The impact of different drying temperatures on black ginger slices in relation to different applications of growing media

Black ginger (Kaempferia parviflora Wall. Ex. Baker) or “halia hitam” in Malay has beentraditionally used as health-promoting herbs in relieving body pains, allergies, gastrointestinal disorders, and fungal infections. Recently, black ginger has increased attention from many researchers to identify its medicinal value to treat diseases. In line with that, the objective of the study is to determine the impact of drying temperatures of black ginger rhizomes slices on the different applications of growing media. The experiment was arranged in a complete randomized design with two factors viz. i) different growing media [cocopeat, cocopeat+rice husk biochar, cocopeat+palm kernel shell biochar, cocopeat+sugarcane bagasse biochar, and cocopeat+coconut shell biochar] and ii) two different drying temperature (50 °C & 75 °C) with three replications. The postharvest parameters were total phenolic compound (TPC), total antioxidant (TA), water activity (Aw), and mineral nutrients content. In conclusion, rhizomes planted in Cocopeat+600g biochar substrates such as sugarcane bagasse, rice husk, palm kernel shell, and coconut shell could be suggested as effective growing media for black ginger cultivation under fertigation system and continued with 75 °C drying temperatures without adversely affecting the postharvest quality of black ginger

Comparison of bond stresses of deformed steel bars embedded in two different concrete mixes

Catenary action in a precast concrete building structural system is one of the ways to avoid progressive collapse. The key for catenary action to work successfully depends on the strength performance of longitudinal ties, which closely depends on the bond performance between the ties and concrete. This paper investigates the effectiveness of deformed steel bar as catenary tie in precast concrete beam-column connection under column removal scenario. The main objective of the experimental work is to improve the bond performance between deformed steel bar and concrete topping. The parameter considered in the tests is the types of concrete for the topping. The different concrete mixes are normal concrete of Grade 40 and steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC). A series of pullout test specimens are conducted to investigate the bond behavior between the steel ties and the surrounding concrete. The results show the comparison of bond stresses of embedded deformed steel bars in two types of concrete mix. The deformed steel bar with concrete fiber provides higher bond strength as compared to bond in normal concrete. Therefore, it is more suitable for effective catenary tie in precast concrete beam-column connection for maximum efficiency and deformability in order to minimize progressive collapse

Efficient callus induction and plant regeneration of Malaysian indica rice MR219 using anther culture

Rice plant regeneration via anther culture possess several difficulties, these included early anther necrosis and high albinism frequency. In the present study, several biotic and abiotic factors were studied to develop an efficient protocol for the regeneration of Malaysian indica rice MR 219 variety. Callus initiation of anther cultures was evaluated using different N6 media supplemented with 2,4-D in combination with 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), kinetin (Kin) or 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). The present study revealed that incorporation of 1.0 mg/L of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) with 3.0 mg/L of NAA significantly elevated callus induction rate with 8.45%. Callus development was further enhanced with the application of 1.0 mg/L of 2,4-D in combination with 1.0 mg/L of BAP, which resulted in 80.83% of globular callus formation rate. Formation of rooty callus (70.83%) was initiated by 0.5 mg/L of 2,4-D in conjunction with 0.5 mg/L of BAP treatment. The highest somatic embryogenesis rate (25.83%) and regeneration frequency (10.92%) was achieved under 4 °C during 7th day, together with the formation of 2.17 green rice plantlets. Nevertheless, culture browning frequency increased over time and reached the highest (100.00%) at 29th day for both 4 and 8 °C treatments. The highest number of albino plantlets was recorded at 18.17 for in vitro cultures maintained under 8 °C at 14th day. The study herein developed an efficient protocol which enhanced callus development as well as the regeneration of green indica rice plantlets while minimizing albinism

Uptake and translocation of zinc and cadmium by Ricinus communis planted in sewage sludge contaminated soil

An estimated 5 million m3 of sewage sludge is produced annually in Malaysia. By 2020 it is expected to increase to 7 million m3. Phytoremediation is a method using plants to reduce soil contamination. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of Ricinus communis as a phytoremediator. A greenhouse study was conducted at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Treatments (soil + sewage sludge) were: T1 (100% soil, control), T2 (25% sewage sludge + 75% soil), T3 (50% sewage sludge + 50% soil), T4 (75% sewage sludge + 25% soil) and T5 (100% sewage sludge). Cd and Zn concentrations were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS), texture by the pipette gravimetric method, pH by glass electrode pH meter and total carbon by CHNS analyzer. Cd was highly concentrated in the stems (0.29 ppm) while Zn in the leaves (43.29 ppm). The highest translocation factor for Cd was in treatment T4 (3.53) while for Zn in treatment T3 (2.18). The highest bioconcentration factor of Cd was in treatment T5 (0.21) while treatment T2 for Zn (0.69). This species was able to tolerate and accumulate high concentrations of Cd and Zn and can be used as a potential phytoremediator for sewage sludge contaminated soils to reduce soil pollution

Design & Development of Palm Oil Mill Maintenance Management System

Maintenance management has always been a neglected area in management science and often considered as a secondary to production department. Maintenance engineers are expected to cope with maintenance problems without seeking to operate in a cost-effective or optimal manner. As a result, many companies are likely to experience massive maintenance expenditure and exceed its allocated budget. One of the approaches to solve the above matters is using a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). CMMS is a tool to help maintenance engineers manage their management system, which includes maintenance planning, scheduling, and purchasing, parts and inventory control. The needs of CMMS are still on demand to achieve the management objectives because it provides an information technology (IT) support. The project has chosen a palm oil mill as a case study to develop CMMS based on the user requirements. The features of this CMMS developed consist of Work Order, Preventive Maintenance, Inventory and Asset Management. Structured approach is used to develop this system by using Rapid Application Development (RAD) methodology. The completed system has been installed and implemented in United Bell Sdn Bhd. This research can be seen as initial step for further enhancement of maintenance technology incorporating with Information and Communication Technology (JCT)

Improvement of Element Creation Procedure for Generating Initial Triangular Unstructured Mesh for Radiative Heat Transfer Modelling

In this paper, the methods for generating triangular unstructured mesh that follow the approach of Advancing Front Techniques (AFT) are studied. Extended Advancing Front Technique (XAFT) is also another technique that is usually used to generate triangular unstructured meshes especially in radiative heat transfer modeling. The proposed technique which called The Seven Cases Unstructured Triangulation Technique (7CUTT) is compared with the Extended Advancing Front Technique (XAFT). This paper highlights the differences resulted from the transformations with regards to its radius and the cases of consideration during element creation procedure for both techniques. The unstructured mesh generated from both techniques is then integrated with the governing equation of radiative heat transfer in order to obtain the approximation of flue gas temperature in the simplified conceptual model of ethylene furnace by using Discrete Ordinate Method (DOM) in FLUENT software. From the results, the quality of the generated mesh in the simulation using both techniques is compared

Morpho-Physiology and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities of Transgenic Rice Plant Overexpressing ABP57 under Reproductive Stage Drought Condition

MR219 transgenic rice line which overexpressed an auxin-binding protein (ABP57) and its wild-type cultivar, MR219, were screened under well-watered (WW) and drought stress (DS) conditions at the early reproductive stage. This study was conducted with the standard planting distance and under a normal environment to assess the yield advantages based on the field conditions. The aim of this study was to understand the response of these rice genotypes towards DS at morpho-physiological, biochemical, and agronomical levels. It was found that the DS had affected all these levels of the genotypes studied; however, the transgenic plant showed a higher number of tillers, flag leaf area, biomass, relative water content, total chlorophyll content, and antioxidative defense mechanism than the MR219 under DS. Compared to its wild-type, the transgenic plant showed an increased leaf photosynthetic rate by 7% under WW and 11% under DS. The transgenic plant also showed higher yields than MR219 under the WW (10%) and DS (59%). The results propose that drought tolerance is significantly improved in the MR219 transgenic rice line. It may develop a new opportunity for the drought-tolerant rice breeding programme via overexpression of ABP57

Disease resistance of improved MR220 lines against Pyricularia oryzae Cavara and their preliminary agronomic performance

Blast disease caused by Pyricularia oryzae is one of the most destructive fungal diseases of rice in Malaysia. Utilisation of resistant varieties is the most efficient management approach towards reducing yield losses. The line IRTP21683 with the Pi9 gene has shown strong resistance against the isolate MPO988.3 of pathotype P0.0, the most prevalent P. oryzae pathotype in Malaysia. Crossing of IRTP21683 was undertaken with the recurrent parent MR220, a susceptible elite Malaysian rice variety, using a marker assisted backcrossing technique with two simple sequence repeat markers, RM19776 and RM7311, as the tag for the Pi9 gene. Twenty BC3F4 lines with the Pi9 gene were resistant when challenged with MPO 988.3. The cluster analysis based on seven agronomic parameters showed that the resistant BC3F4 lines could be divided into four groups, of which the members in group 1 and 2 have shown comparable or better performance than MR220. Five lines in group 1, B220PI9-3-48, B220PI9-3-76, B220PI9-3-77, B220PI9-3-79 and B220PI9-3-82 showed outstanding yield performance with early maturation

Establishment of effective plantlets regeneration protocol via isolated microspore culture in Malaysian indica rice MR219

The current study recognised the issues encountered in regenerating Malaysia MR219 rice plantlet via microspore culture and attempted to develop an efficient protocol in overcoming the restraints. In the present study, a high proportion of uninucleate microspores (49.17%) was isolated from Stage 2-Segment II panicle (59–61 days), which also exhibited the highest callus initiation rate of 8.50%. Maintenance of the panicles under a cool temperature of 4 °C for 7 days before isolating the microspores, resulted in the highest microspore viability of 58.33% and callus initiation rate of 9.33%. The microspore isolation protocol was also optimised in the present study. The filtration sieve engagement with a pore size of 80 µm and further suspension centrifugation at 800 rpm for 5 min produced the highest microspore viability percentage and callus initiation rate. The incorporation of 3.0 mg/L kinetin in conjunction with 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D greatly enhanced the callus initiation rate, with 11.33%. The callus proliferation capacity, with the formation of 481.67 mg callus, was significantly promoted by the addition of 1.0 mg/L kinetin and 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D into the growth medium. Moreover, a higher green plantlet regeneration frequency of 2.83% was induced by the supplementation of 8% sucrose, which produced an average of 3.50 green plantlets