Month: February 2020

Malaysia exports various palm oil products with different fatty acid compositions. To ensure that the products are within the trade specifications, they have to be tested before export. Therefore, Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) of palm oil products are required to ensure that products meet the specifications. SRM is defined as a reference material, accompanied by … Read more

The field activities of transporting fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to roadside collecting points, spreading fertilizers and weedicide spraying can be mechanized to reduce the number of workers, increase worker productivity and the area covered. The normal method for transporting FFB is by wheelbarrow, controlling weeds by knapsack sprayer and applying fertilizer. These activities are hard … Read more

The physical characteristics of peat soil limits its mechanization.Anotherlimitation is the rising debris from the sinking of the soil. The protruding debris – old logs or T stumps – obstruct the movement of machines and may also damage the under-carriage. Thus, itis importantto consider seriously these limiting factors when introducing machines for peat areas. The … Read more

Basal stem rot (BSR), caused by the fungus Ganoderma, is the most serious disease of oil palm in Malaysia and Indonesia. Previously, research on BSR was hampered by the failure to artificially infect oil palm with the fungus. Although Ganoderma had been associated with BSR (Thompson, 1931), proof of its pathogenicity to satisfy Koch’s postulate … Read more

There is high demand for monounsaturated and polyunsaturated dietary oils and fats; hence, an increase in their unsaturation is desirable. Higher unsaturation in palm oil enables better penetration into the liquid oil market. The current palm oil is semi-solid at room temperature (28ºC), limiting its use as liquid oil in temperate countries. MPOB has developed … Read more

The country is currently facing rapidly depleting prime agricultural land for further expansion of oil palm planting area. As such,the strategy by the oil palm industry should be to increase yield per unit area. This may be achieved through good agricultural practices (GAP) and planting of improved genetic materials. Another alternative is to develop specialized … Read more

The pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a member of the Bromeliaceae, a large, diverse family of about 2000 species. It was introduced to Malaysia in the 16th century by the Portuguese, and it is believed to have originated from South America. The plant is a rosette-forming, herbaceous monocot, 60-20 cm tall and 90 cm – 120 … Read more

Crop integration with oil palm is one way to maximize land productivity. To ensure oil palm growers can integrate their oil palm with other crops continuously, double avenue planting of oil palm was used. However, there is still need to identify the crops suitable for integration. In addition, a good production system for such crops … Read more

The plant canopy temperature provides a measure of the plant response to its environment and has been recognized as a sensitive indicator of plant water status (Jackson et al., 1981; Idso, 1982). The relationships between canopy temperature, air temperature and transpiration depend on atmospheric conditions (vapour pressure deficit, air temperature and wind velocity), the soil … Read more

Termite infestation in oil palm, especially in peat soil, has become a serious problem due to rapid expansion of the industry. Termites were first been reported as an occasional pest on mineral soils. Later, they were documented as a major pest to oil palm on peat (Zulkefli et al., 2000). Many termite species inhabit peat … Read more