be widely accepted around the world, Tsai said.
He said that plant variety is the foundation of the industry’s development, and Taiwan must keep its advantage of developing new moth orchid varieties so that the industry can continue to be sustainable.
Moreover, Tsai said the pure orange-colored moth orchid is a cross-bred variety made through the station’s “orchid cross-breeding technique service platform,” and the platform is expected to also assist the industry to overcome obstacles in the process of hybridizing to develop new, unique moth orchid varieties.
The genome complexity of these varieties is high and they are difficult to breed using traditional hybridization methods, so there is no fear that companies in the Netherlands can produce similar varieties, he said.
Tsai added that the new varieties are expected to be unique in the market, and unlikely to suffer price competition.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS