(MPOB Transfer of Technology)
MPOB motorised vessel (5-10 litres capacity) for multiplication of oil plam tissue cultures has been develop (Tarmizi et al., 2009) and is being used routinely. It is an economical and practical method for culturing cell aggregates in larger working volumes of liquid media for increased production. However, there is still a need for the vessel to … Read more
Biological control agents (BCA) using fungal antagonists have gained considerable attention as a viable alternative to chemical control (Papavizas,1985). Ganoderma disease can be controlled by many species of beneficial microbes including fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes. In vitro study showed that a pure culture of the endophytic fungus Phlebia GanoEF3 was capable in inhibiting the growth of Ganoderma boninense and effectively used in … Read more
Over the past years, microorganisms have been isolated and tested as biological control agents against diseases caused by soil borne plant pathogens. It was reported (Noor Haida and Idris et al.,2009) that conidial suspension of GanoEF2 has the potential in suppressing Ganoderma infection in oil palm seedlings. A study was conducted to develop Amiphinema GanoEF2 into powder formulation for controlling Ganoderma disease … Read more
The biofertiliser, ‘microbial inoculants’ comprised of microbial inoculants or assemblages of living microorganisms which exert direct or indirect benefits on plant growth and crop yield through different mechanisms (Fuentes-Ramirez and Caballero_mellado,2005). It can be generally defined as preparations containing live or latent cells of efficient strain of nitrogen-fixing, phosphate solubilising (either bacteria, fungi or algae) … Read more
Biological control agents such as endophytic bacteria have gained significance in suppressing and controlling plant disease. Endophytes have been isolated from several hosts, such as oil palm (Zaiton et al., 2007) and banana (Pan et al., 1997). The capability of colonising host tissue has made endophytic bateria valuable as a tool to improve crop performance. The efficacy … Read more
Biological control is among the options apart from fungicides in controlling phytopathogens. Many species of microorganisms including actinomycetes, bacteria and fungi have the ability to be an effective control agent of plant disease. The use of Strptomyces genus as biological control agent of Ganoderma disease is of interest. The Strptomyces genus in actinomycetes group showed a high inhibition percentage towards Ganoderma boninense in vitro … Read more
Loose fruits are currently collected by hand picking or raking. This technique is not only labour demanding and time-consuming but also tedious. The collection process requires the worker to squat and stand up repeatedly, which cause fatigue. On the average, the time taken for the worker to collect loose fruits is about 28% from the … Read more
It is a challenging to task to evacuate bunches from oil palm planted on peat or soggy areas. Apart from low bearing capacity of the peat, undecomposed or semi-decomposed logs along the harvesting paths require a specially designed vehicle to tackle this problem. The new concept vehicle is specifically built for infield collection on peat … Read more
Despite the advent of technologies, oil palm management often need to spend an average of one week in preparing monthly performance report of their estates (Malek,2002;Paimin,2008). This is essentially an opportunity cost to the managers and supervisors for not attending field operations. More importantly, cost overruns and other operational inefficiencies are only discovered at the … Read more
Bagworms (Lepidoptera:Psychidae) are leaf eating caterpillars characterised by the possession of bag, built from pieces of dried plant materials such as leaves and small twigs ( Barlow,1982). Their outbreak are common in several states in Malaysia and have a significant economic impact on oil palm yield. According to Wood et al. (1973), 43% of yield decline … Read more