Halophytes are found in high-salt environments naturally, and their roots may be associated with promising microbial candidates for promoting crop growth and salt tolerance. In this study, halotolerant bacteria were isolated from soil and root samples of Rhizophora apiculate (R. apiculate), Avicennia ofcinalis (A. ofcinalis), Thespesia populnea (T. populnea), Acanthus ilicifolius (A. ilicifolius) and Trichophorum cespitosum (T. cespitosum), five native halophytes of southeast seaside of Vietnam. Isolates were tested for maximum salt tolerant and screened for the ability of phosphate solubilization and indole acetic acid (IAA) production. Colony morphology, pigmentation, and Gram staining of each IAA production halotolerant isolate were determined. The bacterial isolates showed the highest salt tolerance and IAA production were identifed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene. A total of 54 isolates which were able to grow in the presence of up to NaCl 3M were isolated. Twenty-three halotolerant bacterial isolates had the capacity of IAA production, 60.9% from which were Gram positive with a cocci shape, colony in opaque/transparent yellow or opaque/off white, 1 - 2 mm or 2 - 3 mm in diameter with the convex surface. Three isolates VTDD1, VTTD2, and KGOR1 were able to solubilize insoluble phosphorus. The highest IAA production was observed in VTDR1 (93.77 µg/mL) followed by VTMR1 (75.23 µg/mL) and VTDR2 (60.00 µg/mL), while the smallest IAA production was observed in CGOD1 (0.50 µg/mL). The isolates VTDR1 and VTDR2 were identifed as Salinicola tamaricis (99.58% and 99.67% identity respectively), while VTMR1 was found to be Salinicola peritrichatus (98.37% identity).

Cyclea barbata Miers can be used in pharmaceutical industries and food. They are of tropical origin, and thus suitable for cultivation in many places in Vietnam. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different types of growing media on growth, seedling quality of root cutting of Cyclea barbata and fnancial efciency at the nursery stage. A one-factor experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design with three replicates and nine treatments which were different mixtures of sand, rice husk ash, coco peat and vermicompost with different ratios in volume. The results showed that root cutting of Cyclea barbata was planted on the mixed media of 25% rice husk ash: 50% coco peat: 25% vermicompost gave the highest number of roots (17.23 roots/cutting), shoot length (100.48 cm), number of leaves (14.70 leaves/cutting), fresh and dry root matter (3.71 and 0.48 g/cutting), fresh and dry shoot matter (5.45 and 1.50 g/cutting), seedling quality index (0.019) at 75 days after planting, the proft (3,665,800 VND/1000 cuttings) and a proft margin of (0.73 times).

This study was conducted from May 2019 to December 2020 to investigate the diversity of native ornamental fishes in Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve (DNBR). The study identifed 116 fish species belonging to 11 orders and 28 families in the water bodies of the DNBR. The analysis of compilation of the samples in the study further revealed that Cyprinidae was the most abundant family contributing 50 species followed by Perciformes and Siluriformes providing 24 species and 21 species, respectively. Out of 116 recorded species, 53 species were considered as ornamental fish, 77 species as food fish and 31 species as both ornamental and food fish. Among the ornamental fish group, many species have recorded good abundance at studied sites. Most of these fish species are high demand and sold at high prices in the domestic and international markets. The domesticated results showed that 21 ornamental fish species belong to 11 families were adapted and developed well in captivity conditions. The results also specified that eight species reach level 4 of domestication indicating truly domesticated, while the remaining 13 species belong to the first three levels of domestication, implying need to be further domesticated before being marketed. In addition, the study concluded that if managed sustainably, the collection of wild fish for the ornamental fish purpose could provide a stable income and livelihood for communities in the DNBR.

Ben Tre is a coastal province in the Mekong Delta heavily affected by negative impacts of climate change and sea level rise, such as freshwater shortage and increased salinity intrusion during the dry season. This research aimed to develop a remote sensing approach, using time series data to assess drought development for the coastal districts (Ba Tri, Binh Dai, and Thanh Phu) in Ben Tre province. The Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) was analyzed based on the time-series Landsat 8 OLI data, which were obtained continuously from 2009 - 2019 to evaluate drought changes over time. The drought maps of 2009 and 2019 were established and the results showed that there were four levels of drought, including non-drought, slight drought, moderate drought and severe drought. Areas with non-drought and slight drought were reported at 5.65% and 35.34% (about 6,098 ha and 38,146 ha), respectively; while about 53.14% and 5.87% of the study areas were classified as moderate and severe drought (about 57,354 ha and 6,332 ha), respectively. The assessment of fluctuations in the period 2009-2019 showed that the areas of non-drought and slight drought tended to decrease while the areas of moderate and severe drought increased. The drought was positively related to agricultural land-use change as shown by the following formula loge(Pi/(1 - Pi)) = 7.985 * TVDI - 6.746. Drought tended to decrease in the areas where the bare land was changed to lands for perennial crops, rice crops and aquaculture, while drought tended to increase in land-use types of rice and annual crops.

Recovery starch from organic waste significantly contributes to sustainable agricultural production. This study aimed to recover starch from the waste mimicking generated from the curcumin extraction by using ethanol. The physicochemical properties of the isolated starch such as microscopic morphology, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, total starch, iodine binding capacity of starch, curcumin content determined by high-performance liquid chromatography were compared to that of starch obtained from the conventional method of extraction from the fresh rhizome.  The results showed that the starch obtained from the fresh rhizome had a higher yield (21.3% vs. 8.5%) compared to that of starch isolated from the turmeric powder after extracting curcumin. The total starch analysis indicated that the former starch had a higher purity (98% vs. 77%, dw). The SEM imaging showed that both starches had irregular shapes with a thick flat and smooth surface. Although the starch isolated from the turmeric powder showed the dedicated properties of starch, the peak intensity and crystalline structure were remarkably decreased, observed under FTIR and X-ray diffraction analyses, respectively. The pasting analysis showed a clear change in starch obtained from the turmeric powder after ethanol extracting curcumin since a low peak viscosity was recorded. The HPLC curcumin quantification showed that both starches had a very low residue of curcumin (18.4 mg/100 g and 66.5 mg/100 g, dw) after isolation. The process of recovery starch after curcumin extraction from turmeric would be further improved to prevent the changes in physicochemical properties and for better yield.