Editor Note

Journal Agrobiotechnology (JAB) aims to publish up-to-date research and good quality paper covering agriculture, biotechnology, food science and technology, animal sciences, aquatic sciences and other related topics. The members of Faculty of Bioresources and Food Industry had carried out various studies in abovementioned research areas through undergraduate students in their Final Year Project. Selected papers from these studies were published in this special issue with the theme Agrobiotechnology and Food Science in Ensuring Food Security. This special issue highlighted on three main disciplines; animal sciences, food technology and agricultural biotechnology. In line with the faculty aspiration to become the main player in food security research areas, we are nurturing our budding researchers by offering undergraduate research projects covering the four pillars of food security identified by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United nations (FAO); which are availability, access, utilization and stability. As a results,  total of nine articles dedicated on animal sciences, nine on food technology and eleven articled on agricultural biotechnology featured I this special issue

Hubungan antara amalan pengurusan rantaian bekalan hijau (GSCM) dan prestasi rantaian bekalan di sektor pembuatan, Batu Pahat, Johor

Pola pertumbuhan ekonomi telah meningkatkan tahap penggunaan tenaga dan bahan-bahan dan memberi kesan kepada kemampanan alam sekitar. Kemakmuran ekonomi bagi penduduk bandar yang lebih besar, lebih banyak membawa kepada pembaziran pengeluaran. Hal ini berlaku kerana penghasilan sisa dipengaruhi oleh proses perindustrian. Sisa dari sektor pembuatan boleh mendatangkan ancaman terhadap bekalan air, kesihatan awam dan alam sekitar melalui penyebaran bakteria lalu mengakibatkan pencemaran sumber air. Air yang tercemar mungkin mengandungi kepekatan bahan-bahan pencemaran yang tinggi yang dihasilkan oleh kilang-kilang dan akan datang kembali kepada pengguna melalui kitaran air sebagai sumber utama untuk kegunaan harian. Oleh itu, pengguna terdedah kepada pelbagai penyakit dan sekali gus boleh menjejaskan tahap kesihatan mereka (Khairul, Rahman & Ho, 2011). Isu alam persekitaran merupakan isu yang kian mencabar kepada organisasi perniagaan pada masa kini. Pemanasan global, pengurangan kualiti udara dan pencemaran air merupakan beberapa contoh kesan alam sekitar yang boleh dikaitkan dengan aktiviti yang selaras dengan rantaian bekalan organisasi. Pada 9 April 2009, Perdana Menteri telah mengumumkan pembentukan Kementerian Tenaga, Teknologi Hijau dan Air (KeTTHA) bagi menggantikan Kementerian Tenaga, Air dan Komunikasi. Teknologi Hijau merujuk kepada pembangunan dan aplikasi produk, peralatan serta sistem untuk memelihara alam sekitar dan alam semulajadi dan meminimumkan atau mengurangkan kesan negatif daripada aktiviti manusia

Faktor-faktor adaptasi logistik terbalik di sektor pembuatan

Dalam dunia yang mempunyai sumber yang terhad, proses pemulihan yang digunakan untuk bahan atau produk adalah kunci untuk menyokong populasi penduduk dalam meningkatkan penggunaan bahan. Pengurangan bahan buangan menjadi kebimbangan kepada industri negara yang berkonsepkan kitaran bahan kerana bahan buangan tersebut merupakan salah satu sumber yang menjana ekonomi industri tersebut. Proses terbalik melibatkan kos yang besar berbanding keuntungan. Perubahan dalam undang-undang untuk melindungi alam sekitar telah memberi kesan kepada ekonomi dan perkhidmatan. Kini, semakin banyak syarikat yang menggunakan proses aliran terbalik untuk pergerakan barangan dalam sistem logistik mereka. Industri pembuatan merupakan industri utama dalam penggunaan aktiviti logistik terbalik. Sistem logistik terbalik merupakan aktiviti yang membentuk proses yang berterusan untuk penggunaan semula produk sama ada digunakan semula ataupun untuk pelupusan. Pembuatan semula ditakrifkan sebagai salah satu kaedah pemulihan yang digunakan untuk produk yang rosak atau bahagian-bahagian yang boleh diperolehi semula dalam keadaan kualiti yang sama dengan produk baharu dan boleh dimasukkan ke dalam produk baharu dan akan dijual semula dalam pasaran sama dengan bahagian atau produk baharu. Aktiviti logistik terbalik sering dilaksanakan oleh pengeluar asal kerana bahan yang digunakan semula diperlukan untuk pengetahuan dalam pengeluaran tertentu. Eltayeb dan Zailani (2010) menyatakan kebanyakan pengeluar di Malaysia tidak berminat untuk menggunakan semula barangan kitar semula atau pelupusan disebabkan oleh perbelanjaan tambahan untuk mengendalikan aktiviti yang berkaitan dengan logistik terbalik

Effect of Energy Recovery on the Hoisting Crane Adapting Closed Loop Hydraulic Hoisting System

The purpose of this project is to research and study the effect of energy recovery from closed loop hydraulic hoisting system. The project is specifically involving various types of hoisting cranes such as tower cranes, crawler cranes and offshore cranes. In some cases, closed loop hydraulic hoisting circuit is said to have pump 'back driving' during lowering the load. The winch is the spool of the crane and its function is to adjust the tension of the wire rope, on in the case of lowering load, to let out the tension of wire rope so the load will be lowered. But, when the load is of sufficient weight, the hydraulic motor at the winch will behave like a hydraulic pump instead of pushing flow back to the actual hydraulic pump. This phenomenon is what needed to be study and find if there will be some effect to the prime mover (for example diesel motor and electric motor). However, the solution for this problem is said to be introducing a heat loading in the system. Heat loading means is to maintain a power resistance so that there will be a countering effect equivalent to the lowering power generated by the hydraulic motor at the winch. Energy recovery methods are essential so that crane system can recover and reutilize energy, save pump supply energy and improve energy utilization of the crane system. To conduct this project, a method of using the assistant systems and ELS system will be used to recover the energy that was wasted during the crane operation. Thus, the effect on the equipments that are involved in inducing back driving phenomenon will be determine

The effect of thermal to the diameter of Nd : YAG crystal during growth process

The Nd:YAG crystal grown in a pure argon atmosphere using Czochralski method with ADC (Automatic Diameter Control) r.f. heating is reported.The conditions required to grow Nd:YAG single crystals are described. The pull rate was 0.75 mm/h with a seed rotation of 15 rpm. All runs were made with growth along the c-axis direction

EFFECT OF ENERGY RECOVERY ON THE HOISTING CRANE ADAPTING CLOSED LOOP HYDRAULIC HOISTING SYSTEM

The purpose of this project is to research and study the effect of energy recovery from closed loop hydraulic hoisting system. The project is specifically involving various types of hoisting cranes such as tower cranes, crawler cranes and offshore cranes. In some cases, closed loop hydraulic hoisting circuit is said to have pump „back driving‟ during lowering the load. The winch is the spool of the crane and its function is to adjust the tension of the wire rope, on in the case of lowering load, to let out the tension of wire rope so the load will be lowered. But, when the load is of sufficient weight, the hydraulic motor at the winch will behave like a hydraulic pump instead of pushing flow back to the actual hydraulic pump. This phenomenon is what needed to be study and find if there will be some effect to the prime mover (for example diesel motor and electric motor). However, the solution for this problem is said to be introducing a heat loading in the system. Heat loading means is to maintain a power resistance so that there will be a countering effect equivalent to the lowering power generated by the hydraulic motor at the winch. Energy recovery methods are essential so that crane system can recover and reutilize energy, save pump supply energy and improve energy utilization of the crane system. To conduct this project, several experiments will be done using the assistant systems to recover the energy that was wasted during the crane operation

Simulation of hydrogen production for mobile fuel cell applications via autothermal reforming of methane

This paper presents a simulation of catalytic autothermal reforming (ATR) of methane (CH4) for hydrogen (H2) production. ATR is essentially an oxidative steam reforming, which combines the exothermic partial oxidation (PO) with the endothermic steam reforming (SR) under thermally neutral conditions. A model is developed using HYSYS 2004.1 to simulate the conversion behavior of the reformer. The model covers all aspects of major chemical kinetics and heat and mass transfer phenomena in the reformer. The ATR and preferential oxidation (PrOx) processes is modeled using conversion reactor, while the water gas shift (WGS) process is modeled using equilibrium reactor within HYSYS environment. The conditions used for high CH4 conversion and high H2 yield are at air to fuel ratio of 2.5 and water to fuel ratio of 1.5. Under this condition, CH4 conversion of 100% and H2 yield of 44% on wet basis can be achieved and the system efficiency is about 87.7%

Improvement of the total mass and operating time of Knapsack sprayer to Propel Cart Sprayer (PCS)

There are two types of background of the farmers which are the large scale and small scale of agriculture. Usually, the large scale farmers will use the motorize Knapsack Sprayer while the small scale farmers will use manual-operated Knapsack Sprayer. The motorize Knapsack Sprayer that uses by the large scale of agriculture farmers’ area is to save the cost and time [1]. Unfortunately, both types of Knapsack Sprayer have their own ineffectiveness and risk especially the manual Knapsack Sprayer. The farmers that use the manual Knapsack Sprayer will have to carry the heavy load at their back while spraying the pesticide. These are a very burden to the farmers, especially for the old farmers. The weight of the mixture carried can be up to 17 kilograms depends on the density of the mixture whereas the safe weight lifting legalize by OSHA is 22.68 kilograms which the load almost near to its limit for average man and will affect the body locomotion and bones structure is carried in a long term period [2]. The total sprayed area per full tank is 44.09 meters square. The process of spraying the pesticide will slow down because the farmers have to bring the heavy load

FERMENTED BLOOD MEAL USE FOR TIGER GROUPER, Epinephelus fuscoguttatus GROW-OUT DIET

The experiment aimed to evaluate the optimal level of fermented blood meal used in grow-out diets for tiger grouper, as an alternative protein source to fish meal. Juvenile tiger grouper, initial weight 31.1 ± 2.1 g, were stocked into 1 m x 1 m x 2 m floating net cages at 20 fish cage-1. The treatment applied was isoprotein and isocaloric diets formulated to contain fermented blood meal (FBM) of 0%, 7.5%, 15.0%, 22.5%, and 30.0% replacement of fish meal protein. The diets were fed to the fish twice a day to satiation for 20 weeks. Based on the Tukey test, the fish fed 0%–15.0% FBM demonstrated similar performance (P>0.05) to those fed the control diet (FBM0) in terms of specific growth rate, weight gain, and feed and protein efficiency. Specific growth rate, weight gain, feed efficiency and protein efficiency of the fish fed 22.5%–30.5% FBM were significantly lower (P<0.05) than those of the fish fed control diet (FBM0). However, there was a significant culvilinier decliner in overall fish performance with increasing inclusion of FPM and most notable for weight gain, feed efficiency and feed consumption. Based on regression analysis, the asymptote where fish growth deteriorates as a function of FBM inclusion was determined to be 8.9%. Tiger grouper diets incorporating up to 9% FBM as fish meal replacement had no adverse affects on fish growth and survival

Improvement of the ergonomical structure of Knapsack sprayer to propel cart sprayer (PCS)

A sprayer is a device used to spray a liquid projection mostly used in agriculture crop used to apply such as pesticides. The sprayer’s usage are based on the type of the background of the farmers scale in agriculture. Large scale of farmers will use the motorize sprayer that will help saving their time to pesticide a large are of corps [1]. Meanwhile, small scale of farmers will use a manual operated sprayer such as Knapsack Sprayer which it is a low cost, low maintenance and easy to use since it does not have engine when operated. Both type of the sprayer has its own advantages and disadvantages that will affect the user. Mainly the manual operated Knapsack Sprayer is a knapsack type, a burden that will make user carry the heavy load at their back while spraying pesticide. The weight of the mixture carried can be up to 17 kilograms depends on the density of the mixture whereas the safe weight lifting legalize by OSHA is 22.68 kilograms which the load almost near to its limit for average man and will affect the body locomotion and bones structure if carried in a long term period. Total sprayed area per full tank are 44.09 meters square [2]. The product that will be made are to counter this problem occur while using Knapsack Sprayer. This product using pushing force to spray the targeted area without having the user to carry a heavy burden while working