mpob_admin – OIL PALM BULLETIN

Nitrous Oxide Emission from Oil Palm Plantation – Why is it Important?

mpob_admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 06:33:37 +0000

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from agriculture is one of the most important sources of greenhouse gases (GHG). Even though oil palm is the most widely cultivated agricultural crop in the tropics, we have relatively poor understanding of the range and magnitude of N2O fluxes from oil palm. Due to the rapid nitrogen (N) cycling through microbial activities, tropical soils are likely to release large amounts of N2O into the atmosphere, which is mainly associated with the fertiliser use in plantations. The spatial heterogeneity in oil palm ecosystems may also contribute to N2O fluxes in tropical soils due to differences in ground disturbances and management levels. Despite the fact that N2O fluxes from agricultural systems are strongly influenced by fertiliser application, data on oil palm plantations established on mineral or peat soils are still limited. Since N2O emissions from fertiliser application account for more than 51% of total plantation emissions, this review aims to summarise the importance of N2O studies for oil palm to obtain more accurate N2O emissions data. This is to have a better understanding on the N dynamics of the oil palm, thus achieving the goal of sustainable palm oil.

Analysis of Red, Green, Blue (RGB) and Near Infrared (NIR) Images from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for Detection of Ganoderma Disease in Oil Palm

mpob_admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 06:33:03 +0000

Ganoderma disease in oil palm caused by Ganoderma boninense fungus has resulted in a significant loss of economic income to Malaysia. There is a need to develop an airborne-based Ganoderma disease detection technology to reduce cost and time, and to cover wide-scale oil palm plantation area. This study examines the performance of red-green-blue (RGB) and near infrared (NIR) digital orthophoto image acquired using a modified digital cameras mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for aerial detection and monitoring of Ganoderma disease in oil palm. In this study, the orthophoto images were filtered using eight adaptive filters with filter sizes of 7×7 and 9×9. The filtered orthophoto images were then processed using three supervised image classifiers i.e., Maximum Likelihood (ML), Mahalanobis Distance (MD) and Neural Net (NN). The classifiers were used to categorise the Ganoderma disease severities into T0 (healthy), T1 (mild), T2 (moderate) and T3 (severe). The classification outputs were assessed using confusion matrix. The classification results suggested that RGB, NIR orthophoto only provided moderate classification accuracy of Ganoderma disease detection in oil palm. Future works should explore the utilisation of hyperspectral orthophoto images for detection of Ganoderma disease in oil palm.

Seedling Age at Field Planting Affecting the Oil Palm Performance

mpob_admin — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 02:37:00 +0000

Field establishment of all seedlings was satisfactory, except for younger seedlings aged 6 and 8-month old (A6 and A8 treatments) which resulted in high mortality due to transplanting shock and pest’s infestation. At the immature stage, the vegetative growth differed signiftcantly with the seedlings age. However, at the mature stage, the vegetative growth affected by different treatments became less apparent, especially between treatments A10 and A12. The result of soil and leaf analysis indicated that the soil and nutrients uptake were not the limiting factors for palm growth at the study site. There was no signiftcant difference in the mean cumulative FFB yield as well as its components in A10 and A12 treatments over eight years. Oil palm planted using 10-month-old seedlings gave comparable FFB yield with 12-month-old seedlings. Therefore, seedlings of 10-month-old are suitable to be used as the minimum age of seedlings recommended for field planting. Bunch quality parameters showed satisfactory levels in most treatments. There were no signiftcant differences in bunch quality parameters of Al0 and Al2 treatments. However, the effects of different seedlings ages planted over eight years showed that the 12-month-old seedlings gave better overall performance than other treatments.

Tumbesaran semua anak benih yang berlainan umur adalah memuaskan kecuali untuk anak benih muda, iaitu rawatan A6 dan A8 yang menunjukkan kematian yang tinggi disebabkan oleh tegasan semasa pemindahan ke ladang dan serangan perosak. Pada peringkat pramatang, parameter tumbesaran tampang berbeza dengan ketara yang meningkat sejajar dengan usia anak benih. Walau bagaimanapun, pada peringkat matang, perbezaan tumbesaran tampang antara rawatan telah menjadi kurang berbeza terutamanya antara rawatan A10 dan A12. Keputusan analisis tanah dan daun menunjukkan tanah dan nutrien bukanlah factor pembatas tumbesaran sawit di tapak kajian. Selama lapan tahun, tiada perbezaan signiftkan didapati dalam purata hasil dan komponennya antara rawatan A10 dan A12. Sawit yang ditanam menggunakan anak benih 10 bulan memberikan hasil yang setanding dengan penggunaan anak benih 12 bulan. Oleh itu, anak benih 10 bulan sesuai untuk dijadikan umur minimum anak benih yang disarankan untuk penanaman di ladang. Parameter kualiti tandan menunjukkan tahap memuaskan dalam kebanyakan rawatan. Tiada perbezaan ketara dalam parameter kualiti tandan antara rawatan A10 dan A12. Walau bagaimanapun, kajian umur penanaman anak benih yang berbeza selama lapan tahun menunjukkan prestasi keseluruhan anak benih berusia 12 bulan memberikan prestasi yang lebih baik berbanding rawatan lain.

PORIM – In Brief

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 11:15:17 +0000

Discussed on the development of PORIM, objectives, early research in oil palm, the need for the established of PORIM, the board of director and progress with the establishment of PORIM.

Chemical changes causing deterioration of palm oil quality

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 11:15:17 +0000

Deterioration of quality implies changes taking place in a product of initial acceptable quality. These changes occur during storage after production and are not the same as the manufacture of an inferior product. The article discussed on the chemical changes, hydrolytic and oxidative changes that caused deterioration, the factors influenced the rate of deterioration and the effects of deterioration.

Recycling waste materials in oil palm plantations: mulching in oil palm

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 11:15:17 +0000

The rapid development of oil palm planting industry in Malaysia has given rise to singularly unique hazards to our environmental quality. Most of these are problems pertaining to water and air pollutions churned out at the factory processing level. Mulching practices discussed in the article are fibres and shells, empty bunches, fronds and inflorescence, trunks and effluents.

A note on the seasonal and related variabilities of the palm oil production in West Malaysia

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 11:15:09 +0000

The yield of oil palm is known to vary, among other variabilities, with a fairly regular 12-month cycle. Most of the observations on the seasonal variation were based on particular fields. It is perhaps still not well-known to what extent such systematic variations in the yield of oil palm are consistent over the whole peninsular. This article investigates on the seasonal variability of the palm oil production in West Malaysia by estimating the seasonal indices.

Biology division of PORIM the oil palm research programme

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 11:15:09 +0000

Dengan tertubuhnya PORIM dalam tahun 1979 program-program penyelidikan kelapa sawit yang sedang dijalankan di MARDI telah dipindahkan kepada PORIM. Tujuan utama program-program penyelidikan bahagian ini adalah untuk meningkatkan pengeluaran minyak, mengurangkan kos pengeluaran dan membaiki kualiti minyak. Makalah ini membincangkan program-program penyelidikan kelapa sawit yang telah diatur berserta beberapa disiplin yang berkaitan

Correlation between vegetative characters in the Nigerian oil palm population

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 11:15:09 +0000

Tiga belas sifat-sifat tampang telah diukur pada populasi kelapa sawit dari Nigeria yang telah ditanam di Kluang. Kesemua tiga belas sifat-sifat ini ada hubungan secara positif diantara satu sama lain pada peringkat populasi, famili dan biji-benih. Walau bagaimana pun pengeluaran pelepah didapati mempunyai hubungan negatif dengan sifat-sifat yang lain pada peringkat populasi. Analisa ‘covariance’ telah dijalankan untuk tiga belas sifat tersebut dan untuk semua tujuan praktik didapati ianya adalah bersifat independen atau separa independen.

Physical properties of palm oil in relation to food use

mpob_admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 11:15:09 +0000

Sifat-sifat fizikal dan kimia bahan-bahan adalah berkaitan rapat. Ini adalah benar keatas minyak-minyak dan lemak-lemak. Minyak-minyak kacang soya dan kacang tanah, yang tidak tepu adalah cair di suhu ambien walaupun dalam hawa sejuk. Minyak kelapa sawit sebaliknya, mempunyai febih kurang 50% komponen tepu, nampak keras di suhu ambien. Sifat-sifat fizikal adalah mustahak sebab keputusan untuk membeli sesuatu keluaran selalunya bergantung diatasnya. Kecergasan untuk digunakan sesuatu keluaran selalunya bergantung kepada sifat-sifat fizikal khas yang rapat. Pertimbangan am tersebut semestinya di tujukan kepada lemak-lemak untuk kegunaaa makanan. Minyak kelapa sawit pada amnya ialah satu komponen penting yang sesuai dalam keluaran-keluaran lemak yang ‘pejal’. Dalam keadaan menekan ia mempunyai nilai hasil dan bila ia melampaui batas ia cair. Untuk memahami sifat tersebut perkara-perkara berikut dibincangkan:

1. Kejadian hablur dan pertukaran mengambil tempat dengan masa.

2. Morfologi hablur dan pengumpulan.

3. Bahagian kandungan pejal di berlainan suhu.

4. Pergerakan sifat-sifat dibawah berlainan keadaan tekanan.

5. Warna.