Plant-women, senses, and ecological considerations: Rethinking ritual plants and their taboos among the Pangcah of Taiwan (1920–2020)

Anthropologists have made strides in theorizing non-human subjectivity in cosmologies but, emphasizing animals, they underestimate the importance of botanical beings. Pangcah rituals and taboos cannot be separated from plants. Through ritual action, they divide plants into three categories: the first is cereals that have deities and soul, which are the center of animistic and shamanic rituals. These spirits will stick to people (like the substance of cereals) asking for food or aggressively make people ill. The second type is leaf vegetables forbidden to eat before and during rituals. They are regarded as unmarried females and have sexual connotations. The third includes ‘enveloped’ plants (beans and bamboo shoots) that are eaten only during rituals. From the important position of plants in the Pangcah lifeway and cosmology, this article explores the Pangcah ontology and analyzes the mediating role of sensory experience played in the people–plants–spirits encounter.

ANALISIS EFISIENSI TATANIAGA SAYURAN DAUN DI PASAR TRADISIONAL KOTA BOGOR PROVINSI JAWA BARAT

Vegetables can be in the form of plants or parts of plants that are consumed fresh or ripe as part of the diet. There are very diverse types of vegetables in the form of tubers, fruit, flowers or leaves. Leaf vegetables are the type most consumed. 97.29% of the Indonesian population consumes vegetables, the types of vegetables consumed by the Indonesian population are leaf vegetables such as kale, chicory and caisim. The purpose of this research is to analyze the efficiency of trading channels and marketing functions carried out by each marketing actor in the Bogor City Traditional Market by using trading margin, farmer share, profit ratio and R / C cost. This research was conducted on the trading channel actors in the Traditional Market in Bogor City. The number of respondents in the study were 15 farmer respondents and 42 merchant respondents from both markets. The data analysis used purposive method for lapak traders and snowball sampling from retailers to farmers. The results of this study were four leaf vegetable trading channels in the Traditional Market of Bogor City with the efficiency level of the three vegetables considered to be the most efficient, namely channel IV on kale vegetables, channel II on chicory and channel IV on caisim, with each having a margin of yield of 3500, 800, 700 and the highest farmer's share was 82.93%, 81.40% and 59.52%. Thus it is necessary to do more analysis related to the strategy of developing vegetable commodities of kale, chicory and caisim in traditional markets related to marketing activities.

Potential Liquid Fertilizer Made from Goat Feces to Improve Vegetable Product

This study was carried out to examine the production of liquid fertilizer made from goat feces (LFGF) as well as the potency of LFGF for increasing plant growth and yield of vegetables. The study was conducted through 3 studies. The first study was begun with compiling a formulation for LFGF. The selected-raw-material was goat feces added with sugar and ZA, as well as EM (Lactobacillus sp., Actinomycetes sp., Streptomyces sp. and Yeast). The experimental results indicated that an increase in the concentration of ZA resulted in an increase in the total N and S content, as well as an increase EC of LFGF. Increased sugar concentration results in a decrease in pH and an increase in lactic acid content, whereas an increase in ZA decreases the formation of acetic acid. The use of sugar 25 g L−1 water and ZA 50 g L−1 water could produce the best quality of LFGF. The second study was to examine the selected LFGF combined with AB-Mix nutrient solution on the growth and yield of three types of leaf vegetables which were cultivated hydroponically. The results indicated that LFGF can potentially replace AB-Mix fertilizer by up to 50% in hydroponic vegetable cultivation. The third study was to examine the selected LFGF as nutrients availability of mustard that was cultivated in pots, given through planting media with a concentration of 1:40 L−1 water (EC 2300 μS cm−1). It shows that LFGF has the potential to increase the growth and yield of mustard plants in pots.

Antioxidant Activity and Phytochemical Content of Nine Amaranthus Species

Amaranthus species are widely used as grain and leaf vegetables around the world and are potential dietary sources of antioxidants and phenolic compounds. In this study, we examined the variation in total flavonoid contents, total polyphenol contents, and antioxidant activities among 120 accessions of nine Amaranthus species. The antioxidant activity of DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) of the 120 amaranth accessions ranged from 1.1 (A. tricolor) to 75.2 (A. tricolor mg ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE)/g in 2018, and 8.5 (A. tricolor) to 68.8 (A. dubius) mg AAE/g in 2019. ABTS (2,2′-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline 6-sulfonate)) antioxidant activity ranged from 16.7 (A. tricolor) to 78.3 (A. hypochondriacus) mg AAE/g in 2018, and 36.6 (A. tricolor) to 79.2 (A. dubius) mg AAE/g in 2019. Total flavonoid content (TFC) of 2018 and 2019 ranged from 21.7 (A. caudatus) to 52.7 (A. hybridus) and from 22.3 (A. viridis) to 54.7 (A. tricolor), respectively Antioxidant activities were compared using two methods and all components were measured in plants grown both in 2018 and 2019. We identified wide variation among the accessions and between plants grown in the two years. Antioxidant activities and phytochemical contents were consistently negatively correlated. The nine species and 120 accessions clustered into three groups according to their antioxidant activities, total flavonoid contents, and total polyphenol contents in each year. These results provide information about the nutritional profiles of different Amaranthus species.

Bullwhip Effect Study in Leaf Organic Supply Chain

The mismatch between the availability of vegetables and consumer demand is one of the causes of inefficient supply chains. This study aims to analyze the bullwhip effect on the organic leaf vegetable supply chain at PT Simply Fresh Organic (SFO). The analysis method used is a comparison between the coefficient of variation of orders created with the coefficient of variation in requests received by each supply chain institution. The data used are secondary data obtained from PT SFO. The measurement results show that the supply chain flow of organic leaf vegetables had a bullwhip effect at the PT SFO level and no bullwhip effect occurs at the retail level. The value of the BE supply chain value calculation at PT SFO shows a higher figure than at the retail level. The bullwhip effect at PT SFO occurred because of a rationing and shortage gaming policy. Therefore, each member of the supply chain must maintain transparency of data information and utilize digital technology to improve the accuracy of data forecasting requests and reservations quickly.