Briefing on Biotechnology and Agricultural Product Processing Laboratory

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Goal：

• Develop domestic agricultural products with functional food and diverse processing techniques to promote the consumption of domestically agricultural products.
• Establish excellent cultivation techniques for medicinal plants, develop high-quality health products to enhance the value of domestic agricultural products, and increase farmers' income.
• Marker-assisted selection and variety identification techniques for crops.

Personnel：

Three researchers (all holding Master's degrees), one research assistant, and three temporary staff members.

Facilities and Equipments：

Equipment:

• 1 high-speed centrifuge
• 5 laminar flow hoods
• 1 nucleic acid hybridization incubator
• 1 phase-contrast optical microscope
• 1 dissecting microscope
• 1 automated immunoassay analyzer
• 1 microplate shaker
• 3 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) machines
• 1 real-time PCR machine
• 1 capillary electrophoresis machine
• 1 nucleic acid imaging analyzer
• 2 vacuum concentrators
• 2 high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) machines
• 1 high-throughput cell homogenizer

Food processing equipment:

• 1 low-temperature dryer
• 2 hot air drying ovens
• 1 vacuum drying oven
• 1 freeze dryer
• 2 single-screw extruders
• 2 puffing machines
• 2 vacuum sealers
• 1 continuous sealer
• 1 vegetable and fruit slicer
• 1 continuous vegetable cutter
• 2 grinding machines
• 2 automatic filling and packaging machines
• 1 vegetable and fruit low-temperature processing equipment

Facilities:

• 1 greenhouse
• 1 processing room

Ongoing Works：

• Development of functional food products and diverse processing techniques for domestically agricultural products.
• Development of crop molecular identification technology and marker-assisted selection for disease resistance.

Future Research Prospect：

• Development of functional grain products.
• Development of processing techniques for horticultural plants.
• Development of health products

Recent Research Results：

• In 2023, the development of mint cultivation and tea bag manufacturing technology was achieved, with technology transfer to manufacturers for the production of mint-related products.
• In 2023, the application of molecular markers facilitated the selection of cabbage 'Taichung No. 3', which possesses disease-resistant genes suitable for summer cultivation in the flatlands of central Taiwan.
• In 2021, the utilization of molecular marker-assisted breeding technology resulted in the development of Taichung Sen 199, which carries three resistant genes to Bacterial leaf blight of rice.
• In 2020, development of pulse-rice noodle products which was made by combining Taichung Sen 197 rice and pulses.
• In 2020, the development of dragon fruit powder technology allowed dragon fruit to be used as a natural red food coloring for applications in beverages, bubble tea, cookies, cakes, and more. This addressed the limitations in processing dragon fruit as a raw material and improved processing convenience.
• In 2019, marker-assisted selection was applied to develop disease-resistant tomatoes by stacking resistance genes against Tomato yellow leaf curl virus.
• In 2018, a technique for inoculating young cabbage seedlings with Fusarium yellow and detection resistant genes was established, which was applied to disease-resistant backcross breeding.
• In 2016, a production technology for functional food ingredients from whole grain Job's tears, along with analytical methods for active components, was established. This material can be used in the production of health food products such as capsules, beverages, and tablets.
• In 2016, marker-assisted selection was applied to develop disease-resistant of    Bacterial leaf blight of rice by introducing a stack of disease-resistant genes into rice Tainan 9.
• In 2015, a functional formula and production technology for Echinacea were developed, the guidance was provided to farmers for the production of raw materials, with technology transfer to biotech manufacturers for the production of functional Echinacea food products.