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Tirathaba mundella Walker has emerged as one of the most prominent bunch feeding pests in Sarawak peat oil palm estates. Insecticides application is inevitable to prevent economic loss. However, to protect insect pollinators which cohabitat with the pest and reduce the risk of resistance development among the pest to insecticides, rotation treatments with more than one pollinator-friendly insecticides is recommended. This paper examines the effectiveness of rotating several pollinator-friendly insecticides in controlling the pest. To assess the effectiveness of different rotation combination, a field study on a seven-year-old peat estate was carried out using several insecticides combinations and application intervals, then the level of infestation post-treatment was assessed. Significantly, the results showed that only four single rounds of insecticides application in a year would yield relatively better control than nine rounds of Bacillus thuringiensis applications. Overall, there was no significant difference in clean bunches percentages obtained between five rounds of treatment compared to only four rounds per year. The result strengthens our confidence that the optimum and most cost-effective approach for one-year protection against T. mundella was two rounds of 30.0 g active ingredient of chlorantraniliprole per ha rotated with two rounds of 25.0 g active ingredient of chromafenozide. The material cost was calculated as RM 351.20 per ha per year. The findings of this study would benefit future pest management practice in oil palm plantation established on peatland

Study on leaf properties of an endangered dipterocarp tree species, Dryobalanops beccarii, was conducted in a restored forest. The study focused on the morphology, nutrient concentration and gas exchange in well-developed leaves of D. beccarii at different ontogenetic phases. The hypothesis tested that leaf physiological and morphological changes are related to the nutrient concentration level of D. beccarii leaves in each ontogenetic phase. Seedling leaves were small and thin, whereas adult tree leaves were the large and thick. The stomata density per unit was abundant in adult tree leaves as compared to seedlings and saplings leaves. The net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (A) and stomatal conductance (gs) was increased from the seedling phase until the sapling phase, but decreased as the D. beccarii reached the mature phase. Scarce stomata density in seedling leaves contributed to low Pn, A and gs, while sapling leaves recorded opposite results due to abundant stomata density accompanied by highest accumulation of nitrogen (N) content per unit leaf area. The low concentration of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and magnesium (Mg) detracted the gas exchange performance. Hence, changes in leaf morphology and physiology of D. beccarii were affected by the differences in resource used at each tree ontogenetic phase.

The final composition of the blended Heveaplus MG50 and polyacrylic emulsion paint composition, the depolymerised Heveaplus MG50 latex was mixed with polyacrylic emulsified paint with a minor active pre-dispersed curative agents, other diluent additives and dispersion agents, which was heated up in a steam-batch at 70-80 °C for 25 minute, cool to room-temperature, then the analysis of the final composite material was done using the Bruker ATR FTIR spectroscopy

Tree species composition and diversity were determined at 1,600 m Payeh Maga Highland in Lawas, Sarawak, Borneo. Five study plots (20 x 20 m) were established at five transect lines (1 ha). The study shows that the forest was represented by 40 families, 68 genera and 151 species. Fagaceae represented 26 % of the families recorded, followed by Myrtaceae (16 %) and Clusiaceae (12 %) which are a typical family of montane forest in this region. Important Value Index (IV) showed Lithocarpus urceolaris as the most important species (IV=294 %), followed by Gymnostoma sumatranum (IV=273 %) and Tristaniopsis microcarpa (IV=194 %). There are no significant differences among transects for number of species and diversity indices. This forest is important for biodiversity conservation as it is as rich as those reported for lowland forests elsewhere in this region. The continued accumulation of species is an indication that this highland could support and provide habitat for larger tree species communities.

Banana (Musa spp.) is an important nutrient-rich fruit crop cultivated in the tropics and sub-tropics for local consumption and export. Targets for genetic improvement of banana range from improved fruit quality, yield, disease resistance, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and the biosynthesis of pharmaceutical compounds. Sterility has limited the success of generating new cultivars by conventional breeding. Tissue culture-based technologies that involve embryo rescue, the generation of somaclonal variation, and gene-transfer procedures are a useful adjunct to sexual hybridization, although considerable effort is required to establish robust protoplast-to-plant systems for somatic hybridization. Transformation involving Agrobacterium and biolistics- mediated gene transfer is feasible, underpinned by shoot regeneration from cultured cells and tissues. Molecular characterization of germplasm will facilitate the selection of material most relevant for incorporation into sexual and somatic genetic-imp...

Azadirachta excelsa (Jack) Jacobs is a fast growing indigenous species being promoted as a plantation species in Malaysia. However, the low fertility of most native soils is a primary constraint for good establishment of this species. The effects of fertilizer and vesicular–arbuscular mycorrhizal infection on growth and rate of photosynthesis in A. excelsa seedlings were assessed in a pot experiment. The mycorrhizal inoculated plants (without fertilizer) grew more slowly than control (uninoculated without fertilizer) seedlings, despite the higher percentage of infection. These results suggest that introduced mycorrhizal inoculum was not effective enough to improve seedling growth. Mycorrhizal development was depressed under high levels of fertilizer application. Fertilizer had the strongest effect on growth, biomass and photosynthetic rate, and leaf nutrient concentrations of A. excelsa seedlings. Plants supplied with slow release fertilizer (20N–10P2O5–5K2O) alone gave the most vigorous growth and higher rates of photosynthesis among the fertilizer treatments. These results demonstrate the potential of using slow release fertilizer in promoting seedling growth.

Many organizations are currently embracing the World Wide Web as their primary application infrastructure. However in a rush to acquire and retrofit Web applications, they risk bypassing the systematic design of the software system. We foresee a drastic change or modification that needs to be done on a continual basis and the design should capture such dynamics. This is possible if a detailed systematic architecture is in place that supports change in this changing world. To ensure maintainability and reuse we follow a systematic architecture design for our application, and in this paper we present the design and development of the software architecture for a logistics management system on the World Wide Web.