After years of research, Vietnamese engineers have successfully designed an environmentally sustainable method for processing pineapple parts - but factory owners have yet to embrace it. Pineapples are the third most popular tropical fruit in the world according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

A U.S.-funded initiative aims to provide a lucrative alternative to opium. This ancient land is telling the world that it has a trendy, new replacement for its dreaded poppy crop: sweet, juicy pomegranates. The country is stamping a logo on all boxes of the pomegranate for export: a drawing of the sliced, red fruit with seeds spilling out and a label that announces, "Anar, Afghan Pomegranate." Anar is the word for pomegranate in various regional languages.

The Asian Citrus Psyllid is about the size of a pinhead but can wipe out acres of citrus trees, and that's what local growers are most afraid of now that the pest has been spotted heading north of Mexico and into California.

Certain breast cancer survivors who load up on fruits and vegetables, eating far more than current U.S. guidelines, can slash their risk the tumors will come back by nearly a third, according to a U.S. study released on Monday. The finding only held for women who did not have hot flashes after their cancer therapy, the researchers said -- a finding that suggests fruits and vegetables act on estrogen.

When going green, every little step is worth a lot, as Costa Rica knows. In the country's latest effort, new biodegradable containers, made from African palm, will Travel to Costa Rica from the Asian country of Malaysia, and will hopefully replace many of their harmful styrofoam and plastic counterparts.

About 450 pineapple farmers from a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) at the weekend ended a three-day seminar on Rapid Multiplication Technique production and marketing of varieties of pineapples. The varieties include smooth cayenne and sugar loaf, which were meant for the local and foreign markets.

Authorities in central Binh Thuan Province are calling for businesses to invest in expensive irradiation equipment to assist exports of dragon fruit to the US. Vietnamese dragon fruit was given the green light to enter the US market from July this year and Vietnam has already sent some shipments to the economic giant.

They call him the Durian King. When truckloads of durians arrive at the fruit stand at Magsaysay Park, the durian trucker no longer bothers unloading the thorny fruits in baskets. All the trucker had to do is throw the fruits at him and he'd catch them with his bare hands. "It's so easy," said Alvin Pogado, 29, showing his callused hands. "Just follow where the fruit is going and don't exert much pressure when you catch them so that you won't get hurt from the thorns."

It's not what makes most gardeners happy but late summer splitting of citrus is normal. Some fruits also turn yellow and drop from the trees at this time. Most citrus experts agree it's the tree's way of regulating what it can support but some varieties including navels and tangerines seem to suffer the September fruit loss more than others.

For instance, a joint venture between the CP Group and Japan's Diamondstar Corporation five years ago has enabled Thai mangosteen and a large variety of Thai mangoes to access the Japanese market. Also, the co-operation contract the group signed with the Australian state of Queensland in 2004 to develop Thai tropical fruit for export has opened up a chance for Australian consumers to taste Thai mangosteen. The deal has also established logistics and marketing...

A fiesta of mouth-watering fruits has dazzled the city dwellers this week. Hundreds of people are turning out to have a glimpse of as many as 70 varieties of fruits showcased at the exhibition and to have a taste of them too. The sweet fragrance of the fruits reaches beyond the fair venue, Khamarbari, Farmgate, allowing those passing the nearby streets to feel the zest.

Nagasandra, a village 50 km from Bangalore in Doddaballapur taluk, isn't any different from the hundreds of others surrounding it.But in a remote corner of this small village is a 1-acre banana plantation that has been part of a unique research project: a study on the effect of anthropogenic liquid waste on soil properties and crop growth. In lay-man terms, it is a study on how human urine can be used as fertilizer in agriculture. G Sridevi, a second-year PhD student at the Department of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Chemistry, University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), GKVK, conducted a study on the effect of human urine on various crops under C A Srinivasa Murthy, professor at the department. Sridevi got the support of Prakash and his family, who own the plantation, to experiment on their field.

A die-hard mango lover living in a small town of Malihabad in Uttar Pradesh has grown 300 varieties of mangoes on a single tree in his orchard. Malihabad has a long tradition of producing delicious varieties of mangoes and one of the famous varieties is known by the name of the town.

Flowers are pentamerous, fragrant, pink to lavender flowers are 9-10 mm in diameter, perfect. There are several flushes of bloom throughout the year with a calyx of 5 pink sepals surrounding the purple corolla; androecium contains 5 fertile stamens and 5 staminoids; gynoecium bears 5 slender united styles. Fruit is a large ovate to ellipsoid indehiscent berry, 6 to 13 cm in length, with 5 (rarely 4 or 6) prominent longitudinal ribs, 5-8 cm long; with a characteristic shape in cross-section resembling a 5-pointed star; yellowish-green, becoming orange-yellow when ripe.

TO many people living in towns and cities, all they know about pawpaw tree is its delicious fruit that is always appetizing. Meanwhile every part of the tree, including the seeds inside the fruit has its medicinal purpose both for humans and animals.