TT No. 182: Colour meter for measuringfruit ripeness

At present, fresh fruit bunch (FFB) grading is done visually by quality control conductors at estates and by graders at purchasing centres and mills. The most critical process in FFB grading is to categorize the bunches into ripe, under ripe and unripe. The MPOB manual on FFB grading defines a ripe bunch when the mesocarp … Read more

TT No. 181: Integration of free range chicken with oil palm

Malaysia is a net exporter of chicken meat and eggs. The production of broilers and layers in the country is highly intensive with very strong commercial entity. The feed for the bird is imported. In 2001, the import value of animal feed was RM 1.6 billion. The poultry feed is made up of quality corn, … Read more

TT No. 180: Hand-held mechanical cutter

Mechanical harvesting of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) remains an issue that needs to be solved. The current methods involve the use of a chisel or sickle, where the use of such tools require manual labour and this activity is a tedious job. This paper describes a newly innovated mechanical cutter which complements the … Read more