S. C. Tan, Project Manager
Horticultural Science

The demand of Asian vegetables in Asian countries, such as Japan and Taiwan, has increased steadily. This provides new opportunities for export of Asian vegetables from Western Australia.

Western Australia is well placed to exploit this opportunity because it has an established record of production and export of high quality vegetables in the markets. Some marketing success has already been achieved with one Asian vegetable, Chinese cabbage, and opportunities are there for burdock and daikon, to Taiwan and Japan. A 'Business Plan for the Export of Burdock' has already been published by Agriculture Western Australia in 1997.

The project 'Developing New Export Vegetables' jointly funded by Agriculture Western Australia and the Horticultural Research and Development Corporation (HRDC) has just commenced. Extensive research and market development on burdock and daikon will be conducted over three years.

The origin of burdock and daikon is complex and the genus is widespread in Asian countries. Little information is available regarding the desirable variety, time of planting, suitable location in Western Australia and good cultural practices (e.g. fertilisation, density of planting, disease control) of burdock and daikon.

The general objective of the project is to find new, high value, seasonal and exportable vegetables to diversify the vegetable industry in Western Australia. It also aims to develop new overseas markets with products that meet market requirements and consumer specifications, and to seek suitable varieties to be used as rotation crops, especially in Manjimup/Pemberton areas in Western Australia.

The Project intends to:

• Evaluate and identify burdock and daikon varieties/cultivars to be grown commercially in Western Australia
• Improve/develop postharvest handling, packaging and storage methods for export markets
• Conduct trial shipment
• Develop grower 'Best Management Practices' to improve products efficiency to develop new overseas markets

Contacts have been established with Agriculture New South Wales and Agriculture Victoria. We are very much in the learning process and would welcome any suggestions and advice from our colleagues who have the same interest in Asian vegetables.

Dr. S. C. Tan Agriculture Western Australia Baron-Hay Court South Perth WA 6151 Tel: (08) 9368 3647 Fax: (08) 9367 2625

ASSESSMENT OF ECONOMIC BENEFITS FOR SELECTED ASIAN VEGETABLES

Barry Lee

The principal objective of this study was to conduct an economic feasibility assessment, and define and quantify the major opportunities and economic benefits for selected 'priority' Asian vegetables and markets.

The key issues addressed in this study included:

• Confirmation of priority Asian vegetables and markets for further assessment.
• Identification of key factors influencing the industry in respect to production and marketing.
• Assessment of economic feasibility for the export of Asian vegetables using industry case studies.

The key findings from ten case-studies with industry are:

• Chinese cabbage is a very volatile commodity market with strong competition from both other importers and local industry in the markets. The markets of Taiwan, Japan and Korea were not economically viable in the case-studies.

• Lotus root is less of a commodity product. It is also a less well-known and less well-established vegetable in Australia. Nevetheless, it appears to be a viable Australian export for Japan, but not in Taiwan.

• Burdock similarly, is a less well-known vegetable in Australia which appears to have significant market potential and economic viability for Japan and Korea.

  

• Daikon, as a fresh product is relatively common in Japan with significant market volumes. The freshmarket of Japan was not viable in the case-study and it would appear that the processed daikon market may be a more attractive market in Japan.

Key factors identified as having a major influence upon the commercial viability of Asian vegetable exports include direct and indirect costs, marketable yield, packaging and transport, importers costs and returns and labour management.

Connectica International Level 3, 2 Help Street Chatswood NSW 2067 Tel: (02) 9415 4200 Fax: (02) 9411 8188

EFFECT OF ETHEPHON ON FRUIT YIELD, COLOUR AND PUNGENCY OF CHILLIES

Andreas Klieber

This research is one area covered by Mayuree Krajayklang, a PhD student at the Waite Campus, under a RIRDC research grant into the overall feasibility improvement of a processed chilli industry in Australia.

'Caysan' chillies were treated with ethephon with the aim of synchronising maturation for once-over machine harvesting since manual harvesting incurs excessive labour costs. Ethephon was applied at rates of 0-5000ppm as foliar sprays. The colouration of the top node fruit was accelerated and some minor gains in colour and pungency of the chilli powder were observed in some of the ethephon treatments. However, fruit drop and defoliation were severe and overall marketable fruit yield was decreased by about 50%. This makes ethephon treatments uneconomical, considering the cost of sprays and yield reduction.

As an alternative it is suggested to leave fruit on the bush until the top nodes have attained a marketable deep red colour. This is possible as fruit do not normally drop. While fruit at the lower nodes may be partially dried, this causes no problem for dried chilli powder production. While the growing and maturation period on the bush is longer, it is of no commercial concern in the growing areas investigated (Adelaide and Hunter Valley) as in non-tropical areas only one crop per season is feasible.

Other areas under investigation are the effect of growing stresses on yield and quality, drying parameters and postharvest ripening of chillies. The results of these will be published as they become available.

Ms. Mayuree Krajayklang Dr. Andreas Klieber Department of Horticulture Viticulture and Oenology The University of Adelaide, Waite Campus PMB 1, Glen Osmond SA 5064 Tel: (08) 8303 6653, Fax: (08) 8303 7116

Ms. M. Krajayklang

Dr. A. Klieber

 

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