Biomass-based palm shell activated carbon and palm shell carbon molecular sieve as gas separation adsorbents.

PubMed

Sethupathi, Sumathi; Bashir, Mohammed Jk; Akbar, Zinatizadeh Ali; Mohamed, Abdul Rahman

2015-04-01

Lignocellulosic biomass has been widely recognised as a potential low-cost source for the production of high added value materials and proved to be a good precursor for the production of activated carbons. One of such valuable biomasses used for the production of activated carbons is palm shell. Palm shell (endocarp) is an abundant by-product produced from the palm oil industries throughout tropical countries. Palm shell activated carbon and palm shell carbon molecular sieve has been widely applied in various environmental pollution control technologies, mainly owing to its high adsorption performance, well-developed porosity and low cost, leading to potential applications in gas-phase separation using adsorption processes. This mini-review represents a comprehensive overview of the palm shell activated carbon and palm shell carbon molecular sieve preparation method, physicochemical properties and feasibility of palm shell activated carbon and palm shell carbon molecular sieve in gas separation processes. Some of the limitations are outlined and suggestions for future improvements are pointed out. © The Author(s) 2015.

Transgenic oil palm: production and projection.

PubMed

Parveez, G K; Masri, M M; Zainal, A; Majid, N A; Yunus, A M; Fadilah, H H; Rasid, O; Cheah, S C

2000-12-01

Oil palm is an important economic crop for Malaysia. Genetic engineering could be applied to produce transgenic oil palms with high value-added fatty acids and novel products to ensure the sustainability of the palm oil industry. Establishment of a reliable transformation and regeneration system is essential for genetic engineering. Biolistic was initially chosen as the method for oil palm transformation as it has been the most successful method for monocotyledons to date. Optimization of physical and biological parameters, including testing of promoters and selective agents, was carried out as a prerequisite for stable transformation. This has resulted in the successful transfer of reporter genes into oil palm and the regeneration of transgenic oil palm, thus making it possible to improve the oil palm through genetic engineering. Besides application of the Biolistics method, studies on transformation mediated by Agrobacterium and utilization of the green fluorescent protein gene as a selectable marker gene have been initiated. Upon the development of a reliable transformation system, a number of useful targets are being projected for oil palm improvement. Among these targets are high-oleate and high-stearate oils, and the production of industrial feedstock such as biodegradable plastics. The efforts in oil palm genetic engineering are thus not targeted as commodity palm oil. Due to the long life cycle of the palm and the time taken to regenerate plants in tissue culture, it is envisaged that commercial planting of transgenic palms will not occur any earlier than the year 2020.

Research advancements in palm oil nutrition.

PubMed

May, Choo Yuen; Nesaretnam, Kalanithi

2014-10-01

Palm oil is the major oil produced, with annual world production in excess of 50 million tonnes. About 85% of global palm oil produced is used in food applications. Over the past three decades, research on nutritional benefits of palm oil have demonstrated the nutritional adequacy of palm oil and its products, and have resulted in transitions in the understanding these attributes. Numerous studies have demonstrated that palm oil was similar to unsaturated oils with regards to effects on blood lipids. Palm oil provides a healthy alternative to trans-fatty acid containing hydrogenated fats that have been demonstrated to have serious deleterious effects on health. The similar effects of palm oil on blood lipids, comparable to other vegetable oils could very well be due to the structure of the major triglycerides in palm oil, which has an unsaturated fatty acid in the stereospecific numbers ( sn) -2 position of the glycerol backbone. In addition, palm oil is well endowed with a bouquet of phytonutrients beneficial to health, such as tocotrienols, carotenoids, and phytosterols. This review will provide an overview of studies that have established palm oil as a balanced and nutritious oil.

Research advancements in palm oil nutrition*

PubMed Central

May, Choo Yuen; Nesaretnam, Kalanithi

2014-01-01

Palm oil is the major oil produced, with annual world production in excess of 50 million tonnes. About 85% of global palm oil produced is used in food applications. Over the past three decades, research on nutritional benefits of palm oil have demonstrated the nutritional adequacy of palm oil and its products, and have resulted in transitions in the understanding these attributes. Numerous studies have demonstrated that palm oil was similar to unsaturated oils with regards to effects on blood lipids. Palm oil provides a healthy alternative to trans-fatty acid containing hydrogenated fats that have been demonstrated to have serious deleterious effects on health. The similar effects of palm oil on blood lipids, comparable to other vegetable oils could very well be due to the structure of the major triglycerides in palm oil, which has an unsaturated fatty acid in the stereospecific numbers (sn)-2 position of the glycerol backbone. In addition, palm oil is well endowed with a bouquet of phytonutrients beneficial to health, such as tocotrienols, carotenoids, and phytosterols. This review will provide an overview of studies that have established palm oil as a balanced and nutritious oil. PMID:25821404

Trace elements and radionuclides in palm oil, soil, water, and leaves from oil palm plantations: A review.

PubMed

Olafisoye, O B; Oguntibeju, O O; Osibote, O A

2017-05-03

Oil palm (Elaeisguineensis) is one of the most productive oil producing plant in the world. Crude palm oil is composed of triglycerides supplying the world's need of edible oils and fats. Palm oil also provides essential elements and antioxidants that are potential mediators of cellular functions. Experimental studies have demonstrated the toxicity of the accumulation of significant amounts of nonessential trace elements and radionuclides in palm oil that affects the health of consumers. It has been reported that uptake of trace elements and radionuclides from the oil palm tree may be from water and soil on the palm plantations. In the present review, an attempt was made to revise and access knowledge on the presence of some selected trace elements and radionuclides in palm oil, soil, water, and leaves from oil palm plantations based on the available facts and data. Existing reports show that the presence of nonessential trace elements and radionuclides in palm oil may be from natural or anthropogenic sources in the environment. However, the available literature is limited and further research need to be channeled to the investigation of trace elements and radionuclides in soil, water, leaves, and palm oil from oil palm plantations around the globe.

Oil Palm Expansion in the Brazilian Amazon (2006-2014): Effects of the 2010 Sustainable Oil Palm Production Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benami, E.; Curran, L. M.

2017-12-01

Brazil has the world's largest suitable land area for oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) establishment, with estimates as high as 238 million ha. To promote oil palm development, Brazil launched the Sustainable Palm Oil Production Program (SPOPP) in 2010 and delineated 30 million ha for its growth that excluded forested areas and indigenous reserves. Here we examine oil palm expansion (2006-2014) as well as the SPOPP's effectiveness in Pará, the major oil palm producing state in Brazil. By combining analyses of satellite imagery, land registration data, and site based interviews, we found that oil palm area expanded 205%. Although >50% of oil palm parcels were located within 0.5 km of intact forests, <5% of intact forests were converted by direct deforestation. In contrast, 15-90% of oil palm expansion in Asia and other Latin American countries came from directly converting forested lands. Direct intact forest conversion pre- and post-SPOPP declined from 4% to <1%; however, <1% of the 30 million ha promoted for oil palm was developed by 2014. To explore the major factors that may have constrained oil palm expansion under the SPOPP, we conducted microeconomic simulations of oil palm production, combined with interviews with actors/individuals from oil palm companies, civil society, researchers at universities and NGOs, and governmental agencies. Brazil's oil palm-deforestation dynamics, policies, and economic conditions will be discussed.

Comparative transcriptome and metabolite analysis of oil palm and date palm mesocarp that differ dramatically in carbon partitioning.

PubMed

Bourgis, Fabienne; Kilaru, Aruna; Cao, Xia; Ngando-Ebongue, Georges-Frank; Drira, Noureddine; Ohlrogge, John B; Arondel, Vincent

2011-07-26

Oil palm can accumulate up to 90% oil in its mesocarp, the highest level observed in the plant kingdom. In contrast, the closely related date palm accumulates almost exclusively sugars. To gain insight into the mechanisms that lead to such an extreme difference in carbon partitioning, the transcriptome and metabolite content of oil palm and date palm were compared during mesocarp development. Compared with date palm, the high oil content in oil palm was associated with much higher transcript levels for all fatty acid synthesis enzymes, specific plastid transporters, and key enzymes of plastidial carbon metabolism, including phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase, and pyruvate dehydrogenase. Transcripts representing an ortholog of the WRI1 transcription factor were 57-fold higher in oil palm relative to date palm and displayed a temporal pattern similar to its target genes. Unexpectedly, despite more than a 100-fold difference in flux to lipids, most enzymes of triacylglycerol assembly were expressed at similar levels in oil palm and date palm. Similarly, transcript levels for all but one cytosolic enzyme of glycolysis were comparable in both species. Together, these data point to synthesis of fatty acids and supply of pyruvate in the plastid, rather than acyl assembly into triacylglycerol, as a major control over the storage of oil in the mesocarp of oil palm. In addition to greatly increasing molecular resources devoted to oil palm and date palm, the combination of temporal and comparative studies illustrates how deep sequencing can provide insights into gene expression patterns of two species that lack genome sequence information.

Comparative transcriptome and metabolite analysis of oil palm and date palm mesocarp that differ dramatically in carbon partitioning

PubMed Central

Bourgis, Fabienne; Kilaru, Aruna; Cao, Xia; Ngando-Ebongue, Georges-Frank; Drira, Noureddine; Ohlrogge, John B.; Arondel, Vincent

2011-01-01

Oil palm can accumulate up to 90% oil in its mesocarp, the highest level observed in the plant kingdom. In contrast, the closely related date palm accumulates almost exclusively sugars. To gain insight into the mechanisms that lead to such an extreme difference in carbon partitioning, the transcriptome and metabolite content of oil palm and date palm were compared during mesocarp development. Compared with date palm, the high oil content in oil palm was associated with much higher transcript levels for all fatty acid synthesis enzymes, specific plastid transporters, and key enzymes of plastidial carbon metabolism, including phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase, and pyruvate dehydrogenase. Transcripts representing an ortholog of the WRI1 transcription factor were 57-fold higher in oil palm relative to date palm and displayed a temporal pattern similar to its target genes. Unexpectedly, despite more than a 100-fold difference in flux to lipids, most enzymes of triacylglycerol assembly were expressed at similar levels in oil palm and date palm. Similarly, transcript levels for all but one cytosolic enzyme of glycolysis were comparable in both species. Together, these data point to synthesis of fatty acids and supply of pyruvate in the plastid, rather than acyl assembly into triacylglycerol, as a major control over the storage of oil in the mesocarp of oil palm. In addition to greatly increasing molecular resources devoted to oil palm and date palm, the combination of temporal and comparative studies illustrates how deep sequencing can provide insights into gene expression patterns of two species that lack genome sequence information. PMID:21709233

Date Palm Germplasm

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This book chapter reviews date palm genetic resources and their conservation. Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is an important food crop in the Middle East and North Africa. Its center of origin and diversity most probably is the area near Iraq/Iran. From there, it spread throughout its present range...

A first genetic map of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) reveals long-range genome structure conservation in the palms.

PubMed

Mathew, Lisa S; Spannagl, Manuel; Al-Malki, Ameena; George, Binu; Torres, Maria F; Al-Dous, Eman K; Al-Azwani, Eman K; Hussein, Emad; Mathew, Sweety; Mayer, Klaus F X; Mohamoud, Yasmin Ali; Suhre, Karsten; Malek, Joel A

2014-04-15

The date palm is one of the oldest cultivated fruit trees. It is critical in many ways to cultures in arid lands by providing highly nutritious fruit while surviving extreme heat and environmental conditions. Despite its importance from antiquity, few genetic resources are available for improving the productivity and development of the dioecious date palm. To date there has been no genetic map and no sex chromosome has been identified. Here we present the first genetic map for date palm and identify the putative date palm sex chromosome. We placed ~4000 markers on the map using nearly 1200 framework markers spanning a total of 1293 cM. We have integrated the genetic map, derived from the Khalas cultivar, with the draft genome and placed up to 19% of the draft genome sequence scaffolds onto linkage groups for the first time. This analysis revealed approximately ~1.9 cM/Mb on the map. Comparison of the date palm linkage groups revealed significant long-range synteny to oil palm. Analysis of the date palm sex-determination region suggests it is telomeric on linkage group 12 and recombination is not suppressed in the full chromosome. Based on a modified genotyping-by-sequencing approach we have overcome challenges due to lack of genetic resources and provide the first genetic map for date palm. Combined with the recent draft genome sequence of the same cultivar, this resource offers a critical new tool for date palm biotechnology, palm comparative genomics and a better understanding of sex chromosome development in the palms.

A first genetic map of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) reveals long-range genome structure conservation in the palms

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The date palm is one of the oldest cultivated fruit trees. It is critical in many ways to cultures in arid lands by providing highly nutritious fruit while surviving extreme heat and environmental conditions. Despite its importance from antiquity, few genetic resources are available for improving the productivity and development of the dioecious date palm. To date there has been no genetic map and no sex chromosome has been identified. Results Here we present the first genetic map for date palm and identify the putative date palm sex chromosome. We placed ~4000 markers on the map using nearly 1200 framework markers spanning a total of 1293 cM. We have integrated the genetic map, derived from the Khalas cultivar, with the draft genome and placed up to 19% of the draft genome sequence scaffolds onto linkage groups for the first time. This analysis revealed approximately ~1.9 cM/Mb on the map. Comparison of the date palm linkage groups revealed significant long-range synteny to oil palm. Analysis of the date palm sex-determination region suggests it is telomeric on linkage group 12 and recombination is not suppressed in the full chromosome. Conclusions Based on a modified gentoyping-by-sequencing approach we have overcome challenges due to lack of genetic resources and provide the first genetic map for date palm. Combined with the recent draft genome sequence of the same cultivar, this resource offers a critical new tool for date palm biotechnology, palm comparative genomics and a better understanding of sex chromosome development in the palms. PMID:24735434

Coconut, date and oil palm genomics

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A review of genomics research is presented for the three most economically important palm crops, coconut (Cocos nucifera), date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), encompassing molecular markers studies of genetic diversity, genetic mapping, quantitative trait loci discovery...

On palms, bugs, and Chagas disease in the Americas.

PubMed

Abad-Franch, Fernando; Lima, Marli M; Sarquis, Otília; Gurgel-Gonçalves, Rodrigo; Sánchez-Martín, María; Calzada, José; Saldaña, Azael; Monteiro, Fernando A; Palomeque, Francisco S; Santos, Walter S; Angulo, Victor M; Esteban, Lyda; Dias, Fernando B S; Diotaiuti, Liléia; Bar, María Esther; Gottdenker, Nicole L

2015-11-01

Palms are ubiquitous across Neotropical landscapes, from pristine forests or savannahs to large cities. Although palms provide useful ecosystem services, they also offer suitable habitat for triatomines and for Trypanosoma cruzi mammalian hosts. Wild triatomines often invade houses by flying from nearby palms, potentially leading to new cases of human Chagas disease. Understanding and predicting triatomine-palm associations and palm infestation probabilities is important for enhancing Chagas disease prevention in areas where palm-associated vectors transmit T. cruzi. We present a comprehensive overview of palm infestation by triatomines in the Americas, combining a thorough reanalysis of our published and unpublished records with an in-depth review of the literature. We use site-occupancy modeling (SOM) to examine infestation in 3590 palms sampled with non-destructive methods, and standard statistics to describe and compare infestation in 2940 palms sampled by felling-and-dissection. Thirty-eight palm species (18 genera) have been reported to be infested by ∼39 triatomine species (10 genera) from the USA to Argentina. Overall infestation varied from 49.1-55.3% (SOM) to 62.6-66.1% (dissection), with important heterogeneities among sub-regions and particularly among palm species. Large palms with complex crowns (e.g., Attalea butyracea, Acrocomia aculeata) and some medium-crowned palms (e.g., Copernicia, Butia) are often infested; in slender, small-crowned palms (e.g., Euterpe) triatomines associate with vertebrate nests. Palm infestation tends to be higher in rural settings, but urban palms can also be infested. Most Rhodnius species are probably true palm specialists, whereas Psammolestes, Eratyrus, Cavernicola, Panstrongylus, Triatoma, Alberprosenia, and some Bolboderini seem to use palms opportunistically. Palms provide extensive habitat for enzootic T. cruzi cycles and a critical link between wild cycles and transmission to humans. Unless effective means to

Pediatric Age Palm Oil Consumption.

PubMed

Di Genova, Lorenza; Cerquiglini, Laura; Penta, Laura; Biscarini, Anna; Esposito, Susanna

2018-04-01

Palm oil is widely used in the food industry for its chemical/physical properties, low cost and wide availability. Its widespread use has provoked an intense debate about whether it is a potential danger to human health. In a careful review of the scientific literature, we focused on nutritional characteristics and health effects of the use of palm oil with regards to children, seeking to determine whether there is evidence that justifies fears about the health effects of palm oil. Our review showed that palm oil represents a significant source of saturated fatty acids, to which scientific evidence attributes negative health effects when used in excess, especially with regards to cardiovascular diseases. However, to date, there is no evidence about the harmful effects of palm oil on the health of children. Nevertheless, palm oil has possible ill health effects linked to its composition of fatty acids: its consumption is not correlated to risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in young people with a normal weight and cholesterol level; the elderly and patients with dyslipidaemia or previous cardiovascular events or hypertension are at a greater risk. Therefore, the matter is not palm oil itself but the fatty-acid-rich food group to which it belongs. The most important thing is to consume no more than 10% of saturated fatty acids, regardless of their origin and regardless of one's age. Correct information based on a careful analysis of the scientific evidence, rather than a focus on a singular presumed culprit substance, should encourage better lifestyles.

Oil palm land conversion in Pará, Brazil, from 2006-2014: evaluating the 2010 Brazilian Sustainable Palm Oil Production Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benami, E.; Curran, L. M.; Cochrane, M.; Venturieri, A.; Franco, R.; Kneipp, J.; Swartos, A.

2018-03-01

Global models of biophysical suitability for oil palm consistently rank Brazil as having the greatest potential for expansion, with estimates as high as 238 Mha of suitable lands. In 2010, Brazil launched the Sustainable Palm Oil Production Program (SPOPP) to incentivize oil palm development without deforestation on as much as 30 Mha. Here we examine oil palm expansion before and after the SPOPP’s launch. In Pará, the major oil palm producing state in Brazil, we analyze the extent and change in oil palm cultivation from 2006-2014 using satellite imagery, ground-truthed verification, site-based interviews, and rural environmental (land) registration data. Between 2006-2014, oil palm area (≥9 ha) expanded >200% to ~219 000 ha. Of the ~148 000 ha of oil palm developed, ~91% converted pasturelands while ~8% replaced natural vegetation, including intact and secondary forests. Although >80% of all oil palm parcels rest <0.5 km from intact forests, direct conversion of intact forests declined from ~4% pre-SPOPP (2006-2010) to <1% post-SPOPP (2010-2014). Despite low and declining deforestation rates associated with oil palm expansion in Pará, our results also show a low area of oil palm development overall compared with reported land suitability. To explore potential contributing factors, we conducted semi-structured interviews with researchers, company representatives, and government officials involved in the sector to characterize the perceived factors influencing oil palm development and the role of agro-ecological suitability mapping among them. Interviews indicated that: (1) individual effects of suitability mapping efforts to encourage oil palm expansion on cleared areas, i.e. without deforestation, cannot be disentangled from pre-existing public and private deforestation reduction initiatives; and, (2) socio-economic constraints, e.g. high relative production costs and limited familiarity with this crop, appear to partially explain the major

Palm oil and the heart: A review

PubMed Central

Odia, Osaretin J; Ofori, Sandra; Maduka, Omosivie

2015-01-01

Palm oil consumption and its effects on serum lipid levels and cardiovascular disease in humans is still a subject of debate. Advocacy groups with varying agenda fuel the controversy. This update intends to identify evidence-based evaluations of the influence of palm oil on serum lipid profile and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, it suggests a direction for future research. The sources of information were based on a PubMed, Google Scholar, African Journal online and Medline search using key words including: palm oil, palmitic acid, saturated fatty acids and heart disease. Published animal and human experiments on the association of palm oil and its constituents on the serum lipid profile and cardiovascular disease were also explored for relevant information. These papers are reviewed and the available evidence is discussed. Most of the information in mainstream literature is targeted at consumers and food companies with a view to discourage the consumption of palm oil. The main argument against the use of palm oil as an edible oil is the fact that it contains palmitic acid, which is a saturated fatty acid and by extrapolation should give rise to elevated total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. However, there are many scientific studies, both in animals and humans that clearly show that palm oil consumption does not give rise to elevated serum cholesterol levels and that palm oil is not atherogenic. Apart from palmitic acid, palm oil consists of oleic and linoleic acids which are monounsaturated and polyunsaturated respectively. Palm oil also consists of vitamins A and E, which are powerful antioxidants. Palm oil has been scientifically shown to protect the heart and blood vessels from plaques and ischemic injuries. Palm oil consumed as a dietary fat as a part of a healthy balanced diet does not have incremental risk for cardiovascular disease. Little or no additional benefit will be obtained by replacing it with other oils rich in mono

American palm ethnomedicine: A meta-analysis

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Many recent papers have documented the phytochemical and pharmacological bases for the use of palms (Arecaceae) in ethnomedicine. Early publications were based almost entirely on interviews that solicited local knowledge. More recently, ethnobotanically guided searches for new medicinal plants have proven more successful than random sampling for identifying plants that contain biodynamic ingredients. However, limited laboratory time and the high cost of clinical trials make it difficult to test all potential medicinal plants in the search for new drug candidates. The purpose of this study was to summarize and analyze previous studies on the medicinal uses of American palms in order to narrow down the search for new palm-derived medicines. Methods Relevant literature was surveyed and data was extracted and organized into medicinal use categories. We focused on more recent literature than that considered in a review published 25 years ago. We included phytochemical and pharmacological research that explored the importance of American palms in ethnomedicine. Results Of 730 species of American palms, we found evidence that 106 species had known medicinal uses, ranging from treatments for diabetes and leishmaniasis to prostatic hyperplasia. Thus, the number of American palm species with known uses had increased from 48 to 106 over the last quarter of a century. Furthermore, the pharmacological bases for many of the effects are now understood. Conclusions Palms are important in American ethnomedicine. Some, like Serenoa repens and Roystonea regia, are the sources of drugs that have been approved for medicinal uses. In contrast, recent ethnopharmacological studies suggested that many of the reported uses of several other palms do not appear to have a strong physiological basis. This study has provided a useful assessment of the ethnobotanical and pharmacological data available on palms. PMID:20034398

Experimental and numerical evaluations on palm microwave heating for Red Palm Weevil pest control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massa, Rita; Panariello, Gaetano; Pinchera, Daniele; Schettino, Fulvio; Caprio, Emilio; Griffo, Raffaele; Migliore, Marco Donald

2017-03-01

The invasive Red Palm Weevil is the major pest of palms. Several control methods have been applied, however concern is raised regarding the treatments that can cause significant environmental pollution. In this context the use of microwaves is particularly attractive. Microwave heating applications are increasingly proposed in the management of a wide range of agricultural and wood pests, exploiting the thermal death induced in the insects that have a thermal tolerance lower than that of the host matrices. This paper describes research aiming to combat the Red Palm pest using microwave heating systems. An electromagnetic-thermal model was developed to better control the temperature profile inside the palm tissues. In this process both electromagnetic and thermal parameters are involved, the latter being particularly critical depending on plant physiology. Their evaluation was carried out by fitting experimental data and the thermal model with few free parameters. The results obtained by the simplified model well match with both that of a commercial software 3D model and measurements on treated Phoenix canariensis palms with a ring microwave applicator. This work confirms that microwave heating is a promising, eco-compatible solution to fight the spread of weevil.

A study of palm biomass processing strategy in Sarawak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, S. J. Y.; Ng, W. P. Q.; Law, K. H.

2017-06-01

In the past decades, palm industry is booming due to its profitable nature. An environmental concern regarding on the palm industry is the enormous amount of waste produced from palm industry. The waste produced or palm biomass is one significant renewable energy source and raw material for value-added products like fiber mats, activated carbon, dried fiber, bio-fertilizer and et cetera in Malaysia. There is a need to establish the palm biomass industry for the recovery of palm biomass for efficient utilization and waste reduction. The development of the industry is strongly depending on the two reasons, the availability and supply consistency of palm biomass as well as the availability of palm biomass processing facilities. In Malaysia, the development of palm biomass industry is lagging due to the lack of mature commercial technology and difficult logistic planning as a result of scattered locality of palm oil mill, where palm biomass is generated. Two main studies have been carried out in this research work: i) industrial study of the feasibility of decentralized and centralized palm biomass processing in Sarawak and ii) development of a systematic and optimized palm biomass processing planning for the development of palm biomass industry in Sarawak, Malaysia. Mathematical optimization technique is used in this work to model the above case scenario for biomass processing to achieve maximum economic potential and resource feasibility. An industrial study of palm biomass processing strategy in Sarawak has been carried out to evaluate the optimality of centralized processing and decentralize processing of the local biomass industry. An optimal biomass processing strategy is achieved.

Do you believe in palm trees?

Treesearch

Kevin T. Smith

2013-01-01

Palms are real, but are they really trees? The answer depends on definitions. As usually tall, peremrial plants with roots, stems, and leaves, palms seem to qualify. Palms should also qualify because arborists care for them, and arborists care for trees, right? My introduction to botany class defined trees as plants that produce wood. Unraveling the question of whether...

Positive and Negative Impacts of Oil Palm Expansion in Indonesia and the Prospect to Achieve Sustainable Palm Oil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahputra, M. A.; Zen, Z.

2018-02-01

The aim of the study is to deepen understanding the role of palm oil on Indonesian economy, poverty elevation and to investigate the positive and negative impacts of oil palm expansion, due to the burden of GHG emissions; and prospect to be more sustainable palm oil industry. The statistics show that average rural poverty tends to be lower and Gross Regional Product tends to be higher in provinces which have greater levels of oil palm cultivation. Indonesian oil palm will grow from 10.6 in 2013 to 13.7 million ha by 2020. This will release 135.59 million tons of CO2 if nothing is done to mitigate BAU emissions. Unless there are sustained efforts to redirect development and expansion of oil palm, plantation growth will continue to encroach on intact forest and peat land.. In fact Indonesia has large areas of degraded land, an estimated total 19,144,000 ha is available for planting oil palm and other crops. A large-scale expansion program driven by estate companies needs to be accompanied by effective smallholder development program in order to achieve the best outcome for local farmers and avoid the conflicts.

A sub-canopy structure for simulating oil palm in the Community Land Model (CLM-Palm): phenology, allocation and yield

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Y.; Roupsard, O.; Bernoux, M.; Le Maire, G.; Panferov, O.; Kotowska, M. M.; Knohl, A.

2015-11-01

In order to quantify the effects of forests to oil palm conversion occurring in the tropics on land-atmosphere carbon, water and energy fluxes, we develop a new perennial crop sub-model CLM-Palm for simulating a palm plant functional type (PFT) within the framework of the Community Land Model (CLM4.5). CLM-Palm is tested here on oil palm only but is meant of generic interest for other palm crops (e.g., coconut). The oil palm has monopodial morphology and sequential phenology of around 40 stacked phytomers, each carrying a large leaf and a fruit bunch, forming a multilayer canopy. A sub-canopy phenological and physiological parameterization is thus introduced so that each phytomer has its own prognostic leaf growth and fruit yield capacity but with shared stem and root components. Phenology and carbon and nitrogen allocation operate on the different phytomers in parallel but at unsynchronized steps, separated by a thermal period. An important phenological phase is identified for the oil palm - the storage growth period of bud and "spear" leaves which are photosynthetically inactive before expansion. Agricultural practices such as transplanting, fertilization and leaf pruning are represented. Parameters introduced for the oil palm were calibrated and validated with field measurements of leaf area index (LAI), yield and net primary production (NPP) from Sumatra, Indonesia. In calibration with a mature oil palm plantation, the cumulative yields from 2005 to 2014 matched notably well between simulation and observation (mean percentage error = 3 %). Simulated inter-annual dynamics of PFT-level and phytomer-level LAI were both within the range of field measurements. Validation from eight independent oil palm sites shows the ability of the model to adequately predict the average leaf growth and fruit yield across sites and sufficiently represent the significant nitrogen- and age-related site-to-site variability in NPP and yield. Results also indicate that seasonal dynamics

Catalytic processes towards the production of biofuels in a palm oil and oil palm biomass-based biorefinery.

PubMed

Chew, Thiam Leng; Bhatia, Subhash

2008-11-01

In Malaysia, there has been interest in the utilization of palm oil and oil palm biomass for the production of environmental friendly biofuels. A biorefinery based on palm oil and oil palm biomass for the production of biofuels has been proposed. The catalytic technology plays major role in the different processing stages in a biorefinery for the production of liquid as well as gaseous biofuels. There are number of challenges to find suitable catalytic technology to be used in a typical biorefinery. These challenges include (1) economic barriers, (2) catalysts that facilitate highly selective conversion of substrate to desired products and (3) the issues related to design, operation and control of catalytic reactor. Therefore, the catalytic technology is one of the critical factors that control the successful operation of biorefinery. There are number of catalytic processes in a biorefinery which convert the renewable feedstocks into the desired biofuels. These include biodiesel production from palm oil, catalytic cracking of palm oil for the production of biofuels, the production of hydrogen as well as syngas from biomass gasification, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) for the conversion of syngas into liquid fuels and upgrading of liquid/gas fuels obtained from liquefaction/pyrolysis of biomass. The selection of catalysts for these processes is essential in determining the product distribution (olefins, paraffins and oxygenated products). The integration of catalytic technology with compatible separation processes is a key challenge for biorefinery operation from the economic point of view. This paper focuses on different types of catalysts and their role in the catalytic processes for the production of biofuels in a typical palm oil and oil palm biomass-based biorefinery.

Health promoting effects of phytonutrients found in palm oil.

PubMed

Loganathan, R; Selvaduray, K R; Nesaretnam, K; Radhakrishnan, A K

2010-08-01

The oil palm tree, Elaeis guineesis, is the source of palm oil, otherwise known as the "tropical golden oil". To date, Malaysia and Indonesia are the leading producers of palm oil. Palm oil is widely used for domestic cooking in Malaysia. Palm oil is a rich source of phytonutrients such as tocotrienols, tocopherol, carotene, phytosterols, squalene, coenzyme Q10, polyphenols, and phospholipids. Although the phytonutrients constitute only about 1% of its weight in crude palm oil, these are the main constituents through which palm oil exhibits its nutritional properties. Among the major health promoting properties shown to be associated with the various types of phytonutrients present in palm oil are anti-cancer, cardio-protection and anti-angiogenesis, cholesterol inhibition, brain development and neuro protective properties, antioxidative defence mechanisms, provitamin A activity and anti-diabetes.

Date palm production and pest management challenges

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Abstract: Date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, is a monocotyledonous species belong- ing to the palm family (Arecaceae or Palmae) which is perennial and dioecious and cultivated mostly in the arid regions of the world. Date palm is important to the agrarian economy of several countries, with the ability ...

Long-term response of Caribbean palm forests to hurricanes

Treesearch

Ariel Lugo; J.L. Frangi

2016-01-01

We studied the response of Prestoea montana (Sierra Palm, hereafter Palm) brakes and a Palm floodplain forest to hurricanes in the Luquillo Experimental Forest in Puerto Rico. Over a span of 78 years, 3 hurricanes passed over the study sites for which we have 64 years of measurements for Palm brakes and 20 years for the Palm floodplain forest. For each stand, species...

Population density of oil palm pollinator weevil Elaeidobius kamerunicus based on seasonal effect and age of oil palm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daud, Syarifah Nadiah Syed Mat; Ghani, Idris Abd.

2016-11-01

The pollinating weevil, Elaedobius kamerunicus (EK) has been known to be the most efficient insect pollinator of oil palm, and has successfully improved the oil palm pollination and increased the yield. Its introduction has greatly reduced the need for assisted pollination. The purpose of this study was to identify the population density of oil palm pollinator weevil EK using the concept of pollinator force and to relate the population density with the seasonal effect and the age of oil palm at Lekir Oil Palm Plantation Batu 14, Perak, Peninsular Malaysia. The pollinator force of the weevil was sustained at a range between 3095.2 to 19126.1 weevils per ha. The overall mean of weevil per spikelet shows that the range of weevil was between 13.51 and 54.06 per spikelet. There was no correlation between rainfall and population density of EK. However, positive correlation was obtained between weevil density and the number of anthesising female inflorescence of oil palm (r= 0.938, p< 0.05). Results of t-test show that the 6-year old oil palm stands had significantly different population density than that of a 8-year old oil palm stand. The information of this study should be useful as a baseline data to investigate why there is such a wide range of weevils per ha or spikelet. Further study should also be done to relate the number pollinator force per spikelete and the Fresh fruit Bunch (FFB), fruit set or fruit to bunch ratio.

New initiatives for managment of red palm weevil threats to historical Arabian date palms

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The date palm is an important part of the religious, cultural, and economic heritage of the Arabian Peninsula. This heritage is threatened by the recent invasion of the red palm weevil(RPW) from Southeast Asia. In Saudi Arabia, a national campaign for control of RPW by containment/destruction of inf...

Effect of palm oil fuel ash on compressive strength of palm oil boiler stone lightweight aggregate concrete

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muthusamy, K.; Zamri, N. A.; Kusbiantoro, A.; Lim, N. H. A. S.; Ariffin, M. A. Mohd

2018-04-01

Both palm oil fuel ash (POFA) and palm oil boiler stone (POBS) are by-products which has been continuously generated by local palm oil mill in large amount. Both by products is usually disposed as profitless waste and considered as nuisance to environment. The present research investigates the workability and compressive strength performance of lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) made of palm oil boiler stone (POBS) known as palm oil boiler stone lightweight aggregate concrete (POBS LWAC) containing various content of palm oil fuel ash. The control specimen that is POBS LWAC of grade 60 were produced using 100% OPC. Then, another 4 mixes were prepared by varying the POFA percentage from 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% by weight of cement. Fresh mixes were subjected to slump test to determine its workability before casted in form of cubes. Then, all specimens were subjected to water curing up to 28 days and then tested for its compressive strength. It was found out that utilizing of optimum amount of POFA in POBS LWAC would improve the workability and compressive strength of the concrete. However, inclusion of POFA more than optimum amount is not recommended as it will increase the water demand leading to lower workability and strength reduction.

Transformation of Palm Beach Community College to Palm Beach State College: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basiratmand, Mehran

2013-01-01

The purpose of this single-site case study was to examine the organization and leadership change process of Palm Beach State College, a publicly funded institution in Florida, as it embarked on offering bachelor's degree programs. The study examined the organizational change process and the extent to which Palm Beach State College's organization…

How will oil palm expansion affect biodiversity?

PubMed

Fitzherbert, Emily B; Struebig, Matthew J; Morel, Alexandra; Danielsen, Finn; Brühl, Carsten A; Donald, Paul F; Phalan, Ben

2008-10-01

Oil palm is one of the world's most rapidly increasing crops. We assess its contribution to tropical deforestation and review its biodiversity value. Oil palm has replaced large areas of forest in Southeast Asia, but land-cover change statistics alone do not allow an assessment of where it has driven forest clearance and where it has simply followed it. Oil palm plantations support much fewer species than do forests and often also fewer than other tree crops. Further negative impacts include habitat fragmentation and pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions. With rising demand for vegetable oils and biofuels, and strong overlap between areas suitable for oil palm and those of most importance for biodiversity, substantial biodiversity losses will only be averted if future oil palm expansion is managed to avoid deforestation.

Life Cycle Assessment for the Production of Oil Palm Seeds.

PubMed

Muhamad, Halimah; Ai, Tan Yew; Khairuddin, Nik Sasha Khatrina; Amiruddin, Mohd Din; May, Choo Yuen

2014-12-01

The oil palm seed production unit that generates germinated oil palm seeds is the first link in the palm oil supply chain, followed by the nursery to produce seedling, the plantation to produce fresh fruit bunches (FFB), the mill to produce crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel, the kernel crushers to produce crude palm kernel oil (CPKO), the refinery to produce refined palm oil (RPO) and finally the palm biodiesel plant to produce palm biodiesel. This assessment aims to investigate the life cycle assessment (LCA) of germinated oil palm seeds and the use of LCA to identify the stage/s in the production of germinated oil palm seeds that could contribute to the environmental load. The method for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is modelled using SimaPro version 7, (System for Integrated environMental Assessment of PROducts), an internationally established tool used by LCA practitioners. This software contains European and US databases on a number of materials in addition to a variety of European- and US-developed impact assessment methodologies. LCA was successfully conducted for five seed production units and it was found that the environmental impact for the production of germinated oil palm was not significant. The characterised results of the LCIA for the production of 1000 germinated oil palm seeds showed that fossil fuel was the major impact category followed by respiratory inorganics and climate change.

Oil palm mapping for Malaysia using PALSAR-2 dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, P.; Qi, C. Y.; Yu, L.; Cracknell, A.

2016-12-01

Oil palm is one of the most productive vegetable oil crops in the world. The main oil palm producing areas are distributed in humid tropical areas such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, western and central Africa, northern South America, and central America. Increasing market demands, high yields and low production costs of palm oil are the primary factors driving large-scale commercial cultivation of oil palm, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. Global demand for palm oil has grown exponentially during the last 50 years, and the expansion of oil palm plantations is linked directly to the deforestation of natural forests. Satellite remote sensing plays an important role in monitoring expansion of oil palm. However, optical remote sensing images are difficult to acquire in the Tropics because of the frequent occurrence of thick cloud cover. This problem has led to the use of data obtained by synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which is a sensor capable of all-day/all-weather observation for studies in the Tropics. In this study, the ALOS-2 (Advanced Land Observing Satellite) PALSAR-2 (Phased Array type L-band SAR) datasets for year 2015 were used as an input to a support vector machine (SVM) based machine learning algorithm. Oil palm/non-oil palm samples were collected using a hexagonal equal-area sampling design. High-resolution images in Google Earth and PALSAR-2 imagery were used in human photo-interpretation to separate oil palm from others (i.e. cropland, forest, grassland, shrubland, water, hard surface and bareland). The characteristics of oil palms from various aspects, including PALSAR-2 backscattering coefficients (HH, HV), terrain and climate by using this sample set were further explored to post-process the SVM output. The average accuracy of oil palm type is better than 80% in the final oil palm map for Malaysia.

Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata): Its fibres, polymers and composites.

PubMed

Ishak, M R; Sapuan, S M; Leman, Z; Rahman, M Z A; Anwar, U M K; Siregar, J P

2013-01-16

Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) is a multipurpose palm species from which a variety of foods and beverages, timber commodities, biofibres, biopolymers and biocomposites can be produced. Recently, it is being used as a source of renewable energy in the form of bio-ethanol via fermentation process of the sugar palm sap. Although numerous products can be produced from sugar palm, three products that are most prominent are palm sugar, fruits and fibres. This paper focuses mainly on the significance of fibres as they are highly durable, resistant to sea water and because they are available naturally in the form of woven fibre they are easy to process. Besides the recent advances in the research of sugar palm fibres and their composites, this paper also addresses the development of new biodegradable polymer derived from sugar palm starch, and presents reviews on fibre surface treatment, product development, and challenges and efforts on properties enhancement of sugar palm fibre composites. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Life Cycle Assessment for the Production of Oil Palm Seeds

PubMed Central

Muhamad, Halimah; Ai, Tan Yew; Khairuddin, Nik Sasha Khatrina; Amiruddin, Mohd Din; May, Choo Yuen

2014-01-01

The oil palm seed production unit that generates germinated oil palm seeds is the first link in the palm oil supply chain, followed by the nursery to produce seedling, the plantation to produce fresh fruit bunches (FFB), the mill to produce crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel, the kernel crushers to produce crude palm kernel oil (CPKO), the refinery to produce refined palm oil (RPO) and finally the palm biodiesel plant to produce palm biodiesel. This assessment aims to investigate the life cycle assessment (LCA) of germinated oil palm seeds and the use of LCA to identify the stage/s in the production of germinated oil palm seeds that could contribute to the environmental load. The method for the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is modelled using SimaPro version 7, (System for Integrated environMental Assessment of PROducts), an internationally established tool used by LCA practitioners. This software contains European and US databases on a number of materials in addition to a variety of European- and US-developed impact assessment methodologies. LCA was successfully conducted for five seed production units and it was found that the environmental impact for the production of germinated oil palm was not significant. The characterised results of the LCIA for the production of 1000 germinated oil palm seeds showed that fossil fuel was the major impact category followed by respiratory inorganics and climate change. PMID:27073598

Pollutant in palm oil production process.

PubMed

Hosseini, Seyed Ehsan; Abdul Wahid, Mazlan

2015-07-01

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a by-product of the palm industry and it releases large amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Water systems are also contaminated by POME if it is released into nonstandard ponds or rivers where it endangers the lives of fish and water fowl. In this paper, the environmental bottlenecks faced by palm oil production were investigated by analyzing the data collected from wet extraction palm oil mills (POMs) located in Malaysia. Strategies for reducing pollution and technologies for GHG reduction from the wet extraction POMs were also proposed. Average GHG emissions produced from processing 1 ton of crude palm oil (CPO) was 1100 kg CO2eq. This amount can be reduced to 200 kg CO2eq by capturing biogases. The amount of GHG emissions from open ponds could be decreased from 225 to 25 kg CO2eq/MT CPO by covering the ponds. Installation of biogas capturing system can decrease the average of chemical oxygen demand (COD) to about 17,100 mg/L and stabilizing ponds in the final step could decrease COD to 5220 mg/L. Using a biogas capturing system allows for the reduction of COD by 80% and simultaneously using a biogas capturing system and by stabilizing ponds can mitigate COD by 96%. Other ways to reduce the pollution caused by POME, including the installation of wet scrubber vessels and increasing the performance of biogas recovery and biogas upgrading systems, are studied in this paper. Around 0.87 m3 POME is produced per 1 ton palm fruit milled. POME consists of around 2% oil, 2-4% suspended solid, 94-96% water. In palm oil mills, more than 90% of GHGs were emitted from POME. From 1 ton crude palm oil, 1100 kg CO2eq GHGs are generated, which can be reduced to 200 kg CO2eq by installation of biogas capturing equipment.

Mixing of acacia bark and palm shells to increase caloric value of palm shells white charcoal briquette

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurniawan, Edy Wibowo; Amirta, Rudianto; Budiarso, Edy; Arung, Enos Tangke

2017-06-01

Indonesia is greatly rich in biomass resources. Acacia bark waste utilization as a source of biomass is still very low, where as 10-20% of the potential of the wood. On the other hand waste palm shells have been partly utilized as boiler fuel oil plant as much as 62.4%, but the rest is still a waste pile or to the hardening of the estate path. This study aims to determine the effect of mixing an acacia bark with palm shells to increase the calorific value of palm shell white charcoal briquettes. The study was conducted by making white charcoal briquettes mixing 7% the acacia bark against of palm shells. As well as white charcoal briquettes control without any acacia bark. Then molds the briquettes in pyrolysis temperature at 600 ° C, 700 ° C and 800 ° C for pyrolysis time within 2 hours, 4 hours, and 6 hours. And the results of briquettes analysis in calorific value. The results showed that the caloric value of palm shell white charcoal briquettes increased from 29691.14 Kcal / kg to 31941.50 Kcal / kg.

Palm Oil

MedlinePlus

... A deficiency, cancer, brain disease, aging; and treating malaria, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and cyanide poisoning. ... oils, such as soybean, canola, or sunflower oil. Malaria. Some research suggests that dietary consumption of palm ...

Estimating babassu palm density using automatic palm tree detection with very high spatial resolution satellite images.

PubMed

Dos Santos, Alessio Moreira; Mitja, Danielle; Delaître, Eric; Demagistri, Laurent; de Souza Miranda, Izildinha; Libourel, Thérèse; Petit, Michel

2017-05-15

High spatial resolution images as well as image processing and object detection algorithms are recent technologies that aid the study of biodiversity and commercial plantations of forest species. This paper seeks to contribute knowledge regarding the use of these technologies by studying randomly dispersed native palm tree. Here, we analyze the automatic detection of large circular crown (LCC) palm tree using a high spatial resolution panchromatic GeoEye image (0.50 m) taken on the area of a community of small agricultural farms in the Brazilian Amazon. We also propose auxiliary methods to estimate the density of the LCC palm tree Attalea speciosa (babassu) based on the detection results. We used the "Compt-palm" algorithm based on the detection of palm tree shadows in open areas via mathematical morphology techniques and the spatial information was validated using field methods (i.e. structural census and georeferencing). The algorithm recognized individuals in life stages 5 and 6, and the extraction percentage, branching factor and quality percentage factors were used to evaluate its performance. A principal components analysis showed that the structure of the studied species differs from other species. Approximately 96% of the babassu individuals in stage 6 were detected. These individuals had significantly smaller stipes than the undetected ones. In turn, 60% of the stage 5 babassu individuals were detected, showing significantly a different total height and a different number of leaves from the undetected ones. Our calculations regarding resource availability indicate that 6870 ha contained 25,015 adult babassu palm tree, with an annual potential productivity of 27.4 t of almond oil. The detection of LCC palm tree and the implementation of auxiliary field methods to estimate babassu density is an important first step to monitor this industry resource that is extremely important to the Brazilian economy and thousands of families over a large scale. Copyright

Minimizing the biodiversity impact of Neotropical oil palm development.

PubMed

Gilroy, James J; Prescott, Graham W; Cardenas, Johann S; Castañeda, Pamela González del Pliego; Sánchez, Andrés; Rojas-Murcia, Luis E; Medina Uribe, Claudia A; Haugaasen, Torbjørn; Edwards, David P

2015-04-01

Oil palm agriculture is rapidly expanding in the Neotropics, at the expense of a range of natural and seminatural habitats. A key question is how this expansion should be managed to reduce negative impacts on biodiversity. Focusing on the Llanos of Colombia, a mixed grassland-forest system identified as a priority zone for future oil palm development, we survey communities of ants, dung beetles, birds and herpetofauna occurring in oil palm plantations and the other principal form of agriculture in the region--improved cattle pasture--together with those of surrounding natural forests. We show that oil palm plantations have similar or higher species richness across all four taxonomic groups than improved pasture. For dung beetles, species richness in oil palm was equal to that of forest, whereas the other three taxa had highest species richness in forests. Hierarchical modelling of species occupancy probabilities indicated that oil palm plantations supported a higher proportion of species characteristic of forests than did cattle pastures. Across the bird community, occupancy probabilities within oil palm were positively influenced by increasing forest cover in a surrounding 250 m radius, whereas surrounding forest cover did not strongly influence the occurrence of other taxonomic groups in oil palm. Overall, our results suggest that the conversion of existing improved pastures to oil palm has limited negative impacts on biodiversity. As such, existing cattle pastures of the Colombian Llanos could offer a key opportunity to meet governmental targets for oil palm development without incurring significant biodiversity costs. Our results also highlight the value of preserving remnant forests within these agricultural landscapes, protecting high biodiversity and exporting avian 'spill-over' effects into oil palm plantations. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Indonesia palm oil production without deforestation and peat conversion by 2050.

PubMed

Afriyanti, Dian; Kroeze, Carolien; Saad, Asmadi

2016-07-01

Palm oil is a promising source of cooking oil and biodiesel. The demand for palm oil has been increasing worldwide. However, concerns exist surrounding the environmental and socio-economic sustainability of palm oil production. Indonesia is a major palm oil producing country. We explored scenarios for palm oil production in Indonesia until 2050, focusing on Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua. Our scenarios describe possible trends in crude palm oil production in Indonesia, while considering the demand for cooking oil and biodiesel, the available land for plantations, production capacity (for crude palm oil and fresh fruit bunches) and environmentally restricting conditions. We first assessed past developments in palm oil production. Next, we analysed scenarios for the future. In the past 20years, 95% of the Indonesian oil palm production area was in Sumatra and Kalimantan and was increasingly cultivated in peatlands. Our scenarios for the future indicate that Indonesia can meet a considerable part of the global and Asian demand for palm oil, while avoiding further cultivation of peatlands and forest. By 2050, 264-447Mt crude palm oil may be needed for cooking oil and biodiesel worldwide. In Indonesia, the area that is potentially suitable for oil palm is 17 to 26Mha with a potential production rate of 27-38t fresh fruit bunches/ha, yielding 130-176Mt crude palm oil. Thus Indonesia can meet 39-60% of the international demand. In our scenarios this would be produced in Sumatra (21-26%), Kalimantan (12-16%), and Papua (2%). The potential areas include the current oil palm plantation in mineral lands, but exclude the current oil palm plantations in peatlands. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efficacy of aggregation pheromone in trapping red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Olivier) and rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros Linn.) from infested coconut palms.

PubMed

Chakravarthy, A K; Chandrashekharaiah, M; Kandakoor, Subhash B; Nagaraj, D N

2014-05-01

Red palm weevil and Rhinoceros beetle are the major pests inflicting severe damage to coconut palms. Due to ineffectiveness of the current management practices to control the two important pests on coconut, a study was conducted to know the attractiveness of red palm weevil and rhinoceros beetle to aggregation pheromone. Olfactometer studies indicated that the aggregation pheromone of red palm weevil and rhinoceros beetle attracted significantly more number of weevils (13.4 females and 7.6 male weevils) and beetles (6.5 male and 12.3 female beetles), respectively than control. Similarly, field studies found that both 750 and 1000 mg pheromone dosage lures of red palm weevil and rhinoceros beetle trapped significantly higher numbers of weevils (695.80 and 789 weevils, respectively) and beetles (98 and 108 beetles, respectively) in traps (P < 0.05), respectively. On an average (n = 6 field trials) 80-85% red palm weevil and 72-78% rhinoceros beetle population got trapped. Observations indicated activity of red palm weevil throughout the year and of rhinoceros beetle from September to March around Bangalore, South India. Pheromone traps for red palm weevil can be placed in fields from June to August and October to December and September to February for rhinoceros beetle. Population reductions of the two coleopteran pests by pheromone traps are compatible with mechanical and cultural management tools with cumulative effects.

Poor Prospects for Avian Biodiversity in Amazonian Oil Palm

PubMed Central

Lees, Alexander C.; Vieira, Ima C. G.

2015-01-01

Expansion of oil palm plantations across the humid tropics has precipitated massive loss of tropical forest habitats and their associated speciose biotas. Oil palm plantation monocultures have been identified as an emerging threat to Amazonian biodiversity, but there are no quantitative studies exploring the impact of these plantations on the biome’s biota. Understanding these impacts is extremely important given the rapid projected expansion of oil palm cultivation in the basin. Here we investigate the biodiversity value of oil palm plantations in comparison with other dominant regional land-uses in Eastern Amazonia. We carried out bird surveys in oil palm plantations of varying ages, primary and secondary forests, and cattle pastures. We found that oil palm plantations retained impoverished avian communities with a similar species composition to pastures and agrarian land-uses and did not offer habitat for most forest-associated species, including restricted range species and species of conservation concern. On the other hand, the forests that the oil palm companies are legally obliged to protect hosted a relatively species-rich community including several globally-threatened bird species. We consider oil palm to be no less detrimental to regional biodiversity than other agricultural land-uses and that political pressure exerted by large landowners to allow oil palm to count as a substitute for native forest vegetation in private landholdings with forest restoration deficits would have dire consequences for regional biodiversity. PMID:25955243

Analysis Monthly Import of Palm Oil Products Using Box-Jenkins Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Nurul F. Y.; Khalid, Kamil; Saifullah Rusiman, Mohd; Ghazali Kamardan, M.; Roslan, Rozaini; Che-Him, Norziha

2018-04-01

The palm oil industry has been an important component of the national economy especially the agriculture sector. The aim of this study is to identify the pattern of import of palm oil products, to model the time series using Box-Jenkins model and to forecast the monthly import of palm oil products. The method approach is included in the statistical test for verifying the equivalence model and statistical measurement of three models, namely Autoregressive (AR) model, Moving Average (MA) model and Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) model. The model identification of all product import palm oil is different in which the AR(1) was found to be the best model for product import palm oil while MA(3) was found to be the best model for products import palm kernel oil. For the palm kernel, MA(4) was found to be the best model. The results forecast for the next four months for products import palm oil, palm kernel oil and palm kernel showed the most significant decrease compared to the actual data.

Gender Identification in Date Palm Using Molecular Markers.

PubMed

Awan, Faisal Saeed; Maryam; Jaskani, Muhammad J; Sadia, Bushra

2017-01-01

Breeding of date palm is complicated because of its long life cycle and heterozygous nature. Sexual propagation of date palm does not produce true-to-type plants. Sex of date palms cannot be identified until the first flowering stage. Molecular markers such as random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), sequence-characterized amplified regions (SCAR), and simple sequence repeats (SSR) have successfully been used to identify the sex-linked loci in the plant genome and to isolate the corresponding genes. This chapter highlights the use of three molecular markers including RAPD, SCAR, and SSR to identify the gender of date palm seedlings.

Palm: Easing the Burden of Analytical Performance Modeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tallent, Nathan R.; Hoisie, Adolfy

2014-06-01

Analytical (predictive) application performance models are critical for diagnosing performance-limiting resources, optimizing systems, and designing machines. Creating models, however, is difficult because they must be both accurate and concise. To ease the burden of performance modeling, we developed Palm, a modeling tool that combines top-down (human-provided) semantic insight with bottom-up static and dynamic analysis. To express insight, Palm defines a source code modeling annotation language. By coordinating models and source code, Palm's models are `first-class' and reproducible. Unlike prior work, Palm formally links models, functions, and measurements. As a result, Palm (a) uses functions to either abstract or express complexitymore » (b) generates hierarchical models (representing an application's static and dynamic structure); and (c) automatically incorporates measurements to focus attention, represent constant behavior, and validate models. We discuss generating models for three different applications.« less

Endemic insular and coastal Tunisian date palm genetic diversity.

PubMed

Zehdi-Azouzi, Salwa; Cherif, Emira; Guenni, Karim; Abdelkrim, Ahmed Ben; Bermil, Aymen; Rhouma, Soumaya; Salah, Mohamed Ben; Santoni, Sylvain; Pintaud, Jean Christophe; Aberlenc-Bertossi, Frédérique; Hannachi, Amel Salhi

2016-04-01

The breeding of crop species relies on the valorisation of ancestral or wild varieties to enrich the cultivated germplasm. The Tunisian date palm genetic patrimony is being threatened by diversity loss and global climate change. We have conducted a genetic study to evaluate the potential of spontaneous coastal resources to improve the currently exploited Tunisian date palm genetic pool. Eighteen microsatellite loci of Phoenix dactylifera L. were used to compare the genetic diversity of coastal accessions from Kerkennah, Djerba, Gabès and continental date palm accessions from Tozeur. A collection of 105 date palms from the four regions was analysed. This study has provided us with an extensive understanding of the local genetic diversity and its distribution. The coastal date palm genotypes exhibit a high and specific genetic diversity. These genotypes are certainly an untapped reservoir of agronomically important genes to improve cultivated germplasm in continental date palm.

Palm is expressed in both developing and adult mouse lens and retina

PubMed Central

Castellini, Meryl; Wolf, Louise V; Chauhan, Bharesh K; Galileo, Deni S; Kilimann, Manfred W; Cvekl, Ales; Duncan, Melinda K

2005-01-01

Background Paralemmin (Palm) is a prenyl-palmitoyl anchored membrane protein that can drive membrane and process formation in neurons. Earlier studies have shown brain preferred Palm expression, although this protein is a major water insoluble protein in chicken lens fiber cells and the Palm gene may be regulated by Pax6. Methods The expression profile of Palm protein in the embryonic, newborn and adult mouse eye as well as dissociated retinal neurons was determined by confocal immunofluorescence. The relative mRNA levels of Palm, Palmdelphin (PalmD) and paralemmin2 (Palm2) in the lens and retina were determined by real time rt-PCR. Results In the lens, Palm is already expressed at 9.5 dpc in the lens placode, and this expression is maintained in the lens vesicle throughout the formation of the adult lens. Palm is largely absent from the optic vesicle but is detectable at 10.5 dpc in the optic cup. In the developing retina, Palm expression transiently upregulates during the formation of optic nerve as well as in the formation of both the inner and outer plexiform layers. In short term dissociated chick retinal cultures, Palm protein is easily detectable, but the levels appear to reduce sharply as the cultures age. Palm mRNA was found at much higher levels relative to Palm2 or PalmD in both the retina and lens. Conclusion Palm is the major paralemmin family member expressed in the retina and lens and its expression in the retina transiently upregulates during active neurite outgrowth. The expression pattern of Palm in the eye is consistent with it being a Pax6 responsive gene. Since Palm is known to be able to drive membrane formation in brain neurons, it is possible that this molecule is crucial for the increase in membrane formation during lens fiber cell differentiation. PMID:15969763

Will oil palm's homecoming spell doom for Africa's great apes?

PubMed

Wich, Serge A; Garcia-Ulloa, John; Kühl, Hjalmar S; Humle, Tatanya; Lee, Janice S H; Koh, Lian Pin

2014-07-21

Expansion of oil palm plantations has led to extensive wildlife habitat conversion in Southeast Asia [1]. This expansion is driven by a global demand for palm oil for products ranging from foods to detergents [2], and more recently for biofuels [3]. The negative impacts of oil palm development on biodiversity [1, 4, 5], and on orangutans (Pongo spp.) in particular, have been well documented [6, 7] and publicized [8, 9]. Although the oil palm is of African origin, Africa's production historically lags behind that of Southeast Asia. Recently, significant investments have been made that will likely drive the expansion of Africa's oil palm industry [10]. There is concern that this will lead to biodiversity losses similar to those in Southeast Asia. Here, we analyze the potential impact of oil palm development on Africa's great apes. Current great ape distribution in Africa substantially overlaps with current oil palm concessions (by 58.7%) and areas suitable for oil palm production (by 42.3%). More importantly, 39.9% of the distribution of great ape species on unprotected lands overlaps with suitable oil palm areas. There is an urgent need to develop guidelines for the expansion of oil palm in Africa to minimize the negative effects on apes and other wildlife. There is also a need for research to support land use decisions to reconcile economic development, great ape conservation, and avoiding carbon emissions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Palm Power Free-Piston Stirling Engine Control Electronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keiter, Douglas E.; Holliday, Ezekiel

2007-01-01

A prototype 35We, JP-8 fueled, soldier-wearable power system for the DARPA Palm Power program has been developed and tested by Sunpower. A hermetically-sealed 42We Sunpower Free-Piston Stirling Engine (FPSE) with integral linear alternator is the prime mover for this system. To maximize system efficiency over a broad range of output power, a non-dissipative, highly efficient electronic control system which modulates engine output power by varying piston stroke and converts the AC output voltage of the FPSE into 28Vdc for the Palm Power end user, has been designed and demonstrated as an integral component of the Palm Power system. This paper reviews the current status and progress made in developing the control electronics for the Palm Power system, in addition to describing the operation and demonstrated performance of the engine controller in the context of the current JP-8 fueled Palm Power system.

Molecular defense response of oil palm to Ganoderma infection.

PubMed

Ho, C-L; Tan, Y-C

2015-06-01

Basal stem rot (BSR) of oil palm roots is due to the invasion of fungal mycelia of Ganoderma species which spreads to the bole of the stem. In addition to root contact, BSR can also spread by airborne basidiospores. These fungi are able to break down cell wall components including lignin. BSR not only decreases oil yield, it also causes the stands to collapse thus causing severe economic loss to the oil palm industry. The transmission and mode of action of Ganoderma, its interactions with oil palm as a hemibiotroph, and the molecular defence responses of oil palm to the infection of Ganoderma boninense in BSR are reviewed, based on the transcript profiles of infected oil palms. The knowledge gaps that need to be filled in oil palm-Ganoderma molecular interactions i.e. the associations of hypersensitive reaction (HR)-induced cell death and reactive oxygen species (ROS) kinetics to the susceptibility of oil palm to Ganoderma spp., the interactions of phytohormones (salicylate, jasmonate and ethylene) at early and late stages of BSR, and cell wall strengthening through increased production of guaiacyl (G)-type lignin, are also discussed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Potential of Palm Oil Waste Biomass in Indonesia in 2020 and 2030

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hambali, E.; Rivai, M.

2017-05-01

During replanting activity in oil palm plantation, biomass including palm frond and trunk are produced. In palm oil mills, during the conversion process of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) into crude palm oil (CPO), several kinds of waste including empty fruit bunch (EFB), mesocarp fiber (MF), palm kernel shell (PKS), palm kernel meal (PKM), and palm oil mills effluent (POME) are produced. The production of these wastes is abundant as oil palm plantation area, FFB production, and palm oil mills spread all over 22 provinces in Indonesia. These wastes are still economical as they can be utilized as sources of alternative fuel, fertilizer, chemical compounds, and biomaterials. Therefore, breakthrough studies need to be done in order to improve the added value of oil palm, minimize the waste, and make oil palm industry more sustainable.

Plantform Bioreactor for Mass Micropropagation of Date Palm.

PubMed

Almusawi, Abdulminam H A; Sayegh, Abdullah J; Alshanaw, Ansam M S; Griffis, John L

2017-01-01

A novel protocol for the commercial production of date palm through micropropagation is presented. This protocol includes the use of a semisolid medium alternation or in combination with a temporary immersion system (TIS, Plantform bioreactor) in date palm micropropagation. The use of the Plantform bioreactor for date palm results in an improved multiplication rate, reduced micropropagation time, and improved weaning success. It also reduces the cost of saleable units and thus improves economic return for commercial micropropagation. The use of the Plantform bioreactor successfully addresses other hindrances that can occur during the scale-up of date palm micropropagation, including asynchrony of somatic embryos, limited maturation of somatic embryos, and highly variable germination frequencies of embryos.

Material flow analysis for resource management towards resilient palm oil production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamahara, H.; Faisal, M.; Hasanudin, U.; Fujie, K.; Daimon, H.

2018-03-01

Biomass waste generated from palm oil mill can be considered not only as the feedstock of renewable energy but also as the nutrient-rich resources to produce organic fertilizer. This study explored the appropriate resource management towards resilient palm oil production by applying material flow analysis. This study was conducted based on two palm oil mills in Lampung, Indonesia. The results showed that the empty fruit bunch (EFB) has the largest potential in terms of amount and energy among the biomass waste. The results also showed that the palm oil mills themselves had already self-managed their energy consumption thatwas obtained from palm kernel shell and palm press fiber. Finally, this study recommended the several utilization options of EFB for improvement of soil sustainability to contribute towards resilient palm oil production.

Red Palm Mite Situation in the Caribbean and Florida

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The red palm mite (Raoiella indica Hirst Tenuipalpidae), a pest of coconuts and ornamental palms in Asia and Africa, was reported in the Caribbean in 2004. By 2008, it had spread to at least twelve islands, two counties in Florida and to Venezuela. Red palm mite causes yellowing and leaf necrosis wi...

The palm wine trade: occupational and health hazards.

PubMed

Mbuagbaw, L; Noorduyn, S G

2012-10-01

The palm wine trade is an important economic activity for many tropical rural areas worldwide. In West Africa, palm wine holds high sociocultural and traditional values. Wine tappers often climb very tall trees with rudimentary equipment to harvest palm sap and risk severe injuries in the event of a fall. Furthermore, the wine quickly ferments beyond the desired taste and alcohol content, reducing the market power of these tappers. Therefore, to maximize benefits or to enhance shelf life, a variety of components are added to the palm tree sap, introducing the possibility of deadly contaminants. This paper highlights the public health implications of uncontrolled palm wine production and the relative neglect of the wine tapper. We draw from the limited published literature and use Cameroon as a case study. The palm wine trade can be more productive and safe if tappers work in cooperatives to improve their market power. Public health authorities need to monitor the quality of this cheap and common source of alcohol and enact regulations to protect wine tappers from the current level of occupational hazards. There are varying levels of progress to control quality and ensure safety in different parts of the world. Legislation and collaboration with traditional structures may offer a framework for change.

Palm oil: biochemical, physiological, nutritional, hematological, and toxicological aspects: a review.

PubMed

Edem, D O

2002-01-01

The link between dietary fats and cardiovascular diseases has necessitated a growing research interest in palm oil, the second largest consumed vegetable oil in the world. Palm oil, obtained from a tropical plant, Elaeis guineensis contains 50% saturated fatty acids, yet it does not promote atherosclerosis and arterial thrombosis. The saturated fatty acid to unsaturated fatty acid ratio of palm oil is close to unity and it contains a high amount of the antioxidants, beta-carotene, and vitamin E. Although palm oil-based diets induce a higher blood cholesterol level than do corn, soybean, safflower seed, and sunflower oils, the consumption of palm oil causes the endogenous cholesterol level to drop. This phenomenon seems to arise from the presence of the tocotrienols and the peculiar isomeric position of its fatty acids. The benefits of palm oil to health include reduction in risk of arterial thrombosis and atherosclerosis, inhibition of endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis, platelet aggregation, and reduction in blood pressure. Palm oil has been used in the fresh state and/or at various levels of oxidation. Oxidation is a result of processing the oil for various culinary purposes. However, a considerable amount of the commonly used palm oil is in the oxidized state, which poses potential dangers to the biochemical and physiological functions of the body. Unlike fresh palm oil, oxidized palm oil induces an adverse lipid profile, reproductive toxicity and toxicity of the kidney, lung, liver, and heart. This may be as a result of the generation of toxicants brought on by oxidation. In contrast to oxidized palm oil, red or refined palm oil at moderate levels in the diet of experimental animals promotes efficient utilization of nutrients, favorable body weight gains, induction of hepatic drug metabolizing enzymes, adequate hemoglobinization of red cells and improvement of immune function. Howerer, high palm oil levels in the diet induce toxicity to the liver as shown by

PALM-COEIN Nomenclature for Abnormal Uterine Bleeding.

PubMed

Deneris, Angela

2016-05-01

Approximately 30% of women will experience abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) during their life time. Previous terms defining AUB have been confusing and imprecisely applied. As a consequence, both clinical management and research on this common problem have been negatively impacted. In 2011, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Menstrual Disorders Group (FMDG) published PALM-COEIN, a new classification system for abnormal bleeding in the reproductive years. Terms such as menorrhagia, menometrorrhagia, metrorrhagia, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, polymenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, and uterine hemorrhage are no longer recommended. The PALM-COEIN system was developed to standardize nomenclature to describe the etiology and severity of AUB. A brief description of the PALM-COEIN nomenclature is presented as well as treatment options for each etiology. Clinicians will frequently encounter women with AUB and should report findings utilizing the PALM-COEIN system. © 2016 by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

The Impacts of Oil Palm on Recent Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss

PubMed Central

Pimm, Stuart L.; Jenkins, Clinton N.; Smith, Sharon J.

2016-01-01

Palm oil is the most widely traded vegetable oil globally, with demand projected to increase substantially in the future. Almost all oil palm grows in areas that were once tropical moist forests, some of them quite recently. The conversion to date, and future expansion, threatens biodiversity and increases greenhouse gas emissions. Today, consumer pressure is pushing companies toward deforestation-free sources of palm oil. To guide interventions aimed at reducing tropical deforestation due to oil palm, we analysed recent expansions and modelled likely future ones. We assessed sample areas to find where oil palm plantations have recently replaced forests in 20 countries, using a combination of high-resolution imagery from Google Earth and Landsat. We then compared these trends to countrywide trends in FAO data for oil palm planted area. Finally, we assessed which forests have high agricultural suitability for future oil palm development, which we refer to as vulnerable forests, and identified critical areas for biodiversity that oil palm expansion threatens. Our analysis reveals regional trends in deforestation associated with oil palm agriculture. In Southeast Asia, 45% of sampled oil palm plantations came from areas that were forests in 1989. For South America, the percentage was 31%. By contrast, in Mesoamerica and Africa, we observed only 2% and 7% of oil palm plantations coming from areas that were forest in 1989. The largest areas of vulnerable forest are in Africa and South America. Vulnerable forests in all four regions of production contain globally high concentrations of mammal and bird species at risk of extinction. However, priority areas for biodiversity conservation differ based on taxa and criteria used. Government regulation and voluntary market interventions can help incentivize the expansion of oil palm plantations in ways that protect biodiversity-rich ecosystems. PMID:27462984

The Impacts of Oil Palm on Recent Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss.

PubMed

Vijay, Varsha; Pimm, Stuart L; Jenkins, Clinton N; Smith, Sharon J

2016-01-01

Palm oil is the most widely traded vegetable oil globally, with demand projected to increase substantially in the future. Almost all oil palm grows in areas that were once tropical moist forests, some of them quite recently. The conversion to date, and future expansion, threatens biodiversity and increases greenhouse gas emissions. Today, consumer pressure is pushing companies toward deforestation-free sources of palm oil. To guide interventions aimed at reducing tropical deforestation due to oil palm, we analysed recent expansions and modelled likely future ones. We assessed sample areas to find where oil palm plantations have recently replaced forests in 20 countries, using a combination of high-resolution imagery from Google Earth and Landsat. We then compared these trends to countrywide trends in FAO data for oil palm planted area. Finally, we assessed which forests have high agricultural suitability for future oil palm development, which we refer to as vulnerable forests, and identified critical areas for biodiversity that oil palm expansion threatens. Our analysis reveals regional trends in deforestation associated with oil palm agriculture. In Southeast Asia, 45% of sampled oil palm plantations came from areas that were forests in 1989. For South America, the percentage was 31%. By contrast, in Mesoamerica and Africa, we observed only 2% and 7% of oil palm plantations coming from areas that were forest in 1989. The largest areas of vulnerable forest are in Africa and South America. Vulnerable forests in all four regions of production contain globally high concentrations of mammal and bird species at risk of extinction. However, priority areas for biodiversity conservation differ based on taxa and criteria used. Government regulation and voluntary market interventions can help incentivize the expansion of oil palm plantations in ways that protect biodiversity-rich ecosystems.

An experiment of used palm oil refinery using the value engineering method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumiati; Waluyo, M.

2018-01-01

Palm Oil is one of prime materials which very necessary for Indonesia. In the development of palm oil industry the constraint which faced is raw material availability and the economic crisis that attack Indonesia which cause increasing of cost industry so that the salaes price become very expensive . With using alternative raw material namely used palm oil them be made palm oil design to solve this problems. In the designing which comply the consideration of good pal oil planning aspect be use value engineer study. While the criteria parameter of hygienic palm oil which obtained from the questioner area free fatty acid, water content, Iodine number, peroxide number, odor, taste and the color. The research which use value engineer study is throught any phase that is information phase, analyzes phase, creative phase, development phase and presentation phase. This research began with doing the identification of palm oil demand, continued by methodology development in order to measure oil design. By using creative process could be obtained flow rate position, the amount of adsorbent and the best settling time for palm oil alternative that is in the flow rate 70 ml/sec, 4% of adsorbent and the 70 minute for the settling time with free fatty acid value: 0.299. While the best palm oil alternative are palm oil with free fatty acid value = 0.299, water content = 0.31, Iodine number = 40.08, Peroxide number = 3.72, odor and taste = Normal, the color = Normal. The Evalution which done by value engineer study generate the value from alternative palm oil is 1.330 and market palm oil 1.392. Thus, can be conclude thet the value engineer study can be good implemented in the alternative palm oil planning so that alternative palm oil can be produced largely because they have better value that market palm oil and appropriate for little industries.

Oil palm natural diversity and the potential for yield improvement

PubMed Central

Barcelos, Edson; Rios, Sara de Almeida; Cunha, Raimundo N. V.; Lopes, Ricardo; Motoike, Sérgio Y.; Babiychuk, Elena; Skirycz, Aleksandra; Kushnir, Sergei

2015-01-01

African oil palm has the highest productivity amongst cultivated oleaginous crops. Species can constitute a single crop capable to fulfill the growing global demand for vegetable oils, which is estimated to reach 240 million tons by 2050. Two types of vegetable oil are extracted from the palm fruit on commercial scale. The crude palm oil and kernel palm oil have different fatty acid profiles, which increases versatility of the crop in industrial applications. Plantations of the current varieties have economic life-span around 25–30 years and produce fruits around the year. Thus, predictable annual palm oil supply enables marketing plans and adjustments in line with the economic forecasts. Oil palm cultivation is one of the most profitable land uses in the humid tropics. Oil palm fruits are the richest plant source of pro-vitamin A and vitamin E. Hence, crop both alleviates poverty, and could provide a simple practical solution to eliminate global pro-vitamin A deficiency. Oil palm is a perennial, evergreen tree adapted to cultivation in biodiversity rich equatorial land areas. The growing demand for the palm oil threatens the future of the rain forests and has a large negative impact on biodiversity. Plant science faces three major challenges to make oil palm the key element of building the future sustainable world. The global average yield of 3.5 tons of oil per hectare (t) should be raised to the full yield potential estimated at 11–18t. The tree architecture must be changed to lower labor intensity and improve mechanization of the harvest. Oil composition should be tailored to the evolving needs of the food, oleochemical and fuel industries. The release of the oil palm reference genome sequence in 2013 was the key step toward this goal. The molecular bases of agronomically important traits can be and are beginning to be understood at the single base pair resolution, enabling gene-centered breeding and engineering of this remarkable crop. PMID:25870604

Oil palm natural diversity and the potential for yield improvement.

PubMed

Barcelos, Edson; Rios, Sara de Almeida; Cunha, Raimundo N V; Lopes, Ricardo; Motoike, Sérgio Y; Babiychuk, Elena; Skirycz, Aleksandra; Kushnir, Sergei

2015-01-01

African oil palm has the highest productivity amongst cultivated oleaginous crops. Species can constitute a single crop capable to fulfill the growing global demand for vegetable oils, which is estimated to reach 240 million tons by 2050. Two types of vegetable oil are extracted from the palm fruit on commercial scale. The crude palm oil and kernel palm oil have different fatty acid profiles, which increases versatility of the crop in industrial applications. Plantations of the current varieties have economic life-span around 25-30 years and produce fruits around the year. Thus, predictable annual palm oil supply enables marketing plans and adjustments in line with the economic forecasts. Oil palm cultivation is one of the most profitable land uses in the humid tropics. Oil palm fruits are the richest plant source of pro-vitamin A and vitamin E. Hence, crop both alleviates poverty, and could provide a simple practical solution to eliminate global pro-vitamin A deficiency. Oil palm is a perennial, evergreen tree adapted to cultivation in biodiversity rich equatorial land areas. The growing demand for the palm oil threatens the future of the rain forests and has a large negative impact on biodiversity. Plant science faces three major challenges to make oil palm the key element of building the future sustainable world. The global average yield of 3.5 tons of oil per hectare (t) should be raised to the full yield potential estimated at 11-18t. The tree architecture must be changed to lower labor intensity and improve mechanization of the harvest. Oil composition should be tailored to the evolving needs of the food, oleochemical and fuel industries. The release of the oil palm reference genome sequence in 2013 was the key step toward this goal. The molecular bases of agronomically important traits can be and are beginning to be understood at the single base pair resolution, enabling gene-centered breeding and engineering of this remarkable crop.

Acoustic Detection of Insects in Palm Trees

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Commercial-crop and ornamental palm trees serve important functions in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and considerable precautions are taken each year to identify and control infestations of a variety of different insect pests. Large weevils, including the red palm weevil and the co...

Oil palm for biodiesel in Brazil—risks and opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Englund, Oskar; Berndes, Göran; Persson, U. Martin; Sparovek, Gerd

2015-04-01

Although mainly used for other purposes, and historically mainly established at the expense of tropical forests, oil palm can be the most land efficient feedstock for biodiesel. Large parts of Brazil are suitable for oil palm cultivation and a series of policy initiatives have recently been launched to promote oil palm production. These initiatives are however highly debated both in the parliament and in academia. Here we present results of a high resolution modelling study of opportunities and risks associated with oil palm production for biodiesel in Brazil, under different energy, policy, and infrastructure scenarios. Oil palm was found to be profitable on extensive areas, including areas under native vegetation where establishment would cause large land use change (LUC) emissions. However, some 40-60 Mha could support profitable biodiesel production corresponding to approximately 10% of the global diesel demand, without causing direct LUC emissions or impinging on protected areas. Pricing of LUC emissions could make oil palm production unprofitable on most lands where conversion would impact on native ecosystems and carbon stocks, if the carbon price is at the level 125/tC, or higher.

A Survey on the Usage of Biomass Wastes from Palm Oil Mills on Sustainable Development of Oil Palm Plantations in Sarawak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phang, K. Y.; Lau, S. W.

2017-06-01

As one of the world’s largest palm oil producers and exporters, Malaysia is committed to sustainable management of this industry to address the emerging environmental challenges. This descriptive study aims to evaluate the oil palm planters’ opinions regarding the usage of biomass wastes from palm oil mills and its impact on sustainable development of oil palm plantations in Sarawak. 253 planters across Sarawak were approached for their opinions about the usage of empty fruit bunch (EFB), palm oil mill effluent (POME), mesocarp fibre (MF), and palm kernel shell (PKS). This study revealed that the planters had generally higher agreement on the beneficial application of EFB and POME in oil palm plantations. This could be seen from the higher means of agreement rating of 3.64 - 4.22 for EFB and POME, compared with the rating of 3.19 - 3.41 for MF and PKS in the 5-point Likert scale (with 5 being the strongest agreement). Besides, 94.7 percent of the planters’ companies were found to comply with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requirements where nearly 38 percent carried out the EIA practice twice a year. Therefore high means of agreement were correlated to the compliance of environmental regulations, recording a Likert rating of 3.89 to 4.31. Lastly, the usage of EFB and POME also gained higher Likert scale point of 3.76 to 4.17 against MF and PKS of 3.34 to 3.49 in the evaluation of the impact of sustainability in oil palm plantations. The planters agreed that the usage of EFB and POME has reduced the environmental impact and improved the sustainable development, and its application has been improved and increased by research and development. However the planters were uncertain of the impact of usage of biomass wastes with respect to the contribution to social responsibility and company image in terms of transparency in waste management.

Ritual uses of palms in traditional medicine in sub-Saharan Africa: a review

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Palms (Arecaceae) are prominent elements in African traditional medicines. It is, however, a challenge to find detailed information on the ritual use of palms, which are an inextricable part of African medicinal and spiritual systems. This work reviews ritual uses of palms within African ethnomedicine. We studied over 200 publications on uses of African palms and found information about ritual uses in 26 of them. At least 12 palm species in sub-Saharan Africa are involved in various ritual practices: Borassus aethiopum, Cocos nucifera, Dypsis canaliculata, D. fibrosa, D. pinnatifrons, Elaeis guineensis, Hyphaene coriacea, H. petersiana, Phoenix reclinata, Raphia farinifera, R. hookeri, and R. vinifera. In some rituals, palms play a central role as sacred objects, for example the seeds accompany oracles and palm leaves are used in offerings. In other cases, palms are added as a support to other powerful ingredients, for example palm oil used as a medium to blend and make coherent the healing mixture. A better understanding of the cultural context of medicinal use of palms is needed in order to obtain a more accurate and complete insight into palm-based traditional medicines. PMID:25056559

Palm-Based Standard Reference Materials for Iodine Value and Slip Melting Point

PubMed Central

Tarmizi, Azmil Haizam Ahmad; Lin, Siew Wai; Kuntom, Ainie

2008-01-01

This work described study protocols on the production of Palm-Based Standard Reference Materials for iodine value and slip melting point. Thirty-three laboratories collaborated in the inter-laboratory proficiency tests for characterization of iodine value, while thirty-two laboratories for characterization of slip melting point. The iodine value and slip melting point of palm oil, palm olein and palm stearin were determined in accordance to MPOB Test Methods p3.2:2004 and p4.2:2004, respectively. The consensus values and their uncertainties were based on the acceptability of statistical agreement of results obtained from collaborating laboratories. The consensus values and uncertainties for iodine values were 52.63 ± 0.14 Wijs in palm oil, 56.77 ± 0.12 Wijs in palm olein and 33.76 ± 0.18 Wijs in palm stearin. For the slip melting points, the consensus values and uncertainties were 35.6 ± 0.3 °C in palm oil, 22.7 ± 0.4 °C in palm olein and 53.4 ± 0.2 °C in palm stearin. Repeatability and reproducibility relative standard deviations were found to be good and acceptable, with values much lower than that of 10%. Stability of Palm-Based Standard Reference Materials remained stable at temperatures of −20 °C, 0 °C, 6 °C and 24 °C upon storage for one year. PMID:19609396

Nature and composition of fat bloom from palm kernel stearin and hydrogenated palm kernel stearin compound chocolates.

PubMed

Smith, Kevin W; Cain, Fred W; Talbot, Geoff

2004-08-25

Palm kernel stearin and hydrogenated palm kernel stearin can be used to prepare compound chocolate bars or coatings. The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical composition, polymorphism, and melting behavior of the bloom that develops on bars of compound chocolate prepared using these fats. Bars were stored for 1 year at 15, 20, or 25 degrees C. At 15 and 20 degrees C the bloom was enriched in cocoa butter triacylglycerols, with respect to the main fat phase, whereas at 25 degrees C the enrichment was with palm kernel triacylglycerols. The bloom consisted principally of solid fat and was sharper melting than was the fat in the chocolate. Polymorphic transitions from the initial beta' phase to the beta phase accompanied the formation of bloom at all temperatures.

Oil palm plantation effects on water quality in Kalimantan, Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlson, K. M.; Curran, L. M.

2011-12-01

Global demand for palm oil has stimulated a 7-fold increase in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) plantation area in Indonesia since 1990. Expansion will continue as Indonesia plans to double current production by 2020. Oil palm fertilizers, effluent from oil palm mills, and erosion from land clearing and roads threaten river water quality near plantations. These rivers provide essential ecosystem services including water for drinking, cooking, and washing. Robust empirical measurements of plantation expansion impacts on water resources are necessary to discern the effects of agribusiness on local livelihoods and ecosystems. In Ketapang District, West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, we evaluated the effects of land cover change on water quality by assessing water chemistry in streams draining four end-member watersheds ( ~600-1900 ha watershed-1): Logged forest, mixed agro-forest dominated by rubber and upland rice fallows, young oil palm forest (0-5 years), and old oil palm forest (10-15 years). To assess land cover change, we used CLASLite software to derive fractional cover from a time series (1989-2008) of Landsat data. Nearest neighbor classification and post-classification change detection yielded classes including primary forest, logged forest, secondary forest regrowth, smallholder agriculture, and oil palm. Stream water quality (temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, optical chlorphyll, and pH) and quantity (discharge) were quantified with the YSI 6600-V2 sonde. The sonde was deployed in each stream for month-long intervals 2-3 times from 2009-2010. Such extended deployment captures episodic events such as intense storms and allows examination of interdiel dynamics by sampling continuously and at high frequency, every 10 minutes. We find that across the Ketapang District study region (~12,000 km2), oil palm has cleared mostly forests (49%) and agroforests (39%). What are the impacts of such land cover changes on water quality? Compared to forests and

Identifying and Controlling Contamination of Date Palm Tissue Cultures.

PubMed

Abdel-Karim, Abeer H I

2017-01-01

Fungal and bacterial contaminations are major problems facing in vitro date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) proliferation. To overcome this problem, we must first identify the fungal (e.g., Alternaria sp., Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp.) and bacterial (e.g., Pseudomonas sp.) spread in date palm in vitro cultures. Incorporating fungicides (e.g., copper oxychloride, Vitavax T, and Topsin M) or antibiotics (e.g., streptomycin, Banocin, and Bencid D) at 500 mg/L in medium significantly reduces the contamination rate during various stages of in vitro date palm culture. Streptomyces chloramphenicol (pharmacy) is highly effective in reducing the bacterial contamination of date palm cultures to below 10%, as well as enhancing growth vigor.

Palm oil mill effluent treatment and utilization to ensure the sustainability of palm oil industries.

PubMed

Hasanudin, U; Sugiharto, R; Haryanto, A; Setiadi, T; Fujie, K

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current condition of palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment and utilization and to propose alternative scenarios to improve the sustainability of palm oil industries. The research was conducted through field survey at some palm oil mills in Indonesia, in which different waste management systems were used. Laboratory experiment was also carried out using a 5 m(3) pilot-scale wet anaerobic digester. Currently, POME is treated through anaerobic digestion without or with methane capture followed by utilization of treated POME as liquid fertilizer or further treatment (aerobic process) to fulfill the wastewater quality standard. A methane capturing system was estimated to successfully produce renewable energy of about 25.4-40.7 kWh/ton of fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 109.41-175.35 kgCO2e/tonFFB (CO2e: carbon dioxide equivalent). Utilization of treated POME as liquid fertilizer increased FFB production by about 13%. A palm oil mill with 45 ton FFB/hour capacity has potential to generate about 0.95-1.52 MW of electricity. Coupling the POME-based biogas digester and anaerobic co-composting of empty fruit bunches (EFBs) is capable of adding another 0.93 MW. The utilization of POME and EFB not only increases the added value of POME and EFB by producing renewable energy, compost, and liquid fertilizer, but also lowers environmental burden.

Utilization of Palm Oil Clinker as Cement Replacement Material

PubMed Central

Kanadasan, Jegathish; Abdul Razak, Hashim

2015-01-01

The utilization of waste materials from the palm oil industry provides immense benefit to various sectors of the construction industry. Palm oil clinker is a by-product from the processing stages of palm oil goods. Channelling this waste material into the building industry helps to promote sustainability besides overcoming waste disposal problems. Environmental pollution due to inappropriate waste management system can also be drastically reduced. In this study, cement was substituted with palm oil clinker powder as a binder material in self-compacting mortar. The fresh, hardened and microstructure properties were evaluated throughout this study. In addition, sustainability component analysis was also carried out to assess the environmental impact of introducing palm oil clinker powder as a replacement material for cement. It can be inferred that approximately 3.3% of cement production can be saved by substituting palm oil clinker powder with cement. Reducing the utilization of cement through a high substitution level of this waste material will also help to reduce carbon emissions by 52%. A cleaner environment free from pollutants can be created to ensure healthier living. Certain industries may benefit through the inclusion of this waste material as the cost and energy consumption of the product can be minimized. PMID:28793748

Utilization of Palm Oil Clinker as Cement Replacement Material.

PubMed

Kanadasan, Jegathish; Abdul Razak, Hashim

2015-12-16

The utilization of waste materials from the palm oil industry provides immense benefit to various sectors of the construction industry. Palm oil clinker is a by-product from the processing stages of palm oil goods. Channelling this waste material into the building industry helps to promote sustainability besides overcoming waste disposal problems. Environmental pollution due to inappropriate waste management system can also be drastically reduced. In this study, cement was substituted with palm oil clinker powder as a binder material in self-compacting mortar. The fresh, hardened and microstructure properties were evaluated throughout this study. In addition, sustainability component analysis was also carried out to assess the environmental impact of introducing palm oil clinker powder as a replacement material for cement. It can be inferred that approximately 3.3% of cement production can be saved by substituting palm oil clinker powder with cement. Reducing the utilization of cement through a high substitution level of this waste material will also help to reduce carbon emissions by 52%. A cleaner environment free from pollutants can be created to ensure healthier living. Certain industries may benefit through the inclusion of this waste material as the cost and energy consumption of the product can be minimized.

78 FR 4306 - Amendment of Class D and Class E Airspace; Twentynine Palms, CA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-22

... the safety and management of aircraft operations at Twentynine Palms SELF Airport, Twentynine Palms.... SUMMARY: This action amends Class D and Class E airspace at Twentynine Palms SELF Airport, Twentynine... name and geographic coordinates of Twentynine Palms SELF Airport, Twentynine Palms, CA. The Class D...

Effect of Kevlar and carbon fibres on tensile properties of oil palm/epoxy composites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amir, S. M. M.; Sultan, M. T. H.; Jawaid, M.; Cardona, F.; Ishak, M. R.; Yusof, M. R.

2017-12-01

Hybrid composites with natural and synthetic fibers have captured the interests of many researchers. In this work, Kevlar/oil palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB)/Kevlar and carbon/oil palm EFB hybrid/carbon composites were prepared using hand lay-up technique by keeping the oil palm EFB fiber as the core material. The tensile properties which include tensile strength, tensile modulus and elongation at break were investigated. It is observed that the tensile strength and modulus for carbon/oil palm EFB/carbon hybrid composites were much higher as compared with Kevlar/oil palm EFB/Kevlar hybrid composites. However, the elongation at break for Kevlar/oil palm EFB/Kevlar hybrid composites exhibited higher value as compared to carbon/oil palm EFB/carbon hybrid composites and oil palm EFB/epoxy composites. The tensile strength for carbon/oil palm EFB/carbon hybrid composites is 93.6 MPa and the tensile modulus for carbon/oil palm EFB/carbon hybrid composites is 6.5 GPa. The elongation at break for Kevlar/oil palm EFB/Kevlar hybrid composites is 3.6%.

Relationships among rat numbers, abundance of oil palm fruit and damage levels to fruit in an oil palm plantation.

PubMed

Puan, Chong Leong; Goldizen, Anne W; Zakaria, Mohamed; Hafidzi, Mohd N; Baxter, Greg S

2011-06-01

The relationships between vertebrate pests and crop damage are often complex and difficult to study. In palm oil plantations rodents remain the major pests, causing substantial monetary losses. The present study examined the numerical and functional responses of rodents to changes in the availability of oil palm fruit and the damage associated with that response. For the study, 200 traps were set in pairs on a 10 × 10 trapping grid for 3 consecutive nights in each of 6 study plots at 8-week intervals in a 2569 ha oil palm plantation at Labu, Negeri Sembilan state in Peninsular Malaysia over 14 months. A total of 1292 individual rats were captured over 25 200 trap-nights. Animals were identified, aged, sexed, weighed and measured. An index of the relative abundance of rats was calculated based on trapping success. Damage to infructescences was assessed at each trap point. Regardless of the age of palms, there were positive and significant relationships between the relative abundance of rats and numbers of infructescences. The levels of damage to infructescences were significantly correlated with the relative abundance of rats. A steep increase in damage was observed with an increase in mature infructescences, indicating a feeding preference of rats for mature infructescences. For both males and females of all rat species, there were weak and non-significant correlations between body condition and infructescence numbers. These results indicated that there was a numerical and a functional response by rats to the availability of palm fruit and a resulting increase in depredation of oil palm fruits. The ways in which this information might aid in future pest control are discussed. © 2011 ISZS, Blackwell Publishing and IOZ/CAS.

Encapsulation of Date Palm Somatic Embryos: Synthetic Seeds.

PubMed

Bekheet, Shawky A

2017-01-01

Synthetic seed or encapsulated somatic embryos may be used for propagation, storage, and exchange of plant germplasm and have many diverse applications in date palm cultivation. They have advantages over conventional use of offshoot material for germplasm propagation, maintenance, exchange, and transportation. This chapter describes a protocol for date palm synthetic seed production by encapsulation of somatic embryos with sodium alginate. Among three concentrations used, 3% sodium alginate followed by dropping into 2.5% calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) solution shows the best concentration of gel matrix for both maintenance and recovery. In addition, storage of the encapsulated date palm somatic embryos at 5 °C improves the survival and conversion into plantlets; otherwise, 20 g/L sucrose in the culture medium enhances conversion of the recovered somatic embryos to plantlets. This protocol is promising for in vitro conservation and international exchange of date palm germplasm.

Suitability of online 3D visualization technique in oil palm plantation management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mat, Ruzinoor Che; Nordin, Norani; Zulkifli, Abdul Nasir; Yusof, Shahrul Azmi Mohd

2016-08-01

Oil palm industry has been the backbone for the growth of Malaysia economy. The exports of this commodity increasing almost every year. Therefore, there are many studies focusing on how to help this industry increased its productivity. In order to increase the productivity, the management of oil palm plantation need to be improved and strengthen. One of the solution in helping the oil palm manager is by implementing online 3D visualization technique for oil palm plantation using game engine technology. The potential of this application is that it can helps in fertilizer and irrigation management. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to investigate the issues in managing oil palm plantation from the view of oil palm manager by interview. The results from this interview will helps in identifying the suitable issues could be highlight in implementing online 3D visualization technique for oil palm plantation management.

SARS-CoV infection in a restaurant from palm civet.

PubMed

Wang, Ming; Yan, Meiying; Xu, Huifang; Liang, Weili; Kan, Biao; Zheng, Bojian; Chen, Honglin; Zheng, Han; Xu, Yanmei; Zhang, Enmin; Wang, Hongxia; Ye, Jingrong; Li, Guichang; Li, Machao; Cui, Zhigang; Liu, Yu-Fei; Guo, Rong-Tong; Liu, Xiao-Ning; Zhan, Liu-Hua; Zhou, Duan-Hua; Zhao, Ailan; Hai, Rong; Yu, Dongzhen; Guan, Yi; Xu, Jianguo

2005-12-01

Epidemiologic investigations showed that 2 of 4 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) identified in the winter of 2003-2004 were a waitresss at a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, that served palm civets as food and a customer who ate in the restaurant ashort distance from animal cages. All 6 palm civets at the restaurant were positive for SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Partial spike (S) gene sequences of SARS-CoV from the 2 patients were identical to 4 of 5 Sgene viral sequences from palm civets. Phylogenetic analysis showed that SARS-CoV from palm civets in the restaurant was most closely related to animal isolates. SARS cases at the restaurant were the result of recent interspecies transfer from the putative palm civet reservoir, and not the result of continued circulation of SARS-CoV in the human population.

Sweet little Gabonese palm wine: a neglected alcohol.

PubMed

Mavioga, E M; Mullot, J U; Frederic, C; Huart, B; Burnat, P

2009-01-01

During the last ten years, consumption of palm wine, a popular traditional alcoholic beverage, seriously increases in Gabon. This sweet beverage seems to be the main alcohol and the most drunken in low socioeconomic population. To have an idea of its composition and toxicity, 21 samples of palm wine were collected in the country and analysed. Twenty-one palm wine samples were randomly selected from all over Gabon. Methanol and ethanol concentrations in the samples were measured by gas chromatography. Aromatic hydrocarbons were measured by selected ion monitoring mode in mass spectrometry. Delection of heavy metals was by standard techniques. Gabonese palm wine contained ethanol at a mean concentration of about 60 g*L-1, i.e. 7.5 degrees (volume %), volatile components such as alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids and esters and trace metals. Trace metals were present at low concentrations below internationally recognized maximal limits for alcoholic beverages with less than 2 microg*L-1 for cadmium, less than 10 microg*L-1 for arsenic and for lead 15 samples with concentrations under 10 microg*L-1 and the last six samples with concentrations between 11 and 61 microg*L-1. None of the searched aromatic or chlorinated solvents, indicative of refined fuel or industrial contamination, was detected. For the parameters analyzed here, there seems to be no significant difference in constitution between Gabonese wine palm and others kind of palm wine produced in West Africa. This alcohol needs to be more considered by public health authorities and medical teams because of its health and economic consequences.

Palm oil: a healthful and cost-effective dietary component.

PubMed

Ong, A S H; Goh, S H

2002-03-01

Palm oil is an excellent choice for food manufacturers because of its nutritional benefits and versatility. The oil is highly structured to contain predominantly oleic acid at the sn2-position in the major triacylglycerols to account for the beneficial effects described in numerous nutritional studies. Oil quality and nutritional benefits have been assured for the variety of foods that can be manufactured from the oil directly or from blends with other oils while remaining trans-free. The oxidative stability coupled with the cost-effectiveness is unparalleled among cholesterol-free oils, and these values can be extended to blends of polyunsaturated oils to provide long shelf-life. Presently the supply of genetic-modification-free palm oil is assured at economic prices, since the oil palm is a perennial crop with unparalleled productivity. Numerous studies have confirmed the nutritional value of palm oil as a result of the high monounsaturation at the crucial 2-position of the oil's triacylglycerols, making the oil as healthful as olive oil. It is now recognized that the contribution of dietary fats to blood lipids and cholesterol modulation is a consequence of the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of the fats. Lipolytic hydrolysis of palm oil glycerides containing predominantly oleic acid at the 2 position and palmitic and stearic acids at the 1 and 3 positions allows for the ready absorption of the 2-monoacrylglycerols while the saturated free fatty acids remain poorly absorbed. Dietary palm oil in balanced diets generally reduced blood cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides while raising the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Improved lipoprotein(a) and apo-A1 levels were also demonstrated from palm oil diets; an important benefits also comes from the lowering of blood triglycerides (or reduced fat storage) as compared with those from polyunsaturated fat diets. Virgin palm oil also provides carotenes apart from

A case study of pyrolysis of oil palm wastes in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullah, Nurhayati; Sulaiman, Fauziah; Aliasak, Zalila

2013-05-01

Biomass seems to have a great potential as a source of renewable energy compared with other sources. The use of biomass as a source of energy could help to reduce the wastes and also to minimize the dependency on non-renewable energy, hence minimize environmental degradation. Among other types of biomass, oil palm wastes are the major contribution for energy production in Malaysia since Malaysia is one of the primary palm oil producers in the world. Currently, Malaysia's plantation area covers around 5 million hectares. In the oil palm mill, only 10% palm oil is produced and the other 90% is in the form of wastes such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), oil palm shells (OPS), oil palm fibre (OPFb) and palm oil mill effluent (POME). If these wastes are being used as a source of renewable energy, it is believed that it will help to increase the country's economy. Recently, the most potential and efficient thermal energy conversion technology is pyrolysis process. The objective of this paper is to review the current research on pyrolysis of oil palm wastes in Malaysia. The scope of this paper is to discuss on the types of pyrolysis process and its production. At present, most of the research conducted in this country is on EFB and OPS by fast, slow and microwave-assisted pyrolysis processes for fuel applications.

Production of haploids and doubled haploids in oil palm

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Oil palm is the world's most productive oil-food crop despite yielding well below its theoretical maximum. This maximum could be approached with the introduction of elite F1 varieties. The development of such elite lines has thus far been prevented by difficulties in generating homozygous parental types for F1 generation. Results Here we present the first high-throughput screen to identify spontaneously-formed haploid (H) and doubled haploid (DH) palms. We secured over 1,000 Hs and one DH from genetically diverse material and derived further DH/mixoploid palms from Hs using colchicine. We demonstrated viability of pollen from H plants and expect to generate 100% homogeneous F1 seed from intercrosses between DH/mixoploids once they develop female inflorescences. Conclusions This study has generated genetically diverse H/DH palms from which parental clones can be selected in sufficient numbers to enable the commercial-scale breeding of F1 varieties. The anticipated step increase in productivity may help to relieve pressure to extend palm cultivation, and limit further expansion into biodiverse rainforest. PMID:20929530

Processing of palm oil mill wastes based on zero waste technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Irvan

2018-02-01

Indonesia is currently the main producer of palm oil in the world with a total production reached 33.5 million tons per year. In the processing of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) besides producing palm oil and kernel oil, palm oil mills also produce liquid and solid wastes. The increase of palm oil production will be followed by an increase in the production of waste generated. It will give rise to major environmental issues especially the discharge of liquid waste to the rivers, the emission of methane from digestion pond and the incineration of empty fruit bunches (EFB). This paper describes a zero waste technology in processing palm oil mill waste after the milling process. The technology involves fermentation of palm oil mill effluent (POME) to biogas by using continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) in the presence of thermophilic microbes, producing activated liquid organic fertilizer (ALOF) from discharge of treated waste effluent from biogas digester, composting EFB by spraying ALOF on the EFB in the composter, and producing pellet or biochar from EFB by pyrolysis process. This concept can be considered as a promising technology for palm oil mills with the main objective of eliminating the effluent from their mills.

Stability evaluation of quality parameters for palm oil products at low temperature storage.

PubMed

Ramli, Nur Aainaa Syahirah; Mohd Noor, Mohd Azmil; Musa, Hajar; Ghazali, Razmah

2018-07-01

Palm oil is one of the major oils and fats produced and traded worldwide. The value of palm oil products is mainly influenced by their quality. According to ISO 17025:2005, accredited laboratories require a quality control procedure with respect to monitoring the validity of tests for determination of quality parameters. This includes the regular use of internal quality control using secondary reference materials. Unfortunately, palm oil reference materials are not currently available. To establish internal quality control samples, the stability of quality parameters needs to be evaluated. In the present study, the stability of quality parameters for palm oil products was examined over 10 months at low temperature storage (6 ± 2 °C). The palm oil products tested included crude palm oil (CPO); refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm oil (RBDPO); RBD palm olein (RBDPOo); and RBD palm stearin (RBDPS). The quality parameters of the oils [i.e. moisture content, free fatty acid content (FFA), iodine value (IV), fatty acids composition (FAC) and slip melting point (SMP)] were determined prior to and throughout the storage period. The moisture, FFA, IV, FAC and SMP for palm oil products changed significantly (P < 0.05), whereas the moisture content for CPO, IV for RBDPO and RBDPOo, stearic acid composition for CPO and linolenic acid composition for CPO, RBDPO, RBDPOo and RBDPS did not (P > 0.05). The stability study indicated that the quality of the palm oil products was stable within the specified limits throughout the storage period at low temperature. The storage conditions preserved the quality of palm oil products throughout the storage period. These findings qualify the use of the palm oil products CPO, RBDPO, RBDPOo and RBDPS as control samples in the validation of test results. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

SARS-CoV Infection in a Restaurant from Palm Civet

PubMed Central

Wang, Ming; Yan, Meiying; Xu, Huifang; Liang, Weili; Kan, Biao; Zheng, Bojian; Chen, Honglin; Zheng, Han; Xu, Yanmei; Zhang, Enmin; Wang, Hongxia; Ye, Jingrong; Li, Guichang; Li, Machao; Cui, Zhigang; Liu, Yu-Fei; Guo, Rong-Tong; Liu, Xiao-Ning; Zhan, Liu-Hua; Zhou, Duan-Hua; Zhao, Ailan; Hai, Rong; Yu, Dongzhen; Guan, Yi

2005-01-01

Epidemiologic investigations showed that 2 of 4 patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) identified in the winter of 2003–2004 were a waitress at a restaurant in Guangzhou, China, that served palm civets as food and a customer who ate in the restaurant a short distance from animal cages. All 6 palm civets at the restaurant were positive for SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Partial spike (S) gene sequences of SARS-CoV from the 2 patients were identical to 4 of 5 S gene viral sequences from palm civets. Phylogenetic analysis showed that SARS-CoV from palm civets in the restaurant was most closely related to animal isolates. SARS cases at the restaurant were the result of recent interspecies transfer from the putative palm civet reservoir, and not the result of continued circulation of SARS-CoV in the human population. PMID:16485471

Dual resonant frequencies effects on an induction-based oil palm fruit sensor.

PubMed

Harun, Noor Hasmiza; Misron, Norhisam; Mohd Sidek, Roslina; Aris, Ishak; Wakiwaka, Hiroyuki; Tashiro, Kunihisa

2014-11-19

As the main exporter in the oil palm industry, the need to improve the quality of palm oil has become the main interest among all the palm oil millers in Malaysia. To produce good quality palm oil, it is important for the miller to harvest a good oil palm Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB). Conventionally, the main reference used by Malaysian harvesters is the manual grading standard published by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). A good oil palm FFB consists of all matured fruitlets, aged between 18 to 21 weeks of antheses (WAA). To expedite the harvesting process, it is crucial to implement an automated detection system for determining the maturity of the oil palm FFB. Various automated detection methods have been proposed by researchers in the field to replace the conventional method. In our preliminary study, a novel oil palm fruit sensor to detect the maturity of oil palm fruit bunch was proposed. The design of the proposed air coil sensor based on the inductive sensor was further investigated mainly in the context of the effect of coil diameter to improve its sensitivity. In this paper, the sensitivity of the inductive sensor was further examined with a dual flat-type shape of air coil. The dual air coils were tested on fifteen samples of fruitlet from two categories, namely ripe and unripe. Samples were tested within 20 Hz to 10 MHz while evaluations on both peaks were done separately before the gap between peaks was analyzed. A comparative analysis was conducted to investigate the improvement in sensitivity of the induction-based oil palm fruit sensor as compared to previous works. Results from the comparative study proved that the inductive sensor using a dual flat-type shape air coil has improved by up to 167%. This provides an indication in the improvement in the coil sensitivity of the palm oil fruit sensor based on the induction concept.

Dual Resonant Frequencies Effects on an Induction-Based Oil Palm Fruit Sensor

PubMed Central

Harun, Noor Hasmiza; Misron, Norhisam; Sidek, Roslina Mohd; Aris, Ishak; Wakiwaka, Hiroyuki; Tashiro, Kunihisa

2014-01-01

As the main exporter in the oil palm industry, the need to improve the quality of palm oil has become the main interest among all the palm oil millers in Malaysia. To produce good quality palm oil, it is important for the miller to harvest a good oil palm Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB). Conventionally, the main reference used by Malaysian harvesters is the manual grading standard published by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). A good oil palm FFB consists of all matured fruitlets, aged between 18 to 21 weeks of antheses (WAA). To expedite the harvesting process, it is crucial to implement an automated detection system for determining the maturity of the oil palm FFB. Various automated detection methods have been proposed by researchers in the field to replace the conventional method. In our preliminary study, a novel oil palm fruit sensor to detect the maturity of oil palm fruit bunch was proposed. The design of the proposed air coil sensor based on the inductive sensor was further investigated mainly in the context of the effect of coil diameter to improve its sensitivity. In this paper, the sensitivity of the inductive sensor was further examined with a dual flat-type shape of air coil. The dual air coils were tested on fifteen samples of fruitlet from two categories, namely ripe and unripe. Samples were tested within 20 Hz to 10 MHz while evaluations on both peaks were done separately before the gap between peaks was analyzed. A comparative analysis was conducted to investigate the improvement in sensitivity of the induction-based oil palm fruit sensor as compared to previous works. Results from the comparative study proved that the inductive sensor using a dual flat-type shape air coil has improved by up to 167%. This provides an indication in the improvement in the coil sensitivity of the palm oil fruit sensor based on the induction concept. PMID:25414970

Time series ARIMA models for daily price of palm oil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ariff, Noratiqah Mohd; Zamhawari, Nor Hashimah; Bakar, Mohd Aftar Abu

2015-02-01

Palm oil is deemed as one of the most important commodity that forms the economic backbone of Malaysia. Modeling and forecasting the daily price of palm oil is of great interest for Malaysia's economic growth. In this study, time series ARIMA models are used to fit the daily price of palm oil. The Akaike Infromation Criterion (AIC), Akaike Infromation Criterion with a correction for finite sample sizes (AICc) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) are used to compare between different ARIMA models being considered. It is found that ARIMA(1,2,1) model is suitable for daily price of crude palm oil in Malaysia for the year 2010 to 2012.

Date palm: Production

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The future of date palm, as a dioecious, monocot fruit tree largely depends on (1) developing advanced knowledge and information about the dynamics, management, and sustainability of the tree as a central component of the oasis agro-ecosystem, and (2) in-depth understanding of the genetic diversity ...

Estimation the Amount of Oil Palm Trees Production Using Remote Sensing Technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitrianto, A. C.; Tokimatsu, K.; Sufwandika, M.

2017-12-01

Currently, fossil fuels were used as the main source of power supply to generate energy including electricity. Depletion in the amount of fossil fuels has been causing the increasing price of crude petroleum and the demand for alternative energy which is renewable and environment-friendly and it is defined from vegetable oils such palm oil, rapeseed and soybean. Indonesia known as the big palm oil producer which is the largest agricultural industry with total harvested oil palm area which is estimated grew until 8.9 million ha in 2015. On the other hand, lack of information about the age of oil palm trees and changes also their spatial distribution is mainly problem for energy planning. This research conducted to estimate fresh fruit bunch (FFB) of oil palm and their distribution using remote sensing technique. Cimulang oil palm plantation was choose as study area. First step, estimated the age of oil palm trees based on their canopy density as the result from Landsat 8 OLI analysis and classified into five class. From this result, we correlated oil palm age with their average FFB production per six months and classified into seed (0-3 years, 0kg), young (4-8 years, 68.77kg), teen (9-14 years, 109.08kg), and mature (14-25 years, 73.91kg). The result from satellite image analysis shows if Cimulang plantation area consist of teen old oil palm trees that it is covers around 81.5% of that area, followed by mature oil palm trees with 18.5% or corresponding to 100 hectares and have total production of FFB every six months around 7,974,787.24 kg.

Identification of molecular performance from oil palm clones based on SSR markers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putri, Lollie Agustina P.; Basyuni, M.; Bayu, Eva S.; Arvita, D.; Arifiyanto, D.; Syahputra, I.

2018-03-01

In Indonesia, the oil palms are an important economic crop, producing food and raw materials for the food, confectionary, cosmetics and oleo-chemical industrial demands of oil palm products. Clonal oil palm offers the potential for greater productivity because it is possible to establish uniform tree stands comprising identical copies (clones) of a limited number of highly productive oil palms. Unfortunately, tissue culture sometimes accentuates the expression of detects in oil palm, particularly when embryogenesis is induced in particullar callus for prolonged periods. This research is conducted by taking individual tree sample of clone germplasm two years old. The purpose of this research is to molecular performance analysis of some oil palm clones based on SSR markers. A total of 30 trees oil palm clones were used for analysis. In this experiment, the DNA profile diversity was assessed using five loci of oil palm’s specific SSR markers. The results of the experiment indicated out of 3 SSR markers (FR-0779, FR-3663 and FR-0782) showed monomorphic of PCR product and 2 SSR markers (FR-0783 and FR- 3745) showed polymorphic of PCR product. There are 10 total number of PCR product. These preliminary results demonstrated SSR marker can be used to evaluate genetic relatedness among trees of oil palm clones.

Palm-3000 on-sky results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dekany, R.; Roberts, J.; Burruss, R.; Truong, T.; Palmer, D., Guiwits, S., Hale, D., Angione, J., Baranec, C., Croner, E., Davis, J. T. C., Zolkower, J., Henning, J., McKenna, D., Bouchez, A. H.

2011-09-01

PALM-3000, the second-generation facility adaptive optics system for the 5-meter telescope at Palomar Observatory, successfully obtained first high-order correction on sky on UT June 21, 2011. Within PALM-3000, low-order wavefront correction is applied with a Xinetics, Inc. 349 (241 active) actuator deformable mirror reused from the 1999 PALAO system. High-order correction is applied with a new Xinetics, Inc. 4,356 (3,388 active) actuator deformable mirror based upon a 6 x 6 array of 11 x 11 actuator Photonex modules. The system also uses a new CCD50-based Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor camera and a novel real-time computer based upon a bank of commercial GPU's. Currently, the first of four planned wavefront sensor pupil sampling modes (N = 64 subapertures per pupil) has been tested, emphasizing early high-contrast exoplanet science with the PHARO coronagraphic imager and P1640 coronagraphic integral field spectrograph. We report on AO correction performance to date and our experience with the unique 66 x 66 actuator Xinetics, Inc. DM, as well as describe the PALM-3000 commissioning program and future plans.

Palm Islands, Dubai, UAE

NASA Image and Video Library

2009-03-02

The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab emirates on which major commercial and residential structures are being built. NASA Terra spacecraft acquired this image on November 17 and December 10, 2008.

Reconciling Oil Palm Expansion and Climate Change Mitigation in Kalimantan, Indonesia

PubMed Central

Austin, Kemen G.; Kasibhatla, Prasad S.; Urban, Dean L.; Stolle, Fred; Vincent, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

Our society faces the pressing challenge of increasing agricultural production while minimizing negative consequences on ecosystems and the global climate. Indonesia, which has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation while doubling production of several major agricultural commodities, exemplifies this challenge. Here we focus on palm oil, the world’s most abundant vegetable oil and a commodity that has contributed significantly to Indonesia’s economy. Most oil palm expansion in the country has occurred at the expense of forests, resulting in significant GHG emissions. We examine the extent to which land management policies can resolve the apparently conflicting goals of oil palm expansion and GHG mitigation in Kalimantan, a major oil palm growing region of Indonesia. Using a logistic regression model to predict the locations of new oil palm between 2010 and 2020 we evaluate the impacts of six alternative policy scenarios on future emissions. We estimate net emissions of 128.4–211.4 MtCO2 yr-1 under business as usual expansion of oil palm plantations. The impact of diverting new plantations to low carbon stock land depends on the design of the policy. We estimate that emissions can be reduced by 9-10% by extending the current moratorium on new concessions in primary forests and peat lands, 35% by limiting expansion on all peat and forestlands, 46% by limiting expansion to areas with moderate carbon stocks, and 55–60% by limiting expansion to areas with low carbon stocks. Our results suggest that these policies would reduce oil palm profits only moderately but would vary greatly in terms of cost-effectiveness of emissions reductions. We conclude that a carefully designed and implemented oil palm expansion plan can contribute significantly towards Indonesia’s national emissions mitigation goal, while allowing oil palm area to double. PMID:26011182

Reconciling oil palm expansion and climate change mitigation in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

PubMed

Austin, Kemen G; Kasibhatla, Prasad S; Urban, Dean L; Stolle, Fred; Vincent, Jeffrey

2015-01-01

Our society faces the pressing challenge of increasing agricultural production while minimizing negative consequences on ecosystems and the global climate. Indonesia, which has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from deforestation while doubling production of several major agricultural commodities, exemplifies this challenge. Here we focus on palm oil, the world's most abundant vegetable oil and a commodity that has contributed significantly to Indonesia's economy. Most oil palm expansion in the country has occurred at the expense of forests, resulting in significant GHG emissions. We examine the extent to which land management policies can resolve the apparently conflicting goals of oil palm expansion and GHG mitigation in Kalimantan, a major oil palm growing region of Indonesia. Using a logistic regression model to predict the locations of new oil palm between 2010 and 2020 we evaluate the impacts of six alternative policy scenarios on future emissions. We estimate net emissions of 128.4-211.4 MtCO2 yr(-1) under business as usual expansion of oil palm plantations. The impact of diverting new plantations to low carbon stock land depends on the design of the policy. We estimate that emissions can be reduced by 9-10% by extending the current moratorium on new concessions in primary forests and peat lands, 35% by limiting expansion on all peat and forestlands, 46% by limiting expansion to areas with moderate carbon stocks, and 55-60% by limiting expansion to areas with low carbon stocks. Our results suggest that these policies would reduce oil palm profits only moderately but would vary greatly in terms of cost-effectiveness of emissions reductions. We conclude that a carefully designed and implemented oil palm expansion plan can contribute significantly towards Indonesia's national emissions mitigation goal, while allowing oil palm area to double.

CO2 and CH4 fluxes from oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia: effects of palm age and environmental conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meijide, A.; Hassler, E.; Corre, M. D.; June, T.; Sabajo, C.; Veldkamp, E.; Knohl, A.

2015-12-01

Global increasing demand of palm oil is leading to the expansion of oil palm plantations, particularly in SE Asia, which in Sumatran lowlands has resulted in a 21% forest area loss. Large photosynthesis rates are expected for oil palms, due to their high growth and yield production. However, there is very limited information on their effect on carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes and their sink or source strength at ecosystem scale. For methane (CH4) fluxes, research has mainly focused in oil palm plantations located on peatlands, but no information is available at ecosystem level from plantations on mineral soils. With the aim of studying CO2 fluxes during the non-productive and productive phases of oil palm cultivation, an eddy covariance (EC) tower was installed in a 2 year old oil palm plantation, where it was measuring for 8 months, and was subsequently moved to a 12 year old plantation, both in the province of Jambi, Sumatra. The EC system consisted of a Licor 7500A and an ultrasonic Metek anemometer, operating at 10 Hz, installed on a 7m and 22m tower respectively. In the 12 year old plantation, the tower was also equipped with a Los Gatos FGGA-24EP, to assess CH4 fluxes. Chamber measurements were also carried out to obtain information on respiration and CH4 fluxes from the soil. Radiation was the major driver controlling net carbon uptake, while soil moisture did not play a significant role. Average net ecosystem exchange in the hours of the day with higher radiation for the whole measurement period was 10 μmol m-2 s-1 for the 2 year old plantation and -22 μmol m-2 s-1 in the 12 year old. The analysis of the cumulative fluxes show that the non-productive plantation was a carbon source of around 636 g CO2 m-2 during the 8 months of measurements, while in the productive period, it acted as a strong carbon sink (-794 g CO2 m-2 yr-1). Methane uptake was observed in the soil in both plantations and also for the whole ecosystem in the 12 year old one, but its

Synthesis of Transesterified Palm Olein-Based Polyol and Rigid Polyurethanes from this Polyol.

PubMed

Arniza, Mohd Zan; Hoong, Seng Soi; Idris, Zainab; Yeong, Shoot Kian; Hassan, Hazimah Abu; Din, Ahmad Kushairi; Choo, Yuen May

Transesterification of palm olein with glycerol can increase the functionality by introducing additional hydroxyl groups to the triglyceride structure, an advantage compared to using palm olein directly as feedstock for producing palm-based polyol. The objective of this study was to synthesize transesterified palm olein-based polyol via a three-step reaction: (1) transesterification of palm olein, (2) epoxidation and (3) epoxide ring opening. Transesterification of palm olein yielded approximately 78 % monoglyceride and has an hydroxyl value of approximately 164 mg KOH g -1 . The effect of formic acid and hydrogen peroxide concentrations on the epoxidation reaction was studied. The relationships between epoxide ring-opening reaction time and residual oxirane oxygen content and hydroxyl value were monitored. The synthesized transesterified palm olein-based polyol has hydroxyl value between 300 and 330 mg KOH g -1 and average molecular weight between 1,000 and 1,100 Da. On the basis of the hydroxyl value and average molecular weight of the polyol, the transesterified palm olein-based polyol is suitable for producing rigid polyurethane foam, which can be designed to exhibit desirable properties. Rigid polyurethane foams were synthesized by substituting a portion of petroleum-based polyol with the transesterified palm olein-based polyol. It was observed that by increasing the amount of transesterified palm olein-based polyol, the core density and compressive strength were reduced but at the same time the insulation properties of the rigid polyurethane foam were improved.

In vitro digestibility of oil palm frond treated by local microorganism (MOL)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tafsin, M.; Khairani, Y.; Hanafi, N. D.; Yunilas

2018-02-01

Oil palm frond is by product from oil palm plantation and were found in large quantity in Indonesia. This research aims to examine the ability of local microorganisms and buffalo rumen isolates in improving the digestibility of dry matter and organic matter in vitro of oil palm frond. The research used experimental method with four treatments and three replications. The treatments were given: Oil palms without treatment (P0); Starbio (P2); Aspergillus niger + Saccharomyces cerevisiae (P3); Aspergillus niger + Saccharomyces cerevisiae + Isolate of buffalo rumen bacteria (P4). The results showed that the fermented Oil Palm Frond had higher (P<0.05) DMD and OMD than control. The addition of Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevisiae plus buffalo rumen bacterial isolates had higher (P<0.05) DMD and OMD than other treatments. It can be concluded that the utilisation of MOL can improve the digestibility of oil palm frond in vitro.

Soil C dynamics under intensive oil palm plantations in poor tropical soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guillaume, Thomas; Ruegg, Johanna; Quezada, Juan Carlos; Buttler, Alexandre

2017-04-01

Oil palm cultivation mainly takes place on heavily-weathered tropical soils where nutrients are limiting factors for plant growth and microbial activity. Intensive fertilization and changes of C input by oil palms strongly affects soil C and nutrient dynamics, challenging long-term soil fertility. Oil palm plantations management offers unique opportunities to study soil C and nutrients interactions in field conditions because 1) they can be considered as long-term litter manipulation experiments since all aboveground C inputs are concentrated in frond pile areas and 2) mineral fertilizers are only applied in specific areas, i.e. weeded circle around the tree and interrows, but not in harvest paths. Here, we determined impacts of mineral fertilizer and organic matter input on soil organic carbon dynamics and microbial activity in mature oil palm plantation established on savanna grasslands. Rates of savanna-derived soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition and oil palm-derived SOC net stabilization were determined using changes in isotopic signature of in C input following a shift from C4 (savanna) to C3 (oil palm) vegetation. Application of mineral fertilizer alone did not affect savanna-derived SOC decomposition or oil palm-derived SOC stabilization rates, but fertilization associated with higher C input lead to an increase of oil palm-derived SOC stabilization rates, with about 50% of topsoil SOC derived from oil palm after 9 years. High carbon and nutrients inputs did not increase microbial biomass but microorganisms were more active per unit of biomass and SOC. In conclusion, soil organic matter decomposition was limited by C rather than nutrients in the studied heavily-weathered soils. Fresh C and nutrient inputs did not lead to priming of old savanna-derived SOC but increased turnover and stabilization of new oil palm-derived SOC.

Twenty-five years of progress in understanding pollination mechanisms in palms (Arecaceae)

PubMed Central

Barfod, Anders S.; Hagen, Melanie; Borchsenius, Finn

2011-01-01

Background With more than 90 published studies of pollination mechanisms, the palm family is one of the better studied tropical families of angiosperms. Understanding palm–pollinator interactions has implications for tropical silviculture, agroforestry and horticulture, as well as for our understanding of palm evolution and diversification. We review the rich literature on pollination mechanisms in palms that has appeared since the last review of palm pollination studies was published 25 years ago. Scope and Conclusions Visitors to palm inflorescences are attracted by rewards such as food, shelter and oviposition sites. The interaction between the palm and its visiting fauna represents a trade-off between the services provided by the potential pollinators and the antagonistic activities of other insect visitors. Evidence suggests that beetles constitute the most important group of pollinators in palms, followed by bees and flies. Occasional pollinators include mammals (e.g. bats and marsupials) and even crabs. Comparative studies of palm–pollinator interactions in closely related palm species document transitions in floral morphology, phenology and anatomy correlated with shifts in pollination vectors. Synecological studies show that asynchronous flowering and partitioning of pollinator guilds may be important regulators of gene flow between closely related sympatric taxa and potential drivers of speciation processes. Studies of larger plant–pollinator networks point out the importance of competition for pollinators between palms and other flowering plants and document how the insect communities in tropical forest canopies probably influence the reproductive success of palms. However, published studies have a strong geographical bias towards the South American region and a taxonomic bias towards the tribe Cocoseae. Future studies should try to correct this imbalance to provide a more representative picture of pollination mechanisms and their evolutionary

Ergonomics observation: Harvesting tasks at oil palm plantation.

PubMed

Ng, Yee Guan; Shamsul Bahri, Mohd Tamrin; Irwan Syah, Md Yusoff; Mori, Ippei; Hashim, Zailina

2014-01-01

Production agriculture is commonly associated with high prevalence of ergonomic injuries, particularly during intensive manual labor and during harvesting. This paper intends to briefly describe an overview of oil palm plantation management highlighting the ergonomics problem each of the breakdown task analysis. Although cross-sectional field visits were conducted in the current study, insight into past and present occupational safety and health concerns particularly regarding the ergonomics of oil palm plantations was further exploited. Besides discussion, video recordings were extensively used for ergonomics analysis. The unique commodity of oil palm plantations presents significantly different ergonomics risk factors for fresh fruit bunch (FFB) cutters during different stages of harvesting. Although the ergonomics risk factors remain the same for FFB collectors, the intensity of manual lifting increases significantly with the age of the oil palm trees-weight of FFB. There is urgent need to establish surveillance in order to determine the current prevalence of ergonomic injuries. Thereafter, ergonomics interventions that are holistic and comprehensive should be conducted and evaluated for their efficacy using approaches that are integrated, participatory and cost-effective.

Comparison of Pure Palm Olein Oil, Hydrogenated Oil-Containing Palm, and Canola on Serum Lipids and Lipid Oxidation Rate in Rats Fed with these Oils.

PubMed

Amini, Seyed-Asadollah; Ghatreh-Samani, Keihan; Habibi-Kohi, Arash; Jafari, Laleh

2017-02-01

Due to increased consumption of canola oil and hydrogenated oil containing palm and palm olein, and their possible effects on serum lipoproteins, the present study was conducted to determine the effects of these oils on lipids and lipid oxidation level. In this experimental study, 88 Wistar rats were randomly assigned to four groups. Control group (A) was on a normal diet. Groups B, C, and D, in addition to normal diet, were fed with hydrogenated oil-contained palm oil, pure palm olein oil, and canola oil, respectively for 4 weeks. Serum Biochemical factors [total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), LDL, HDL, LDL/HDL ratio, oxLDL, paraoxanase-1 (PON1), and malondialdehyde (MDA)] were measured. The lowest mean serum TC was seen in the control group and the highest in the group B. There were differences in TC, TG, HDL, MDA, and PON1 between the control group and other groups (P<0.001). The lowest and highest LDL/HDL ratios were observed in the group C and the control group, respectively. Significant differences were seen in OxLDL and PON1 between the control group and other three groups (P<0.05), while there were no significant differences in oxLDL and PON1 among the other three groups (P>0.05). MDA was higher in groups C and D. Canola oil, hydrogenated oil-containing palm and palm olein may increase atherosclerosis risk through decreasing PON1 activity and elevating oxLDL. Palm olein oils in rats' diets cause a considerable decrease in LDL and help to increase HDL.

Biotechnology of oil palm: strategies towards manipulation of lipid content and composition.

PubMed

Parveez, Ghulam Kadir Ahmad; Rasid, Omar Abdul; Masani, Mat Yunus Abdul; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi

2015-04-01

Oil palm is a major economic crop for Malaysia. The major challenges faced by the industry are labor shortage, availability of arable land and unstable commodity price. This has caused the industry to diversify its applications into higher value products besides increasing its yield. While conventional breeding has its limitations, biotechnology was identified as one of the tools for overcoming the above challenges. Research on biotechnology of oil palm began more than two decades ago leveraging a multidisciplinary approach involving biochemical studies, gene and promoter isolation, transformation vector construction and finally genetic transformation to produce the targeted products. The main target of oil palm biotechnology research is to increase oleic acid in the mesocarp. Other targets are stearic acid, palmitoleic acid, ricinoleic acid, lycopene (carotenoid) and biodegradable plastics. Significant achievements were reported for the biochemical studies, isolation of useful oil palm genes and characterization of important promoters. A large number of transformation constructs for various targeted products were successfully produced using the isolated oil palm genes and promoters. Finally transformation of these constructs into oil palm embryogenic calli was carried out while the regeneration of transgenic oil palm harboring the useful genes is in progress.

Questioning the sustainable palm oil demand: case study from French-Indonesia supply chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chalil, D.; Barus, R.

2018-02-01

Sustainable palm oil has been widely debated. Consuming countries insist certified sustainable produces palm oil, but in fact the absorption of the certified palm oil is still less than 60%. This raise questions about the sustainable palm oil demand. In this study, such a condition will be analysed in French-Indonesia supply chain case. Using monthly and quarterly data from 2010 to 2016 with Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach and Error Correction Model, demand influencing factors and price integration in each market of the supply chain is estimated. Two scenarios namely re-export and direct export models are considered in the Error Correction Model. The results show that France Gross Domestic Product, prices of France palm oil import from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Germany, and price of France groundnut import significantly influence the France palm oil import volume from Indonesia. Prices in each market along palm oil re-export France-Indonesia supply chain are co-integrated and converge towards long-run equilibrium, but not in the direct export supply chain. This leads to a conclusion that France market preferences in specific and EU market preferences in general need to be considered by Indonesian palm oil decision makers.

Production of palm frond based wood plastic composite by using twin screw extruder

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russita, M.; Bahruddin

2018-04-01

Wood plastic composite (WPC) is the blending product from wood as filler and polymer thermoplastic as matric. Palm frond waste is a material with selulose about 68%, so it has potential to be developed as raw material for WPC. The purpose of this research was to learn how to produce WPC based on palm frond use twin screw extruder. It used popropilen as matric. As for aditif, it used Maleated Polypropilene (MAPP) as compatibilizer and paraffin as plasticizer. The size of palm frond is 40 – 80 mesh. WPC is made from blending polipropylene, palm frond, MAPP and paraffin with dry mixing method in room temperature. Then, PP, Palm frond and additive from dry mixing is fed into twin screw extruder at 190°C and 60 rpm. It use palm frond/polypropylene 60/40, MAPP 5% w/w and paraffin 2% w/w. From the result, it shown that WPC based on palm frond met the standards forcommercial WPC. It has tensile strength up to 19.2 MPa, bending strength 43.6 MPa and water adsorption 0,32% w/w. So, WPC based on palm frond has prospective to be developed for commercial WPC.

Stem rots of oil palm caused by Ganoderma boninense: pathogen biology and epidemiology.

PubMed

Pilotti, C A

2005-01-01

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) has been grown in Papua New Guinea since the early 1960s. The most important disease of oil palm in PNG is a stem rot of the palm base. This is the same disease that constitutes a major threat to sustainable oil palm production in SE Asia. Investigations into the causal pathogen have revealed that the stem rots in PNG are caused predominantly by the basidiomycete Ganoderma boninense, with a minor pathogen identified as G. tornatum G. tornatum was found to have a broad host range whereas G. boninense appears to be restricted to palms. The population structure of G. boninense was investigated using inter-fertility studies between isolates collected from basal stem rots on oil palm. Although the G. boninense field populations are predominantly comprised of distinct individuals, a number of isolates were found that share single mating alleles. This indicates that out-crossing had occurred over several generations in the resident or wild population of G. boninense prior to colonization of oil palm. No direct hereditary relationship between isolates on neighbouring diseased palms was found, although an indirect link between isolates causing upper stem rot and basal stem rot was detected.

Age of oil palm plantations causes a strong change in surface biophysical variables

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabajo, Clifton; le Maire, Guerric; Knohl, Alexander

2016-04-01

Over the last decades, Indonesia has experienced dramatic land transformations with an expansion of oil palm plantations at the expense of tropical forests. As vegetation is a modifier of the climate near the ground these large-scale land transformations are expected to have major impacts on the surface biophysical variables i.e. surface temperature, albedo, and vegetation indices, e.g. the NDVI. Remote sensing data are needed to assess such changes at regional scale. We used 2 Landsat images from Jambi Province in Sumatra/Indonesia covering a chronosequence of oil palm plantations to study the 20 - 25 years life cycle of oil palm plantations and its relation with biophysical variables. Our results show large differences between the surface temperature of young oil palm plantations and forest (up to 9.5 ± 1.5 °C) indicating that the surface temperature is raised substantially after the establishment of oil palm plantations following the removal of forests. During the oil palm plantation lifecycle the surface temperature differences gradually decreases and approaches zero around an oil palm plantation age of 10 years. Similarly, NDVI increases and the albedo decreases approaching typical values of forests. Our results show that in order to assess the full climate effects of oil palm expansion biophysical processes play an important role and the full life cycle of oil palm plantations need to be considered.

Feasibility study on utilization of palm fibre waste into fired clay brick

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadir, A. A.; Sarani, N. A.; Zaman, N. N.; Abdullah, Mohd Mustafa Al Bakri

2017-04-01

Malaysia is the second largest of palm oil producer after Indonesia, which contribute to 50 % of palm oil production. With this demand, the increasing of palm oil plantation over the years has led to the large production of agricultural waste, for example palm fibre waste. This study investigates different percentages of palm fibre (0 %, 1 %, 5 % and 10 %) to be incorporated into fired clay brick. Manufactured bricks were fired at 1 °C/min heating rate up to 1050 °C. The effects of manufacture bricks on the physical and mechanical properties of manufactured brick were also determined. All brick samples were tested due to the physical and mechanical properties which include dry density, firing shrinkage, initial rate of suction (IRS), water absorption, porosity and compressive strength. Findings show that increasing palm fibre waste affected the properties of brick, which decreased their density, besides increased firing shrinkage, IRS, water absorption, porosity and compressive strength. However, all the manufactured brick still followed the requirement.

Improved Method for the Qualitative Analyses of Palm Oil Carotenes Using UPLC.

PubMed

Ng, Mei Han; Choo, Yuen May

2016-04-01

Palm oil is the richest source of natural carotenes, comprising 500-700 ppm in crude palm oil (CPO). Its concentration is found to be much higher in oil extracted from palm-pressed fiber, a by-product from the milling of oil palm fruits. There are 11 types of carotenes in palm oil, excluding the cis/trans isomers of some of the carotenes. Qualitative separation of these individual carotenes is particularly useful for the identification and confirmation of different types of oil as the carotenes profile is unique to each type of vegetable oil. Previous studies on HPLC separation of the individual palm carotenes reported a total analyses time of up to 100 min using C30 stationary phase. In this study, the separation was completed in <5 min. The qualitative separation was successfully carried out using a commonly used stationary phase, C18. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoate from palm oil and some new applications.

PubMed

Sudesh, Kumar; Bhubalan, Kesaven; Chuah, Jo-Ann; Kek, Yik-Kang; Kamilah, Hanisah; Sridewi, Nanthini; Lee, Yan-Fen

2011-03-01

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a potential substitute for some petrochemical-based plastics. This biodegradable plastic is derived from microbial fermentation using various carbon substrates. Since carbon source has been identified as one of the major cost-absorbing factors in PHA production, cheap and renewable substrates are currently being investigated as substitutes for existing sugar-based feedstock. Plant oils have been found to result in high-yield PHA production. Malaysia, being the world's second largest producer of palm oil, is able to ensure continuous supply of palm oil products for sustainable PHA production. The biosynthesis and characterization of various types of PHA using palm oil products have been described in detail in this review. Besides, by-products and waste stream from palm oil industry have also demonstrated promising results as carbon sources for PHA biosynthesis. Some new applications in cosmetic and wastewater treatment show the diversity of PHA usage. With proper management practices and efficient milling processes, it may be possible to supply enough palm oil-based raw materials for human consumption and other biotechnological applications such as production of PHA in a sustainable manner.

Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags (EST) in Date Palm.

PubMed

Al-Faifi, Sulieman A; Migdadi, Hussein M; Algamdi, Salem S; Khan, Mohammad Altaf; Al-Obeed, Rashid S; Ammar, Megahed H; Jakse, Jerenj

2017-01-01

Expressed sequence tags (EST) were generated from a normalized cDNA library of the date palm Sukkari cv. to understand the high-quality and better field performance of this well-known commercial cultivar. A total of 6943 high-quality ESTs were generated, out of them 6671 are submitted to the GenBank dbEST (LIBEST_028537). The generated ESTs were assembled into 6362 unigenes, consisting of 494 (14.4%) contigs and 5868 (84.53%) singletons. The functional annotation shows that the majority of the ESTs are associated with binding (44%), catalytic (40%), transporter (5%), and structural molecular (5%) activities. The blastx results show that 73% of unigenes are significantly similar to known plant genes and 27% are novel. The latter could be of particular interest in date palm genetic studies. Further analysis shows that some ESTs are categorized as stress/defense- and fruit development-related genes. These newly generated ESTs could significantly enhance date palm EST databases in the public domain and are available to scientists and researchers across the globe. This knowledge will facilitate the discovery of candidate genes that govern important developmental and agronomical traits in date palm. It will provide important resources for developing genetic tools, comparative genomics, and genome evolution among date palm cultivars.

Palm Reversal Errors in Native-Signing Children with Autism

PubMed Central

Shield, Aaron; Meier, Richard P.

2012-01-01

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who have native exposure to a sign language such as American Sign Language (ASL) have received almost no scientific attention. This paper reports the first studies on a sample of five native-signing children (four deaf children of deaf parents and one hearing child of deaf parents; ages 4;6 to 7;5) diagnosed with ASD. A domain-general deficit in the ability of children with ASD to replicate the gestures of others is hypothesized to be a source of palm orientation reversal errors in sign. In Study 1, naturalistic language samples were collected from three native-signing children with ASD and were analyzed for errors in handshape, location, movement and palm orientation. In Study 2, four native-signing children with ASD were compared to 12 typically-developing deaf children (ages 3;7 to 6;9, all born to deaf parents) on a fingerspelling task. In both studies children with ASD showed a tendency to reverse palm orientation on signs specified for inward/outward orientation. Typically-developing deaf children did not produce any such errors in palm orientation. We conclude that this kind of palm reversal has a perceptual rather than a motoric source, and is further evidence of a “self-other mapping” deficit in ASD. PMID:22981637

Global-change vulnerability of a key plant resource, the African palms.

PubMed

Blach-Overgaard, Anne; Balslev, Henrik; Dransfield, John; Normand, Signe; Svenning, Jens-Christian

2015-07-27

Palms are keystone species in tropical ecosystems and provide essential ecosystem services to rural people worldwide. However, many palm species are threatened by habitat loss and over-exploitation. Furthermore, palms are sensitive to climate and thus vulnerable to future climate changes. Here, we provide a first quantitative assessment of the future risks to the African palm flora, finding that African palm species on average may experience a decline in climatic suitability in >70% of their current ranges by 2080. This suitability loss may, however, be almost halved if migration to nearby climatically suitable sites succeeds. Worryingly, 42% of the areas with 80-100% of species losing climate suitability are also characterized by high human population density (HPD). By 2080, >90% of all African palm species' ranges will likely occur at HPDs leading to increased risks of habitat loss and overexploitation. Additionally, up to 87% of all species are predicted to lose climatic suitability within current protected areas (PAs) by 2080. In summary, a major plant component of tropical ecosystems and provider of ecosystem services to rural populations will face strongly increased pressures from climate change and human populations in the near future.

Drying Shrinkage of Mortar Incorporating High Volume Oil Palm Biomass Waste

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shukor Lim, Nor Hasanah Abdul; Samadi, Mostafa; Rahman Mohd. Sam, Abdul; Khalid, Nur Hafizah Abd; Nabilah Sarbini, Noor; Farhayu Ariffin, Nur; Warid Hussin, Mohd; Ismail, Mohammed A.

2018-03-01

This paper studies the drying shrinkage of mortar incorporating oil palm biomass waste including Palm Oil Fuel Ash, Oil Palm Kernel Shell and Oil Palm Fibre. Nano size of palm oil fuel ash was used up to 80 % as cement replacement by weight. The ash has been treated to improve the physical and chemical properties of mortar. The mass ratio of sand to blended ashes was 3:1. The test was carried out using 25 × 25 × 160 mm prism for drying shrinkage tests and 70 × 70 ×70 mm for compressive strength test. The results show that the shrinkage value of biomass mortar is reduced by 31% compared with OPC mortar thus, showing better performance in restraining deformation of the mortar while the compressive strength increased by 24% compared with OPC mortar at later age. The study gives a better understanding of how the biomass waste affect on mortar compressive strength and drying shrinkage behaviour. Overall, the oil palm biomass waste can be used to produce a better performance mortar at later age in terms of compressive strength and drying shrinkage.

78 FR 25383 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; West Palm Beach, FL

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-01

...-0922; Airspace Docket No. 12-ASO-38] Amendment of Class E Airspace; West Palm Beach, FL AGENCY: Federal... West Palm Beach, FL area, as new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) have been developed at Palm Beach County Park Airport. Airspace reconfiguration is necessary for the continued safety and...

Cultivar-Dependent Direct Organogenesis of Date Palm from Shoot Tip Explants.

PubMed

Abahmane, Larbi

2017-01-01

A number of public and private laboratories are working on date palm micropropagation to meet the increasing worldwide demand for date palm planting material. A standardized direct organogenesis protocol exists for the production of date palm plantlets to maintain the genetic fidelity of regenerated plants. Organogenesis has the advantage of using low concentrations of plant growth regulators and avoiding the callus phase. In addition, direct regeneration of vegetative buds minimizes the risk of somaclonal variation among plant regenerants. However, in vitro multiplication cycles should be limited in duration by frequent renewal of plant material. This chapter describes a simple and routine organogenesis protocol for date palm multiplication using shoot tip explants.

Red palm oil production by microwave irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarah, M.; Widyastuti, S.; Ningsih, D.

2018-02-01

Preliminary study of red palm oil (RPO) production from palm fruitlets by microwave irradiation carried out in domestic microwave oven equipped with thermocouple. The various mass of fruitlets (800, 900 and 1000 g) were heated for 10-18 minutes with 2 minutes interval and microwave power of 400, 560 and 800 Watt respectively. Heated fruitlets were pressed by hydraulic presser to obtain RPO. This study observed heating time parameter was more crucial to RPO quality rather than temperature. Prolonged heating degraded carotenoids in the fruitlets during heating process yielded less carotenoids content in the palm oil. The best time and microwave power combination to produce RPO in this study was 14 minutes and 800 Watt respectively which yielded 11.67% RPO with 1.27% FFA content and carotenoids concentration of 1219.37 ppm. Overall, RPO production by microwave irradiation proceeded faster as compared to conventional process.

Analyses of Hypomethylated Oil Palm Gene Space

PubMed Central

Jayanthi, Nagappan; Mohd-Amin, Ab Halim; Azizi, Norazah; Chan, Kuang-Lim; Maqbool, Nauman J.; Maclean, Paul; Brauning, Rudi; McCulloch, Alan; Moraga, Roger; Ong-Abdullah, Meilina; Singh, Rajinder

2014-01-01

Demand for palm oil has been increasing by an average of ∼8% the past decade and currently accounts for about 59% of the world's vegetable oil market. This drives the need to increase palm oil production. Nevertheless, due to the increasing need for sustainable production, it is imperative to increase productivity rather than the area cultivated. Studies on the oil palm genome are essential to help identify genes or markers that are associated with important processes or traits, such as flowering, yield and disease resistance. To achieve this, 294,115 and 150,744 sequences from the hypomethylated or gene-rich regions of Elaeis guineensis and E. oleifera genome were sequenced and assembled into contigs. An additional 16,427 shot-gun sequences and 176 bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) were also generated to check the quality of libraries constructed. Comparison of these sequences revealed that although the methylation-filtered libraries were sequenced at low coverage, they still tagged at least 66% of the RefSeq supported genes in the BAC and had a filtration power of at least 2.0. A total 33,752 microsatellites and 40,820 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were identified. These represent the most comprehensive collection of microsatellites and SNPs to date and would be an important resource for genetic mapping and association studies. The gene models predicted from the assembled contigs were mined for genes of interest, and 242, 65 and 14 oil palm transcription factors, resistance genes and miRNAs were identified respectively. Examples of the transcriptional factors tagged include those associated with floral development and tissue culture, such as homeodomain proteins, MADS, Squamosa and Apetala2. The E. guineensis and E. oleifera hypomethylated sequences provide an important resource to understand the molecular mechanisms associated with important agronomic traits in oil palm. PMID:24497974

Proteomic profiling of mature leaves from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.).

PubMed

Tan, Hooi Sin; Jacoby, Richard P; Ong-Abdullah, Meilina; Taylor, Nicolas L; Liddell, Susan; Chee, Wong Wei; Chin, Chiew Foan

2017-04-01

Oil palm is one of the most productive oil bearing crops grown in Southeast Asia. Due to the dwindling availability of agricultural land and increasing demand for high yielding oil palm seedlings, clonal propagation is vital to the oil palm industry. Most commonly, leaf explants are used for in vitro micropropagation of oil palm and to optimize this process it is important to unravel the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying somatic embryo production from leaves. In this study, a proteomic approach was used to determine protein abundance of mature oil palm leaves. To do this, leaf proteins were extracted using TCA/acetone precipitation protocol and separated by 2DE. A total of 191 protein spots were observed on the 2D gels and 67 of the most abundant protein spots that were consistently observed were selected for further analysis with 35 successfully identified using MALDI TOF/TOF MS. The majority of proteins were classified as being involved in photosynthesis, metabolism, cellular biogenesis, stress response, and transport. This study provides the first proteomic assessment of oil palm leaves in this important oil crop and demonstrates the successful identification of selected proteins spots using the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Elaeis guineensis EST and NCBI-protein databases. The MS data have been deposited in the ProteomeXchange Consortium database with the data set identifier PXD001307. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Life cycle inventory of oil palm lumber production: A gate-to-gate case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shamsudin, Noor Ainna; Sahid, Ismail; Mokhtar, Anis; Muhamad, Halimah; Ahmad, Shamim

2018-04-01

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been applied in the Malaysian oil palm industry since 2010. It is important to ensure that this main industry is ready to meet the demands and expectations of European market on the environmental performance of the oil palm industry. In addition, oil palm biomass, especially oil palm trunk (OPT) are abundantly available after replanting every year. In order to maximize the usage of OPT as a green product, it can be converted to palm lumber as a value-added product. Palm lumber act as a basis product from OPT before it is converted to panel product such as plywood, sandwich board and so on. However, the LCA study on palm lumber production is still scarce in Malaysia. Hence, this paper aims to perform and collect the inventory data for palm lumber production, which is known as Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). A gate-to-gate system boundary and the functional unit of 1 m3 of palm lumber produced have been used in this study. This inventory data was collected from three batches of the production cycle. The inputs are mainly the raw materials which are the OPT and the energy from diesel and electricity from the grid. Generally, each consumption of input such as energy and fossil fuel were different at each stage of palm lumber production. Kiln-drying represents a prominent stage in terms of energy consumption, which electrical use in the dryer represents 94% of total electrical grid consumption as compared to another stage of palm lumber production. By adding the inventory information especially in the downstream sector of biomass industry, hopefully it can improve the sustainability of oil palm industry in Malaysia.

Application of lidar and optical data for oil palm plantation management in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shafri, Helmi Z. M.; Ismail, Mohd Hasmadi; Razi, Mohd Khairil M.; Anuar, Mohd Izzuddin; Ahmad, Abdul Rahman

2012-11-01

Proper oil palm plantation management is crucial for Malaysia as the country depends heavily on palm oil as a major source of national income. Precision agriculture is considered as one of the approaches that can be adopted to improve plantation practices for plantation managers such as the government-owned FELDA. However, currently the implementation of precision agriculture based on remote sensing and GIS is still lacking. This study explores the potential of the use of LiDAR and optical remote sensing data for plantation road and terrain planning for planting purposes. Traditional approaches use land surveying techniques that are time consuming and costly for vast plantation areas. The first ever airborne LiDAR and multispectral survey for oil palm plantation was carried out in early 2012 to test its feasibility. Preliminary results show the efficiency of such technology in demanding engineering and agricultural requirements of oil palm plantation. The most significant advantage of the approach is that it allows plantation managers to accurately plan the plantation road and determine the planting positions of new oil palm seedlings. Furthermore, this creates for the first time, digital database of oil palm estate and the airborne imagery can also be used for related activities such as oil palm tree inventory and detection of palm diseases. This work serves as the pioneer towards a more frequent application of LiDAR and multispectral data for oil palm plantation in Malaysia.

Effect of unground oil palm ash as mixing ingredient towards properties of concrete

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulaiman, M. A.; Muthusamy, K.; Mat Aris, S.; Rasid, M. H. Mohd; Paramasivam, R.; Othman, R.

2018-04-01

Malaysia being one of the world largest palm oil producers generates palm oil fuel ash (POFA), a by-product in increasing quantity. This material which usually disposed as solid waste causes pollution to the environment. Success in converting this waste material into benefitting product would reduce amount of waste disposed and contributes towards cleaner environment. This research explores the potential of unground oil palm ash being used as partial sand replacement in normal concrete production. Experimental work has been conducted to determine the workability, compressive strength and flexural strength of concrete when unground oil palm ash is added as partial sand replacement. A total of five mixes containing various percentage of oil palm ash, which are 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% have been prepared. All specimens were water cured until the testing date. The slump test, compressive strength test and flexural strength test was conducted. The findings show that mix produced using 10% of palm oil fuel ash exhibit higher compressive strength and flexural strength as compared to control specimen. Utilization of unground oil palm ash as partial sand replacement would be able to reduce dependency of construction industry on natural sand supply and also as one of the solution to reuse palm oil industry waste.

Applications of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of palm oil and oil from natural sources.

PubMed

Akanda, Mohammed Jahurul Haque; Sarker, Mohammed Zaidul Islam; Ferdosh, Sahena; Manap, Mohd Yazid Abdul; Ab Rahman, Nik Norulaini Nik; Ab Kadir, Mohd Omar

2012-02-10

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), which has received much interest in its use and further development for industrial applications, is a method that offers some advantages over conventional methods, especially for the palm oil industry. SC-CO₂ refers to supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) that uses carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a solvent which is a nontoxic, inexpensive, nonflammable, and nonpolluting supercritical fluid solvent for the extraction of natural products. Almost 100% oil can be extracted and it is regarded as safe, with organic solvent-free extracts having superior organoleptic profiles. The palm oil industry is one of the major industries in Malaysia that provides a major contribution to the national income. Malaysia is the second largest palm oil and palm kernel oil producer in the World. This paper reviews advances in applications of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) extraction of oils from natural sources, in particular palm oil, minor constituents in palm oil, producing fractionated, refined, bleached, and deodorized palm oil, palm kernel oil and purified fatty acid fractions commendable for downstream uses as in toiletries and confectionaries.

Nutrition quality of extraction mannan residue from palm kernel cake on brolier chicken

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tafsin, M.; Hanafi, N. D.; Kejora, E.; Yusraini, E.

2018-02-01

This study aims to find out the nutrient residue of palm kernel cake from mannan extraction on broiler chicken by evaluating physical quality (specific gravity, bulk density and compacted bulk density), chemical quality (proximate analysis and Van Soest Test) and biological test (metabolizable energy). Treatment composed of T0 : palm kernel cake extracted aquadest (control), T1 : palm kernel cake extracted acetic acid (CH3COOH) 1%, T2 : palm kernel cake extracted aquadest + mannanase enzyme 100 u/l and T3 : palm kernel cake extracted acetic acid (CH3COOH) 1% + enzyme mannanase 100 u/l. The results showed that mannan extraction had significant effect (P<0.05) in improving the quality of physical and numerically increase the value of crude protein and decrease the value of NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber). Treatments had highly significant influence (P<0.01) on the metabolizable energy value of palm kernel cake residue in broiler chickens. It can be concluded that extraction with aquadest + enzyme mannanase 100 u/l yields the best nutrient quality of palm kernel cake residue for broiler chicken.

Genetic analysis identifies the region of origin of smuggled peach palm seeds.

PubMed

Cristo-Araújo, Michelly; Molles, David Bronze; Rodrigues, Doriane Picanço; Clement, Charles R

2017-04-01

Seeds of a plant, supposedly a palm tree known popularly as peach palm (Bactris gasipaes), were seized by the Federal Police in the state of Pará, Brazil, without documentation of legal origin to authorize transportation and marketing in Brazil. They were alleged to be from the western part of Amazonas, Brazil, near the frontier with Peru and Colombia, justifying the lack of documentation. The species was confirmed to be peach palm. To determine the likely place of origin, a genetic analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the seized seeds and representative populations of peach palm from all of Amazonia, maintained in the Peach palm Core Collection, at the National Research Institute for Amazonia, using nine microsatellite loci. Reynolds' coancestry analysis showed a strong relationship between the seeds and the Pampa Hermosa landrace, around Yurimaguas, Peru. The Structure program, used to infer the probability of an individual belonging to a given population, showed that most seeds grouped with populations close to Yurimaguas, Peru, corroborating the coancestry analysis. The Pampa Hermosa landrace is the main source of spineless peach palm seeds used in the Brazilian heart-of-palm agribusiness, which motivated the smugglers to attempt this biopiracy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Palm oil price forecasting model: An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamid, Mohd Fahmi Abdul; Shabri, Ani

2017-05-01

Palm oil price fluctuated without any clear trend or cyclical pattern in the last few decades. The instability of food commodities price causes it to change rapidly over time. This paper attempts to develop Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model in modeling and forecasting the price of palm oil. In order to use ARDL as a forecasting model, this paper modifies the data structure where we only consider lagged explanatory variables to explain the variation in palm oil price. We then compare the performance of this ARDL model with a benchmark model namely ARIMA in term of their comparative forecasting accuracy. This paper also utilize ARDL bound testing approach to co-integration in examining the short run and long run relationship between palm oil price and its determinant; production, stock, and price of soybean as the substitute of palm oil and price of crude oil. The comparative forecasting accuracy suggests that ARDL model has a better forecasting accuracy compared to ARIMA.

Feasibility study of palm-based fuels for hybrid rocket motor applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarmizi Ahmad, M.; Abidin, Razali; Taha, A. Latif; Anudip, Amzaryi

2018-02-01

This paper describes the combined analysis done in pure palm-based wax that can be used as solid fuel in a hybrid rocket engine. The measurement of pure palm wax calorific value was performed using a bomb calorimeter. An experimental rocket engine and static test stand facility were established. After initial measurement and calibration, repeated procedures were performed. Instrumentation supplies carried out allow fuel regression rate measurements, oxidizer mass flow rates and stearic acid rocket motors measurements. Similar tests are also carried out with stearate acid (from palm oil by-products) dissolved with nitrocellulose and bee solution. Calculated data and experiments show that rates and regression thrust can be achieved even in pure-tested palm-based wax. Additionally, palm-based wax is mixed with beeswax characterized by higher nominal melting temperatures to increase moisturizing points to higher temperatures without affecting regression rate values. Calorie measurements and ballistic experiments were performed on this new fuel formulation. This new formulation promises driving applications in a wide range of temperatures.

Adsorbent capability testing using desorption efficiency method on palm oil fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manap, Nor Rahafza Abdul; Shamsudin, Roslinda

2015-09-01

The palm oil fiber had been used as filler in making thermoplastics, biocomposites and also used as adsorbent in treating waste water. In this study, palm oil fiber was used as adsorbent to treat indoor air pollutants that caused by toluene, ethylbenzene, ortho-, meta-, and para- xylene (o-, m-, p-xylene). Known amount of pollutants, ranges between 1.3 to 28 ppm was spiked into palm oil fiber and left in refrigerator for 24 hours. Then, elution of the pollutants was carried out by carbon disulphide as mobile phase or eluent. The ability of palm oil fiber as adsorbent was determine using desorption efficiency technique by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC/FID). The desorption efficiency percentage given by toluene was in the range of 88.9% to 100%, 91% to 100% for ethylbenzene, 65% to 100% for pm-xylene and 92.9% to 100% for o-xylene. This percentage indicates that palm oil fiber can be used as adsorbent to treat indoor air pollutants.

Biomass analysis at palm oil factory as an electric power plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yusniati; Parinduri, Luthfi; Krianto Sulaiman, Oris

2018-04-01

Biomassa found in palm oil mill industryis a by-product such as palm shell, fiber, empty fruit bunches and pome. The material can be used as an alternative fuel for fossil fuel. On PTPN IVpalm oil millDolokSinumbah with a capacity of 30 tons tbs/hour of palm fruit fiber and palm shells has been utilized as boiler fuel to produce steam to supplyboilers power plant. With this utilization, the use of generators that using fossil fuel can be reduced, this would provide added value for the company. From the analysis, the fiber and shell materials were sufficient to supply 18 tons/hoursteam for the boiler. Shell material even excess as much as 441,5 tons per month. By utilizing the 2 types of biomass that is available alone, the electricity needs of the factory of 734 Kwh can be met. While other materials such as empty bunches and pome can be utilized to increase the added value and profitability for the palm oil mill.

Soil burial biodegradation studies of palm oil-based UV-curable films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tajau, Rida; Salleh, Mek Zah; Salleh, Nik Ghazali Nik; Abdurahman, Mohamad Norahiman; Salih, Ashraf Mohammed; Fathy, Siti Farhana; Azman, Anis Asmi; Hamidi, Nur Amira

2016-01-01

The palm oil-based ultraviolet (uv)-curable films were subjected to an outdoor soil burial test to investigate the biodegradation under natural environment. The films were burial in the soil experiment plot at the Nuclear Malaysia's Dengkil complex. The uv-curable films were synthesized from the epoxidized palm oil acrylated (EPOLA) resin and the polyurethane palm oil (POBUA) resin, respectively. Biodegradation tests are more specific to burial film in soil experiments for 12 months under natural conditions. The biodegradability of palm oil resin based uv-curable films were investigated and compared with the petrochemical resin based film. The films properties were compared with respect to properties of the thermal characteristic, the crystallinity, the morphology and the weight loss which are analyzed using the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the scanning electron microscope (SEM), an optical microscope and the weight loss of film calculation. These findings suggested that the palm oil-based uv-curable films show quite satisfactory biodegradation levels.

Palm fruit in traditional African food culture.

PubMed

Atinmo, Tola; Bakre, Aishat Taiwo

2003-01-01

The centre of origin of the oil palm is the tropical rain forest region of West Africa. It is considered to be the 200-300 kilometre wide coastal belt between Liberia and Mayumbe. The oil palm tree has remained the 'tree of life' of Yoruba land as well as of other parts of southern West Africa to which it is indigenous. The Yoruba are adept at spinning philosophical and poetical proverbs around such ordinary things as hills, rivers, birds, animals and domestic tools. Hundreds of the traditional proverbs are still with us, and through them one can see the picture of the environment that contributed to the moulding of the thoughts of the people. Yoruba riddles or puzzles were also couched in terms of the environment and the solutions to them were also environmental items. They have a popular saying: A je eran je eran a kan egungun, a je egungun je egungun a tun kan eran: 'A piece of meat has an outer layer of flesh, an intermediate layer of bone and an inner layer of flesh'. What is it? A palm fruit: it has an outer edible layer, the mesocarp; then a layer of shell, inedible, and the kernel inside, edible. The solution to this puzzle summarises the botanical and cultural characteristics of the palm fruit.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.).

PubMed

Yang, Meng; Zhang, Xiaowei; Liu, Guiming; Yin, Yuxin; Chen, Kaifu; Yun, Quanzheng; Zhao, Duojun; Al-Mssallem, Ibrahim S; Yu, Jun

2010-09-15

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), a member of Arecaceae family, is one of the three major economically important woody palms--the two other palms being oil palm and coconut tree--and its fruit is a staple food among Middle East and North African nations, as well as many other tropical and subtropical regions. Here we report a complete sequence of the data palm chloroplast (cp) genome based on pyrosequencing. After extracting 369,022 cp sequencing reads from our whole-genome-shotgun data, we put together an assembly and validated it with intensive PCR-based verification, coupled with PCR product sequencing. The date palm cp genome is 158,462 bp in length and has a typical quadripartite structure of the large (LSC, 86,198 bp) and small single-copy (SSC, 17,712 bp) regions separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IRs, 27,276 bp). Similar to what has been found among most angiosperms, the date palm cp genome harbors 112 unique genes and 19 duplicated fragments in the IR regions. The junctions between LSC/IRs and SSC/IRs show different features of sequence expansion in evolution. We identified 78 SNPs as major intravarietal polymorphisms within the population of a specific cp genome, most of which were located in genes with vital functions. Based on RNA-sequencing data, we also found 18 polycistronic transcription units and three highly expression-biased genes--atpF, trnA-UGC, and rrn23. Unlike most monocots, date palm has a typical cp genome similar to that of tobacco--with little rearrangement and gene loss or gain. High-throughput sequencing technology facilitates the identification of intravarietal variations in cp genomes among different cultivars. Moreover, transcriptomic analysis of cp genes provides clues for uncovering regulatory mechanisms of transcription and translation in chloroplasts.

Degumming of crude palm oil by membrane filtration.

PubMed

Ong, K K; Fakhru'l-Razi, A; Baharin, B S; Hassan, M A

1999-01-01

The application of membrane separation in palm oil refining process has potential for energy and cost savings. The conventional refining of crude palm oil results in loss of oil and a contaminated effluent. Degumming of crude palm oil by membrane technology is conducted in this study. The objective of this research is to study the feasibility of membrane filtration for the removal of phospholipids in the degumming of crude palm oil, including analyses of phosphorus content, carotene content free fatty acids (as palmitic acid), colour and volatile matter. A PCI membrane module was used which was equipped with polyethersulfone membranes having a molecular weight cut off of 9,000 (type ES209). In this study, phosphorus content was the most important parameter monitored. The membrane effectively removed phospholipids resulting in a permeate with a phosphorus content of less than 0.3 ppm The percentage removal of phosphorus was 96.4% and was considered as a good removal. Lovibond colour was reduced from 27R 50Y to 20R 30Y. The percentage removal of carotene was 15.8%. The removal of colour was considered good but the removal of carotene was considered insignificant by the membrane. Free fatty acids and volatile matter were not removed. Typical of membrane operations, the permeate flux decreased with time and must be improved in order to be adopted on an industrial scale. Membrane technology was found to have good potential in crude palm oil degumming. However, an appropriate method has to be developed to clean the membranes for reuse.

Biodiversity of date palm

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is the dominant component upon which the sustainable biophysical and socio-economic structures of the oasis ecosystem are based; a fruit tree with unique nutritional, biochemical and biophysical characteristics, a rich source of aesthetic and cultural values, and ...

Two-component mixture model: Application to palm oil and exchange rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phoong, Seuk-Yen; Ismail, Mohd Tahir; Hamzah, Firdaus Mohamad

2014-12-01

Palm oil is a seed crop which is widely adopt for food and non-food products such as cookie, vegetable oil, cosmetics, household products and others. Palm oil is majority growth in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, the demand for palm oil is getting growth and rapidly running out over the years. This phenomenal cause illegal logging of trees and destroy the natural habitat. Hence, the present paper investigates the relationship between exchange rate and palm oil price in Malaysia by using Maximum Likelihood Estimation via Newton-Raphson algorithm to fit a two components mixture model. Besides, this paper proposes a mixture of normal distribution to accommodate with asymmetry characteristics and platykurtic time series data.

Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanostructures using palm olein as biotemplate

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background A green approach to synthesize nanomaterials using biotemplates has been subjected to intense research due to several advantages. Palm olein as a biotemplate offers the benefits of eco-friendliness, low-cost and scale-up for large scale production. Therefore, the effect of palm olein on morphology and surface properties of ZnO nanostructures were investigated. Results The results indicate that palm olein as a biotemplate can be used to modify the shape and size of ZnO particles synthesized by hydrothermal method. Different morphology including flake-, flower- and three dimensional star-like structures were obtained. FTIR study indicated the reaction between carboxyl group of palm olein and zinc species had taken place. Specific surface area enhanced while no considerable change were observed in optical properties. Conclusion Phase-pure ZnO particles were successfully synthesized using palm olein as soft biotemplating agent by hydrothermal method. The physico-chemical properties of the resulting ZnO particles can be tuned using the ratio of palm olein to Zn cation. PMID:23601826

Development of an aerial counting system in oil palm plantations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zulyma Miserque Castillo, Jhany; Laverde Diaz, Rubbermaid; Rueda Guzmán, Claudia Leonor

2016-07-01

This paper proposes the development of a counting aerial system capable of capturing, process and analyzing images of an oil palm plantation to register the number of cultivated palms. It begins with a study of the available UAV technologies to define the most appropriate model according to the project needs. As result, a DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ is used to capture pictures that are processed by a photogrammetry software to create orthomosaics from the areas of interest, which are handled by the developed software to calculate the number of palms contained in them. The implemented algorithm uses a sliding window technique in image pyramids to generate candidate windows, an LBP descriptor to model the texture of the picture, a logistic regression model to classify the windows and a non-maximum suppression algorithm to refine the decision. The system was tested in different images than the ones used for training and for establishing the set point. As result, the system showed a 95.34% detection rate with a 97.83% precision in mature palms and a 79.26% detection rate with a 97.53% precision in young palms giving an FI score of 0.97 for mature palms and 0.87 for the small ones. The results are satisfactory getting the census and high-quality images from which is possible to get more information from the area of interest. All this, achieved through a low-cost system capable of work even in cloudy conditions.

Contact-free palm-vein recognition based on local invariant features.

PubMed

Kang, Wenxiong; Liu, Yang; Wu, Qiuxia; Yue, Xishun

2014-01-01

Contact-free palm-vein recognition is one of the most challenging and promising areas in hand biometrics. In view of the existing problems in contact-free palm-vein imaging, including projection transformation, uneven illumination and difficulty in extracting exact ROIs, this paper presents a novel recognition approach for contact-free palm-vein recognition that performs feature extraction and matching on all vein textures distributed over the palm surface, including finger veins and palm veins, to minimize the loss of feature information. First, a hierarchical enhancement algorithm, which combines a DOG filter and histogram equalization, is adopted to alleviate uneven illumination and to highlight vein textures. Second, RootSIFT, a more stable local invariant feature extraction method in comparison to SIFT, is adopted to overcome the projection transformation in contact-free mode. Subsequently, a novel hierarchical mismatching removal algorithm based on neighborhood searching and LBP histograms is adopted to improve the accuracy of feature matching. Finally, we rigorously evaluated the proposed approach using two different databases and obtained 0.996% and 3.112% Equal Error Rates (EERs), respectively, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Contact-Free Palm-Vein Recognition Based on Local Invariant Features

PubMed Central

Kang, Wenxiong; Liu, Yang; Wu, Qiuxia; Yue, Xishun

2014-01-01

Contact-free palm-vein recognition is one of the most challenging and promising areas in hand biometrics. In view of the existing problems in contact-free palm-vein imaging, including projection transformation, uneven illumination and difficulty in extracting exact ROIs, this paper presents a novel recognition approach for contact-free palm-vein recognition that performs feature extraction and matching on all vein textures distributed over the palm surface, including finger veins and palm veins, to minimize the loss of feature information. First, a hierarchical enhancement algorithm, which combines a DOG filter and histogram equalization, is adopted to alleviate uneven illumination and to highlight vein textures. Second, RootSIFT, a more stable local invariant feature extraction method in comparison to SIFT, is adopted to overcome the projection transformation in contact-free mode. Subsequently, a novel hierarchical mismatching removal algorithm based on neighborhood searching and LBP histograms is adopted to improve the accuracy of feature matching. Finally, we rigorously evaluated the proposed approach using two different databases and obtained 0.996% and 3.112% Equal Error Rates (EERs), respectively, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. PMID:24866176

Life cycle inventory for palm based plywood: A gate-to-gate case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Shamim; Sahid, Ismail; Subramaniam, Vijaya; Muhamad, Halimah; Mokhtar, Anis

2013-11-01

The oil palm industry heavily relies on the world market. It is essential to ensure that the oil palm industry is ready to meet the demands and expectation of these overseas customers on the environmental performance of the oil palm industry. Malaysia produces 13.9 million tons of oil palm biomass including oil palm trunk (OPT), frond and empty fruits bunches (EFB) annually. OPT felled in some oil palm plantations during replanting is transported to various industries and one such industry is the plywood factories. In order to gauge the environmental performance of the use of OPT as plywood a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study was conducted for palm based plywood. LCA is an important tool to assess the environmental performance of a product or process. Life cycle inventory (LCI) is the heart of a LCA study. This LCI study has a gate-to-gate system boundary and the functional unit is 1 m3 palm plywood produced and covers three types of plywood; Moisture Resistance Plywood (MR), Weather Boiling Proof Plywood Grade 1 (WBP Grade 1) at Factory D and Weather Boiling Proof Plywood Grade 2 (WBP Grade 2) at Factory E. Both factories use two different types of drying processes; conventional drying at Factory D and kiln drying at Factory E. This inventory data was collected from two factories (D and E) representing 40% of Malaysia palm plywood industry. The inputs are mainly the raw materials which are the oil palm trunks and tropical wood veneers and the energy from diesel and electricity from grid which is mainly used for the drying process. The other inputs include water, urea formaldehyde, phenol formaldehyde, flour and melamine powder. The outputs are the biomass waste which consists of oil palm trunk off-cut and emission from boiler. Generally, all types of plywood production use almost same materials and processing methods in different quantities. Due to the different process efficiency, Factory D uses less input of raw materials and energy compared to Factory E.

Palm tree syrup: nutritional composition of a natural edulcorant.

PubMed

Luis, G; Rubio, C; Gutiérrez, A J; Hernández, C; González-Weller, D; Revert, C; Castilla, A; Abreu, P; Hardisson, A

2012-01-01

Palm syrup is a typical product from the Canary Islands, traditionally produced from the sap of the tropical palm tree Phoenix canariensis. Its high caloric content has led to its increasing use as a health food supplement for athletes, children and elderly. Furthermore, demand for this natural syrup is continuously increasing due also to its medicinal uses in homeopathic medicine. Palm Tree syrup samples prepared with palm sap from primary producers in La Gomera island (Canary Islands, Spain) were analyzed for their nutritional composition (moisture, ash, sugars, fat, vitamins and minerals). 35 syrup samples from five different producing regions in La Gomera island were analyzed. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine sugars and vitamins and Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (FAAS) was used to analyze the minerals. Major carbohydrates were sucrose (37.8%), glucose (9.50%) and fructose (4.80%), respectively. The presence of arabinose could not be confirmed. Niacin was the water-soluble vitamin with the highest concentration with an average content of 0.003%. Fat content was found to be under 0.20%. Potassium was the mineral with highest contents (0.45%). Results suggest that palm tree syrup can play an important role as a sugar and mineral source in human nutrition, suggesting that future applications for this product could be developed.

Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia.

PubMed

Carlson, Kimberly M; Heilmayr, Robert; Gibbs, Holly K; Noojipady, Praveen; Burns, David N; Morton, Douglas C; Walker, Nathalie F; Paoli, Gary D; Kremen, Claire

2018-01-02

Many major corporations and countries have made commitments to purchase or produce only "sustainable" palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest loss. Sustainability certification is the tool most used to fulfill these procurement policies, and around 20% of global palm oil production was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2017. However, the effect of certification on deforestation in oil palm plantations remains unclear. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of RSPO-certified and noncertified oil palm plantations (∼188,000 km 2 ) in Indonesia, the leading producer of palm oil, as well as annual remotely sensed metrics of tree cover loss and fire occurrence, to evaluate the impact of certification on deforestation and fire from 2001 to 2015. While forest loss and fire continued after RSPO certification, certified palm oil was associated with reduced deforestation. Certification lowered deforestation by 33% from a counterfactual of 9.8 to 6.6% y -1 Nevertheless, most plantations contained little residual forest when they received certification. As a result, by 2015, certified areas held less than 1% of forests remaining within Indonesian oil palm plantations. Moreover, certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates. Broader adoption of certification in forested regions, strict requirements to avoid all peat, and routine monitoring of clearly defined forest cover loss in certified and RSPO member-held plantations appear necessary if the RSPO is to yield conservation and climate benefits from reductions in tropical deforestation. Copyright © 2017 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia

PubMed Central

Gibbs, Holly K.; Noojipady, Praveen; Burns, David N.; Morton, Douglas C.; Walker, Nathalie F.; Paoli, Gary D.; Kremen, Claire

2018-01-01

Many major corporations and countries have made commitments to purchase or produce only “sustainable” palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest loss. Sustainability certification is the tool most used to fulfill these procurement policies, and around 20% of global palm oil production was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2017. However, the effect of certification on deforestation in oil palm plantations remains unclear. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of RSPO-certified and noncertified oil palm plantations (∼188,000 km2) in Indonesia, the leading producer of palm oil, as well as annual remotely sensed metrics of tree cover loss and fire occurrence, to evaluate the impact of certification on deforestation and fire from 2001 to 2015. While forest loss and fire continued after RSPO certification, certified palm oil was associated with reduced deforestation. Certification lowered deforestation by 33% from a counterfactual of 9.8 to 6.6% y−1. Nevertheless, most plantations contained little residual forest when they received certification. As a result, by 2015, certified areas held less than 1% of forests remaining within Indonesian oil palm plantations. Moreover, certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates. Broader adoption of certification in forested regions, strict requirements to avoid all peat, and routine monitoring of clearly defined forest cover loss in certified and RSPO member-held plantations appear necessary if the RSPO is to yield conservation and climate benefits from reductions in tropical deforestation. PMID:29229857

Characterizing commercial oil palm expansion in Latin America: land use change and trade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furumo, Paul Richard; Aide, T. Mitchell

2017-02-01

Commodity crop expansion has increased with the globalization of production systems and consumer demand, linking distant socio-ecological systems. Oil palm plantations are expanding in the tropics to satisfy growing oilseed and biofuel markets, and much of this expansion has caused extensive deforestation, especially in Asia. In Latin America, palm oil output has doubled since 2001, and the majority of expansion seems to be occurring on non-forested lands. We used MODIS satellite imagery (250 m resolution) to map current oil palm plantations in Latin America and determined prior land use and land cover (LULC) using high-resolution images in Google Earth. In addition, we compiled trade data to determine where Latin American palm oil flows, in order to better understand the underlying drivers of expansion in the region. Based on a sample of 342 032 ha of oil palm plantations across Latin America, we found that 79% replaced previously intervened lands (e.g. pastures, croplands, bananas), primarily cattle pastures (56%). The remaining 21% came from areas that were classified as woody vegetation (e.g. forests), most notably in the Amazon and the Petén region in northern Guatemala. Latin America is a net exporter of palm oil but the majority of palm oil exports (70%) stayed within the region, with Mexico importing about half. Growth of the oil palm sector may be driven by global factors, but environmental and economic outcomes vary between regions (i.e. Asia and Latin America), within regions (i.e. Colombia and Peru), and within single countries (i.e. Guatemala), suggesting that local conditions are influential. The present trend of oil palm expanding onto previously cleared lands, guided by roundtable certifications programs, provides an opportunity for more sustainable development of the oil palm sector in Latin America.

Mitigating the impact of oil-palm monoculture on freshwater fishes in Southeast Asia.

PubMed

Giam, Xingli; Hadiaty, Renny K; Tan, Heok Hui; Parenti, Lynne R; Wowor, Daisy; Sauri, Sopian; Chong, Kwek Yan; Yeo, Darren C J; Wilcove, David S

2015-10-01

Anthropogenic land-cover change is driving biodiversity loss worldwide. At the epicenter of this crisis lies Southeast Asia, where biodiversity-rich forests are being converted to oil-palm monocultures. As demand for palm oil increases, there is an urgent need to find strategies that maintain biodiversity in plantations. Previous studies found that retaining forest patches within plantations benefited some terrestrial taxa but not others. However, no study has focused on aquatic taxa such as fishes, despite their importance to human well-being. We assessed the efficacy of forested riparian reserves in conserving freshwater fish biodiversity in oil-palm monoculture by sampling stream fish communities in an oil-palm plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Forested riparian reserves maintained preconversion local fish species richness and functional diversity. In contrast, local and total species richness, biomass, and functional diversity declined markedly in streams without riparian reserves. Mechanistically, riparian reserves appeared to increase local species richness by increasing leaf litter cover and maintaining coarse substrate. The loss of fishes specializing in leaf litter and coarse substrate decreased functional diversity and altered community composition in oil-palm plantation streams that lacked riparian reserves. Thus, a land-sharing strategy that incorporates the retention of forested riparian reserves may maintain the ecological integrity of fish communities in oil-palm plantations. We urge policy makers and growers to make retention of riparian reserves in oil-palm plantations standard practice, and we encourage palm-oil purchasers to source only palm oil from plantations that employ this practice. © 2015 Society for Conservation Biology.

Efficient transformation of oil palm protoplasts by PEG-mediated transfection and DNA microinjection.

PubMed

Masani, Mat Yunus Abdul; Noll, Gundula A; Parveez, Ghulam Kadir Ahmad; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi; Prüfer, Dirk

2014-01-01

Genetic engineering remains a major challenge in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) because particle bombardment and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation are laborious and/or inefficient in this species, often producing chimeric plants and escapes. Protoplasts are beneficial as a starting material for genetic engineering because they are totipotent, and chimeras are avoided by regenerating transgenic plants from single cells. Novel approaches for the transformation of oil palm protoplasts could therefore offer a new and efficient strategy for the development of transgenic oil palm plants. We recently achieved the regeneration of healthy and fertile oil palms from protoplasts. Therefore, we focused on the development of a reliable PEG-mediated transformation protocol for oil palm protoplasts by establishing and validating optimal heat shock conditions, concentrations of DNA, PEG and magnesium chloride, and the transfection procedure. We also investigated the transformation of oil palm protoplasts by DNA microinjection and successfully regenerated transgenic microcalli expressing green fluorescent protein as a visible marker to determine the efficiency of transformation. We have established the first successful protocols for the transformation of oil palm protoplasts by PEG-mediated transfection and DNA microinjection. These novel protocols allow the rapid and efficient generation of non-chimeric transgenic callus and represent a significant milestone in the use of protoplasts as a starting material for the development of genetically-engineered oil palm plants.

Efficient Transformation of Oil Palm Protoplasts by PEG-Mediated Transfection and DNA Microinjection

PubMed Central

Masani, Mat Yunus Abdul; Noll, Gundula A.; Parveez, Ghulam Kadir Ahmad; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi; Prüfer, Dirk

2014-01-01

Background Genetic engineering remains a major challenge in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) because particle bombardment and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation are laborious and/or inefficient in this species, often producing chimeric plants and escapes. Protoplasts are beneficial as a starting material for genetic engineering because they are totipotent, and chimeras are avoided by regenerating transgenic plants from single cells. Novel approaches for the transformation of oil palm protoplasts could therefore offer a new and efficient strategy for the development of transgenic oil palm plants. Methodology/Principal Findings We recently achieved the regeneration of healthy and fertile oil palms from protoplasts. Therefore, we focused on the development of a reliable PEG-mediated transformation protocol for oil palm protoplasts by establishing and validating optimal heat shock conditions, concentrations of DNA, PEG and magnesium chloride, and the transfection procedure. We also investigated the transformation of oil palm protoplasts by DNA microinjection and successfully regenerated transgenic microcalli expressing green fluorescent protein as a visible marker to determine the efficiency of transformation. Conclusions/Significance We have established the first successful protocols for the transformation of oil palm protoplasts by PEG-mediated transfection and DNA microinjection. These novel protocols allow the rapid and efficient generation of non-chimeric transgenic callus and represent a significant milestone in the use of protoplasts as a starting material for the development of genetically-engineered oil palm plants. PMID:24821306

Effectiveness of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) for reducing fires on oil palm concessions in Indonesia from 2012 to 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cattau, Megan E.; Marlier, Miriam E.; DeFries, Ruth

2016-10-01

Fire is a common tool for land conversion and management associated with oil palm production. Fires can cause biodiversity and carbon losses, emit pollutants that deteriorate air quality and harm human health, and damage property. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) prohibits the use of fire on certified concessions. However, efforts to suppress fires are more difficult during El Niño conditions and on peatlands. In this paper, we address the following questions for oil palm concessions developed prior to 2012 in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the leading producers of oil palm both within Indonesia and globally: (1) for the period 2012-2015, did RSPO-certified concessions have a lower density of fire detections, fire ignitions, or ‘escaped’ fires compared with those concessions that are not certified? and (2) did this pattern change with increasing likelihood of fires in concessions located on peatland and in dry years? These questions are particularly critical in fuel-rich peatlands, of which approximately 46% of the area was designated as oil palm concession as of 2010. We conducted propensity scoring to balance covariate distributions between certified and non-certified concessions, and we compare the density of fires in certified and non-certified concessions using Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests based on moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer Active Fire Detections from 2012-2015 clustered into unique fire events. We find that fire activity is significantly lower on RSPO certified concessions than non-RSPO certified concessions when the likelihood of fire is low (i.e., on non-peatlands in wetter years), but not when the likelihood of fire is high (i.e., on non-peatlands in dry years or on peatlands). Our results provide evidence that RSPO has the potential to reduce fires, though it is currently only effective when fire likelihood is relatively low. These results imply that, in order for this mechanism to reduce fire, additional strategies will be

BVOC fluxes from oil palm canopies in South East Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Misztal, P. K.; Cape, J. N.; Langford, B.; Nemitz, E.; Helfter, C.; Owen, S.; Heal, M. R.; Hewitt, C. N.; Fowler, D.

2009-04-01

Fluxes by virtual disjunct eddy covariance were measured for the first time in South-East Asia in 2008 from an oil palm plantation. Malaysia and Indonesia account for more than 80% of world oil palm production. Our in situ findings suggest much higher isoprene emissions from oil palms than from rainforest, which is consistent with earlier lab-based predictions of emissions from oil palms (Wilkinson et al., 2006). 50% of global biogenic VOC emissions are estimated to derive from tropical rainforests (Guenther et al., 1995) although in fact a large portion of the emission may derive from oil palms in the tropics. Isoprene and monoterpenes are regarded as the most important biogenic VOCs for the atmospheric chemistry. Overall, maximum isoprene emissions from oil palms were recorded at 11:00 local time, with a mean value of 13 mg m-2 h-1. At the rainforest, the maximum fluxes of isoprene were observed later in the day, at about 13:00 with an average of 2.5 mg m-2 h-1. Initial flux results for total monoterpenes indicate that their mass emission ratio with respect to isoprene was about 1:9 at the rainforest and 1:18 at the oil palm plantation. The results are presented with reference to temperature, photosynthetic radiation and meteorological drivers as well as in comparison with CO2 and H2O fluxes. Empirical parameters in the Guenther algorithm for MEGAN (Guenther et al, 2006), which was originally designed for the Amazon region, have been optimised for this oil palm study. The emission factor obtained from eddy covariance measurements was 18.8 mg m-2 h-1, while the one obtained from leaf level studies at the site was 19.5 mg m-2 h-1. Isoprene fluxes from both Amazonia (Karl et al., 2007) and from rainforest in Borneo 2008 seem to be much lower than from oil palms. This can have consequences for atmospheric chemistry of land use change from rainforest to oil palm plantation, including formation of ozone, SOA and particles and indirect effects on the removal rate of

Oil palm monoculture induces drastic erosion of an Amazonian forest mammal fauna

PubMed Central

Maués, Paula Cristina R. de A.; Oliveira, Geovana Linhares; Mineiro, Ivo G. B.; de Maria, Susanne L. Silva; Lima, Renata C. S.

2017-01-01

Oil palm monoculture comprises one of the most financially attractive land-use options in tropical forests, but cropland suitability overlaps the distribution of many highly threatened vertebrate species. We investigated how forest mammals respond to a landscape mosaic, including mature oil palm plantations and primary forest patches in Eastern Amazonia. Using both line-transect censuses (LTC) and camera-trapping (CT), we quantified the general patterns of mammal community structure and attempted to identify both species life-history traits and the environmental and spatial covariates that govern species intolerance to oil palm monoculture. Considering mammal species richness, abundance, and species composition, oil palm plantations were consistently depauperate compared to the adjacent primary forest, but responses differed between functional groups. The degree of forest habitat dependency was a leading trait, determining compositional dissimilarities across habitats. Considering both the LTC and CT data, distance from the forest-plantation interface had a significant effect on mammal assemblages within each habitat type. Approximately 87% of all species detected within oil palm were never farther than 1300 m from the forest edge. Our study clearly reinforces the notion that conventional oil palm plantations are extremely hostile to native tropical forest biodiversity, which does not bode well given prospects for oil palm expansion in both aging and new Amazonian deforestation frontiers. PMID:29117202

Process integration possibilities for biodiesel production from palm oil using ethanol obtained from lignocellulosic residues of oil palm industry.

PubMed

Gutiérrez, Luis F; Sánchez, Oscar J; Cardona, Carlos A

2009-02-01

In this paper, integration possibilities for production of biodiesel and bioethanol using a single source of biomass as a feedstock (oil palm) were explored through process simulation. The oil extracted from Fresh Fruit Bunches was considered as the feedstock for biodiesel production. An extractive reaction process is proposed for transesterification reaction using in situ produced ethanol, which is obtained from two types of lignocellulosic residues of palm industry (Empty Fruit Bunches and Palm Press Fiber). Several ways of integration were analyzed. The integration of material flows between ethanol and biodiesel production lines allowed a reduction in unit energy costs down to 3.4%, whereas the material and energy integration leaded to 39.8% decrease of those costs. The proposed integrated configuration is an important option when the technology for ethanol production from biomass reaches such a degree of maturity that its production costs be comparable with those of grain or cane ethanol.

SwissPalm: Protein Palmitoylation database.

PubMed

Blanc, Mathieu; David, Fabrice; Abrami, Laurence; Migliozzi, Daniel; Armand, Florence; Bürgi, Jérôme; van der Goot, Françoise Gisou

2015-01-01

Protein S-palmitoylation is a reversible post-translational modification that regulates many key biological processes, although the full extent and functions of protein S-palmitoylation remain largely unexplored. Recent developments of new chemical methods have allowed the establishment of palmitoyl-proteomes of a variety of cell lines and tissues from different species.  As the amount of information generated by these high-throughput studies is increasing, the field requires centralization and comparison of this information. Here we present SwissPalm ( http://swisspalm.epfl.ch), our open, comprehensive, manually curated resource to study protein S-palmitoylation. It currently encompasses more than 5000 S-palmitoylated protein hits from seven species, and contains more than 500 specific sites of S-palmitoylation. SwissPalm also provides curated information and filters that increase the confidence in true positive hits, and integrates predictions of S-palmitoylated cysteine scores, orthologs and isoform multiple alignments. Systems analysis of the palmitoyl-proteome screens indicate that 10% or more of the human proteome is susceptible to S-palmitoylation. Moreover, ontology and pathway analyses of the human palmitoyl-proteome reveal that key biological functions involve this reversible lipid modification. Comparative analysis finally shows a strong crosstalk between S-palmitoylation and other post-translational modifications. Through the compilation of data and continuous updates, SwissPalm will provide a powerful tool to unravel the global importance of protein S-palmitoylation.

SwissPalm: Protein Palmitoylation database

PubMed Central

Abrami, Laurence; Migliozzi, Daniel; Armand, Florence; Bürgi, Jérôme; van der Goot, Françoise Gisou

2015-01-01

Protein S-palmitoylation is a reversible post-translational modification that regulates many key biological processes, although the full extent and functions of protein S-palmitoylation remain largely unexplored. Recent developments of new chemical methods have allowed the establishment of palmitoyl-proteomes of a variety of cell lines and tissues from different species.  As the amount of information generated by these high-throughput studies is increasing, the field requires centralization and comparison of this information. Here we present SwissPalm ( http://swisspalm.epfl.ch), our open, comprehensive, manually curated resource to study protein S-palmitoylation. It currently encompasses more than 5000 S-palmitoylated protein hits from seven species, and contains more than 500 specific sites of S-palmitoylation. SwissPalm also provides curated information and filters that increase the confidence in true positive hits, and integrates predictions of S-palmitoylated cysteine scores, orthologs and isoform multiple alignments. Systems analysis of the palmitoyl-proteome screens indicate that 10% or more of the human proteome is susceptible to S-palmitoylation. Moreover, ontology and pathway analyses of the human palmitoyl-proteome reveal that key biological functions involve this reversible lipid modification. Comparative analysis finally shows a strong crosstalk between S-palmitoylation and other post-translational modifications. Through the compilation of data and continuous updates, SwissPalm will provide a powerful tool to unravel the global importance of protein S-palmitoylation. PMID:26339475

Friction and Braking Application of Unhazardous Palm Slag Brake Pad Composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khoni, Norizzahthul Ainaa Abdul; Ruzaidi Ghazali, Che Mohd; Bakri Abdullah, Mohd Mustafa Al

2018-03-01

This paper reveals new alternative friction materials for brake pads. Palm slag was studied as new friction materials in brake pads but its much harder made it difficult to be applied. As a way to reduce the hardness, tire dust was including as purpose on stabilizing the hardness of brake pads. The palm slag was sieves to get desired size that is 150 μm, 300 μm and 600 μm. The percentage weight of materials used are 20% graphite, 20% aluminium oxide, 20% steel fiber, 20% polyester resin and another 40% are varied between tire dust and palm slag. All of materials were blend and compress by using hot pressed machine. The composites properties that were examined are density, porosity, hardness, compressive strength, microstructure analysis and wear rate. The composition of 30% palm slag, 10% tire dust and larger size of filler give better result of mechanical properties and less wear rate of brake pads composites. Then, palm slag can be used in producing of non asbestos brake pads.

Soil burial biodegradation studies of palm oil-based UV-curable films

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tajau, Rida, E-mail: rida@nuclearmalaysia.gov.my; Salleh, Mek Zah, E-mail: mekzah@nuclearmalaysia.gov.my; Salleh, Nik Ghazali Nik, E-mail: nik-ghazali@nuclearmalaysia.gov.my

The palm oil-based ultraviolet (uv)-curable films were subjected to an outdoor soil burial test to investigate the biodegradation under natural environment. The films were burial in the soil experiment plot at the Nuclear Malaysia’s Dengkil complex. The uv-curable films were synthesized from the epoxidized palm oil acrylated (EPOLA) resin and the polyurethane palm oil (POBUA) resin, respectively. Biodegradation tests are more specific to burial film in soil experiments for 12 months under natural conditions. The biodegradability of palm oil resin based uv-curable films were investigated and compared with the petrochemical resin based film. The films properties were compared with respectmore » to properties of the thermal characteristic, the crystallinity, the morphology and the weight loss which are analyzed using the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the scanning electron microscope (SEM), an optical microscope and the weight loss of film calculation. These findings suggested that the palm oil-based uv-curable films show quite satisfactory biodegradation levels.« less

Ball milling pretreatment of oil palm biomass for enhancing enzymatic hydrolysis.

PubMed

Zakaria, Mohd Rafein; Fujimoto, Shinji; Hirata, Satoshi; Hassan, Mohd Ali

2014-08-01

Oil palm biomass, namely empty fruit bunch and frond fiber, were pretreated using a planetary ball mill. Particle sizes and crystallinity index values of the oil palm biomass were significantly reduced with extended ball mill processing time. The treatment efficiency was evaluated by the generation of glucose, xylose, and total sugar conversion yields from the pretreatment process compared to the amount of sugars from raw materials. Glucose and xylose contents were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography. An increasing trend in glucose and xylose yield as well as total sugar conversion yield was observed with decreasing particle size and crystallinity index. Oil palm frond fiber exhibited the best material yields using ball milling pretreatment with generated glucose, xylose, and total sugar conversion yields of 87.0, 81.6, and 85.4%, respectively. In contrast, oil palm empty fruit bunch afforded glucose and xylose of 70.0 and 82.3%, respectively. The results obtained in this study showed that ball mill-treated oil palm biomass is a suitable pretreatment method for high conversion of glucose and xylose.

Prevalence of Skin Sensitization to Pollen of Date Palm in Marrakesh, Morocco.

PubMed

Serhane, Hind; Amro, Lamyae; Sajiai, Hafsa; Alaoui Yazidi, Abdelhaq

2017-01-01

Background . Date palm's pollen has been identified as a source of allergy; the rate of sensitization of this pollen is between 6 and 29%. Objective . To determine the prevalence of sensitization to date palm in Marrakesh and to identify the clinical profile. Patients and Methods . This study is based on a questionnaire and the prick test on 7 allergens, in population aged 5 years and above with clinical symptoms suggesting allergic diseases, from November 2012 to February 2013 in Marrakech. Results . We included 468 patients (women: 79.5%). The prick tests were considered interpretable in 467 cases. The prevalence of skin sensitization to pollen of date palm was 6.6%. The 31 cases of sensitization to date palm involved 7 men and 24 women with an average age of 37.5 years. Cutaneous monosensitization to date palm's pollen was observed in 2 cases. Asthma, rhinitis, and conjunctivitis were recorded, respectively, in 48.4%, 93.5%, and 67.7%. Conclusion . Skin sensitization to pollen of date palm does not seem unusual among allergic patients in Marrakech and is comparable to that found in Casablanca (7%), Barcelona (6.6%), and Cartagena (6.1%).

Oil palm biomass as an adsorbent for heavy metals.

PubMed

Vakili, Mohammadtaghi; Rafatullah, Mohd; Ibrahim, Mahamad Hakimi; Abdullah, Ahmad Zuhairi; Salamatinia, Babak; Gholami, Zahra

2014-01-01

Many industries discharge untreated wastewater into the environment. Heavy metals from many industrial processes end up as hazardous pollutants of wastewaters.Heavy metal pollution has increased in recent decades and there is a growing concern for the public health risk they may pose. To remove heavy metal ions from polluted waste streams, adsorption processes are among the most common and effective treatment methods. The adsorbents that are used to remove heavy metal ions from aqueous media have both advantages and disadvantages. Cost and effectiveness are two of the most prominent criteria for choosing adsorbents. Because cost is so important, great effort has been extended to study and find effective lower cost adsorbents.One class of adsorbents that is gaining considerable attention is agricultural wastes. Among many alternatives, palm oil biomasses have shown promise as effective adsorbents for removing heavy metals from wastewater. The palm oil industry has rapidly expanded in recent years, and a large amount of palm oil biomass is available. This biomass is a low-cost agricultural waste that exhibits, either in its raw form or after being processed, the potential for eliminating heavy metal ions from wastewater. In this article, we provide background information on oil palm biomass and describe studies that indicate its potential as an alternative adsorbent for removing heavy metal ions from wastewater. From having reviewed the cogent literature on this topic we are encouraged that low-cost oil-palm-related adsorbents have already demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for various pollutants.Because cost is so important to those who choose to clean waste streams by using adsorbents, the use of cheap sources of unconventional adsorbents is increasingly being investigated. An adsorbent is considered to be inexpensive when it is readily available, is environmentally friendly, is cost-effective and be effectively used in economical processes. The

Validating the Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale (PALMS).

PubMed

Molanorouzi, Keyvan; Khoo, Selina; Morris, Tony

2014-09-03

Although there is abundant evidence to recommend a physically active lifestyle, adult physical activity (PA) levels have declined over the past two decades. In order to understand why this happens, numerous studies have been conducted to uncover the reasons for people's participation in PA. Often, the measures used were not broad enough to reflect all the reasons for participation in PA. The Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale (PALMS) was created to be a comprehensive tool measuring motives for participating in PA. This 40-item scale related to participation in sport and PA is designed for adolescents and adults. Five items constitute each of the eight sub-scales (mastery, enjoyment, psychological condition, physical condition, appearance, other's expectations, affiliation, competition/ego) reflecting motives for participation in PA that can be categorized as features of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation based on self-determination theory. The aim of the current study was to validate the PALMS in the cultural context of Malaysia, including to assess how well the PALMS captures the same information as the Recreational Exercise Motivation Measure (REMM). To do so, 502 Malaysian volunteer participants, aged 18 to 67 years (mean ± SD; 31.55 ± 11.87 years), from a variety of PA categories, including individual sports, team sports, martial arts and exercise, completed the study. The hypothesized 8-factor model demonstrated a good fit with the data (CMIN/DF = 2.820, NFI = 0.90, CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.06). Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = 0.79) indicated good internal consistency for the overall measure. Internal consistency for the PALMS subscales was sound, ranging from 0.78 to 0.82. The correlations between each PALMS sub-scale and the corresponding sub-scale on the validated REMM (the 73-item questionnaire from which the PALMS was developed) were also high and varied from 0.79 to 0.95. Also, test-retest reliability for the questionnaire sub-scales was

Date Palm Genetic Diversity Analysis Using Microsatellite Polymorphism.

PubMed

Khierallah, Hussam S M; Bader, Saleh M; Hamwieh, Alladin; Baum, Michael

2017-01-01

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is considered one of the great socioeconomic resources in the Middle East and the Arab regions. The tree has been and still is at the center of the comprehensive agricultural development. The number of known date palm cultivars, distributed worldwide, is approximately 3000. The success of genetic diversity conservation or any breeding program depends on an understanding of the amount and distribution of the genetic variation already in existence in the genetic pool. Development of suitable DNA molecular markers for this tree may allow researchers to estimate genetic diversity, which will ultimately lead to the genetic conservation of date palm. Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are DNA strands, consisting of tandemly repeated mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, or penta-nucleotide units that are arranged throughout the genomes of most eukaryotic species. Microsatellite markers, developed from genomic libraries, belong to either the transcribed region or the non-transcribed region of the genome, and there is rarely available information on their functions. Microsatellite sequences are especially suited to distinguish closely related genotypes due to a high degree of variability making them ideally suitable in population studies and the identification of closely related cultivars. This chapter focuses on the methods employed to characterize date palm genotypes using SSR markers.

Thermal profiles, crystallization behaviors and microstructure of diacylglycerol-enriched palm oil blends with diacylglycerol-enriched palm olein.

PubMed

Xu, Yayuan; Zhao, Xiaoqing; Wang, Qiang; Peng, Zhen; Dong, Cao

2016-07-01

To elucidate the possible interaction mechanisms between DAG-enriched oils, this study investigated how mixtures of DAG-enriched palm-based oils influenced the phase behavior, thermal properties, crystallization behaviors and the microstructure in binary fat blends. DAG-enriched palm oil (PO-DAGE) was blended with DAG-enriched palm olein (POL-DAGE) in various percentages (0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%, 100%). Based on the observation of iso-solid diagram and phase diagram, the binary mixture of PO-DAGE/POL-DAGE showed a better compatibility in comparison with their corresponding original blends. DSC thermal profiles exhibited that the melting and crystallization properties of PO-DAGE/POL-DAGE were distinctively different from corresponding original blends. Crystallization kinetics revealed that PO-DAGE/POL-DAGE blends displayed a rather high crystallization rate and exhibited no spherulitic crystal growth. From the results of polarized light micrographs, PO-DAGE/POL-DAGE blends showed more dense structure with very small needle-like crystals than PO/POL. X-ray diffraction evaluation revealed when POL-DAGE was added in high contents to PO-DAGE, above 30%, β-polymorph dominated, and the mount of β' forms crystals was decreasing. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Estimating primary productivity of tropical oil palm in Malaysia using remote sensing technique and ancillary data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanniah, K. D.; Tan, K. P.; Cracknell, A. P.

2014-10-01

The amount of carbon sequestration by vegetation can be estimated using vegetation productivity. At present, there is a knowledge gap in oil palm net primary productivity (NPP) at a regional scale. Therefore, in this study NPP of oil palm trees in Peninsular Malaysia was estimated using remote sensing based light use efficiency (LUE) model with inputs from local meteorological data, upscaled leaf area index/fractional photosynthetically active radiation (LAI/fPAR) derived using UK-DMC 2 satellite data and a constant maximum LUE value from the literature. NPP values estimated from the model was then compared and validated with NPP estimated using allometric equations developed by Corley and Tinker (2003), Henson (2003) and Syahrinudin (2005) with diameter at breast height, age and the height of the oil palm trees collected from three estates in Peninsular Malaysia. Results of this study show that oil palm NPP derived using a light use efficiency model increases with respect to the age of oil palm trees, and it stabilises after ten years old. The mean value of oil palm NPP at 118 plots as derived using the LUE model is 968.72 g C m-2 year-1 and this is 188% - 273% higher than the NPP derived from the allometric equations. The estimated oil palm NPP of young oil palm trees is lower compared to mature oil palm trees (<10 years old), as young oil palm trees contribute to lower oil palm LAI and therefore fPAR, which is an important variable in the LUE model. In contrast, it is noted that oil palm NPP decreases with respect to the age of oil palm trees as estimated using the allomeric equations. It was found in this study that LUE models could not capture NPP variation of oil palm trees if LAI/fPAR is used. On the other hand, tree height and DBH are found to be important variables that can capture changes in oil palm NPP as a function of age.

Investigation on Nonlinear-Optical Properties of Palm Oil/Silver Nanoparticles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zamiri, R.; Parvizi, R.; Zakaria, A.; Sadrolhosseini, A. R.; Zamiri, G.; Darroudi, M.; Husin, M. S.

2012-06-01

We have investigated the spatial self phase modulation of palm oil containing silver nanoparticles (palm oil/Ag-NPs). The study carried out using continuous wave diode pumped solid state laser with wavelength of 405 nm and power of 50 mW. The strong spatial self phase modulation patterns were observed that suggest the palm oil/Ag-NPs have a relatively large nonlinear refractive index. The obtained values of nonlinear refractive index were increased with the increment in the volume fractions. The observed experimental patterns were also theoretically modeled which are in good agreement with experimental results.

Palm Vein Verification Using Multiple Features and Locality Preserving Projections

PubMed Central

Bu, Wei; Wu, Xiangqian; Zhao, Qiushi

2014-01-01

Biometrics is defined as identifying people by their physiological characteristic, such as iris pattern, fingerprint, and face, or by some aspects of their behavior, such as voice, signature, and gesture. Considerable attention has been drawn on these issues during the last several decades. And many biometric systems for commercial applications have been successfully developed. Recently, the vein pattern biometric becomes increasingly attractive for its uniqueness, stability, and noninvasiveness. A vein pattern is the physical distribution structure of the blood vessels underneath a person's skin. The palm vein pattern is very ganglion and it shows a huge number of vessels. The attitude of the palm vein vessels stays in the same location for the whole life and its pattern is definitely unique. In our work, the matching filter method is proposed for the palm vein image enhancement. New palm vein features extraction methods, global feature extracted based on wavelet coefficients and locality preserving projections (WLPP), and local feature based on local binary pattern variance and locality preserving projections (LBPV_LPP) have been proposed. Finally, the nearest neighbour matching method has been proposed that verified the test palm vein images. The experimental result shows that the EER to the proposed method is 0.1378%. PMID:24693230

Palm vein verification using multiple features and locality preserving projections.

PubMed

Al-Juboori, Ali Mohsin; Bu, Wei; Wu, Xiangqian; Zhao, Qiushi

2014-01-01

Biometrics is defined as identifying people by their physiological characteristic, such as iris pattern, fingerprint, and face, or by some aspects of their behavior, such as voice, signature, and gesture. Considerable attention has been drawn on these issues during the last several decades. And many biometric systems for commercial applications have been successfully developed. Recently, the vein pattern biometric becomes increasingly attractive for its uniqueness, stability, and noninvasiveness. A vein pattern is the physical distribution structure of the blood vessels underneath a person's skin. The palm vein pattern is very ganglion and it shows a huge number of vessels. The attitude of the palm vein vessels stays in the same location for the whole life and its pattern is definitely unique. In our work, the matching filter method is proposed for the palm vein image enhancement. New palm vein features extraction methods, global feature extracted based on wavelet coefficients and locality preserving projections (WLPP), and local feature based on local binary pattern variance and locality preserving projections (LBPV_LPP) have been proposed. Finally, the nearest neighbour matching method has been proposed that verified the test palm vein images. The experimental result shows that the EER to the proposed method is 0.1378%.

Separation of vitamin E (tocopherol, tocotrienol, and tocomonoenol) in palm oil.

PubMed

Ng, Mei Han; Choo, Yuen May; Ma, Ah Ngan; Chuah, Cheng Hock; Hashim, Mohd Ali

2004-10-01

Previous reports showed that vitamin E in palm oil consists of various isomers of tocopherols and tocotrienols [alpha-tocopherol (alpha-T), alpha-tocotrienol, gamma-tocopherol, gamma-tocotrienol, and delta-tocotrienol), and this is normally analyzed using silica column HPLC with fluorescence detection. In this study, an HPLC-fluorescence method using a C30 silica stationary phase was developed to separate and analyze the vitamin E isomers present in palm oil. In addition, an alpha-tocomonoenol (alpha-T1) isomer was quantified and characterized by MS and NMR. (alpha-T1 constitutes about 3-4% (40+/-5 ppm) of vitamin E in crude palm oil (CPO) and is found in the phytonutrient concentrate (350+/-10 ppm) from palm oil, whereas its concentration in palm fiber oil (PFO) is about 11% (430+/-6 ppm). The relative content of each individual vitamin E isomer before and after interesterification/transesterification of CPO to CPO methyl esters, followed by vacuum distillation of CPO methyl esters to yield the residue, remained the same except for alpha-T and gamma-T3. Whereas alpha-T constitutes about 36% of the total vitamin E in CPO, it is present at a level of 10% in the phytonutrient concentrate. On the other hand, the composition of gamma-T3 increases from 31% in CPO to 60% in the phytonutrient concentrate. Vitamin is present at 1160+/-43 ppm, and its concentrations in PFO and the phytonutrient concentrate are 4,040+/-41 and 13,780+/-65 ppm, respectively. The separation and quantification of alpha-T1 in palm oil will lead to more in-depth knowledge of the occurrence of vitamin E in palm oil.

Decision Support Model for Selection Technologies in Processing of Palm Oil Industrial Liquid Waste

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishak, Aulia; Ali, Amir Yazid bin

2017-12-01

The palm oil industry continues to grow from year to year. Processing of the palm oil industry into crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO). The ratio of the amount of oil produced by both products is 30% of the raw material. This means that 70% is palm oil waste. The amount of palm oil waste will increase in line with the development of the palm oil industry. The amount of waste generated by the palm oil industry if it is not handled properly and effectively will contribute significantly to environmental damage. Industrial activities ranging from raw materials to produce products will disrupt the lives of people around the factory. There are many alternative technologies available to process other industries, but problems that often occur are difficult to implement the most appropriate technology. The purpose of this research is to develop a database of waste processing technology, looking for qualitative and quantitative criteria to select technology and develop Decision Support System (DSS) that can help make decisions. The method used to achieve the objective of this research is to develop a questionnaire to identify waste processing technology and develop the questionnaire to find appropriate database technology. Methods of data analysis performed on the system by using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and to build the model by using the MySQL Software that can be used as a tool in the evaluation and selection of palm oil mill processing technology.

Morphology and protein molecular weight analysis from three variant of oil palm pollen; Dura, Pisifera, and Tenera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Priambodo, R.; Witarto, A. B.; Salamah, A.; Setiorini, Triyono, D.; Bowolaksono, A.

2017-07-01

Oil palm is a plant that widely cultivated in Indonesia, with an area of about 11 million hectares in 2014. There are three main variants that most cultivated; Dura, Pisifera, and Tenera. Oil palm pollen was spread through the wind. The very wide area of oil palm plantation and those characteristics of oil palm pollen dispersion makes oil palm pollen may give negative effect to the people around plantation, such as an allergy. The research on the morphology and protein characters of the oil palm pollen from three variants has not done yet. This research aims to observe the morphology and protein character from three variants of oil palm pollen. The study begins with the pollen collection from three variants of oil palm. Oil palm pollen was observed using the light and scanning electron microscope. Oil palm pollen protein was extracted and the molecular weight of these proteins was analyzed. The result of this research was the morphology character from three variants of oil palm pollen have successfully been observed. Those three variant of oil palm have no differences structures; triangular shaped with round edge, tricolpate with connected colpus aperture, psilate exine ornamentation at the front side and peripheral side, while at the back side has microreticulate exine ornamentation. Three variants of oil palm pollen protein show the same characteristics. The molecular weight of the protein was ranged from 10-00 KDa. The information can be useful for the next research to figure out component of proteins inside the oil palm pollen.

Synergies for Improving Oil Palm Production and Forest Conservation in Floodplain Landscapes

PubMed Central

Abram, Nicola K.; Xofis, Panteleimon; Tzanopoulos, Joseph; MacMillan, Douglas C.; Ancrenaz, Marc; Chung, Robin; Peter, Lucy; Ong, Robert; Lackman, Isabelle; Goossens, Benoit; Ambu, Laurentius; Knight, Andrew T.

2014-01-01

Lowland tropical forests are increasingly threatened with conversion to oil palm as global demand and high profit drives crop expansion throughout the world’s tropical regions. Yet, landscapes are not homogeneous and regional constraints dictate land suitability for this crop. We conducted a regional study to investigate spatial and economic components of forest conversion to oil palm within a tropical floodplain in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The Kinabatangan ecosystem harbours significant biodiversity with globally threatened species but has suffered forest loss and fragmentation. We mapped the oil palm and forested landscapes (using object-based-image analysis, classification and regression tree analysis and on-screen digitising of high-resolution imagery) and undertook economic modelling. Within the study region (520,269 ha), 250,617 ha is cultivated with oil palm with 77% having high Net-Present-Value (NPV) estimates ($413/ha− yr–$637/ha− yr); but 20.5% is under-producing. In fact 6.3% (15,810 ha) of oil palm is commercially redundant (with negative NPV of $-299/ha− yr-$-65/ha− yr) due to palm mortality from flood inundation. These areas would have been important riparian or flooded forest types. Moreover, 30,173 ha of unprotected forest remain and despite its value for connectivity and biodiversity 64% is allocated for future oil palm. However, we estimate that at minimum 54% of these forests are unsuitable for this crop due to inundation events. If conversion to oil palm occurs, we predict a further 16,207 ha will become commercially redundant. This means that over 32,000 ha of forest within the floodplain would have been converted for little or no financial gain yet with significant cost to the ecosystem. Our findings have globally relevant implications for similar floodplain landscapes undergoing forest transformation to agriculture such as oil palm. Understanding landscape level constraints to this crop, and transferring

Synergies for improving oil palm production and forest conservation in floodplain landscapes.

PubMed

Abram, Nicola K; Xofis, Panteleimon; Tzanopoulos, Joseph; MacMillan, Douglas C; Ancrenaz, Marc; Chung, Robin; Peter, Lucy; Ong, Robert; Lackman, Isabelle; Goossens, Benoit; Ambu, Laurentius; Knight, Andrew T

2014-01-01

Lowland tropical forests are increasingly threatened with conversion to oil palm as global demand and high profit drives crop expansion throughout the world's tropical regions. Yet, landscapes are not homogeneous and regional constraints dictate land suitability for this crop. We conducted a regional study to investigate spatial and economic components of forest conversion to oil palm within a tropical floodplain in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The Kinabatangan ecosystem harbours significant biodiversity with globally threatened species but has suffered forest loss and fragmentation. We mapped the oil palm and forested landscapes (using object-based-image analysis, classification and regression tree analysis and on-screen digitising of high-resolution imagery) and undertook economic modelling. Within the study region (520,269 ha), 250,617 ha is cultivated with oil palm with 77% having high Net-Present-Value (NPV) estimates ($413/ha-yr-$637/ha-yr); but 20.5% is under-producing. In fact 6.3% (15,810 ha) of oil palm is commercially redundant (with negative NPV of $-299/ha-yr-$-65/ha-yr) due to palm mortality from flood inundation. These areas would have been important riparian or flooded forest types. Moreover, 30,173 ha of unprotected forest remain and despite its value for connectivity and biodiversity 64% is allocated for future oil palm. However, we estimate that at minimum 54% of these forests are unsuitable for this crop due to inundation events. If conversion to oil palm occurs, we predict a further 16,207 ha will become commercially redundant. This means that over 32,000 ha of forest within the floodplain would have been converted for little or no financial gain yet with significant cost to the ecosystem. Our findings have globally relevant implications for similar floodplain landscapes undergoing forest transformation to agriculture such as oil palm. Understanding landscape level constraints to this crop, and transferring these into policy

Microcalli Induction in Protoplasts Isolated from Embryogenic Callus of Date Palm.

PubMed

Titouh, Khayreddine; Boufis, Nazim; Khelifi, Lakhdar

2017-01-01

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) production is severely hampered due to several pests and diseases. Biotechnological tools such as protoplast fusion appear as an alternative to ensure rapid genetic improvement and multiplication of this species. However, establishment of an effective system of plant regeneration from protoplasts culture is a prerequisite for date palm somatic hybridization. In this chapter, we describe an effective protocol to induce microcalli in protoplasts isolated from nodular callus of important Algerian date palm cultivars. In this protocol, the main factors influencing the isolation (i.e., enzymatic solution, mannitol concentration, duration, and mode of maceration) of protoplasts from the calli of Algerian date palm cultivars were optimized. Purified protoplasts were cultured on a semisolid medium supplemented with a hormonal balance of auxin and cytokinin to obtain microcalli formation.

76 FR 77383 - Amendment of Class C Airspace; Palm Beach International Airport, FL

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-13

...-0527; Airspace Docket No. 11-AWA-2] Amendment of Class C Airspace; Palm Beach International Airport, FL... action modifies the Palm Beach International Airport, FL, Class C airspace area by raising the floor of Class C airspace over Palm Beach County Park Airport. The FAA is taking this action to enhance safety...

Molecular performance of commercial MTG variety oil palm based on RAPD markers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putri, L. A. P.; Setyo, I. E.; Basyuni, M.; Bayu, E. S.; Setiado, H.; Reynaldi, N. F.; Laia, H.; Puteri, S. A. K.; Arifiyanto, D.; Syahputra, I.

2018-02-01

The oil palm, an economically important tree in Indonesia, has been one of the world’s major sources of edible oil and a significant precursor of biodiesel fuel. This research is conducted by taking individual tree sample of commercial MTG variety germplasm oil palm one years old. The purpose of this research is to analyse molecular performance of some oil palm MTG variety based on RAPD markers. In this experiment, the DNA profile diversity was assessed using markers of oil palm’s random RAPD markers (OPD-20, SB-19, OPM-01 and OPO-11). A total of 15 trees commercial MTG oil palm variety were used for analysis. The results of the experiment indicated out of 4 RAPD markers (OPD-20, SB-19, OPM-01 and OPO-11) showed polymorphic of PCR product. These preliminary results demonstrated RAPD marker can be used to evaluate genetic relatedness among trees of commercial MTG variety oil palm and detecting either genetic variants or mislabelled.

Experimental investigation of sound absorption properties of perforated date palm fibers panel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elwaleed, A. K.; Nikabdullah, N.; Nor, M. J. M.; Tahir, M. F. M.; Zulkifli, R.

2013-06-01

This paper presents the sound absorption properties of a natural waste of date palm fiber perforated panel. A single layer of the date palm fibers was tested in this study for its sound absorption properties. The experimental measurements were carried out using impedance tube at the acoustic lab, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The experiment was conducted for the panel without air gap, with air gap and with perforated plate facing. Three air gap thicknesses of 10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm were used between the date palm fiber sample and the rigid backing of the impedance tube. The results showed that when facing the palm date fiber sample with perforated plate the sound absorption coefficient improved at the higher and lower frequency ranges. This increase in sound absorption coincided with reduction in medium frequency absorption. However, this could be improved by using different densities or perforated plate with the date palm fiber panel.

Image Segmentation of Historical Handwriting from Palm Leaf Manuscripts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Surinta, Olarik; Chamchong, Rapeeporn

Palm leaf manuscripts were one of the earliest forms of written media and were used in Southeast Asia to store early written knowledge about subjects such as medicine, Buddhist doctrine and astrology. Therefore, historical handwritten palm leaf manuscripts are important for people who like to learn about historical documents, because we can learn more experience from them. This paper presents an image segmentation of historical handwriting from palm leaf manuscripts. The process is composed of three steps: 1) background elimination to separate text and background by Otsu's algorithm 2) line segmentation and 3) character segmentation by histogram of image. The end result is the character's image. The results from this research may be applied to optical character recognition (OCR) in the future.

Intelligent Color Vision System for Ripeness Classification of Oil Palm Fresh Fruit Bunch

PubMed Central

Fadilah, Norasyikin; Mohamad-Saleh, Junita; Halim, Zaini Abdul; Ibrahim, Haidi; Ali, Syed Salim Syed

2012-01-01

Ripeness classification of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) during harvesting is important to ensure that they are harvested during optimum stage for maximum oil production. This paper presents the application of color vision for automated ripeness classification of oil palm FFB. Images of oil palm FFBs of type DxP Yangambi were collected and analyzed using digital image processing techniques. Then the color features were extracted from those images and used as the inputs for Artificial Neural Network (ANN) learning. The performance of the ANN for ripeness classification of oil palm FFB was investigated using two methods: training ANN with full features and training ANN with reduced features based on the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) data reduction technique. Results showed that compared with using full features in ANN, using the ANN trained with reduced features can improve the classification accuracy by 1.66% and is more effective in developing an automated ripeness classifier for oil palm FFB. The developed ripeness classifier can act as a sensor in determining the correct oil palm FFB ripeness category. PMID:23202043

Intelligent color vision system for ripeness classification of oil palm fresh fruit bunch.

PubMed

Fadilah, Norasyikin; Mohamad-Saleh, Junita; Abdul Halim, Zaini; Ibrahim, Haidi; Syed Ali, Syed Salim

2012-10-22

Ripeness classification of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) during harvesting is important to ensure that they are harvested during optimum stage for maximum oil production. This paper presents the application of color vision for automated ripeness classification of oil palm FFB. Images of oil palm FFBs of type DxP Yangambi were collected and analyzed using digital image processing techniques. Then the color features were extracted from those images and used as the inputs for Artificial Neural Network (ANN) learning. The performance of the ANN for ripeness classification of oil palm FFB was investigated using two methods: training ANN with full features and training ANN with reduced features based on the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) data reduction technique. Results showed that compared with using full features in ANN, using the ANN trained with reduced features can improve the classification accuracy by 1.66% and is more effective in developing an automated ripeness classifier for oil palm FFB. The developed ripeness classifier can act as a sensor in determining the correct oil palm FFB ripeness category.

A review of the palm genus Acrocomia: Neotropical green gold

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The genus Acrocomia, popularly known as macaw palm or macaúba, occurs in savanna areas and open forests of tropical America, with distribution from Central to southern South America. They are important oleaginous palm trees, due to their role in ecosystems, local economies, and their potential for b...

Mixed Integer Linear Programming model for Crude Palm Oil Supply Chain Planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sembiring, Pasukat; Mawengkang, Herman; Sadyadharma, Hendaru; Bu'ulolo, F.; Fajriana

2018-01-01

The production process of crude palm oil (CPO) can be defined as the milling process of raw materials, called fresh fruit bunch (FFB) into end products palm oil. The process usually through a series of steps producing and consuming intermediate products. The CPO milling industry considered in this paper does not have oil palm plantation, therefore the FFB are supplied by several public oil palm plantations. Due to the limited availability of FFB, then it is necessary to choose from which plantations would be appropriate. This paper proposes a mixed integer linear programming model the supply chain integrated problem, which include waste processing. The mathematical programming model is solved using neighborhood search approach.

Modeling and simulation of an enzymatic reactor for hydrolysis of palm oil.

PubMed

Bhatia, S; Naidu, A D; Kamaruddin, A H

1999-01-01

Hydrolysis of palm oil has become an important process in Oleochemical industries. Therefore, an investigation was carried out for hydrolysis of palm oil to fatty acid and glycerol using immobilized lipase in packed bed reactor. The conversion vs. residence time data were used in Michaelis-Menten rate equation to evaluate the kinetic parameters. A mathematical model for the rate of palm oil hydrolysis was proposed incorporating role of external mass transfer and pore diffusion. The model was simulated for steady-state isothermal operation of immobilized lipase packed bed reactor. The experimental data were compared with the simulated results. External mass transfer was found to affect the rate of palm oil hydrolysis at higher residence time.

Oil Palm expansion over Southeast Asia: land use change and air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silva, S. J.; Heald, C. L.; Geddes, J.; Marlier, M. E.; Austin, K.; Kasibhatla, P. S.

2015-12-01

Over recent decades oil palm plantations have rapidly expanded across Southeast Asia (SEA). Much of this expansion has come at the expense of natural forests and grasslands. Aircraft measurements from a 2008 campaign, OP3, found that oil palm plantations emit as much as 7 times more isoprene than nearby natural forests. Furthermore, SEA is a rapidly developing region, with increasing urban population, and growing air quality concerns. Thus, SEA represents an ideal case study to examine the impacts of land use change on air quality in the region, and whether those changes can be detected from satellite observations of atmospheric composition. We investigate the impacts of historical and future oil palm expansion in SEA using satellite data, high-resolution land maps, and the chemical transport model GEOS-Chem. We examine the impact of palm plantations on surface-atmosphere processes (dry deposition, biogenic emissions). We show the sensitivity of air quality to current and future oil palm expansion scenarios, and discuss the limitations of current satellite measurements in capturing these changes. Our results indicate that while the impact of oil palm expansion on air quality can be significant, the retrieval error and sensitivity of the satellite measurements limit our ability to observe these impacts from space.

The Posture of Putting One's Palms Together Modulates Visual Motion Event Perception.

PubMed

Saito, Godai; Gyoba, Jiro

2018-02-01

We investigated the effect of an observer's hand postures on visual motion perception using the stream/bounce display. When two identical visual objects move across collinear horizontal trajectories toward each other in a two-dimensional display, observers perceive them as either streaming or bouncing. In our previous study, we found that when observers put their palms together just below the coincidence point of the two objects, the percentage of bouncing responses increased, mainly depending on the proprioceptive information from their own hands. However, it remains unclear if the tactile or haptic (force) information produced by the postures mostly influences the stream/bounce perception. We solved this problem by changing the tactile and haptic information on the palms of the hands. Experiment 1 showed that the promotion of bouncing perception was observed only when the posture of directly putting one's palms together was used, while there was no effect when a brick was sandwiched between the participant's palms. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the strength of force used when putting the palms together had no effect on increasing bounce perception. Our findings indicate that the hands-induced bounce effect derives from the tactile information produced by the direct contact between both palms.

The Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequence of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

PubMed Central

Yang, Meng; Zhang, Xiaowei; Liu, Guiming; Yin, Yuxin; Chen, Kaifu; Yun, Quanzheng; Zhao, Duojun; Al-Mssallem, Ibrahim S.; Yu, Jun

2010-01-01

Background Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), a member of Arecaceae family, is one of the three major economically important woody palms—the two other palms being oil palm and coconut tree—and its fruit is a staple food among Middle East and North African nations, as well as many other tropical and subtropical regions. Here we report a complete sequence of the data palm chloroplast (cp) genome based on pyrosequencing. Methodology/Principal Findings After extracting 369,022 cp sequencing reads from our whole-genome-shotgun data, we put together an assembly and validated it with intensive PCR-based verification, coupled with PCR product sequencing. The date palm cp genome is 158,462 bp in length and has a typical quadripartite structure of the large (LSC, 86,198 bp) and small single-copy (SSC, 17,712 bp) regions separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IRs, 27,276 bp). Similar to what has been found among most angiosperms, the date palm cp genome harbors 112 unique genes and 19 duplicated fragments in the IR regions. The junctions between LSC/IRs and SSC/IRs show different features of sequence expansion in evolution. We identified 78 SNPs as major intravarietal polymorphisms within the population of a specific cp genome, most of which were located in genes with vital functions. Based on RNA-sequencing data, we also found 18 polycistronic transcription units and three highly expression-biased genes—atpF, trnA-UGC, and rrn23. Conclusions Unlike most monocots, date palm has a typical cp genome similar to that of tobacco—with little rearrangement and gene loss or gain. High-throughput sequencing technology facilitates the identification of intravarietal variations in cp genomes among different cultivars. Moreover, transcriptomic analysis of cp genes provides clues for uncovering regulatory mechanisms of transcription and translation in chloroplasts. PMID:20856810

Systematic review of palm oil consumption and the risk of cardiovascular disease

PubMed Central

Ali, Azizan

2018-01-01

Background The high amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA) coupled with the rising availability and consumption of palm oil have lead to the assumption that palm oil contributes to the increased prevalence of cardiovascular diseases worldwide. We aimed at systematically synthesising the association of palm oil consumption with cardiovascular disease risk and cardiovascular disease-specific mortality. Methods We systematically searched Central, Medline and Embase databases up to June 2017 without restriction on setting or language. We performed separate searches based on the outcomes: coronary heart disease and stroke, using keywords related to these outcomes and palm oil. We searched for published interventional and observational studies in adults (Age: >18 years old). Two investigators extracted data and a consensus was reached with involvement of a third. Only narrative synthesis was performed for all of the studies, as the data could not be pooled. Results Our search retrieved 2,738 citations for stroke with one included study and 1,777 citations for coronary heart disease (CHD) with four included studies. Palmitic acid was reported to be associated with risk of myocardial infarction (MI) (OR 2.76; 95%CI = 1.39–5.47). Total SFA intake was reported to be not significant for risk of MI. Varying intake of fried foods, highest contributor to total SFA with 36% of households using palm oil for frying, showed no significant associations to risk of MI. Odds of developing first non-fatal acute MI was higher in palm oil compared to soybean oil with 5% trans-fat (OR = 1.33; 95%CI = 1.09–1.62) than palm oil compared to soybean oil with 22% trans-fat (OR = 1.16; 95%CI = 0.86–1.56). Nevertheless, these risk estimates were non-significant and imprecise. The trend amongst those taking staple pattern diet (characterised by higher palm oil, red meat and added sugar consumption) was inconsistent across the factor score quintiles. During the years of 1980 and 1997, for every

Systematic review of palm oil consumption and the risk of cardiovascular disease.

PubMed

Ismail, Sophia Rasheeqa; Maarof, Siti Khuzaimah; Siedar Ali, Syazwani; Ali, Azizan

2018-01-01

The high amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA) coupled with the rising availability and consumption of palm oil have lead to the assumption that palm oil contributes to the increased prevalence of cardiovascular diseases worldwide. We aimed at systematically synthesising the association of palm oil consumption with cardiovascular disease risk and cardiovascular disease-specific mortality. We systematically searched Central, Medline and Embase databases up to June 2017 without restriction on setting or language. We performed separate searches based on the outcomes: coronary heart disease and stroke, using keywords related to these outcomes and palm oil. We searched for published interventional and observational studies in adults (Age: >18 years old). Two investigators extracted data and a consensus was reached with involvement of a third. Only narrative synthesis was performed for all of the studies, as the data could not be pooled. Our search retrieved 2,738 citations for stroke with one included study and 1,777 citations for coronary heart disease (CHD) with four included studies. Palmitic acid was reported to be associated with risk of myocardial infarction (MI) (OR 2.76; 95%CI = 1.39-5.47). Total SFA intake was reported to be not significant for risk of MI. Varying intake of fried foods, highest contributor to total SFA with 36% of households using palm oil for frying, showed no significant associations to risk of MI. Odds of developing first non-fatal acute MI was higher in palm oil compared to soybean oil with 5% trans-fat (OR = 1.33; 95%CI = 1.09-1.62) than palm oil compared to soybean oil with 22% trans-fat (OR = 1.16; 95%CI = 0.86-1.56). Nevertheless, these risk estimates were non-significant and imprecise. The trend amongst those taking staple pattern diet (characterised by higher palm oil, red meat and added sugar consumption) was inconsistent across the factor score quintiles. During the years of 1980 and 1997, for every additional kilogram of palm oil

Nira acidity and antioxidant activity of Palm sugar in Sumowono Village

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winarni, Sri; Arifan, Fahmi; Wisnu Broto, RTD.; Fuadi, Ariza; Alviche, Lola

2018-05-01

The palm sugar not only has potential as natural sweetener but also has antioxidant. The purpose of this study was to analyze antioxidant and pH of the nira in palm sugar. The sample in this study was palm sugar from 6 different production sites. Test of antioxidant activity used DPPH method (1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) with a wavelength of 517 nm. The value of absorbance solution was measured using spectrophotometry and the value of effective concentration (IC50) was counted. The pH test was measured using a pH meter. Pearson’s correlation test revealed r=-0.045 with significant value 0.932 (>0.005). There was no correlation between pH value and antioxidant activity of palm sugar. IC50 value of palm sugar in Sumowono village revealed that it had a strong antioxidant activity (50 μg/ml - 100 μg/ml) that is 74,73 μg/ml 83.94 μg/ml 82.31 μg/ml 83.94 μg/ml 86.10 μg/ml 82.13 μg/ml 89.17 μg/ml 89.71 μg/ml 89.17 μg/ml and 84.84 μg/ml). Lower IC50 values indicate higher antioxidant activity. Palm sugar with the best antioxidant activity came from the production sites which had IC50 values of 74.73 μg/ml. Potential antioxidants can be optimized by making improvements to the processing system.

CRISPR/Cas9: A Practical Approach in Date Palm Genome Editing.

PubMed

Sattar, Muhammad N; Iqbal, Zafar; Tahir, Muhammad N; Shahid, Muhammad S; Khurshid, Muhammad; Al-Khateeb, Abdullatif A; Al-Khateeb, Suliman A

2017-01-01

The genetic modifications through breeding of crop plants have long been used to improve the yield and quality. However, precise genome editing (GE) could be a very useful supplementary tool for improvement of crop plants by targeted genome modifications. Various GE techniques including ZFNs (zinc finger nucleases), TALENs (transcription activator-like effector nucleases), and most recently clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9)-based approaches have been successfully employed for various crop plants including fruit trees. CRISPR/Cas9-based approaches hold great potential in GE due to their simplicity, competency, and versatility over other GE techniques. However, to the best of our knowledge no such genetic improvement has ever been developed in date palm-an important fruit crop in Oasis agriculture. The applications of CRISPR/Cas9 can be a challenging task in date palm GE due to its large and complex genome, high rate of heterozygosity and outcrossing, in vitro regeneration and screening of mutants, high frequency of single-nucleotide polymorphism in the genome and ultimately genetic instability. In this review, we addressed the potential application of CRISPR/Cas9-based approaches in date palm GE to improve the sustainable date palm production. The availability of the date palm whole genome sequence has made it feasible to use CRISPR/Cas9 GE approach for genetic improvement in this species. Moreover, the future prospects of GE application in date palm are also addressed in this review.

PALM-3000: EXOPLANET ADAPTIVE OPTICS FOR THE 5 m HALE TELESCOPE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dekany, Richard; Bouchez, Antonin; Baranec, Christoph

2013-10-20

We describe and report first results from PALM-3000, the second-generation astronomical adaptive optics (AO) facility for the 5.1 m Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory. PALM-3000 has been engineered for high-contrast imaging and emission spectroscopy of brown dwarfs and large planetary mass bodies at near-infrared wavelengths around bright stars, but also supports general natural guide star use to V ≈ 17. Using its unique 66 × 66 actuator deformable mirror, PALM-3000 has thus far demonstrated residual wavefront errors of 141 nm rms under ∼1'' seeing conditions. PALM-3000 can provide phase conjugation correction over a 6.''4 × 6.''4 working region at λmore » = 2.2 μm, or full electric field (amplitude and phase) correction over approximately one-half of this field. With optimized back-end instrumentation, PALM-3000 is designed to enable 10{sup –7} contrast at 1'' angular separation, including post-observation speckle suppression processing. While continued optimization of the AO system is ongoing, we have already successfully commissioned five back-end instruments and begun a major exoplanet characterization survey, Project 1640.« less

Estimating the age of oil palm trees using remote sensing technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitrianto, A. C.; Darmawan, A.; Tokimatsu, K.; Sufwandika, M.

2018-04-01

One of renewable energy that can be converted into electricity is biomass. Biomass energy or bio energy is the largest source of domestic renewable energy in Indonesia. Since palm oil development is rapidly increasing, Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) and Mesocarp Fiber (MF) are becoming the highest contributor of oil palm waste. Understanding biomass waste potential is very important for further utilization. Remote sensing technique can be used to detect oil palm trees age based on the canopy density and to estimate the amount of EFB in further analysis. In this research, the percentage of canopy density of oil palm trees/stands depends on their ages and the age is divided into four classes; seeds (<3 years old; <10%), young (3-8 years old; 10-40 %), teenage (9-14 years old; 41-80 %), and mature (15-25 years old; >80 %).

Oil palm and the emission of greenhouse gasses- from field measurements in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Niharika; Bruun, Thilde Bech; Giller, Ken E.; Magid, Jakob; van de Ven, Gerrie; de Neergaard, Andreas

2017-04-01

Palm oil from the oil palm (Elaeis guianensis) has in recent years become the world's most important vegetable oil. The increasing demand for palm oil has led to expansion of oil palm plantations, which has caused environmental controversies associated with carbon losses and the use of large amounts of mineral fertilizers. Efforts to increase sustainability of oil palm cultivation, include recycling of oil-mill residues and pruning's, but with this comes increased potential for methane emission from the plantations. Until now no field-based data on greenhouse gas emissions from oil palm plantations have been reported. Here for the first time we present data from a long term (360 days) field trial in Bah Lias Research Station, North Sumatra, Indonesia on greenhouse gas emissions from an oil palm plantation with various treatments of recycled oil palm waste products, fertilizers and simulated rainfall. The first experiment was conducted over a full year (dry + wet season) with mineral fertilizer treatments including urea and ammonium sulphate, and organic fertilizer treatments constituting: empty fruit bunches (EFB), enriched mulch (EFB + palm oil mill effluent (POME) ) and pruned oil palm fronds (OPF). Treatment doses represent the current management in Indonesian plantations and the higher doses that are expected in the imminent future. For the organic treatments several methods of application (applied in inter-rows, piles, patches or bands) were evaluated. The second experiment investigated effects of soil water saturation on GHG emissions through adding 25 mm simulated rainfall per day for 21 days. Each palm tree received 1 kg of N fertilizer as urea or ammonium sulphate and enriched mulch. The gas fluxes in the fields was measured by a large static-chamber (1.8 m x 1.2 m) method and CH4 and N2O concentrations were determined using gas chromatographs. We found that emissions were significantly affected by the type and dose of mineral fertilizers. Application of

Inhibition of palm oil oxidation by zeolite nanocrystals.

PubMed

Tan, Kok-Hou; Awala, Hussein; Mukti, Rino R; Wong, Ka-Lun; Rigaud, Baptiste; Ling, Tau Chuan; Aleksandrov, Hristiyan A; Koleva, Iskra Z; Vayssilov, Georgi N; Mintova, Svetlana; Ng, Eng-Poh

2015-05-13

The efficiency of zeolite X nanocrystals (FAU-type framework structure) containing different extra-framework cations (Li(+), Na(+), K(+), and Ca(2+)) in slowing the thermal oxidation of palm oil is reported. The oxidation study of palm oil is conducted in the presence of zeolite nanocrystals (0.5 wt %) at 150 °C. Several characterization techniques such as visual analysis, colorimetry, rheometry, total acid number (TAN), FT-IR spectroscopy, (1)H NMR spectroscopy, and Karl Fischer analyses are applied to follow the oxidative evolution of the oil. It was found that zeolite nanocrystals decelerate the oxidation of palm oil through stabilization of hydroperoxides, which are the primary oxidation product, and concurrently via adsorption of the secondary oxidation products (alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, and esters). In addition to the experimental results, periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed to elucidate further the oxidation process of the palm oil in the presence of zeolite nanocrystals. The DFT calculations show that the metal complexes formed with peroxides are more stable than the complexes with alkenes with the same ions. The peroxides captured in the zeolite X nanocrystals consequently decelerate further oxidation toward formation of acids. Unlike the monovalent alkali metal cations in the zeolite X nanocrystals (K(+), Na(+), and Li(+)), Ca(2+) reduced the acidity of the oil by neutralizing the acidic carboxylate compounds to COO(-)(Ca(2+))1/2 species.

Dynamics of Polymorphic Transformations in Palm Oil, Palm Stearin and Palm Kernel Oil Characterized by Coupled Powder XRD-DSC.

PubMed

Zaliha, Omar; Elina, Hishamuddin; Sivaruby, Kanagaratnam; Norizzah, Abd Rashid; Marangoni, Alejandro G

2018-06-01

The in situ polymorphic forms and thermal transitions of refined, bleached and deodorized palm oil (RBDPO), palm stearin (RBDPS) and palm kernel oil (RBDPKO) were investigated using coupled X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Results indicated that the DSC onset crystallisation temperature of RBDPO was at 22.6°C, with a single reflection at 4.2Å started to appear from 23.4 to 17.1°C, and were followed by two prominent exothermic peaks at 20.1°C and 8.5°C respectively. Further cooling to -40°C leads to the further formation of a β'polymorph. Upon heating, a of β'→βtransformation was observed between 32.1 to 40.8°C, before the sample was completely melted at 43.0°C. The crystallization onset temperature of RBDPS was 44.1°C, with the appearance of the α polymorph at the same temperature as the appearance of the first sharp DSC exothermic peak. This quickly changed from α→β´ in the range 25 to 21.7°C, along with the formation of a small β peak at -40°C. Upon heating, a small XRD peak for the β polymorph was observed between 32.2 to 36.0°C, becoming a mixture of (β´+ β) between 44.0 to 52.5°C. Only the β polymorph survived further heating to 59.8°C. For RBDPKO, the crystallization onset temperature was 11.6°C, with the formation of a single sharp exothermic peak at 6.5°C corresponding to the β' polymorphic form until the temperature reached -40°C. No transformation of the polymorphic form was observed during the melting process of RBDPKO, before being completely melted at 33.2°C. This work has demonstrated the detailed dynamics of polymorphic transformations of PKO and PS, two commercially important hardstocks used widely by industry and will contribute to a greater understanding of their crystallization and melting dynamics.

Powered exoskeleton with palm degrees of freedom for hand rehabilitation.

PubMed

Richards, Daniel S; Georgilas, Ioannis; Dagnino, Giulio; Dogramadzi, Sanja

2015-08-01

Robotic rehabilitation is a currently underutilised field with the potential to allow huge cost savings within healthcare. Existing rehabilitation exoskeletons oversimplify the importance of movement of the hand while undertaking everyday tasks. Within this study, an investigation was undertaken to establish the extent to which the degrees of freedom within the palm affect ability to undertake everyday tasks. Using a 5DT data glove, bend sensing resistors and restrictors of palm movement, 20 participants were recruited to complete tasks that required various hand shapes. Collected data was processed and palm arching trends were identified for each grasping task. It was found that the extent of utilizing arches in the palm varied with each exercise, but was extensively employed throughout. An exoskeleton was subsequently designed with consideration of the identified palm shapes. This design included a number of key features that accommodated for a variety of hand sizes, a novel thumb joint and a series of dorsally mounted servos. Initial exoskeleton testing was undertaken by having a participant complete the same exercises while wearing the exoskeleton. The angles formed by the user during this process were then compared to those recorded by 2 other participants who had completed the same tasks without exoskeleton. It was found that the exoskeleton was capable of forming the required arches for completing the tasks, with differences between participants attributed to individual ergonomic differences.

Comparative study of palm print authentication system using geometric features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shreyas, Kamath K. M.; Rajeev, Srijith; Panetta, Karen; Agaian, Sos S.

2017-05-01

Biometrics, particularly palm print authentication has been a stimulating research area due to its abundance of features. Stable features and effective matching are the most crucial steps for an authentication system. In conventional palm print authentication systems, matching is based on flexion creases, friction ridges, and minutiae points. Currently, contactless palm print imaging is an emerging technology. However, they tend to involve fluctuations in the image quality and texture loss due to factors such as varying illumination conditions, occlusions, noise, pose, and ghosting. These variations decrease the performance of the authentication systems. Furthermore, real-time palm print authentication in large databases continue to be a challenging task. In order to effectively solve these problems, features which are invariant to these anomalies are required. This paper proposes a robust palm print matching framework by making a comparative study of different local geometric features such as Difference-of-Gaussian, Hessian, Hessian-Laplace, Harris-Laplace, and Multiscale Harris for feature detection. These detectors are coupled with Scale Invariant Feature Transformation (SIFT) descriptor to describe the identified features. Additionally, a two-stage refinement process is carried out to obtain the best stable matches. Computer simulations demonstrate that the accuracy of the system has increased effectively with an EER of 0.86% when Harris-Laplace detector is used on IITD database.

Effects of oil-palm plantations on diversity of tropical anurans.

PubMed

Faruk, Aisyah; Belabut, Daicus; Ahmad, Norhayati; Knell, Robert J; Garner, Trenton W J

2013-06-01

Agriculturally altered vegetation, especially oil-palm plantations, is rapidly increasing in Southeast Asia. Low species diversity is associated with this commodity, but data on anuran diversity in oil-palm plantations are lacking. We investigated how anuran biological diversity differs between forest and oil-palm plantation, and whether observed differences in biological diversity of these areas is linked to specific environmental factors. We hypothesized that biological diversity is lower in plantations and that plantations support a larger proportion of disturbance-tolerant species than forest. We compared species richness, abundance, and community composition between plantation and forest areas and between site types within plantation and forest (forest stream vs. plantation stream, forest riparian vs. plantation riparian, forest terrestrial vs. plantation terrestrial). Not all measures of biological diversity differed between oil-palm plantations and secondary forest sites. Anuran community composition, however, differed greatly between forest and plantation, and communities of anurans in plantations contained species that prosper in disturbed areas. Although plantations supported large numbers of breeding anurans, we concluded the community consisted of common species that were of little conservation concern (commonly found species include Fejervarya limnocharis, Microhyla heymonsi, and Hylarana erythrea). We believe that with a number of management interventions, oil-palm plantations can provide habitat for species that dwell in secondary forests. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Impact of savanna conversion to oil palm plantations on C stocks dynamics and soil fertility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quezada, Juan Carlos; Guillaume, Thomas; Buttler, Alexandre; Ruegg, Johanna

2017-04-01

Large-scale expansion of oil palm cultivation on forested land in South-East Asia during the last decades lead to high negative environmental impacts. Because rainforests store high amount of C, their conversion to oil palm plantations results in large net CO2 emissions. Oil palm cultivation in tropical ecosystems such as savanna that store less C than forests is seen as an alternative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of future oil palm development. While this option is more and more frequently mentioned, few data are available on the effective gain in C storage. Furthermore negative impact on soil organic carbon and soil fertility could offset gains of C storage in oil palm biomass. Here, we present results on aboveground and belowground C stocks and soil nutrient dynamics over a full rotation cycle of oil palm plantations established on tropical savanna grasslands. Three natural savanna grasslands as reference sites and 9 oil palm plantations ranging from two to twenty-seven years old were selected in the Llanos in Colombia. Oxisols were sampled down to 70 cm in each management zones of oil palm plantations (weeded circle, interrow, frond piles and harvesting path). Taking advantages of a shift from C4 to C3 vegetation, we quantified savanna-derived soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition and oil palm-derived SOC stabilization rates and how they were affected by management practices (mineral fertilization, organic amendments, etc.). Results show that, in opposite to forest conversion, C storage increases when savannas are converted to oil palm plantations. Because soil C storage was very low in natural conditions, SOC changes had little effects on overall C storage. Substitution of savanna-derived SOC by oil palm-derived SOC was very fast in the topsoil and highest under frond pile and weeded circle where C and nutrients inputs are highest. However, stabilization of oil palm-derived SOC compensated loss of savanna-derived SOC rather than increased SOC stocks

Touch displays: the effects of palm rejection technology on productivity, comfort, biomechanics and positioning.

PubMed

Camilleri, Matt J; Malige, Ajith; Fujimoto, Jeffrey; Rempel, David M

2013-01-01

Direct touch displays can improve the human-computer experience and productivity; however, the higher hand locations may increase shoulder fatigue. Palm rejection (PR) technology may reduce shoulder loads by allowing the palms to rest on the display and increase productivity by registering the touched content and fingertips through the palms rather than shoulders. The effects of PR were evaluated by having participants perform touch tasks while posture and reaction force on the display were measured. Enabling PR, during which the subjects could place the palms on the display (but were not required to), resulted in increased wrist extension, force applied to the display and productivity, and less discomfort, but had no effect on the self-selected positioning of the display. Participants did not deliberately place their palms on the display; therefore, there was no reduction in shoulder load and the increased productivity was not due to improved hand registration. The increased productivity may have been due to reduced interruptions from palm contacts or reduced motor control demands.

Identification of Proteins Modulated in the Date Palm Stem Infested with Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv.) Using Two Dimensional Differential Gel Electrophoresis and Mass Spectrometry

PubMed Central

Rasool, Khawaja Ghulam; Khan, Muhammad Altaf; Aldawood, Abdulrahman Saad; Tufail, Muhammad; Mukhtar, Muhammad; Takeda, Makio

2015-01-01

A state of the art proteomic methodology using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time of Flight (MALDI TOF) has been employed to characterize peptides modulated in the date palm stem subsequent to infestation with red palm weevil (RPW). Our analyses revealed 32 differentially expressed peptides associated with RPW infestation in date palm stem. To identify RPW infestation associated peptides (I), artificially wounded plants (W) were used as additional control beside uninfested plants, a conventional control (C). A constant unique pattern of differential expression in infested (I), wounded (W) stem samples compared to control (C) was observed. The upregulated proteins showed relative fold intensity in order of I > W and downregulated spots trend as W > I, a quite interesting pattern. This study also reveals that artificially wounding of date palm stem affects almost the same proteins as infestation; however, relative intensity is quite lower than in infested samples both in up and downregulated spots. All 32 differentially expressed spots were subjected to MALDI-TOF analysis for their identification and we were able to match 21 proteins in the already existing databases. Relatively significant modulated expression pattern of a number of peptides in infested plants predicts the possibility of developing a quick and reliable molecular methodology for detecting plants infested with date palm. PMID:26287180

Identification of Proteins Modulated in the Date Palm Stem Infested with Red Palm Weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus Oliv.) Using Two Dimensional Differential Gel Electrophoresis and Mass Spectrometry.

PubMed

Rasool, Khawaja Ghulam; Khan, Muhammad Altaf; Aldawood, Abdulrahman Saad; Tufail, Muhammad; Mukhtar, Muhammad; Takeda, Makio

2015-08-17

A state of the art proteomic methodology using Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time of Flight (MALDI TOF) has been employed to characterize peptides modulated in the date palm stem subsequent to infestation with red palm weevil (RPW). Our analyses revealed 32 differentially expressed peptides associated with RPW infestation in date palm stem. To identify RPW infestation associated peptides (I), artificially wounded plants (W) were used as additional control beside uninfested plants, a conventional control (C). A constant unique pattern of differential expression in infested (I), wounded (W) stem samples compared to control (C) was observed. The upregulated proteins showed relative fold intensity in order of I > W and downregulated spots trend as W > I, a quite interesting pattern. This study also reveals that artificially wounding of date palm stem affects almost the same proteins as infestation; however, relative intensity is quite lower than in infested samples both in up and downregulated spots. All 32 differentially expressed spots were subjected to MALDI-TOF analysis for their identification and we were able to match 21 proteins in the already existing databases. Relatively significant modulated expression pattern of a number of peptides in infested plants predicts the possibility of developing a quick and reliable molecular methodology for detecting plants infested with date palm.

77 FR 63722 - Special Local Regulations; Palm Beach World Championship, Atlantic Ocean; Jupiter, FL

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-17

...-AA08 Special Local Regulations; Palm Beach World Championship, Atlantic Ocean; Jupiter, FL AGENCY... offshore of Jupiter, Florida during the Palm Beach World Championship, a high speed power boat race. The Palm Beach World Championship is scheduled to take place on Friday, October 19, and Sunday, October 21...

Energy fluxes in oil palm plantations as affected by water storage in the trunk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meijide, Ana; Röll, Alexander; Fan, Yuanchao; Herbst, Mathias; Niu, Furong; Tiedemann, Frank; June, Tania; Rauf, Abdul; Hölscher, Dirk; Knohl, Alexander

2017-04-01

Oil palm is increasingly expanding, particularly in Indonesia, but information on water and energy fluxes in oil palm plantations is still very limited and on how those are affected by environmental conditions or oil palm age. Using the eddy covariance technique, we studied turbulent fluxes of sensible (H) and latent (LE) heat and gross primary production (GPP) for 8 months each in a young oil palm plantation (1-year old) and subsequently in a mature plantation (12-year old) in Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. We measured transpiration (T) simultaneously using a sap flux technique. The energy budget was dominated by LE in both plantations, particularly in the mature one, where it represented up to 70% of the available energy. In the young oil palm plantation, evapotranspiration (ET) was significantly reduced and H fluxes were higher. This affected the Bowen ratio, defined as the ratio of H and LE, which was higher in the 1-year old plantation (0.67±0.33), where it remained constant during the day, than in the mature plantation (0.14±0.09), where it varied considerably over the day, suggesting that water accumulated inside the canopy. Using the Community Land Model (CLM), a process based land surface model that has been adapted to oil palm functional traits (i.e. CLM-Palm), we investigated the contribution of different water sources to the measured fluxes. CLM-Palm differentiates leaf and stem surfaces in modelling water interception and is therefore able to diagnose the fraction of dry leaves that contribute to T and the wet fraction of all vegetation surfaces (leaf and stem) that contributes to evaporation. Results from our simulations strengthen our hypothesis of significant contribution of canopy evaporation to ET. As observed in the field, water accumulates inside the canopy in the mature plantation in oil palm trunk surfaces including epiphytes, creating water reservoirs in the trunk, which potentially contribute to ET when they evaporate. The decoupling

The effect of power intensity properties of microwave modified oil palm trunk lumber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izzati Ibrahim, Anis; Salim, Nurjannah; Roslan, Rasidi; Ashry Jusoh, Mohammad; Hashim, Rokiah

2018-04-01

In the decade, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) in Malaysia is one of the conventional sources that will be rising, and the rate of biomass will considerably increase in yet to come. Presently, oil palm biomass is going through research and development and appears to be the most sustainable alternative. Investigations on oil palm biomass have been conducted to support in draw out waste of oil palm and in the meantime can help economic yield to the country. This study was expected to estimate the effect of power intensity properties of microwave modified oil palm trunk lumber. Microwave treatment of oil palm trunk samples was set of connections by using a microwave operating at 2.45 GHz with the liberated process input power intensity (600-1000W) were studied under the given condition. Impact and compression of the samples were tested. The analysis of properties of the fresh material and dry samples was employed by scanning electron microscopy. Oven drying technique also was involved as a comparison of the conventional drying process in this research. Based on the outcomes of this study, both drying methods improved the characteristics of the specimens.

Combining PALM and SOFI for quantitative imaging of focal adhesions in living cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deschout, Hendrik; Lukes, Tomas; Sharipov, Azat; Feletti, Lely; Lasser, Theo; Radenovic, Aleksandra

2017-02-01

Focal adhesions are complicated assemblies of hundreds of proteins that allow cells to sense their extracellular matrix and adhere to it. Although most focal adhesion proteins have been identified, their spatial organization in living cells remains challenging to observe. Photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM) is an interesting technique for this purpose, especially since it allows estimation of molecular parameters such as the number of fluorophores. However, focal adhesions are dynamic entities, requiring a temporal resolution below one minute, which is difficult to achieve with PALM. In order to address this problem, we merged PALM with super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI) by applying both techniques to the same data. Since SOFI tolerates an overlap of single molecule images, it can improve the temporal resolution compared to PALM. Moreover, an adaptation called balanced SOFI (bSOFI) allows estimation of molecular parameters, such as the fluorophore density. We therefore performed simulations in order to assess PALM and SOFI for quantitative imaging of dynamic structures. We demonstrated the potential of our PALM-SOFI concept as a quantitative imaging framework by investigating moving focal adhesions in living cells.

Sympathicotomy for Palmar Hyperhidrosis: The Association between Intraoperative Palm Temperature Change and the Curative Effect

PubMed Central

Liu, Yanguo; Li, Hao; Zheng, Xia; Li, Xiao; Li, Jianfeng; Jiang, Guanchao

2015-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the association between intraoperative palm temperature change and the curative effect of sympathicotomy. Methods: 49 patients with palmar hyperhidrosis were treated with bilateral endoscopic sympathicotomy. Ipsilateral palm temperature was monitored before and at 3–5 min increments after the sympathetic trunk was transected. The maximum temperature elevation (Tmax) was calculated and used to evaluate the effect on postoperative cure rates. Results: Forty-nine patients underwent 98 sympathicotomies. There were 77 T4 sympathicotomies, 15 T4 + T5 sympathicotomies, and six T3 sympathicotomies due to pleural adhesions or neurovascular proximity. The Tmax was ≤1°C in 49 (50.0%), 1–1.5°C in 17 (17.3%), and >1.5°C in 32 (32.7%) palms. Ninety-two palms of 46 patients were followed with complete efficacy, and three patients were lost to follow up. Cure was achieved in 86 palms (93.4%). Of the 71 palms which underwent T4 sympathicotomy, cure was achieved in 67 palms (94.3%). In those palms which did not achieve cure, the Tmax was less than 1°C in each case, while in palms with a Tmax ≤1°C, 32 of 36 (88.9%) were cured. Conclusion: There is an association between intraoperative palmar temperature change and curative effect. However, palmar temperature change cannot be used to predict cure or guide surgical approach. PMID:26041256

Forecasting of palm oil price in Malaysia using linear and nonlinear methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nor, Abu Hassan Shaari Md; Sarmidi, Tamat; Hosseinidoust, Ehsan

2014-09-01

The first question that comes to the mind is: "How can we predict the palm oil price accurately?" This question is the authorities, policy makers and economist's question for a long period of time. The first reason is that in the recent years Malaysia showed a comparative advantage in palm oil production and has become top producer and exporter in the world. Secondly, palm oil price plays significant role in government budget and represents important source of income for Malaysia, which potentially can influence the magnitude of monetary policies and eventually have an impact on inflation. Thirdly, knowledge on the future trends would be helpful in the planning and decision making procedures and will generate precise fiscal and monetary policy. Daily data on palm oil prices along with the ARIMA models, neural networks and fuzzy logic systems are employed in this paper. Empirical findings indicate that the dynamic neural network of NARX and the hybrid system of ANFIS provide higher accuracy than the ARIMA and static neural network for forecasting the palm oil price in Malaysia.

A novel method for rotation invariant palm print image stitching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, Shishir Paramathma; Panetta, Karen; Agaian, Sos S.

2017-05-01

Although not as popular as fingerprint biometrics, palm prints have garnered interest in scientific community for the rich amount of distinctive information available on the palm. In this paper, a novel method for touchless palm print stitching to increase the effective area is presented. The method is not only rotation invariant but also able to robustly handle many distortions of touchless systems like illumination variations, pose variations etc. The proposed method also can handle partial palmprints, which have a high chance of occurrence in a scene of crime, by stitching them together to produce a much larger-to-full size palmprint for authentication purpose. Experiment results are shown for IIT-D palmprint database, from which pseudo partial palmprints were generated by cropping and randomly rotating them. Furthermore, the quality of stitching algorithm is determined by extensive computer simulations and visual analysis of the stitched image. Experimental results also show that the stitching significantly increases the area of palm image for feature point detection and hence provides a way to increase the accuracy and reliability of detection.

Bioreactor Steroid Production and Analysis of Date Palm Embryogenic Callus.

PubMed

El-Sharabasy, Sherif; El-Dawayati, Maiada

2017-01-01

Several compounds and families of compounds of date palm secondary metabolites have been investigated. The analysis of date palm tissue has shown the abundance of secondary metabolites including phytosterols, e.g., steroids, an important group of pharmaceutical compounds. Biotechnology offers the opportunity to utilize cells, tissues, and organs grown in vitro and manipulated to obtain desired compounds. This chapter presents a protocol for the production, determination, and identification of steroids in date palm callus tissue. The addition of 0.01 mg/L pyruvic acid as a precursor to MS liquid culture medium enhances steroid production. In addition, the chapter describes the sterol analytical techniques based on gas-liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Short term effects of palm-tocotrienol and palm-carotenes on vascular function and cardiovascular disease risk: A randomised controlled trial.

PubMed

Stonehouse, Welma; Brinkworth, Grant D; Thompson, Campbell H; Abeywardena, Mahinda Y

2016-11-01

In vitro, ex vivo and animal studies suggest palm-based tocotrienols and carotenes enhance vascular function, but limited data in humans exists. The aim was to examine the effects of palm-tocotrienols (TRF- 80) and palm-carotene (CC-60) supplementation on vascular function and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in adults at increased risk of impaired vascular function. Ninety men and women (18-70 yr, 20-45 kg/m 2 ) with type 2 diabetes, impaired fasting glucose and/or elevated waist circumference were randomised to consume either TRF-80 (420 mg/day tocotrienol + 132 mg/day tocopherol), CC-60 (21 mg/day carotenes) or placebo (palm olein) supplements for 8 weeks. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), other physiological and circulatory markers of vascular function, lipid profiles, glucose, insulin and inflammatory markers were assessed pre- and post-supplementation. Pairwise comparisons were performed using mixed effects longitudinal models (n = 87, n = 3 withdrew before study commencement). Plasma α- and β-carotene and α-, δ- and γ-tocotrienol concentrations increased in CC-60 and TRF-80 groups, respectively, compared to placebo (mean ± SE difference in total plasma carotene change between CC-60 and placebo: 1.5 ± 0.13 μg/ml, p < 0.0001; total plasma tocotrienol change between TRF-80 and placebo: 0.36 ± 0.05 μg/ml, p < 0.0001). Neither FMD (treatment x time effect for CC-60 vs. placebo, p = 0.71; TRF-80 vs. placebo, p = 0.80) nor any other vascular function and CVD outcomes were affected by treatments. CC-60 and TRF-80 supplementation increased bioavailability of palm-based carotenes and tocotrienols but had no effects, superior or detrimental, on vascular function or CVD risk factors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecular characterization of Syrian date palm cultivars using plasmid-like DNA markers.

PubMed

Haider, N; Nabulsi, I

2012-02-01

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the most important domesticated fruit trees in the Near East and North African countries. This tree has been, for several decades, in serious threat of being completely destroyed by the "Bayoud" disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis. In this study, 18 Syrian date palm cultivars and four male trees were analyzed according to the identity of mitochondrial plasmid-like DNAs. A PCR strategy that employs plasmid-like DNAs-specific primer pair was used. These primers amplify a product of either 373-bp or 265-bp that corresponds to the S-(Bayoud-susceptible) or the R-plasmid (Bayoud-resistant), respectively. Generated data revealed that only six cultivars ('Medjool', 'Ashrasi', 'Gish Rabi', 'Khineze', and yellow- and red-'Kabkab') have the S-plasmid, suggesting their susceptibility to the fusariosis, while the remaining 12 cultivars and the four male trees contain the R-plasmid, suggesting their resistance to the fusariosis. The PCR process applied here has been proved efficient for the rapid screening for the presence of the S and R DNAs in Syrian date palm. PCR markers developed in this study could be useful for the screening of date palm lines growing in the field. The availability of such diagnostic tool for plasmid characterization in date palm would also be of great importance in establishing propagation and breeding programs of date palm in Syria.

National Date Palm Germplasm Repository

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus & Dates (NCGRCD), located in Riverside, California USA, is a project of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The NCGRCD maintains a collection of germplasm of date palm (Phoneix dactylifera ...

Palm oil taxes and cardiovascular disease mortality in India: economic-epidemiologic model.

PubMed

Basu, Sanjay; Babiarz, Kim S; Ebrahim, Shah; Vellakkal, Sukumar; Stuckler, David; Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D

2013-10-22

To examine the potential effect of a tax on palm oil on hyperlipidemia and on mortality due to cardiovascular disease in India. Economic-epidemiologic model. A microsimulation model of mortality due to myocardial infarction and stroke among Indian populations was constructed, incorporating nationally representative data on systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, tobacco smoking, diabetes, and cardiovascular event history, and stratified by age, sex, and urban/rural residence. Household expenditure data were used to estimate the change in consumption of palm oil following changes in oil price and the potential substitution of alternative oils that might occur after imposition of a tax. A 20% excise tax on palm oil purchases was simulated over the period 2014-23. The model was used to project future mortality due to myocardial infarction and stroke, as well as the potential effect of a tax on food insecurity, accounting for the effect of increased food prices. A 20% tax on palm oil purchases would be expected to avert approximately 363,000 (95% confidence interval 247,000 to 479,000) deaths from myocardial infarctions and strokes over the period 2014-23 in India (1.3% reduction in cardiovascular deaths) if people do not substitute other oils for reduced palm oil consumption. Given estimates of substitution of palm oil with other oils following a 20% price increase for palm oil, the beneficial effects of increased polyunsaturated fat consumption would be expected to enhance the projected reduction in deaths to as much as 421,000 (256,000 to 586,000). The tax would be expected to benefit men more than women and urban populations more than rural populations, given differential consumption and cardiovascular risk. In a scenario incorporating the effect of taxation on overall food expenditures, the tax may increase food insecurity by <1%, resulting in 16,000 (95% confidence interval 12,000 to 22,000) deaths. Curtailing palm oil intake through taxation may modestly

Cell longevity and sustained primary growth in palm stems.

PubMed

Tomlinson, P Barry; Huggett, Brett A

2012-12-01

Longevity, or organismal life span, is determined largely by the period over which constituent cells can function metabolically. Plants, with modular organization (the ability continually to develop new organs and tissues) differ from animals, with unitary organization (a fixed body plan), and this difference is reflected in their respective life spans, potentially much longer in plants than animals. We draw attention to the observation that palm trees, as a group of monocotyledons without secondary growth comparable to that of lignophytes (plants with secondary growth from a bifacial cambium), retain by means of sustained primary growth living cells in their trunks throughout their organismal life span. Does this make palms the longest-lived trees because they can grow as individuals for several centuries? No conventional lignophyte retains living metabolically active differentiated cell types in its trunk for this length of time, even though the tree as a whole can exist for millennia. Does this contrast also imply that the long-lived cells in a palm trunk have exceptional properties, which allows this seeming immortality? We document the long-life of many tall palm species and their inherent long-lived stem cell properties, comparing such plants to conventional trees. We provide a summary of aspects of cell age and life span in animals and plants. Cell replacement is a feature of animal function, whereas conventional trees rely on active growth centers (meristems) to sustain organismal development. However, the long persistence of living cells in palm trunks is seen not as evidence for unique metabolic processes that sustain longevity, but is a consequence of unique constructional features. This conclusion suggests that the life span of plant cells is not necessarily genetically determined.

Ecosystem-based greenhouse budgets in oil palm plantations differ with plantation age

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meijide, Ana; Hassler, Evelyn; Corre, Marife D.; June, Tania; Veldkamp, Edzo; Knohl, Alexander

2016-04-01

Global increase in demand of palm oil is leading to the expansion of oil palm plantations, particularly in SE Asia. Oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia, together with those in Kalimantan, are responsible for half of the world's palm oil production. Available studies point to plantations being large carbon dioxide (CO2) sinks due to the high photosynthetic rates of oil palm as a result of high fertilizer inputs, especially in large-scale plantations. However, methane (CH4) uptake in the soil of oil palm plantations is reduced and soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions increased right after nitrogen (N) fertilization. Greenhouse gas (GHG) budgets at the ecosystem level are still missing, and the few available information was derived from mature plantations, pointing to a lack of knowledge on the changes of these GHG budgets with plantation age. With the aim of quantifying CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes during the non-productive and productive phases of oil palm cultivation, an eddy covariance (EC) tower was installed in a 2-year old (non-productive) oil palm plantation and was subsequently moved to a 12-year old (productive) plantation. Both sites were on Acrisol soils and were located in Jambi province, Sumatra. Chamber-based measurements of soil GHG fluxes were also carried out along the EC footprint. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE), based on EC measurement, showed that the non-productive plantation was a strong CO2 source (990 g C m-2 yr-1) whereas the productive plantation was a CO2 sink (-790 g C m-2 yr-1). For CH4 fluxes, both plantations showed similar soil CH4 uptake that led to a small carbon sink of (~1.3 g C m-2 yr-1). Soil N2O fluxes were high in the productive plantation (3.26 ± 1.73 kg N ha-1 yr-1), as measurements were carried out in a plantation with high fertilization rates. In the non-productive plantation, soil N2O fluxes were lower and were associated with fertilization events. Our results show that the global warming potential of a non-productive oil

Transfer factors for natural radioactivity into date palm pits.

PubMed

Shayeb, Mohammad Abu; Alharbi, Thamer; Baloch, Muzahir Ali; Rahman Alsamhan, Omar Abdul

2017-02-01

Palm pits are used in various human and animal feed products. In this study, the natural radioactivity levels from soil and date palm pits of 9 samples collected from major date palm farms in three different regions (Buraidah, Al-Zulfi and Al-Majmaah) of Saudi Arabia were determined by using the high purity germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometer. The mean activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th, 137 Cs and 40 K in soil samples were 12.8 ± 2.2, 10.2 ± 2.1, 0.28 ± 0.10 and 329 ± 87 Bg kg -1 , respectively. Similarly the mean activity concentrations of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K in date palm pits were 5.6 ± 1.2, 2.8 ± 0.4 and 181 ± 17 Bq kg -1 , respectively, whereas 137 Cs could not be detected. The geometric mean of TF values (geometric standard deviation in parentheses) of 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 40 K were 0.33 (2.1), 0.22 (1.8) and 0.51 (2.0), respectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sustainable management in crop monocultures: the impact of retaining forest on oil palm yield.

PubMed

Edwards, Felicity A; Edwards, David P; Sloan, Sean; Hamer, Keith C

2014-01-01

Tropical agriculture is expanding rapidly at the expense of forest, driving a global extinction crisis. How to create agricultural landscapes that minimise the clearance of forest and maximise sustainability is thus a key issue. One possibility is protecting natural forest within or adjacent to crop monocultures to harness important ecosystem services provided by biodiversity spill-over that may facilitate production. Yet this contrasts with the conflicting potential that the retention of forest exports dis-services, such as agricultural pests. We focus on oil palm and obtained yields from 499 plantation parcels spanning a total of ≈23,000 ha of oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We investigate the relationship between the extent and proximity of both contiguous and fragmented dipterocarp forest cover and oil palm yield, controlling for variation in oil palm age and for environmental heterogeneity by incorporating proximity to non-native forestry plantations, other oil palm plantations, and large rivers, elevation and soil type in our models. The extent of forest cover and proximity to dipterocarp forest were not significant predictors of oil palm yield. Similarly, proximity to large rivers and other oil palm plantations, as well as soil type had no significant effect. Instead, lower elevation and closer proximity to forestry plantations had significant positive impacts on oil palm yield. These findings suggest that if dipterocarp forests are exporting ecosystem service benefits or ecosystem dis-services, that the net effect on yield is neutral. There is thus no evidence to support arguments that forest should be retained within or adjacent to oil palm monocultures for the provision of ecosystem services that benefit yield. We urge for more nuanced assessments of the impacts of forest and biodiversity on yields in crop monocultures to better understand their role in sustainable agriculture.

Sustainable Management in Crop Monocultures: The Impact of Retaining Forest on Oil Palm Yield

PubMed Central

Edwards, Felicity A.; Edwards, David P.; Sloan, Sean; Hamer, Keith C.

2014-01-01

Tropical agriculture is expanding rapidly at the expense of forest, driving a global extinction crisis. How to create agricultural landscapes that minimise the clearance of forest and maximise sustainability is thus a key issue. One possibility is protecting natural forest within or adjacent to crop monocultures to harness important ecosystem services provided by biodiversity spill-over that may facilitate production. Yet this contrasts with the conflicting potential that the retention of forest exports dis-services, such as agricultural pests. We focus on oil palm and obtained yields from 499 plantation parcels spanning a total of ≈23,000 ha of oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We investigate the relationship between the extent and proximity of both contiguous and fragmented dipterocarp forest cover and oil palm yield, controlling for variation in oil palm age and for environmental heterogeneity by incorporating proximity to non-native forestry plantations, other oil palm plantations, and large rivers, elevation and soil type in our models. The extent of forest cover and proximity to dipterocarp forest were not significant predictors of oil palm yield. Similarly, proximity to large rivers and other oil palm plantations, as well as soil type had no significant effect. Instead, lower elevation and closer proximity to forestry plantations had significant positive impacts on oil palm yield. These findings suggest that if dipterocarp forests are exporting ecosystem service benefits or ecosystem dis-services, that the net effect on yield is neutral. There is thus no evidence to support arguments that forest should be retained within or adjacent to oil palm monocultures for the provision of ecosystem services that benefit yield. We urge for more nuanced assessments of the impacts of forest and biodiversity on yields in crop monocultures to better understand their role in sustainable agriculture. PMID:24638038

The use of date palm as a potential adsorbent for wastewater treatment: a review.

PubMed

Ahmad, Tanweer; Danish, Mohammad; Rafatullah, Mohammad; Ghazali, Arniza; Sulaiman, Othman; Hashim, Rokiah; Ibrahim, Mohamad Nasir Mohamad

2012-06-01

In tropical countries, the palm tree is one of the most abundant and important trees. Date palm is a principal fruit grown in many regions of the world. It is abundant, locally available and effective material that could be used as an adsorbent for the removal of different pollutants from aqueous solution. This article presents a review on the role of date palm as adsorbents in the removal of unwanted materials such as acid and basic dyes, heavy metals, and phenolic compounds. Many studies on adsorption properties of various low cost adsorbent, such as agricultural waste and activated carbons based on agricultural waste have been reported in recent years. Studies have shown that date palm-based adsorbents are the most promising adsorbents for removing unwanted materials. No previous review is available where researchers can get an overview of the adsorption capacities of date palm-based adsorbent used for the adsorption of different pollutants. This review provides the recent literature demonstrating the usefulness of date palm biomass-based adsorbents in the adsorption of various pollutants.

Responses of tropical fruit bats to monoculture and polyculture farming in oil palm smallholdings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syafiq, Muhamad; Nur Atiqah, Abd Rahman; Ghazali, Amal; Asmah, Siti; Yahya, Muhammad S.; Aziz, Najjib; Puan, Chong Leong; Azhar, Badrul

2016-07-01

The oil palm industry is one of the main economic drivers in Southeast Asia. The industry has caused tropical deforestation on a massive scale in producing countries, and this forest conversion to oil palm agriculture has decimated the habitat of numerous native species. Monoculture and polyculture practices are two distinctive oil palm production systems. We hypothesize that polyculture farming hosts a greater diversity of species than monoculture farming. Habitat complexity in smallholdings is influenced by multiple farming practices (i.e. polyculture and monoculture). However, little is known about the effects of such farming practices in smallholdings on mammalian biodiversity, and particularly frugivorous bats. Our study aimed to find the best farming practice to reconcile oil palm production with biodiversity conservation. Mist-nets were used to trap frugivorous bats at 120 smallholdings in Peninsular Malaysia. We compared species richness and the abundance of frugivorous bats between monoculture and polyculture smallholdings. We investigated their relationships with vegetation structure characteristics. Our results revealed that species richness and abundance of frugivorous bats were significantly greater in polyculture smallholdings than monoculture smallholdings. We also found that 28.21% of the variation in species richness was explained by in situ habitat characteristics, including the number of dead standing oil palms and immature oil palms, non-grass cover, height of non-grass cover, and farming practices. The in situ habitat quality was closely associated with oil palm farming management. Commercial growers should implement polyculture rather than monoculture farming because polyculture farming has positive effects on the abundance and species richness of bats in oil palm production landscapes.

Study of oil palm root architecture with variation of crop stage and soil type vulnerable to drought

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safitri, Lisma; Suryanti, Sri; Kautsar, Valensi; Kurniawan, Agung; Santiabudi, Fajar

2018-03-01

Root arhitecture is affected by watertable level, characteristic of soil, organic matter and also the crop stages. Root architecture spread horizontally and vertically which each consist of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary downward root. The oil palm root observation with variation of crop stage and soil type showed that the root of oil palm plant year 2008 on spodosols soil spread along 650 cm horizontally from the trunk and penetrate downward in range of 9-28 cm vertically. Planted in the same type of soil, the root of oil palm plant year 2004 spread along 650 cm horizontally and reached to downward in a larger range from 3 to 57 cm vertically. As a comparison, the root architecture of oil palm on inceptisols soil established the range much greater vertically than the previous. The root of oil palm plant year 2008 spread along 640 cm horizontally and penetrate downward in range of 52-90 cm vertically. With the variation of crop age, the root of oil palm plant year 2003 spread along 650 cm horizontally and reached to downward in a larger range from 150 to 200 cm vertically. Based on this study, root architecture of oil palm was varied and need to be detailed. The precise root architecture of oil palm allows a better understanding on hydrological properties of oil palm root particularly which is cultivated on soil type vulnerable to drought. Referring to this root architecture, it was enable to develop the study on early drought detection of oil palm to optimise production and towards oil palm sustainability.

The late Quaternary decline and extinction of palms on oceanic Pacific islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prebble, M.; Dowe, J. L.

2008-12-01

Late Quaternary palaeoecological records of palm decline, extirpation and extinction are explored from the oceanic islands of the Pacific Ocean. Despite the severe reduction of faunal diversity coincidental with human colonisation of these previously uninhabited oceanic islands, relatively few plant extinctions have been recorded. At low taxonomic levels, recent faunal extinctions on oceanic islands are concentrated in larger bodied representatives of certain genera and families. Fossil and historic records of plant extinction show a similar trend with high representation of the palm family, Arecaceae. Late Holocene decline of palm pollen types is demonstrated from most islands where there are palaeoecological records including the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, the Hawaiian Islands, the Juan Fernandez Islands and Rapanui. A strong correspondence between human impact and palm decline is measured from palynological proxies including increased concentrations of charcoal particles and pollen from cultivated plants and invasive weeds. Late Holocene extinctions or extirpations are recorded across all five of the Arecaceae subfamilies of the oceanic Pacific islands. These are most common for the genus Pritchardia but also many sedis fossil palm types were recorded representing groups lacking diagnostic morphological characters.

In-situ data collection for oil palm tree height determination using synthetic aperture radar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pohl, C.; Loong, C. K.

2016-04-01

The oil palm is recognized as the “golden crop,” producing the highest oil yield among oil seed crops. Malaysia, the world's second largest producer of palm oil, has 16 per cent of its territory planted with oil palms. To cope with the increasing global demand on edible oil, additional areas of oil palm are forecast to increase globally by 12 to 19 million hectares by 2050. Due to the limited land bank in Malaysia, new strategies have to be developed to avoid unauthorized clearing of primary forest for the use of oil palm cultivation. Microwave remote sensing could play a part by providing relevant, timely and accurate information for a plantation monitoring system. The use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has the advantage of daylight- and weather-independence, a criterion that is very relevant in constantly cloud-covered tropical regions, such as Malaysia. Using interferometric SAR, (InSAR) topographical and tree height profiles of oil palm plantations can be created; such information is useful for mapping oil palm age profiles of the plantations in the country. This paper reports on the use of SAR and InSAR in a multisensory context to provide up-to-date information at plantation level. Remote sensing and in-situ data collection for tree height determination are described. Further research to be carried out over the next two years is outlined.

Health-promoting effects of red palm oil: evidence from animal and human studies.

PubMed

Loganathan, Radhika; Subramaniam, Kanthimathi M; Radhakrishnan, Ammu K; Choo, Yuen-May; Teng, Kim-Tiu

2017-02-01

The fruit of the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineesis) is the source of antioxidant-rich red palm oil. Red palm oil is a rich source of phytonutrients such as tocotrienols, tocopherols, carotenoids, phytosterols, squalene, and coenzyme Q10, all of which exhibit nutritional properties and oxidative stability. Mutagenic, nutritional, and toxicological studies have shown that red palm oil contains highly bioavailable β-carotene and vitamin A and is reasonably stable to heat without any adverse effects. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the nutritional properties of red palm oil. The possible antiatherogenic, antihemorrhagic, antihypertensive, anticancer, and anti-infective properties of red palm oil are examined. Moreover, evidence supporting the potential effectiveness of red palm oil to overcome vitamin A deficiency in children and pregnant women, to improve ocular complications of vitamin A deficiency, to protect against ischemic heart disease, to promote normal reproduction in males and females, to aid in the management of diabetes, to ameliorate the adverse effects of chemotherapy, and to aid in managing hypobaric conditions is presented. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute. All rights reserved. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reproduction and distribution of the work, in any medium, provided the original work is not altered or transformed in any way, and that the work properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.

Following basal stem rot in young oil palm plantings.

PubMed

Panchal, G; Bridge, P D

2005-01-01

The PCR primer GanET has previously been shown to be suitable for the specific amplification of DNA from Ganoderma boninense. A DNA extraction and PCR method has been developed that allows for the amplification of the G. boninense DNA from environmental samples of oil palm tissue. The GanET primer reaction was used in conjunction with a palm-sampling programme to investigate the possible infection of young palms through cut frond base surfaces. Ganoderma DNA was detected in frond base material at a greater frequency than would be expected by comparison with current infection levels. Comparisons are made between the height of the frond base infected, the number of frond bases infected, and subsequent development of basal stem rot. The preliminary results suggest that the development of basal stem rot may be more likely to occur when young lower frond bases are infected.

The effect of fiber treatment on abrasive wear properties of palm fiber reinforced epoxy composite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razak, Muhammad Firdaus Abdul; Bakar, Mimi Azlina Abu; Kasolang, Salmiah; Ahmad, Mohamad Ali

2017-12-01

Oil palm industries generate at least 30 million tons of lignocellulosic biomass annually in the form of oil palm trunks (OPT), empty fruit bunches (EFB), oil palm fronds (OPF) and palm pressed fibres (PPF). The palm fiber is one of the natural fibers used as reinforcement in composite materials in order to decrease environmental issues and promotes utilization of renewable resources. This paper presents a study on the effect of alkaline treatment on wear properties of palm fiber reinforced epoxy resin composite. Abrasive wear testing was deployed to investigate the wear profile of the composite surfaces. Testing was carried out which focused on the effect of alkaline treatment to the palm fiber under different amounts of fiber loading i.e. 1 wt%, 3 wt%, 5 wt% and 7 wt%. The palm fibers were soaked into 6 % of alkaline solution or natrium hydroxide (NaOH) for 12 hours. The fiber was treated in order to remove amorphous materials such as hemicelluloses, lignins and pectins of the fiber. The wear test samples were fabricated using hand lay-up technique and cured at room temperature for 24 hours. Surface roughness of the composite material was also measured using the surface measuring instrument. Dry sliding wear test was performed at room temperature at a constant velocity of 1.4 m/s with a constant load of 10 N by using the Abrasion Test Machine. Result shows that 5 wt% and 7 wt% treated palm fiber loadings have better specific wear rate compared to lower fiber loadings. The finding of this study contributes towards material development and utilization in promoting `waste into wealth' which is in line with national aspiration.

Clinical profile of a Mediterranean population sensitised to date palm pollen (Phoenix dactylifera). A retrospective study.

PubMed

Huertas, A J; López-Sáez, M P; Carnés, J

2011-01-01

Date palm pollen allergy is frequently associated with polysensitisation. Observational studies have suggested that date-palm-sensitised individuals could be included in a distinct group of polysensitised patients. The objectives of the study were to analyse the clinical characteristics of a group of patients diagnosed of date-palm pollen allergy and to compare them with pollen allergic patients without date-palm sensitisation. Forty-eight palm-pollen sensitised individuals were classified as Group A. A control group of 48 patients sensitised to pollens but without palm-pollen allergy were included as Group B. All individuals were skin prick tested with a common battery of aeroallergens. Information about age, sex, family history of atopy, respiratory symptoms, food allergy and sensitisation to other pollens were considered variables of the study. Specific IgE and the allergogram to date-palm pollen were determined in a subgroup of Group A. Significant differences in the family history of atopy and number of sensitisations were observed. Both parameters were significantly higher in Group A. Group A showed high prevalence of asthma and higher level of sensitisation to foods (p < 0.05). Significant differences were obtained for sensitisation to epithelia and pollens. Pho d 2 was the most commonly recognised allergen (83.3%) in the palm-pollen allergic group. Date-palm pollen allergic patients constitute a homogeneous group characterised for showing bronchial asthma, sensitisation to food allergens and polysensitisation. These results suggest that the reasons for sensitisation to date-palm pollen remain to be elucidated, but could relate to the existence of as yet non-identified pan-allergens. Copyright © 2010 SEICAP. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Convergent Evolution towards High Net Carbon Gain Efficiency Contributes to the Shade Tolerance of Palms (Arecaceae).

PubMed

Ma, Ren-Yi; Zhang, Jiao-Lin; Cavaleri, Molly A; Sterck, Frank; Strijk, Joeri S; Cao, Kun-Fang

2015-01-01

Most palm species occur in the shaded lower strata of tropical rain forests, but how their traits relate to shade adaptation is poorly understood. We hypothesized that palms are adapted to the shade of their native habitats by convergent evolution towards high net carbon gain efficiency (CGEn), which is given by the maximum photosynthetic rate to dark respiration rate ratio. Leaf mass per area, maximum photosynthetic rate, dark respiration and N and P concentrations were measured in 80 palm species grown in a common garden, and combined with data of 30 palm species growing in their native habitats. Compared to other species from the global leaf economics data, dicotyledonous broad-leaved trees in tropical rainforest or other monocots in the global leaf economics data, palms possessed consistently higher CGEn, achieved by lowered dark respiration and fairly high foliar P concentration. Combined phylogenetic analyses of evolutionary signal and trait evolution revealed convergent evolution towards high CGEn in palms. We conclude that high CGEn is an evolutionary strategy that enables palms to better adapt to shady environments than coexisting dicot tree species, and may convey advantages in competing with them in the tropical forest understory. These findings provide important insights for understanding the evolution and ecology of palms, and for understanding plant shade adaptations of lower rainforest strata. Moreover, given the dominant role of palms in tropical forests, these findings are important for modelling carbon and nutrient cycling in tropical forest ecosystems.

Effect of oil palm on the Plecoptera and Trichoptera (Insecta) assemblages in streams of eastern Amazon.

PubMed

de Paiva, Carina Kaory Sasahara; de Faria, Ana Paula Justino; Calvão, Lenize Batista; Juen, Leandro

2017-08-01

The production of oil palm is expected to increase in the Amazon region. However, expansion of oil palm plantation leads to significant changes in the physical structure of aquatic ecosystems, mainly through the reduction of riparian vegetation that is essential for aquatic biodiversity. Here, we evaluated the effects of oil palm on the physical habitat structure of Amazonian stream environments and assemblages of Plecoptera and Trichoptera (PT), ​both found in these streams. We compared streams sampled in oil palm plantations (n = 13) with natural forest areas ("reference" streams, n = 8), located in the eastern Amazon, Brazil. Our results showed that oil palm streams were more likely to be in close proximity to roads, had higher pH values, and higher amounts of fine substrate deposited in the channel than reference streams. Further, these environmental changes had important effects on the aquatic invertebrate assemblages, reducing the abundance and richness of PT. Nevertheless, the genera composition of the assemblages did not differ between reference and oil palm (PERMANOVA, pseudo-F (1,19)  = 1.891; p = 0.111). We conclude that oil palm production has clear negative impacts on aquatic environments and PT assemblages in Amazonian streams. We recommend that oil palm producers invest more in planning of road networks to avoid the construction of roads near to the riparian vegetation. This planning can minimize impacts of oil palm production on aquatic systems in the Amazon.

Soil-atmosphere trace gas exchange from tropical oil palm plantations on peat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arn Teh, Yit; Manning, Frances; Zin Zawawi, Norliyana; Hill, Timothy; Chocholek, Melanie; Khoon Kho, Lip

2015-04-01

Oil palm is the largest agricultural crop in the tropics, accounting for 13 % of all tropical land cover. Due to its large areal extent, oil palm cultivation may have important implications not only for terrestrial stores of C and N, but may also impact regional and global exchanges of material and energy, including fluxes of trace gases and water vapor. In particular, recent expansion of oil palm into tropical peatlands has raised concerns over enhanced soil C emissions from degradation of peat, and elevated N-gas fluxes linked to N fertilizer application. Here we report our preliminary findings on soil carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes from a long-term, multi-scale project investigating the C, N and greenhouse gas (GHG) dynamics of oil palm ecosystems established on peat soils in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Flux chamber measurements indicate that soil CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes averaged 20.0 ± 16.0 Mg CO2-C ha-1 yr-1, 37.4 ± 29.9 kg CH4-C ha-1 yr-1 and 4.7 ± 4.2 g N2O-N ha-1 yr-1, respectively. Soil CO2 fluxes were on par with other drained tropical peatlands; whereas CH4 fluxes exceeded observations from similar study sites elsewhere. Nitrous oxide fluxes were in a similar range to fluxes from other drained tropical peatlands, but lower than emissions from mineral-soil plantations by up to three orders of magnitude. Fluxes of soil CO2 and N2O were spatially stratified, and contingent upon the distribution of plants, deposited harvest residues, and soil moisture. Soil CO2 fluxes were most heavily influenced by the distribution of palms and their roots. On average, autotrophic (root) respiration accounted for approximately 78 % of total soil CO2 flux, and total soil respiration declined steeply away from palms; e.g. soil CO2 fluxes in the immediate 1 m radius around palms were up to 6 times greater than fluxes in inter-palm spaces due to higher densities of roots. Placement of harvest residues played an important - but secondary

Palms, peccaries and perturbations: widespread effects of small-scale disturbance in tropical forests

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Disturbance is an important process structuring ecosystems worldwide and has long been thought to be a significant driver of diversity and dynamics. In forests, most studies of disturbance have focused on large-scale disturbance such as hurricanes or tree-falls. However, smaller sub-canopy disturbances could also have significant impacts on community structure. One such sub-canopy disturbance in tropical forests is abscising leaves of large arborescent palm (Arececeae) trees. These leaves can weigh up to 15 kg and cause physical damage and mortality to juvenile plants. Previous studies examining this question suffered from the use of static data at small spatial scales. Here we use data from a large permanent forest plot combined with dynamic data on the survival and growth of > 66,000 individuals over a seven-year period to address whether falling palm fronds do impact neighboring seedling and sapling communities, or whether there is an interaction between the palms and peccaries rooting for fallen palm fruit in the same area as falling leaves. We tested the wider generalisation of these hypotheses by comparing seedling and sapling survival under fruiting and non-fruiting trees in another family, the Myristicaceae. Results We found a spatially-restricted but significant effect of large arborescent fruiting palms on the spatial structure, population dynamics and species diversity of neighbouring sapling and seedling communities. However, these effects were not found around slightly smaller non-fruiting palm trees, suggesting it is seed predators such as peccaries rather than falling leaves that impact on the communities around palm trees. Conversely, this hypothesis was not supported in data from other edible species, such as those in the family Myristicaceae. Conclusions Given the abundance of arborescent palm trees in Amazonian forests, it is reasonable to conclude that their presence does have a significant, if spatially-restricted, impact on juvenile

Palms, peccaries and perturbations: widespread effects of small-scale disturbance in tropical forests.

PubMed

Queenborough, Simon A; Metz, Margaret R; Wiegand, Thorsten; Valencia, Renato

2012-03-19

Disturbance is an important process structuring ecosystems worldwide and has long been thought to be a significant driver of diversity and dynamics. In forests, most studies of disturbance have focused on large-scale disturbance such as hurricanes or tree-falls. However, smaller sub-canopy disturbances could also have significant impacts on community structure. One such sub-canopy disturbance in tropical forests is abscising leaves of large arborescent palm (Arececeae) trees. These leaves can weigh up to 15 kg and cause physical damage and mortality to juvenile plants. Previous studies examining this question suffered from the use of static data at small spatial scales. Here we use data from a large permanent forest plot combined with dynamic data on the survival and growth of > 66,000 individuals over a seven-year period to address whether falling palm fronds do impact neighboring seedling and sapling communities, or whether there is an interaction between the palms and peccaries rooting for fallen palm fruit in the same area as falling leaves. We tested the wider generalisation of these hypotheses by comparing seedling and sapling survival under fruiting and non-fruiting trees in another family, the Myristicaceae. We found a spatially-restricted but significant effect of large arborescent fruiting palms on the spatial structure, population dynamics and species diversity of neighbouring sapling and seedling communities. However, these effects were not found around slightly smaller non-fruiting palm trees, suggesting it is seed predators such as peccaries rather than falling leaves that impact on the communities around palm trees. Conversely, this hypothesis was not supported in data from other edible species, such as those in the family Myristicaceae. Given the abundance of arborescent palm trees in Amazonian forests, it is reasonable to conclude that their presence does have a significant, if spatially-restricted, impact on juvenile plants, most likely on the

Oil Palm and Rubber Tree Water Use Patterns: Effects of Topography and Flooding

PubMed Central

Hardanto, Afik; Röll, Alexander; Niu, Furong; Meijide, Ana; Hendrayanto; Hölscher, Dirk

2017-01-01

Oil palm and rubber plantations extend over large areas and encompass heterogeneous site conditions. In periods of high rainfall, plants in valleys and at riparian sites are more prone to flooding than plants at elevated topographic positions. We asked to what extent topographic position and flooding affect oil palm and rubber tree water use patterns and thereby influence spatial and temporal heterogeneity of transpiration. In an undulating terrain in the lowlands of Jambi, Indonesia, plantations of the two species were studied in plot pairs consisting of upland and adjacent valley plots. All upland plots were non-flooded, whereas the corresponding valley plots included non-flooded, long-term flooded, and short-term flooded conditions. Within each plot pair, sap flux densities in palms or trees were monitored simultaneously with thermal dissipation probes. In plot pairs with non-flooded valleys, sap flux densities of oil palms were only slightly different between the topographic positions, whereas sap flux densities of rubber trees were higher in the valley than at the according upland site. In pairs with long-term flooded valleys, sap flux densities in valleys were lower than at upland plots for both species, but the reduction was far less pronounced in oil palms than in rubber trees (-22 and -45% in maximum sap flux density, respectively). At these long-term flooded valley plots palm and tree water use also responded less sensitively to fluctuations in micrometeorological variables than at upland plots. In short-term flooded valley plots, sap flux densities of oil palm were hardly affected by flooding, but sap flux densities of rubber trees were reduced considerably. Topographic position and flooding thus affected water use patterns in both oil palms and rubber trees, but the changes in rubber trees were much more pronounced: compared to non-flooded upland sites, the different flooding conditions at valley sites amplified the observed heterogeneity of plot mean

Variability and performance evaluation of introgressed Nigerian dura x Deli dura oil palm progenies.

PubMed

Noh, A; Rafii, M Y; Mohd Din, A; Kushairi, A; Norziha, A; Rajanaidu, N; Latif, M A; Malek, M A

2014-04-03

Twelve introgressed oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) progenies of Nigerian dura x Deli dura were evaluated for bunch yield, yield attributes, bunch quality components and vegetative characters at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board Research Station, in Keratong, Pahang, Malaysia. Analysis of variance revealed significant to highly significant genotypic differences, indicating sufficient genetic variability among the progenies for bunch yield and its attributes, vegetative characters and bunch quality components, except fruit to bunch ratio. Fresh fruit bunch yield ranged from 167 kg·palm(-1)·year(-1) in PK1330 to 212 kg·palm(-1)·year(-1) in PK1351, with a mean yield of 192 kg·palm(-1)·year(-1). Among the progeny, PK1313 had the highest oil to bunch ratio (19.36%), due to its high mesocarp to fruit ratio, fruit to bunch ratio and low shell to fruit ratio. Among the progenies, PK1313 produced the highest oil yield of 31.4 kg·palm(-1)·year(-1), due to a high mesocarp to fruit ratio (61.2%) and a low shell to fruit ratio (30.7%), coupled with high fruit to bunch ratio (65.6%). PK1330 was found promising for selection, as it had desirable vegetative characters, including smaller petiole cross section (27.15 cm2), short rachis length (4.83 m), short palm height (1.85 m), and the lowest leaf number (164.6), as these vegetative characters are prerequisites for selecting palms for high density planting and high yield per hectare. The genetic variability among the progenies was found to be high, indicating ample scope for further breeding, followed by selection.

Modification of oil palm wood using acetylation and impregnation process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subagiyo, Lambang; Rosamah, Enih; Hesim

2017-03-01

The purpose of this study is chemical modification by process of acetylation and impregnation of oil palm wood to improve the dimensional stability. Acetylation process aimed at substituting the hydroxyl groups in a timber with an acetyl group. By increasing the acetyl groups in wood is expected to reduce the ability of wood to absorb water vapor which lead to the dimensions of the wood becomes more stable. Studies conducted on oil palm wood (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) by acetylation and impregnation method. The results showed that acetylated and impregnated wood oil palm (E. guineensis Jacq) were changed in their physical properties. Impregnation with coal ashfly provide the greatest response to changes in weight (in wet conditions) and after conditioning (dry) with the average percentage of weight gain of 198.16% and 66.41% respectively. Changes in volume indicates an increase of volume in the wet condition (imbibition) with the coal ashfly treatment gave highest value of 23.04 %, whereas after conditioning (dry) the highest value obtained in the treatment of gum rosin:ethanol with a volume increase of 13:44%. The highest changes of the density with the coal ashfly impregnation in wet condition (imbibition) in value of 142.32% and after conditioning (dry) of 57.87%. The result of reduction in water absorption (RWA) test showed that in the palm oil wood samples most stable by using of gum rosin : ethanol of 0.97%, whereas the increase in oil palm wood dimensional stability (ASE) is the best of 59.42% after acetylation with Acetic Anhydride: Xylene.

Non-tenera Contamination and the Economic Impact of SHELL Genetic Testing in the Malaysian Independent Oil Palm Industry.

PubMed

Ooi, Leslie C-L; Low, Eng-Ti L; Abdullah, Meilina O; Nookiah, Rajanaidu; Ting, Ngoot C; Nagappan, Jayanthi; Manaf, Mohamad A A; Chan, Kuang-Lim; Halim, Mohd A; Azizi, Norazah; Omar, Wahid; Murad, Abdul J; Lakey, Nathan; Ordway, Jared M; Favello, Anthony; Budiman, Muhammad A; Van Brunt, Andrew; Beil, Melissa; Leininger, Michael T; Jiang, Nan; Smith, Steven W; Brown, Clyde R; Kuek, Alex C S; Bahrain, Shabani; Hoynes-O'Connor, Allison; Nguyen, Amelia Y; Chaudhari, Hemangi G; Shah, Shivam A; Choo, Yuen-May; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi; Singh, Rajinder

2016-01-01

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is the most productive oil bearing crop worldwide. It has three fruit forms, namely dura (thick-shelled), pisifera (shell-less) and tenera (thin-shelled), which are controlled by the SHELL gene. The fruit forms exhibit monogenic co-dominant inheritance, where tenera is a hybrid obtained by crossing maternal dura and paternal pisifera palms. Commercial palm oil production is based on planting thin-shelled tenera palms, which typically yield 30% more oil than dura palms, while pisifera palms are female-sterile and have little to no palm oil yield. It is clear that tenera hybrids produce more oil than either parent due to single gene heterosis. The unintentional planting of dura or pisifera palms reduces overall yield and impacts land utilization that would otherwise be devoted to more productive tenera palms. Here, we identify three additional novel mutant alleles of the SHELL gene, which encode a type II MADS-box transcription factor, and determine oil yield via control of shell fruit form phenotype in a manner similar to two previously identified mutant SHELL alleles. Assays encompassing all five mutations account for all dura and pisifera palms analyzed. By assaying for these variants in 10,224 mature palms or seedlings, we report the first large scale accurate genotype-based determination of the fruit forms in independent oil palm planting sites and in the nurseries that supply them throughout Malaysia. The measured non-tenera contamination rate (10.9% overall on a weighted average basis) underscores the importance of SHELL genetic testing of seedlings prior to planting in production fields. By eliminating non-tenera contamination, comprehensive SHELL genetic testing can improve sustainability by increasing yield on existing planted lands. In addition, economic modeling demonstrates that SHELL gene testing will confer substantial annual economic gains to the oil palm industry, to Malaysian gross national income and to Malaysian

Telecoupled governance of land use change: Sustainable palm oil conservation benefits limited by preferential certification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heilmayr, R.; Carlson, K. M.; Gibbs, H.; Noojipady, P.; Burns, D.; Morton, D. C.; Walker, N.; Paoli, G.; Kremen, C.

2016-12-01

Dozens of trans-national corporations have made public commitments to purchase only zero-deforestation palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest loss. Eco-certification is a basic requirement of most such forest-related procurement policies, and >20% of palm oil was certified in 2015.While the impact of certification on deforestation in oil palm plantations has never been tested, such evaluation is critical to inform improvements of voluntary sustainability initiatives. Here, we use a new, comprehensive data set of Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified and non-certified oil palm plantation boundaries (191,561 km2) in Indonesia, the leading global producer of palm oil to generate robust spatio-temporal estimates of certification's impact on deforestation and fires from 2000-2014. We find that certification reduced forest cover loss embodied in RSPO certified palm oil through two mechanisms. Certification had a significant protective effect, which lowered plantation deforestation rates by 29%.However, due to preferential certification of plantations developed before 2000, little forest was available for protection; forest area conserved totaled 56±4.9 km2. Our models suggest that increased adoption of RSPO certification may reduce the ability of palm oil companies to selectively certify previously cleared regions, and consequently strengthen the role of certification in protecting the tropical forests at greatest risk from agricultural encroachment. We reflect upon the complex interactions between traditional government policies, and emerging market-based governance structures in this telecoupled system.

Study on Handing Process and Quality Degradation of Oil Palm Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mat Sharif, Zainon Binti; Taib, Norhasnina Binti Mohd; Yusof, Mohd Sallehuddin Bin; Rahim, Mohammad Zulafif Bin; Tobi, Abdul Latif Bin Mohd; Othman, Mohd Syafiq Bin

2017-05-01

The main objective of this study is to determine the relationship between quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and handling processes. The study employs exploratory and descriptive design, with quantitative approach and purposive sampling using self-administrated questionnaires, were obtained from 30 smallholder respondents from the Southern Region, Peninsular Malaysia. The study reveals that there was a convincing relationship between quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) and handling processes. The main handling process factors influencing quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) were harvesting activity and handling at the plantation area. As a result, it can be deduced that the handling process factors variable explains 82.80% of the variance that reflects the quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB). The overall findings reveal that the handling process factors do play a significant role in the quality of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB).

Palm oil taxes and cardiovascular disease mortality in India: economic-epidemiologic model

PubMed Central

Babiarz, Kim S; Ebrahim, Shah; Vellakkal, Sukumar; Stuckler, David; Goldhaber-Fiebert, Jeremy D

2013-01-01

Objective To examine the potential effect of a tax on palm oil on hyperlipidemia and on mortality due to cardiovascular disease in India. Design Economic-epidemiologic model. Modeling methods A microsimulation model of mortality due to myocardial infarction and stroke among Indian populations was constructed, incorporating nationally representative data on systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, tobacco smoking, diabetes, and cardiovascular event history, and stratified by age, sex, and urban/rural residence. Household expenditure data were used to estimate the change in consumption of palm oil following changes in oil price and the potential substitution of alternative oils that might occur after imposition of a tax. A 20% excise tax on palm oil purchases was simulated over the period 2014-23. Main outcome measures The model was used to project future mortality due to myocardial infarction and stroke, as well as the potential effect of a tax on food insecurity, accounting for the effect of increased food prices. Results A 20% tax on palm oil purchases would be expected to avert approximately 363 000 (95% confidence interval 247 000 to 479 000) deaths from myocardial infarctions and strokes over the period 2014-23 in India (1.3% reduction in cardiovascular deaths) if people do not substitute other oils for reduced palm oil consumption. Given estimates of substitution of palm oil with other oils following a 20% price increase for palm oil, the beneficial effects of increased polyunsaturated fat consumption would be expected to enhance the projected reduction in deaths to as much as 421 000 (256 000 to 586 000). The tax would be expected to benefit men more than women and urban populations more than rural populations, given differential consumption and cardiovascular risk. In a scenario incorporating the effect of taxation on overall food expenditures, the tax may increase food insecurity by <1%, resulting in 16 000 (95% confidence interval 12 000

Optimization of Protein Extraction and Two-Dimensional Electrophoresis Protocols for Oil Palm Leaf.

PubMed

Daim, Leona Daniela Jeffery; Ooi, Tony Eng Keong; Yusof, Hirzun Mohd; Majid, Nazia Abdul; Karsani, Saiful Anuar Bin

2015-08-01

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is an important economic crop cultivated for its nutritional palm oil. A significant amount of effort has been undertaken to understand oil palm growth and physiology at the molecular level, particularly in genomics and transcriptomics. Recently, proteomics studies have begun to garner interest. However, this effort is impeded by technical challenges. Plant sample preparation for proteomics analysis is plagued with technical challenges due to the presence of polysaccharides, secondary metabolites and other interfering compounds. Although protein extraction methods for plant tissues exist, none work universally on all sample types. Therefore, this study aims to compare and optimize different protein extraction protocols for use with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of young and mature leaves from the oil palm. Four protein extraction methods were evaluated: phenol-guanidine isothiocyanate, trichloroacetic acid-acetone precipitation, sucrose and trichloroacetic acid-acetone-phenol. Of these four protocols, the trichloroacetic acid-acetone-phenol method was found to give the highest resolution and most reproducible gel. The results from this study can be used in sample preparations of oil palm tissue for proteomics work.

Palm Oil in Myanmar: A Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Effects of Industrial Farming on Biodiversity Loss

PubMed Central

Nicholas, Khristopher; Fanzo, Jessica; MacManus, Kytt

2018-01-01

Background: Palm oil consumption is potentially deleterious to human health, and its production has resulted in 11 million hectares of deforestation globally. Importing roughly 394,000 metric tons of palm oil in 2012 alone, the Burmese government has recently pushed for intensive oil palm development to sate domestic demand for consumption and become international market players. Given well-studied linkages between biodiversity loss and ecosystem instability, this study aims to characterize the nature of deforestation for oil palm production in Myanmar, its relationship to increased biodiversity loss, and contextualize the potential impacts of this loss on diets and human health in rural Myanmar. Methods: First, a GIS land suitability analysis overlaying spatial data on rainfall, elevation, and slope was conducted in order to identify areas of Myanmar best suited to oil palm tree growth. Second, after narrowing the geographic range, vegetation indices using varying spectral band models in ENVI (Environment for Visualizing Images) allowed a more granular examination of changes in vegetation phenology from 1975 to 2015. Lastly, ground truthing permitted an in-person verification of GIS and ENVI results and provided contextual understanding of oil palm development in Myanmar. Results: GIS analysis revealed that the Tanintharyi Region, one of the most biodiverse regions in Myanmar, is highly suitable for oil palm growth. Next, vegetation indices revealed a progressive shift from smallholder farming, with little observable deforestation between 1975 and 1990, to industrial oil palm plantations all throughout Tanintharyi starting around 2000—a shift concomitant with biodiversity loss of primary forestland. Ground truthing indicated that plantation development has advanced rapidly, though not without barriers to growth. Conclusions: If these trends of Burmese oil palm intensification continue, 4 key outcomes may follow: (1) even higher levels of biodiversity loss, (2

ADAM33 polymorphisms are associated with asthma and a distinctive palm dermatoglyphic pattern

PubMed Central

XUE, WEILIN; HAN, WEI; ZHOU, ZHAO-SHAN

2013-01-01

A close correlation between asthma and palm dermatoglyphic patterns has been observed in previous studies, but the underlying genetic mechanisms have not been investigated. A disintegrin and metalloprotein-33 (ADAM33) polymorphisms are important in the development of asthma and other atopic diseases. To investigate the underlying mechanisms of the association between asthma and distinctive palm dermatoglyphic patterns, thirteen ADAM33 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were analyzed for the association between asthma and palm dermatoglyphic patterns in a population of 400 asthmatic patients and 200 healthy controls. Based on the results, five SNPs, rs44707 (codominant model, P=0.031; log-additive model, P=0.0084), rs2787094 (overdominant model, P=0.049), rs678881 (codominant model, P=0.028; overdominant model, P=0.0083), rs677044 (codominant model, P=0.013; log-additive model, P=0.0033) and rs512625 (dominant model, P=0.033), were associated with asthma in this population. Two SNPs, rs44707 (dominant model, P=0.042) and rs2787094 (codominant model, P=0.014; recessive model, P=0.0038), were observed in the asthma patients with the distinctive palm pattern. As rs44707 and rs2787094 are associated with asthma and a distinctive palm pattern, the data suggest that ADAM33 polymorphisms are correlated with asthma and may be the underlying genetic basis of the association between asthma and palm dermatoglyphic patterns. PMID:24141861

The Palm Desert renewable [hydrogen] transportation system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chamberlin, C.E.; Lehman, P.

1998-08-01

This paper describes the Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC) progress on the Palm Desert Renewable Hydrogen Transportation System Project for the period June 1997 through May 1998. The project began in March 1996. The goal of the Palm Desert Project is to develop a clean and sustainable transportation system for a community. The project demonstrates the practical utility of hydrogen as a transportation fuel and the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell as a vehicle power system. The project includes designing and building 4 fuel cell powered vehicles, a solar hydrogen generating and refueling station, and a fuel cell vehiclemore » diagnostic center. Over this last year, SERC has built a fuel cell powered neighborhood electric vehicle and delivered it to the City of Palm Desert. The design of the hydrogen refueling station is near completion and it is anticipated that construction will be complete in the fall of 1998. The vehicles are currently being refueled at a temporary refueling station. The diagnostic center is being designed and maintenance procedures as well as computer diagnostic programs for the fuel cell vehicles are being developed. City employees are driving the vehicles daily and monitoring data are being collected. The drivers are pleased with the performance of the vehicles.« less

The impact of tropical forest logging and oil palm agriculture on the soil microbiome.

PubMed

Tripathi, Binu M; Edwards, David P; Mendes, Lucas William; Kim, Mincheol; Dong, Ke; Kim, Hyoki; Adams, Jonathan M

2016-05-01

Selective logging and forest conversion to oil palm agriculture are rapidly altering tropical forests. However, functional responses of the soil microbiome to these land-use changes are poorly understood. Using 16S rRNA gene and shotgun metagenomic sequencing, we compared composition and functional attributes of soil biota between unlogged, once-logged and twice-logged rainforest, and areas converted to oil palm plantations in Sabah, Borneo. Although there was no significant effect of logging history, we found a significant difference between the taxonomic and functional composition of both primary and logged forests and oil palm. Oil palm had greater abundances of genes associated with DNA, RNA, protein metabolism and other core metabolic functions, but conversely, lower abundance of genes associated with secondary metabolism and cell-cell interactions, indicating less importance of antagonism or mutualism in the more oligotrophic oil palm environment. Overall, these results show a striking difference in taxonomic composition and functional gene diversity of soil microorganisms between oil palm and forest, but no significant difference between primary forest and forest areas with differing logging history. This reinforces the view that logged forest retains most features and functions of the original soil community. However, networks based on strong correlations between taxonomy and functions showed that network complexity is unexpectedly increased due to both logging and oil palm agriculture, which suggests a pervasive effect of both land-use changes on the interaction of soil microbes. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

De novo transcriptome analyses of host-fungal interactions in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.).

PubMed

Ho, Chai-Ling; Tan, Yung-Chie; Yeoh, Keat-Ai; Ghazali, Ahmad-Kamal; Yee, Wai-Yan; Hoh, Chee-Choong

2016-01-19

Basal stem rot (BSR) is a fungal disease in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) which is caused by hemibiotrophic white rot fungi belonging to the Ganoderma genus. Molecular responses of oil palm to these pathogens are not well known although this information is crucial to strategize effective measures to eradicate BSR. In order to elucidate the molecular interactions between oil palm and G. boninense and its biocontrol fungus Trichoderma harzianum, we compared the root transcriptomes of untreated oil palm seedlings with those inoculated with G. boninense and T. harzianum, respectively. Differential gene expression analyses revealed that jasmonate (JA) and salicylate (SA) may act in an antagonistic manner in affecting the hormone biosynthesis, signaling, and downstream defense responses in G. boninense-treated oil palm roots. In addition, G. boninense may compete with the host to control disease symptom through the transcriptional regulation of ethylene (ET) biosynthesis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and scavenging. The strengthening of host cell walls and production of pathogenesis-related proteins as well as antifungal secondary metabolites in host plants, are among the important defense mechanisms deployed by oil palm against G. boninense. Meanwhile, endophytic T. harzianum was shown to improve the of nutrition status and nutrient transportation in host plants. The findings of this analysis have enhanced our understanding on the molecular interactions of G. boninense and oil palm, and also the biocontrol mechanisms involving T. harzianum, thus contributing to future formulations of better strategies for prevention and treatment of BSR.

Effects of blending on the properties of diesel and palm biodiesel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bukkarapu, Kiran Raj; Srinivas Rahul, T.; Kundla, Sivaji; Vishnu Vardhan, G.

2018-03-01

Palm biodiesel is blended to diesel in different volume percentages to improve certain properties. This would help in having a good understanding of the dependence of the diesel properties on the biodiesel proportion. The properties of interest in the present work are density, kinematic viscosity, flash point and fire point of the blends which are determined and compared to petrodiesel. It is observed that the kinematic viscosity and density of the diesel increase with the palm biodiesel proportion and it is not preferable. Blends with higher palm content possess higher flash point and fire point. Apparently, blending worsens the conditions and hence might be of no use when compared to diesel, but when compared to neat palm biodiesel, blending helped in pulling down the density, viscosity, fire point and flash point of the latter. Using regression analysis and the properties data of respective blends, correlations are developed to predict the properties of diesel and biodiesel blends known the percentage of biodiesel added to diesel, which are validated using biodiesel and diesel blends which are not used as an input to develop them.

Design of biometrics identification system on palm vein using infrared light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syafiq, Muhammad; Nasution, Aulia M. T.

2016-11-01

Image obtained by the LED with wavelength 740nm and 810nm showed that the contrast gradient of vein pattern is low and palm pattern still exist. It means that 740nm and 810nm are less suitable for the detection of blood vessels in the palm of the hand. At a wavelength of 940nm, the pattern is clearly visible, and the pattern of the palms is mostly gone. Furthermore, the pre-processing performed using smoothing process which include Gaussian filter and median filter and contrast stretching. Image segmentation is done by getting the ROI area that would be obtained its information. The identification process of image features obtained by using MSE (Mean Suare Error) method ,LBP (Local Binary Pattern). Furthermore, we will use a database consists of 5 different palm vein pattern which will be used for testing the tool in the identification process. All the process above are done using Raspberry Pi device. The Obtained MSE parameter is 0.025 and LBP features score are less than 10-3 for image to be matched.

Global diversification of a tropical plant growth form: environmental correlates and historical contingencies in climbing palms

PubMed Central

Couvreur, Thomas L. P.; Kissling, W. Daniel; Condamine, Fabien L.; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Rowe, Nick P.; Baker, William J.

2015-01-01

Tropical rain forests (TRF) are the most diverse terrestrial biome on Earth, but the diversification dynamics of their constituent growth forms remain largely unexplored. Climbing plants contribute significantly to species diversity and ecosystem processes in TRF. We investigate the broad-scale patterns and drivers of species richness as well as the diversification history of climbing and non-climbing palms (Arecaceae). We quantify to what extent macroecological diversity patterns are related to contemporary climate, forest canopy height, and paleoclimatic changes. We test whether diversification rates are higher for climbing than non-climbing palms and estimate the origin of the climbing habit. Climbers account for 22% of global palm species diversity, mostly concentrated in Southeast Asia. Global variation in climbing palm species richness can be partly explained by past and present-day climate and rain forest canopy height, but regional differences in residual species richness after accounting for current and past differences in environment suggest a strong role of historical contingencies in climbing palm diversification. Climbing palms show a higher net diversification rate than non-climbers. Diversification analyses of palms detected a diversification rate increase along the branches leading to the most species-rich clade of climbers. Ancestral character reconstructions revealed that the climbing habit originated between early Eocene and Miocene. These results imply that changes from non-climbing to climbing habits may have played an important role in palm diversification, resulting in the origin of one fifth of all palm species. We suggest that, in addition to current climate and paleoclimatic changes after the late Neogene, present-day diversity of climbing palms can be explained by morpho-anatomical innovations, the biogeographic history of Southeast Asia, and/or ecological opportunities due to the diversification of high-stature dipterocarps in Asian TRFs

Global diversification of a tropical plant growth form: environmental correlates and historical contingencies in climbing palms.

PubMed

Couvreur, Thomas L P; Kissling, W Daniel; Condamine, Fabien L; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Rowe, Nick P; Baker, William J

2014-01-01

Tropical rain forests (TRF) are the most diverse terrestrial biome on Earth, but the diversification dynamics of their constituent growth forms remain largely unexplored. Climbing plants contribute significantly to species diversity and ecosystem processes in TRF. We investigate the broad-scale patterns and drivers of species richness as well as the diversification history of climbing and non-climbing palms (Arecaceae). We quantify to what extent macroecological diversity patterns are related to contemporary climate, forest canopy height, and paleoclimatic changes. We test whether diversification rates are higher for climbing than non-climbing palms and estimate the origin of the climbing habit. Climbers account for 22% of global palm species diversity, mostly concentrated in Southeast Asia. Global variation in climbing palm species richness can be partly explained by past and present-day climate and rain forest canopy height, but regional differences in residual species richness after accounting for current and past differences in environment suggest a strong role of historical contingencies in climbing palm diversification. Climbing palms show a higher net diversification rate than non-climbers. Diversification analyses of palms detected a diversification rate increase along the branches leading to the most species-rich clade of climbers. Ancestral character reconstructions revealed that the climbing habit originated between early Eocene and Miocene. These results imply that changes from non-climbing to climbing habits may have played an important role in palm diversification, resulting in the origin of one fifth of all palm species. We suggest that, in addition to current climate and paleoclimatic changes after the late Neogene, present-day diversity of climbing palms can be explained by morpho-anatomical innovations, the biogeographic history of Southeast Asia, and/or ecological opportunities due to the diversification of high-stature dipterocarps in Asian TRFs.

Methane and CO2 fluxes from peat soil, palm stems and field drains in two oil palm plantations in Sarawak, Borneo, on different tropical peat soil types.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manning, Frances; Lip Khoon, Kho; Hill, Tim; Arn Teh, Yit

2017-04-01

Oil palm plantations have been expanding rapidly on tropical peat soils in the last 20 years, with 50 % of SE Asian peatlands now managed as industrial or small-holder plantations, up from 11% in 1990. Tropical peat soils are an important carbon (C) store, containing an estimated 17 % of total peatland C. There are large uncertainties as to the soil C dynamics in oil palm plantations on peat due to a shortage of available data. It is therefore essential to understand the soil C cycle in order to promote effective management strategies that optimise yields, whilst maintaining the high C storage capacity of the soil. Here we present CO2 and CH4 fluxes from two oil palm plantations in Sarawak, Malaysia on peat soils. Data were collected from different surface microforms within each plantation that experienced different surface management practices. These included the area next to the palm, in bare soil harvest paths, beneath frond piles, underneath cover crops, from the surface of drains, and from palm stems. Data were collected continuously over one year and analysed with different environmental variables, including soil temperature, WTD, O2, soil moisture and weather data in order to best determine the constraints on the dataset. Total soil respiration (Rtot) varied between 0.09 and 1.59 g C m-2 hr-1. The largest fluxes (0.59 - 1.59 g C m-2 hr-1) were measured next to the palms. Larger CO2 fluxes were observed beneath the cover crops than in the bare soil. This trend was attributed to priming effects from the input of fresh plant litter and exudates. Peat soil type was shown to have significantly different fluxes. The different plantations also had different environmental drivers best explaining the variation in Rtot - with soil moisture being the most significant variable on Sabaju series soil and soil temperature being the most significant environmental variable in the plantation with the Teraja series soil. Rtot was shown to reduce significantly with increasing

Assessing Date Palm Genetic Diversity Using Different Molecular Markers.

PubMed

Atia, Mohamed A M; Sakr, Mahmoud M; Adawy, Sami S

2017-01-01

Molecular marker technologies which rely on DNA analysis provide powerful tools to assess biodiversity at different levels, i.e., among and within species. A range of different molecular marker techniques have been developed and extensively applied for detecting variability in date palm at the DNA level. Recently, the employment of gene-targeting molecular marker approaches to study biodiversity and genetic variations in many plant species has increased the attention of researchers interested in date palm to carry out phylogenetic studies using these novel marker systems. Molecular markers are good indicators of genetic distances among accessions, because DNA-based markers are neutral in the face of selection. Here we describe the employment of multidisciplinary molecular marker approaches: amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphism, conserved DNA-derived polymorphism (CDDP), intron-targeted amplified polymorphism (ITAP), simple sequence repeats (SSR), and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) to assess genetic diversity in date palm.

Investigating molecular crowding within nuclear pores using polarization-PALM

PubMed Central

Fu, Guo; Tu, Li-Chun; Zilman, Anton

2017-01-01

The key component of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) controlling permeability, selectivity, and the speed of nucleocytoplasmic transport is an assembly of natively unfolded polypeptides, which contain phenylalanine-glycine (FG) binding sites for nuclear transport receptors. The architecture and dynamics of the FG-network have been refractory to characterization due to the paucity of experimental methods able to probe the mobility and density of the FG-polypeptides and embedded macromolecules within intact NPCs. Combining fluorescence polarization, super-resolution microscopy, and mathematical analyses, we examined the rotational mobility of fluorescent probes at various locations within the FG-network under different conditions. We demonstrate that polarization PALM (p-PALM) provides a rich source of information about low rotational mobilities that are inaccessible with bulk fluorescence anisotropy approaches, and anticipate that p-PALM is well-suited to explore numerous crowded cellular environments. In total, our findings indicate that the NPC’s internal organization consists of multiple dynamic environments with different local properties. PMID:28949296

Development of palm oil-based UV-curable epoxy acrylate and urethane acrylate resins for wood coating application

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tajau, Rida; Mahmood, Mohd Hilmi; Salleh, Mek Zah

The trend of using renewable sources such as palm oil as raw material in radiation curing is growing due to the demand from the market to produce a more environmental friendly product. In this study, the radiation curable process was done using epoxy acrylate and urethane acrylate resins which are known as epoxidised palm olein acrylate (EPOLA) and palm oil based urethane acrylate (POBUA), respectively. The purpose of the study was to investigate curing properties and the application of this UV-curable palm oil resins for wood coating. Furthermore, the properties of palm oil based coatings are compared with the petrochemical-basedmore » compound such as ebecryl (EB) i.e. EB264 and EB830. From the experiment done, the resins from petrochemical-based compounds resulted higher degree of crosslinking (up to 80%) than the palm oil based compounds (up to 70%), where the different is around 10-15%. The hardness property from this two type coatings can reached until 50% at the lower percentage of the oligomer. However, the coatings from petrochemical-based have a high scratch resistance as it can withstand at least up to 3.0 Newtons (N) compared to the palm oil-based compounds which are difficult to withstand the load up to 1.0 N. Finally, the test on the rubber wood substrate showed that the coatings containing benzophenone photoinitiator give higher adhesion property and their also showed a higher glosiness property on the glass substrate compared to the coatings containing irgacure-819 photoinitiator. This study showed that the palm oil coatings can be a suitable for the replacement of petrochemicals compound for wood coating. The palm oil coatings can be more competitive in the market if the problems of using high percentage palm oil oligomer can be overcome as the palm oil price is cheap enough.« less

Complementarity of PALM and SOFI for super-resolution live-cell imaging of focal adhesions

PubMed Central

Deschout, Hendrik; Lukes, Tomas; Sharipov, Azat; Szlag, Daniel; Feletti, Lely; Vandenberg, Wim; Dedecker, Peter; Hofkens, Johan; Leutenegger, Marcel; Lasser, Theo; Radenovic, Aleksandra

2016-01-01

Live-cell imaging of focal adhesions requires a sufficiently high temporal resolution, which remains a challenge for super-resolution microscopy. Here we address this important issue by combining photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) with super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI). Using simulations and fixed-cell focal adhesion images, we investigate the complementarity between PALM and SOFI in terms of spatial and temporal resolution. This PALM-SOFI framework is used to image focal adhesions in living cells, while obtaining a temporal resolution below 10 s. We visualize the dynamics of focal adhesions, and reveal local mean velocities around 190 nm min−1. The complementarity of PALM and SOFI is assessed in detail with a methodology that integrates a resolution and signal-to-noise metric. This PALM and SOFI concept provides an enlarged quantitative imaging framework, allowing unprecedented functional exploration of focal adhesions through the estimation of molecular parameters such as fluorophore densities and photoactivation or photoswitching kinetics. PMID:27991512

Complementarity of PALM and SOFI for super-resolution live-cell imaging of focal adhesions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deschout, Hendrik; Lukes, Tomas; Sharipov, Azat; Szlag, Daniel; Feletti, Lely; Vandenberg, Wim; Dedecker, Peter; Hofkens, Johan; Leutenegger, Marcel; Lasser, Theo; Radenovic, Aleksandra

2016-12-01

Live-cell imaging of focal adhesions requires a sufficiently high temporal resolution, which remains a challenge for super-resolution microscopy. Here we address this important issue by combining photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) with super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI). Using simulations and fixed-cell focal adhesion images, we investigate the complementarity between PALM and SOFI in terms of spatial and temporal resolution. This PALM-SOFI framework is used to image focal adhesions in living cells, while obtaining a temporal resolution below 10 s. We visualize the dynamics of focal adhesions, and reveal local mean velocities around 190 nm min-1. The complementarity of PALM and SOFI is assessed in detail with a methodology that integrates a resolution and signal-to-noise metric. This PALM and SOFI concept provides an enlarged quantitative imaging framework, allowing unprecedented functional exploration of focal adhesions through the estimation of molecular parameters such as fluorophore densities and photoactivation or photoswitching kinetics.

Complementarity of PALM and SOFI for super-resolution live-cell imaging of focal adhesions.

PubMed

Deschout, Hendrik; Lukes, Tomas; Sharipov, Azat; Szlag, Daniel; Feletti, Lely; Vandenberg, Wim; Dedecker, Peter; Hofkens, Johan; Leutenegger, Marcel; Lasser, Theo; Radenovic, Aleksandra

2016-12-19

Live-cell imaging of focal adhesions requires a sufficiently high temporal resolution, which remains a challenge for super-resolution microscopy. Here we address this important issue by combining photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) with super-resolution optical fluctuation imaging (SOFI). Using simulations and fixed-cell focal adhesion images, we investigate the complementarity between PALM and SOFI in terms of spatial and temporal resolution. This PALM-SOFI framework is used to image focal adhesions in living cells, while obtaining a temporal resolution below 10 s. We visualize the dynamics of focal adhesions, and reveal local mean velocities around 190 nm min -1 . The complementarity of PALM and SOFI is assessed in detail with a methodology that integrates a resolution and signal-to-noise metric. This PALM and SOFI concept provides an enlarged quantitative imaging framework, allowing unprecedented functional exploration of focal adhesions through the estimation of molecular parameters such as fluorophore densities and photoactivation or photoswitching kinetics.

Influence of palm oil and glycerol on properties of fish skin gelatin-based films.

PubMed

Nilsuwan, Krisana; Benjakul, Soottawat; Prodpran, Thummanoon

2016-06-01

Properties of fish skin gelatin film incorporated with palm oil at 50 and 75 % (w/w) as affected by glycerol at 0-30 % (w/w) were investigated. Increases in water vapour permeability and elongation at break along with decrease in tensile strength were noticed when levels of glycerol were increased (p < 0.05). Decrease in L*- and a*-values with coincidental increase in b*- and ΔE*-values were observed in emulsified films when amount of palm oil incorporated increased (p < 0.05). Light transmittance of all films increased as glycerol levels were increased (p < 0.05). FTIR results suggested that the protein-protein interaction in film matrix decreased when palm oil was incorporated. Films added with palm oil had lower glass transition and degradation temperatures than control films. The addition of 75 % palm oil and 10 % glycerol improved water vapour barrier property of fish skin gelatin films without drastic alteration of mechanical properties.

Shrinkage modeling of concrete reinforced by palm fibres in hot dry environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akchiche, Hamida; Kriker, Abdelouahed

2017-02-01

The cement materials, such as concrete and conventional mortar present very little resistance to traction and cracking, these hydraulic materials which induces large withdrawals on materials and cracks in structures. The hot dry environments such as: the Saharan regions of Algeria, Indeed, concrete structures in these regions are very fragile, and present high shrinkage. Strengthening of these materials by fibers can provide technical solutions for improving the mechanical performance. The aim of this study is firstly, to reduce the shrinkage of conventional concrete with its reinforcement with date palm fibers. In fact, Algeria has an extraordinary resources in natural fibers (from Palm, Abaca, Hemp) but without valorization in practical areas, especially in building materials. Secondly, to model the shrinkage behavior of concrete was reinforced by date palm fibers. In the literature, several models for still fiber concrete were founded but few are offers for natural fiber concretes. To do so, a still fiber concretes model of YOUNG - CHERN was used. According to the results, a reduction of shrinkage with reinforcement by date palm fibers was showed. A good ability of molding of shrinkage of date palm reinforced concrete with YOUNG - CHERN Modified model was obtained. In fact, a good correlation between experimental data and the model data was recorded.

Synthetic Co-Attractants of the Aggregation Pheromone of the Date Palm Root Borer Oryctes agamemnon.

PubMed

Hasni, Narjes; Pinier, Centina; Imed, Cheraief; Ouhichi, Monêem; Couzi, Philippe; Chermiti, Brahim; Frérot, Brigitte; Saïd, Imen; Rochat, Didier

2017-07-01

Laboratory and field investigations to identify and evaluate plant co-attractants of the aggregation pheromone of the date palm pest Oryctes agamemnon are reported. Volatiles emitted by freshly cut palm core and palm core with feeding males, were collected, analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry and evaluated in olfactometers alone or combined with synthetic pheromone. A collection of palm odor without male effluvia was attractive alone and enhanced attraction to synthetic pheromone in an olfactometer similar to that to a collection of palm odor emitted with feeding males and containing natural pheromone. Behavioral responses to collections of palm volatiles were correlated to the amount of volatiles material in them. Enhancement of the attractiveness of the pheromone was not correlated to chemicals specific to beetle feeding. The chemicals common to the active collections extracts were benzoate esters, mostly ethyl benzoate, anisole derivatives and sesquiterpenes. Blends of the most abundant components of the extracts were evaluated for enhancement of the attractiveness of pheromone (1 μg) in olfactometers at 1 or 10 μg doses. The mixtures were further evaluated by field trapping in Tunisia at 3-10 mg/day using reference (6 mg/day) or experimental pheromone formulations. A mixture of ethyl benzoate, 4-methylanisole and farnesol (1:1:1 w/w at 6.5 mg/day) enhanced captures in pheromone baited traps in 2014 and 2015 and this mixture was as active as the natural palm bait. The practical prospect of the result for the management for O. agamemnon, and other palm beetles is discussed.

Switching from monoculture to polyculture farming benefits birds in oil palm production landscapes: Evidence from mist netting data.

PubMed

Yahya, Muhammad S; Syafiq, Muhamad; Ashton-Butt, Adham; Ghazali, Amal; Asmah, Siti; Azhar, Badrul

2017-08-01

Monoculture farming is pervasive in industrial oil palm agriculture, including those RSPO plantations certified as sustainably managed. This farming practice does not promote the maintenance of farmland biodiversity. However, little scientific attention has been given to polyculture farming in oil palm production landscapes. Polyculture farming is likely to increase the floristic diversity and stand structural complexity that underpins biodiversity. Mist nets were used to sample birds at 120 smallholdings in Peninsular Malaysia. At each site, 12 vegetation structure characteristics were measured. We compared bird species richness, abundance, and composition between monoculture and polyculture smallholdings and used predictive models to examine the effects of habitat quality on avian biodiversity. Bird species richness was significantly greater in polyculture than that of monoculture smallholdings. The number of fallen and standing, dead oil palms were also important positive predictors of species richness. Bird abundance was also strongly increased by standing and dead oil palms and decreased with oil palm stand height. Our results indicate that polyculture farming can improve bird species richness in oil palm production landscapes. In addition, key habitat variables that are closely associated with farming practices, such as the removal of dead trees, should and can be managed by oil palm growers in order to promote biodiversity. To increase the sustainability of oil palm agriculture, it is imperative that stakeholders modify the way oil palms are currently planted and managed. Our findings can guide policy makers and certification bodies to promote oil palm production landscapes that will function more sustainably and increase existing biodiversity of oil palm landscapes.

Climate impacts on palm oil yields in the Nigerian Niger Delta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okoro, Stanley U.; Schickhoff, Udo; Boehner, Juergen; Schneider, Uwe A.; Huth, Neil

2016-04-01

Palm oil production has increased in recent decades and is estimated to increase further. The optimal role of palm oil production, however, is controversial because of resource conflicts with alternative land uses. Local conditions and climate change affect resource competition and the desirability of palm oil production. Based on this, crop yield simulations using different climate model output under different climate scenarios could be important tool in addressing the problem of uncertainty quantification among different climate model outputs. Previous studies on this region have focused mostly on single experimental fields, not considering variations in Agro-Ecological Zones, climatic conditions, varieties and management practices and, in most cases not extending to various IPCC climate scenarios and were mostly based on single climate model output. Furthermore, the uncertainty quantification of the climate- impact model has rarely been investigated on this region. To this end we use the biophysical simulation model APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems Simulator) to simulate the regional climate impact on oil palm yield over the Nigerian Niger Delta. We also examine whether the use of crop yield model output ensemble reduces the uncertainty rather than the use of climate model output ensemble. The results could serve as a baseline for policy makers in this region in understanding the interaction between potentials of energy crop production of the region as well as its food security and other negative feedbacks that could be associated with bioenergy from oil palm. Keywords: Climate Change, Climate impacts, Land use and Crop yields.

CRISPR/Cas9: A Practical Approach in Date Palm Genome Editing

PubMed Central

Sattar, Muhammad N.; Iqbal, Zafar; Tahir, Muhammad N.; Shahid, Muhammad S.; Khurshid, Muhammad; Al-Khateeb, Abdullatif A.; Al-Khateeb, Suliman A.

2017-01-01

The genetic modifications through breeding of crop plants have long been used to improve the yield and quality. However, precise genome editing (GE) could be a very useful supplementary tool for improvement of crop plants by targeted genome modifications. Various GE techniques including ZFNs (zinc finger nucleases), TALENs (transcription activator-like effector nucleases), and most recently clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 (CRISPR-associated protein 9)-based approaches have been successfully employed for various crop plants including fruit trees. CRISPR/Cas9-based approaches hold great potential in GE due to their simplicity, competency, and versatility over other GE techniques. However, to the best of our knowledge no such genetic improvement has ever been developed in date palm—an important fruit crop in Oasis agriculture. The applications of CRISPR/Cas9 can be a challenging task in date palm GE due to its large and complex genome, high rate of heterozygosity and outcrossing, in vitro regeneration and screening of mutants, high frequency of single-nucleotide polymorphism in the genome and ultimately genetic instability. In this review, we addressed the potential application of CRISPR/Cas9-based approaches in date palm GE to improve the sustainable date palm production. The availability of the date palm whole genome sequence has made it feasible to use CRISPR/Cas9 GE approach for genetic improvement in this species. Moreover, the future prospects of GE application in date palm are also addressed in this review. PMID:28878801

Topological and thermal properties of polypropylene composites based on oil palm biomass

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhat, A. H., E-mail: aamir.bhat@petronas.com.my, E-mail: anie-yal88@yahoo.com; Dasan, Y. K., E-mail: aamir.bhat@petronas.com.my, E-mail: anie-yal88@yahoo.com

Roughness on pristine and polymer composite surfaces is of enormous practical importance for polymer applications. This study deals with the use of varying quantity of oil palm ash as a nanofiller in a polypropylene based matrix. The oil palm ash sample was preprocessed to break the particles into small diameter by using ultra sonication before using microfluidizer for further deduction in size and homogenization. The oil palm ash was made to undergo many passes through the microfluidizer for fine distribution of particles. Polypropylene based composites containing different loading percentage oil palm ash was granulated by twin screw extruder and thenmore » injection molded. The surface morphology of the OPA passed through microfluidizer was analyzed by Tapping Mode - Atomic Force Microscopy (TMAFM). Thermal analysis results showed an increase in the activation energy values. The thermal stability of the composite samples showed improvement as compared to the virgin polymer as corroborated by the on-set degradation temperatures and the temperatures at which 50% degradation occurred.« less

Fabrication of hydrophobic compressed oil palm trunk surface by sol-gel process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muzakir, Syafiqah; Salim, Nurjannah; Huda Abu Bakar, Nurul; Roslan, Rasidi; Sin, Lim Wan; Hashim, Rokiah

2018-04-01

Improvement of the robustness of hydrophobic surfaces is crucial to achieving commercial applications of these surfaces in such various areas as self-cleaning, water repellency and corrosion resistance. Compressed oil palm trunk (OPT) panel is one of potential product which can be used as panelling and indoor furniture application. By adding hydrophobic properties to compressed oil palm trunk panel might increase the application of compressed oil palm trunk especially for outdoor application. In this study, fabrication is using the sol-gel technique. Sol-gel was prepared by adding ethanol with Hexadecyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) solution with Tetraethyl Orthosilicate (TEOS) with surface modification of chlorotrimethylsilane (CTMS). The surface with hydrophobic coating was undergone surface analysis with contact angle machine with the aid of software SCA 20 and the determined of the morphology of surface with scanning electron microscope (SEM). The produced compressed oil palm trunk surfaces exhibited promising hydrophobic properties with a contact angle of 104° and the relatively better mechanical robustness.

Biodynamic response at the palm of the human hand subjected to a random vibration.

PubMed

Dong, Ren G; McDowell, Thomas W; Welcome, Daniel E

2005-01-01

This study investigated the biodynamic response (BR) distributed at the palm of the hand subjected to a random vibration. Twelve male subjects were used in the experiment. Each subject applied three coupling actions (grip-only, push-only, and combined grip and push) on a simulated tool handle at three different levels (50, 75, and 100 N) of palm force. This study found that the hand-arm system resonated mostly in the frequency range of 20 to 50 Hz, depending on the specific test treatment and individual characteristics. The maximum vibration power transmission through the palm occurred at the resonant frequency. Increasing the effective palm force generally increased the BR magnitude and resonant frequency. The apparent stiffness measured at the middle frequencies (80-100 Hz) is correlated to the BR in almost the entire frequency range (20-1,000 Hz). Under the same palm force, the push-only action corresponded to the highest BR values while the grip-only action generally produced the lowest values. Since the resonant frequency range matches the dominant vibration frequency range of many percussive tools, it is anticipated that the palm BR and vibration power transmission may have an association with vibration-induced injuries or disorders in the wrist-arm system among the workers using these tools.

Hormones, polyamines, and cell wall metabolism during oil palm fruit mesocarp development and ripening.

PubMed

Teh, Huey Fang; Neoh, Bee Keat; Wong, Yick Ching; Kwong, Qi Bin; Ooi, Tony Eng Keong; Ng, Theresa Lee Mei; Tiong, Soon Huat; Low, Jaime Yoke Sum; Danial, Asma Dazni; Ersad, Mohd Amiron; Kulaveerasingam, Harikrishna; Appleton, David R

2014-08-13

Oil palm is one of the most productive oil-producing crops and can store up to 90% oil in its fruit mesocarp. Oil palm fruit is a sessile drupe consisting of a fleshy mesocarp from which palm oil is extracted. Biochemical changes in the mesocarp cell walls, polyamines, and hormones at different ripening stages of oil palm fruits were studied, and the relationship between the structural and the biochemical metabolism of oil palm fruits during ripening is discussed. Time-course analysis of the changes in expression of polyamines, hormones, and cell-wall-related genes and metabolites provided insights into the complex processes and interactions involved in fruit development. Overall, a strong reduction in auxin-responsive gene expression was observed from 18 to 22 weeks after pollination. High polyamine concentrations coincided with fruit enlargement during lipid accumulation and latter stages of maturation. The trend of abscisic acid (ABA) concentration was concordant with GA₄ but opposite to the GA₃ profile such that as ABA levels increase the resulting elevated ABA/GA₃ ratio clearly coincides with maturation. Polygalacturonase, expansin, and actin gene expressions were also observed to increase during fruit maturation. The identification of the master regulators of these coordinated processes may allow screening for oil palm variants with altered ripening profiles.

Oil palm genome sequence reveals divergence of interfertile species in old and new worlds

PubMed Central

Singh, Rajinder; Ong-Abdullah, Meilina; Low, Eng-Ti Leslie; Manaf, Mohamad Arif Abdul; Rosli, Rozana; Nookiah, Rajanaidu; Ooi, Leslie Cheng-Li; Ooi, Siew–Eng; Chan, Kuang-Lim; Halim, Mohd Amin; Azizi, Norazah; Nagappan, Jayanthi; Bacher, Blaire; Lakey, Nathan; Smith, Steven W; He, Dong; Hogan, Michael; Budiman, Muhammad A; Lee, Ernest K; DeSalle, Rob; Kudrna, David; Goicoechea, Jose Louis; Wing, Rod; Wilson, Richard K; Fulton, Robert S; Ordway, Jared M; Martienssen, Robert A; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi

2013-01-01

Oil palm is the most productive oil-bearing crop. Planted on only 5% of the total vegetable oil acreage, palm oil accounts for 33% of vegetable oil, and 45% of edible oil worldwide, but increased cultivation competes with dwindling rainforest reserves. We report the 1.8 gigabase (Gb) genome sequence of the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis, the predominant source of worldwide oil production. 1.535 Gb of assembled sequence and transcriptome data from 30 tissue types were used to predict at least 34,802 genes, including oil biosynthesis genes and homologues of WRINKLED1 (WRI1), and other transcriptional regulators1, which are highly expressed in the kernel. We also report the draft sequence of the S. American oil palm Elaeis oleifera, which has the same number of chromosomes (2n=32) and produces fertile interspecific hybrids with E. guineensis2, but appears to have diverged in the new world. Segmental duplications of chromosome arms define the palaeotetraploid origin of palm trees. The oil palm sequence enables the discovery of genes for important traits as well as somaclonal epigenetic alterations which restrict the use of clones in commercial plantings3, and thus helps achieve sustainability for biofuels and edible oils, reducing the rainforest footprint of this tropical plantation crop. PMID:23883927

Distribution of periphytic algae in wetlands (Palm swamps, Cerrado), Brazil.

PubMed

Dunck, B; Nogueira, I S; Felisberto, S A

2013-05-01

The distribution of periphytic algae communities depends on various factors such as type of substrate, level of disturbance, nutrient availability and light. According to the prediction that impacts of anthropogenic activity provide changes in environmental characteristics, making impacted Palm swamps related to environmental changes such as deforestation and higher loads of nutrients via allochthonous, the hypothesis tested was: impacted Palm swamps have higher richness, density, biomass and biovolume of epiphytic algae. We evaluated the distribution and structure of epiphytic algae communities in 23 Palm swamps of Goiás State under different environmental impacts. The community structure attributes here analyzed were composition, richness, density, biomass and biovolume. This study revealed the importance of the environment on the distribution and structuration of algal communities, relating the higher values of richness, biomass and biovolume with impacted environments. Acidic waters and high concentration of silica were important factors in this study. Altogether 200 taxa were identified, and the zygnemaphycea was the group most representative in richness and biovolume, whereas the diatoms, in density of studied epiphyton. Impacted Palm swamps in agricultural area presented two indicator species, Gomphonema lagenula Kützing and Oedogonium sp, both related to mesotrophic to eutrophic conditions for total nitrogen concentrations of these environments.

Non-tenera Contamination and the Economic Impact of SHELL Genetic Testing in the Malaysian Independent Oil Palm Industry

PubMed Central

Ooi, Leslie C.-L.; Low, Eng-Ti L.; Abdullah, Meilina O.; Nookiah, Rajanaidu; Ting, Ngoot C.; Nagappan, Jayanthi; Manaf, Mohamad A. A.; Chan, Kuang-Lim; Halim, Mohd A.; Azizi, Norazah; Omar, Wahid; Murad, Abdul J.; Lakey, Nathan; Ordway, Jared M.; Favello, Anthony; Budiman, Muhammad A.; Van Brunt, Andrew; Beil, Melissa; Leininger, Michael T.; Jiang, Nan; Smith, Steven W.; Brown, Clyde R.; Kuek, Alex C. S.; Bahrain, Shabani; Hoynes-O’Connor, Allison; Nguyen, Amelia Y.; Chaudhari, Hemangi G.; Shah, Shivam A.; Choo, Yuen-May; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi; Singh, Rajinder

2016-01-01

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is the most productive oil bearing crop worldwide. It has three fruit forms, namely dura (thick-shelled), pisifera (shell-less) and tenera (thin-shelled), which are controlled by the SHELL gene. The fruit forms exhibit monogenic co-dominant inheritance, where tenera is a hybrid obtained by crossing maternal dura and paternal pisifera palms. Commercial palm oil production is based on planting thin-shelled tenera palms, which typically yield 30% more oil than dura palms, while pisifera palms are female-sterile and have little to no palm oil yield. It is clear that tenera hybrids produce more oil than either parent due to single gene heterosis. The unintentional planting of dura or pisifera palms reduces overall yield and impacts land utilization that would otherwise be devoted to more productive tenera palms. Here, we identify three additional novel mutant alleles of the SHELL gene, which encode a type II MADS-box transcription factor, and determine oil yield via control of shell fruit form phenotype in a manner similar to two previously identified mutant SHELL alleles. Assays encompassing all five mutations account for all dura and pisifera palms analyzed. By assaying for these variants in 10,224 mature palms or seedlings, we report the first large scale accurate genotype-based determination of the fruit forms in independent oil palm planting sites and in the nurseries that supply them throughout Malaysia. The measured non-tenera contamination rate (10.9% overall on a weighted average basis) underscores the importance of SHELL genetic testing of seedlings prior to planting in production fields. By eliminating non-tenera contamination, comprehensive SHELL genetic testing can improve sustainability by increasing yield on existing planted lands. In addition, economic modeling demonstrates that SHELL gene testing will confer substantial annual economic gains to the oil palm industry, to Malaysian gross national income and to Malaysian

Evidence-based gene models for structural and functional annotations of the oil palm genome.

PubMed

Chan, Kuang-Lim; Tatarinova, Tatiana V; Rosli, Rozana; Amiruddin, Nadzirah; Azizi, Norazah; Halim, Mohd Amin Ab; Sanusi, Nik Shazana Nik Mohd; Jayanthi, Nagappan; Ponomarenko, Petr; Triska, Martin; Solovyev, Victor; Firdaus-Raih, Mohd; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi; Murphy, Denis; Low, Eng-Ti Leslie

2017-09-08

Oil palm is an important source of edible oil. The importance of the crop, as well as its long breeding cycle (10-12 years) has led to the sequencing of its genome in 2013 to pave the way for genomics-guided breeding. Nevertheless, the first set of gene predictions, although useful, had many fragmented genes. Classification and characterization of genes associated with traits of interest, such as those for fatty acid biosynthesis and disease resistance, were also limited. Lipid-, especially fatty acid (FA)-related genes are of particular interest for the oil palm as they specify oil yields and quality. This paper presents the characterization of the oil palm genome using different gene prediction methods and comparative genomics analysis, identification of FA biosynthesis and disease resistance genes, and the development of an annotation database and bioinformatics tools. Using two independent gene-prediction pipelines, Fgenesh++ and Seqping, 26,059 oil palm genes with transcriptome and RefSeq support were identified from the oil palm genome. These coding regions of the genome have a characteristic broad distribution of GC 3 (fraction of cytosine and guanine in the third position of a codon) with over half the GC 3 -rich genes (GC 3  ≥ 0.75286) being intronless. In comparison, only one-seventh of the oil palm genes identified are intronless. Using comparative genomics analysis, characterization of conserved domains and active sites, and expression analysis, 42 key genes involved in FA biosynthesis in oil palm were identified. For three of them, namely EgFABF, EgFABH and EgFAD3, segmental duplication events were detected. Our analysis also identified 210 candidate resistance genes in six classes, grouped by their protein domain structures. We present an accurate and comprehensive annotation of the oil palm genome, focusing on analysis of important categories of genes (GC 3 -rich and intronless), as well as those associated with important functions, such as FA

DRDB: An Online Date Palm Genomic Resource Database.

PubMed

He, Zilong; Zhang, Chengwei; Liu, Wanfei; Lin, Qiang; Wei, Ting; Aljohi, Hasan A; Chen, Wei-Hua; Hu, Songnian

2017-01-01

Background: Date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a cultivated woody plant with agricultural and economic importance in many countries around the world. With the advantages of next generation sequencing technologies, genome sequences for many date palm cultivars have been released recently. Short sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) can be identified from these genomic data, and have been proven to be very useful biomarkers in plant genome analysis and breeding. Results: Here, we first improved the date palm genome assembly using 130X of HiSeq data generated in our lab. Then 246,445 SSRs (214,901 SSRs and 31,544 compound SSRs) were annotated in this genome assembly; among the SSRs, mononucleotide SSRs (58.92%) were the most abundant, followed by di- (29.92%), tri- (8.14%), tetra- (2.47%), penta- (0.36%), and hexa-nucleotide SSRs (0.19%). The high-quality PCR primer pairs were designed for most (174,497; 70.81% out of total) SSRs. We also annotated 6,375,806 SNPs with raw read depth≥3 in 90% cultivars. To further reduce false positive SNPs, we only kept 5,572,650 (87.40% out of total) SNPs with at least 20% cultivars support for downstream analyses. The high-quality PCR primer pairs were also obtained for 4,177,778 (65.53%) SNPs. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships among the 62 cultivars using these variants and found that they can be divided into three clusters, namely North Africa, Egypt - Sudan, and Middle East - South Asian, with Egypt - Sudan being the admixture of North Africa and Middle East - South Asian cultivars; we further confirmed these clusters using principal component analysis. Moreover, 34,346 SSRs and 4,177,778 SNPs with PCR primers were assigned to shared cultivars for cultivar classification and diversity analysis. All these SSRs, SNPs and their classification are available in our database, and can be used for cultivar identification, comparison, and molecular breeding. Conclusion: DRDB is a comprehensive

DRDB: An Online Date Palm Genomic Resource Database

PubMed Central

He, Zilong; Zhang, Chengwei; Liu, Wanfei; Lin, Qiang; Wei, Ting; Aljohi, Hasan A.; Chen, Wei-Hua; Hu, Songnian

2017-01-01

Background: Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a cultivated woody plant with agricultural and economic importance in many countries around the world. With the advantages of next generation sequencing technologies, genome sequences for many date palm cultivars have been released recently. Short sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) can be identified from these genomic data, and have been proven to be very useful biomarkers in plant genome analysis and breeding. Results: Here, we first improved the date palm genome assembly using 130X of HiSeq data generated in our lab. Then 246,445 SSRs (214,901 SSRs and 31,544 compound SSRs) were annotated in this genome assembly; among the SSRs, mononucleotide SSRs (58.92%) were the most abundant, followed by di- (29.92%), tri- (8.14%), tetra- (2.47%), penta- (0.36%), and hexa-nucleotide SSRs (0.19%). The high-quality PCR primer pairs were designed for most (174,497; 70.81% out of total) SSRs. We also annotated 6,375,806 SNPs with raw read depth≥3 in 90% cultivars. To further reduce false positive SNPs, we only kept 5,572,650 (87.40% out of total) SNPs with at least 20% cultivars support for downstream analyses. The high-quality PCR primer pairs were also obtained for 4,177,778 (65.53%) SNPs. We reconstructed the phylogenetic relationships among the 62 cultivars using these variants and found that they can be divided into three clusters, namely North Africa, Egypt – Sudan, and Middle East – South Asian, with Egypt – Sudan being the admixture of North Africa and Middle East – South Asian cultivars; we further confirmed these clusters using principal component analysis. Moreover, 34,346 SSRs and 4,177,778 SNPs with PCR primers were assigned to shared cultivars for cultivar classification and diversity analysis. All these SSRs, SNPs and their classification are available in our database, and can be used for cultivar identification, comparison, and molecular breeding. Conclusion: DRDB is a

The Growth of Agarwood Plants on the Different Canopy Covers Level and Fertilizer in Oil Palm Plantation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahayu Prastyaningsih, Sri; Azwin

2017-12-01

The development of agar wood plants in oil palm plantation requires the forestry techniques in order to obtain maximum production. In an oil palm stands, the age of plant will affect the height, diameter, population and stands density. The older age of an oil palm stands will affect the canopy cover on the forest floor. Agar wood plants are semi-tolerant growth and oil palm can be used as shade. Unilak has an oil palm plantation area of 10 hectares around the campus with 10 years old and 20 years old. The soil condition at the study is Podsolik Merah Kuning (PMK) which poor nutrient and needs fertilization to increase soil fertility. This study aims to find out the effect of age of oil palm stands and fertilization for optimal growth. The split plot design with 2 main plots of the age of palm tree ( 10 years old and 20 years old) and five kinds of fertilizing sub plot (without fertilizer, 40 gram/plant of NPK, 80 gram/plat of NPK, 120 gram/plant of NPK and 180 gram/plant of NPK were used. The results of this research showed that the age of palm tree (canopy cover) treatment gave non-significant influence on the growing of agar wood until it reaches 4 months of growth. The canopyy cover by 10 years old of oil palm tree produce the best response on height (15 cm) and diameter (0,4 cm) growth of agar woods..Fertilizing treatment di not give any significant influence on the heigh and diameter growth of agarwood plants until reach 3 months. The interaction by 10 years old of palm with fertilizing gave non significant results.

The global palm oil sector must change to save biodiversity and improve food security in the tropics.

PubMed

Azhar, Badrul; Saadun, Norzanalia; Prideaux, Margi; Lindenmayer, David B

2017-12-01

Most palm oil currently available in global markets is sourced from certified large-scale plantations. Comparatively little is sourced from (typically uncertified) smallholders. We argue that sourcing sustainable palm oil should not be determined by commercial certification alone and that the certification process should be revisited. There are so-far unrecognized benefits of sourcing palm oil from smallholders that should be considered if genuine biodiversity conservation is to be a foundation of 'environmentally sustainable' palm oil production. Despite a lack of certification, smallholder production is often more biodiversity-friendly than certified production from large-scale plantations. Sourcing palm oil from smallholders also alleviates poverty among rural farmers, promoting better conservation outcomes. Yet, certification schemes - the current measure of 'sustainability' - are financially accessible only for large-scale plantations that operate as profit-driven monocultures. Industrial palm oil is expanding rapidly in regions with weak environmental laws and enforcement. This warrants the development of an alternative certification scheme for smallholders. Greater attention should be directed to deforestation-free palm oil production in smallholdings, where production is less likely to cause large scale biodiversity loss. These small-scale farmlands in which palm oil is mixed with other crops should be considered by retailers and consumers who are interested in promoting sustainable palm oil production. Simultaneously, plantation companies should be required to make their existing production landscapes more compatible with enhanced biodiversity conservation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Palm tocotrienol-rich fraction inhibits methionine-induced cystathionine β-synthase in rat liver.

PubMed

Kamisah, Yusof; Norsidah, Ku-Zaifah; Azizi, Ayob; Faizah, Othman; Nonan, Mohd Rizal; Asmadi, Ahmad Yusof

2015-12-01

Oxidative stress plays an important role in cardiovascular diseases. The study investigated the effects of dietary palm tocotrienol-rich fraction on homocysteine metabolism in rats fed a high-methionine diet. Forty-two male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to six groups. Five groups were fed with high-methionine diet (1%) for 10 weeks. Groups 2 to 5 were also given dietary folate (8 mg/kg) and three doses of palm tocotrienol-rich fraction (30, 60 and 150 mg/kg) from week 6 to week 10. The last group was only given basal rat chow. High-methionine diet increased plasma homocysteine after 10 weeks, which was prevented by the supplementations of folate and high-dose palm tocotrienol-rich fraction. Hepatic S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) content was unaffected in all groups but S-adenosyl homocysteine (SAH) content was reduced in the folate group. Folate supplementation increased the SAM/SAH ratio, while in the palm tocotrienol-rich fraction groups, the ratio was lower compared with the folate. Augmented activity of hepatic cystathionine β-synthase and lipid peroxidation content by high-methionine diet was inhibited by palm tocotrienol-rich fraction supplementations (moderate and high doses), but not by folate. The supplemented groups had lower hepatic lipid peroxidation than the high-methionine diet. In conclusion, palm tocotrienol-rich fraction reduced high-methionine-induced hyperhomocysteinaemia possibly by reducing hepatic oxidative stress in high-methionine-fed rats. It may also exert a direct inhibitory effect on hepatic cystathionine β-synthase.

Geographical provenance of palm oil by fatty acid and volatile compound fingerprinting techniques.

PubMed

Tres, A; Ruiz-Samblas, C; van der Veer, G; van Ruth, S M

2013-04-15

Analytical methods are required in addition to administrative controls to verify the geographical origin of vegetable oils such as palm oil in an objective manner. In this study the application of fatty acid and volatile organic compound fingerprinting in combination with chemometrics have been applied to verify the geographical origin of crude palm oil (continental scale). For this purpose 94 crude palm oil samples were collected from South East Asia (55), South America (11) and Africa (28). Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to develop a hierarchical classification model by combining two consecutive binary PLS-DA models. First, a PLS-DA model was built to distinguish South East Asian from non-South East Asian palm oil samples. Then a second model was developed, only for the non-Asian samples, to discriminate African from South American crude palm oil. Models were externally validated by using them to predict the identity of new authentic samples. The fatty acid fingerprinting model revealed three misclassified samples. The volatile compound fingerprinting models showed an 88%, 100% and 100% accuracy for the South East Asian, African and American class, respectively. The verification of the geographical origin of crude palm oil is feasible by fatty acid and volatile compound fingerprinting. Further research is required to further validate the approach and to increase its spatial specificity to country/province scale. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Proximity to encroaching coconut palm limits native forest water use and persistence on a Pacific atoll

USGS Publications Warehouse

Krauss, Ken W.; Duberstein, Jamie A.; Cormier, Nicole; Young, Hillary S.; Hathaway, Stacie A.

2015-01-01

Competition for fresh water between native and introduced plants is one important challenge facing native forests as rainfall variability increases. Competition can be especially acute for vegetation on Pacific atolls, which depend upon consistent rainfall to replenish shallow groundwater stores. Patterns of sap flow, water use, and diameter growth of Pisonia grandis trees were investigated on Sand Islet, Palmyra Atoll, Line Islands, during a period of low rainfall. Sap flow in the outer sapwood was reduced by 53% for P. grandis trees growing within coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) stands (n = 9) versus away from coconut palm (n = 9). This suggested that water uptake was being limited by coconut palm. Radial patterns of sap flow into the sapwood of P. grandis also differed between stands with and without coconut palm, such that individual tree water use for P. grandis ranged from 14 to 67 L day−1, averaging 47·8 L day−1 without coconut palm and 23·6 L day−1 with coconut palm. Diameter growth of P. grandis was measured from nine islets. In contrast to sap flow, competition with coconut palm increased diameter growth by 89%, equating to an individual tree basal area increment of 5·4 versus 10·3 mm2 day−1. Greater diameter growth countered by lower rates of water use by P. grandis trees growing in competition with coconut palm suggests that stem swell may be associated with water storage when positioned in the understory of coconut palm, and may facilitate survival when water becomes limiting until too much shading overwhelms P. grandis. 

Palm boards are not action measures: an alternative to the two-systems theory of geographical slant perception.

PubMed

Durgin, Frank H; Hajnal, Alen; Li, Zhi; Tonge, Natasha; Stigliani, Anthony

2010-06-01

Whereas most reports of the perception of outdoor hills demonstrate dramatic overestimation, estimates made by adjusting a palm board are much closer to the true hill orientation. We test the dominant hypothesis that palm board accuracy is related to the need for motor action to be accurately guided and conclude instead that the perceptual experience of palm-board orientation is biased and variable due to poorly calibrated proprioception of wrist flexion. Experiments 1 and 3 show that wrist-flexion palm boards grossly underestimate the orientations of near, reachable surfaces whereas gesturing with a free hand is fairly accurate. Experiment 2 shows that palm board estimates are much lower than free hand estimates for an outdoor hill as well. Experiments 4 shows that wrist flexion is biased and noisy compared to elbow flexion, while Experiment 5 shows that small changes in palm board height produce large changes in palm board estimates. Together, these studies suggest that palm boards are biased and insensitive measures. The existing literature arguing that there are two systems in the perception of geographical slant is re-evaluated, and a new theoretical framework is proposed in which a single exaggerated representation of ground-surface orientation guides both action and perception. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dissipation of the fungicide hexaconazole in oil palm plantation.

PubMed

Maznah, Zainol; Halimah, Muhamad; Ismail, Sahid; Idris, Abu Seman

2015-12-01

Hexaconazole is a potential fungicide to be used in the oil palm plantation for controlling the basal stem root (BSR) disease caused by Ganoderma boninense. Therefore, the dissipation rate of hexaconazole in an oil palm agroecosystem under field conditions was studied. Two experimental plots were treated with hexaconazole at the recommended dosage of 4.5 g a.i. palm(-1) (active ingredient) and at double the recommended dosage (9.0 g a.i. palm(-1)), whilst one plot was untreated as control. The residue of hexaconazole was detected in soil samples in the range of 2.74 to 0.78 and 7.13 to 1.66 mg kg(-1) at the recommended and double recommended dosage plots, respectively. An initial relatively rapid dissipation rate of hexaconazole residues occurred but reduced with time. The dissipation of hexaconazole in soil was described using first-order kinetics with the value of coefficient regression (r (2) > 0.8). The results indicated that hexaconazole has moderate persistence in the soil and the half-life was found to be 69.3 and 86.6 days in the recommended and double recommended dosage plot, respectively. The results obtained highlight that downward movement of hexaconazole was led by preferential flow as shown in image analysis. It can be concluded that varying soil conditions, environmental factors, and pesticide chemical properties of hexaconazole has a significant impact on dissipation of hexaconazole in soil under humid conditions.

In Vitro Cryopreservation of Date Palm Caulogenic Meristems.

PubMed

Fki, Lotfi; Chkir, Olfa; Kriaa, Walid; Nasri, Ameni; Baklouti, Emna; Masmoudi, Raja B; Rival, Alain; Drira, Noureddine; Panis, Bart

2017-01-01

Cryopreservation is the technology of choice not only for plant genetic resource preservation but also for virus eradication and for the efficient management of large-scale micropropagation. In this chapter, we describe three cryopreservation protocols (standard vitrification, droplet vitrification, and encapsulation vitrification) for date palm highly proliferating meristems that are initiated from vitro-cultures using plant growth regulator-free MS medium. The positive impact of sucrose preculture and cold hardening treatments on survival rates is significant. Regeneration rates obtained with standard vitrification, encapsulation-vitrification, and droplet-vitrification protocols can reach 30, 40, and 70%, respectively. All regenerated plants from non-cryopreserved or cryopreserved explants don't show morphological variation by maintaining genetic integrity without adverse effect of cryogenic treatment. Cryopreservation of date palm vitro-cultures enables commercial tissue culture laboratories to move to large-scale propagation from cryopreserved cell lines producing true-to-type plants after clonal field-testing trials. When comparing the cost of cryostorage and in-field conservation of date palm cultivars, tissue cryopreservation is the most cost-effective. Moreover, many of the risks linked to field conservation like erosion due to climatic, edaphic, and phytopathologic constraints are circumvented.

Life cycle inventory for the production of germinated oil palm seeds at a selected seed production unit in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khairuddin, Nik Sasha Khatrina; Ismail, B. S.; Muhamad, Halimah; May, Choo Yuen

2013-11-01

The increasing global demand for edible oil has encouraged Malaysia to increase the areas under oil palm cultivation. The total demand for germinated oil palm seeds in the years 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 were 86.4, 76.5, 72.6 and 75.2 million, respectively. Production of germinated oil palm seeds is the first link in the palm oil supply chain. Therefore, good management practices at seed production stage is required to ensure only high quality germinated oil palm seeds are produced before sale to customers. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used as a tool to assess environmental impact of the processes throughout a product's lifespan and this approach is an important tool for assessing green house gas (GHG) emission. For this study, a gate-to-gate life cycle inventory (LCI) of a single germinated oil palm seed production unit was carried out. The functional unit used for this LCI was one germinated oil palm seed. To determine the environmental impact for the production of germinated oil palm seeds, information on the inputs were obtained. The inputs for the production of germinated oil palm seeds involved materials such as polyethylene bags, electricity, water, chemicals and fungicides. For this study, the system boundary involved seed germination process and management of germinated oil palm seeds. It was found that the amount of input such as materials and energy used in the production of germinated oil palm seeds was very minimal.

Impact of palm olein in infant formulas on stool consistency and frequency: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

PubMed Central

Lasekan, John B.; Hustead, Deborah S.; Masor, Marc; Murray, Robert

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Background: Meta-analysis studies have documented that palm olein (PALM) predominant formulas reduce calcium and fat absorption, and bone mineralization in infants, but none have been documented for stool consistency and frequency. Objective: The study objective was to conduct a meta-analysis of published randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on the effect of PALM-based formulas on stool consistency and frequency in infants. Design: A literature search was conducted in BIOSIS Previews®, Embase®, Embase® Alert, MEDLINE® and Cochrane databases. PALM-based RCTs with available stool outcomes were selected and meta-analyzed. Mean rank stool consistency (MRSC, primary outcome) and stool frequency (secondary outcome) were compared between infants fed PALM-based and PALM-free formulas (NoPALM), using random effects model. Results: Nine out of identified16 studies were meta-analyzed. The mean MRSC (scale of 1 = watery to 5 = hard) in the NoPALM-fed infants was lower (softer stools) compared to the PALM-fed infants (mean difference ‒0.355, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] of ‒0.472 to ‒0.239, p < 0.001). Difference for stool frequency was not significant (p = 0.613). Conclusion: Meta-analysis of RCTs indicated that NoPALM-fed infants have significantly softer stools but similar stool frequencies versus PALM-fed infants, despite differences in study types and design. Future meta-analysis could benefit from including comparison with human milk-fed infants. PMID:28659741

Modelling of moisture adsorption for sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) starch film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jatmiko, Tri Hadi; Poeloengasih, Crescentiana D.; Prasetyo, Dwi Joko; Hernawan

2017-03-01

Sorption characteristic of food products is important for design, optimization, storage and modelling. Sugar palm starch film with two different plasticizers (sorbitol and glycerol) with varied concentration studied for its adsorption isotherm characteristic. The data of adsorption isotherm fitted with GAB, Oswin, Smith and Peleg models. All models describe the experiment data well, but Peleg model is better than the other models on both sugar palm starch film plasticized with sorbitol and glycerol. Moisture sorption of sugar palm starch increased linearly with plasticizer concentration. A new model by taking account of plasticizer concentration describes the experiment data well with an average of coefficients of determination (R2) 0.9913 and 0.9939 for film plasticized with glycerol and sorbitol respectively.

21 CFR 172.861 - Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm... HUMAN CONSUMPTION Multipurpose Additives § 172.861 Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils. The food additive, cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or...

A comparison of the hydraulic efficiency of a palm species (Iriartea deltoidea) with other wood types.

PubMed

Renninger, Heidi J; McCulloh, Katherine A; Phillips, Nathan

2013-02-01

Palms are an important component of tropical ecosystems, living alongside dicotyledonous trees, even though they have a very different growth pattern and vascular system. As monocots, vessels in palms are located within vascular bundles and, without a vascular cambium that many dicotyledonous trees possess, palms cannot add additional vessels to their vascular system as they get older and taller. This means that hydraulic architecture in palms is more predetermined, which may require a highly efficient hydraulic system. This preset nature, along with the decoupling of hydraulic and mechanical functioning to different cell types, may allow palms to have a more efficient hydraulic system than dicotyledonous trees. Therefore, this study seeks to determine the efficiency of the hydraulic system in the palm Iriartea deltoidea (Ruiz & Pav.) and compare this efficiency with other tree forms. We measured cross-sectional areas of roots, stems and fronds as well as leaf areas of I. deltoidea saplings. Likewise, cross-sections were made and vessel diameters and frequencies measured. This allowed for the calculation of theoretical specific conductivity (K(S,calc)), theoretical leaf-specific conductivity (K(L,calc)), and vessel diameter and vessel number ratios between distal and proximal locations in the palms. Iriartea deltoidea palms were found to have the largest, least frequent vessels that diverged most from the square packing limit (maximum number of vessels that fit into a given area) compared with other major tree forms, and they therefore invested the least space and carbon into water transport structures. Likewise, conduits tapered by ∼1/3 between ranks (root, bole and petiole), which represents an efficient ratio with regard to the trade-offs between safety and efficiency of the conducting system. Conduits also exhibited a high conservation of the sum of the conduit radii cubed (Σr(3)) across ranks, thereby approximating Murray's law patterning. Therefore, our

Environmental regulation of sex determination in oil palm: current knowledge and insights from other species.

PubMed

Adam, Hélène; Collin, Myriam; Richaud, Frédérique; Beulé, Thierry; Cros, David; Omoré, Alphonse; Nodichao, Leifi; Nouy, Bruno; Tregear, James W

2011-12-01

The African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a monoecious species of the palm subfamily Arecoideae. It may be qualified as 'temporally dioecious' in that it produces functionally unisexual male and female inflorescences in an alternating cycle on the same plant, resulting in an allogamous mode of reproduction. The 'sex ratio' of an oil palm stand is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. In particular, the enhancement of male inflorescence production in response to water stress has been well documented. This paper presents a review of our current understanding of the sex determination process in oil palm and discusses possible insights that can be gained from other species. Although some informative phenological studies have been carried out, nothing is as yet known about the genetic basis of sex determination in oil palm, nor the mechanisms by which this process is regulated. Nevertheless new genomics-based techniques, when combined with field studies and biochemical and molecular cytological-based approaches, should provide a new understanding of the complex processes governing oil palm sex determination in the foreseeable future. Current hypotheses and strategies for future research are discussed.

Mapping palm oil expansion using SAR to study the impact on the CO2 cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pohl, Christine

2014-06-01

With Malaysia being the second largest palm oil producer in the world and the fact that palm oil ranks first in vegetable oil production on the world market the palm oil industry became an important factor in the country. Along with the expansion of palm oil across the nation causing deforestation of natural rain forest and conversion of peat land into plantation land there are several factors causing a tremendous increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Main causes of CO2 emission apart from deforestation and peat-land conversion are the fires to create plantation land plus the fires burning waste products of the plantations itself. This paper describes a project that aims at the development of a remote sensing monitoring system to allow a continuous observation of oil palm plantation activities and expansion in order to be able to quantify CO2 emissions. The research concentrates on developing a spaceborne synthetic aperture radar information extraction system for palm oil plantations in the Tropics. This will lead to objective figures that can be used internationally to create a policy implementation plan to sustainably reduce CO2 emission in the future.

Relative Estimation of Water Content for Flat-Type Inductive-Based Oil Palm Fruit Maturity Sensor

PubMed Central

Misron, Norhisam; Aliteh, Nor Aziana; Harun, Noor Hasmiza; Tashiro, Kunihisa; Sato, Toshiro; Wakiwaka, Hiroyuki

2016-01-01

The paper aims to study the sensor that identifies the maturity of oil palm fruit bunches by using a flat-type inductive concept based on a resonant frequency technique. Conventionally, a human grader is used to inspect the ripeness of the oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB) which can be inconsistent and inaccurate. There are various new methods that are proposed with the intention to grade the ripeness of the oil palm FFB, but none has taken the inductive concept. In this study, the resonance frequency of the air coil is investigated. Samples of oil palm FFB are tested with frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 10 MHz and the results obtained show a linear relationship between the graph of the resonance frequency (MHz) against time (Weeks). It is observed that the resonance frequencies obtained for Week 10 (pre-mature) and Week 18 (mature) are around 8.5 MHz and 9.8 MHz, respectively. These results are compared with the percentage of the moisture content. Hence, the inductive method of the oil palm fruit maturity sensor can be used to detect the change in water content for ripeness detection of the oil palm FFB. PMID:28036040

Relative Estimation of Water Content for Flat-Type Inductive-Based Oil Palm Fruit Maturity Sensor.

PubMed

Misron, Norhisam; Aliteh, Nor Aziana; Harun, Noor Hasmiza; Tashiro, Kunihisa; Sato, Toshiro; Wakiwaka, Hiroyuki

2016-12-28

The paper aims to study the sensor that identifies the maturity of oil palm fruit bunches by using a flat-type inductive concept based on a resonant frequency technique. Conventionally, a human grader is used to inspect the ripeness of the oil palm fresh fruit bunch (FFB) which can be inconsistent and inaccurate. There are various new methods that are proposed with the intention to grade the ripeness of the oil palm FFB, but none has taken the inductive concept. In this study, the resonance frequency of the air coil is investigated. Samples of oil palm FFB are tested with frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 10 MHz and the results obtained show a linear relationship between the graph of the resonance frequency (MHz) against time (Weeks). It is observed that the resonance frequencies obtained for Week 10 (pre-mature) and Week 18 (mature) are around 8.5 MHz and 9.8 MHz, respectively. These results are compared with the percentage of the moisture content. Hence, the inductive method of the oil palm fruit maturity sensor can be used to detect the change in water content for ripeness detection of the oil palm FFB.

Logged peat swamp forest supports greater macrofungal biodiversity than large-scale oil palm plantations and smallholdings.

PubMed

Shuhada, Siti Noor; Salim, Sabiha; Nobilly, Frisco; Zubaid, Akbar; Azhar, Badrul

2017-09-01

Intensive land expansion of commercial oil palm agricultural lands results in reducing the size of peat swamp forests, particularly in Southeast Asia. The effect of this land conversion on macrofungal biodiversity is, however, understudied. We quantified macrofungal biodiversity by identifying mushroom sporocarps throughout four different habitats; logged peat swamp forest, large-scale oil palm plantation, monoculture, and polyculture smallholdings. We recorded a total of 757 clusters of macrofungi belonging to 127 morphospecies and found that substrates for growing macrofungi were abundant in peat swamp forest; hence, morphospecies richness and macrofungal clusters were significantly greater in logged peat swamp forest than converted oil palm agriculture lands. Environmental factors that influence macrofungi in logged peat swamp forests such as air temperature, humidity, wind speed, soil pH, and soil moisture were different from those in oil palm plantations and smallholdings. We conclude that peat swamp forests are irreplaceable with respect to macrofungal biodiversity. They host much greater macrofungal biodiversity than any of the oil palm agricultural lands. It is imperative that further expansion of oil palm plantation into remaining peat swamp forests should be prohibited in palm oil producing countries. These results imply that macrofungal distribution reflects changes in microclimate between habitats and reduced macrofungal biodiversity may adversely affect decomposition in human-modified landscapes.

78 FR 11094 - Safety Zone; Lake Worth Dredge Operations, Lake Worth Inlet; West Palm Beach, FL

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-15

... 1625-AA00 Safety Zone; Lake Worth Dredge Operations, Lake Worth Inlet; West Palm Beach, FL AGENCY... safety zone on Lake Worth Inlet, West Palm Beach, Florida, to provide for the safety of life and vessels..., dredging operations will be conducted on Lake Worth Inlet in West Palm Beach, Florida. These operations...

Differential gene expression at different stages of mesocarp development in high- and low-yielding oil palm.

PubMed

Wong, Yick Ching; Teh, Huey Fang; Mebus, Katharina; Ooi, Tony Eng Keong; Kwong, Qi Bin; Koo, Ka Loo; Ong, Chuang Kee; Mayes, Sean; Chew, Fook Tim; Appleton, David R; Kulaveerasingam, Harikrishna

2017-06-21

The oil yield trait of oil palm is expected to involve multiple genes, environmental influences and interactions. Many of the underlying mechanisms that contribute to oil yield are still poorly understood. In this study, we used a microarray approach to study the gene expression profiles of mesocarp tissue at different developmental stages, comparing genetically related high- and low- oil yielding palms to identify genes that contributed to the higher oil-yielding palm and might contribute to the wider genetic improvement of oil palm breeding populations. A total of 3412 (2001 annotated) gene candidates were found to be significantly differentially expressed between high- and low-yielding palms at at least one of the different stages of mesocarp development evaluated. Gene Ontologies (GO) enrichment analysis identified 28 significantly enriched GO terms, including regulation of transcription, fatty acid biosynthesis and metabolic processes. These differentially expressed genes comprise several transcription factors, such as, bHLH, Dof zinc finger proteins and MADS box proteins. Several genes involved in glycolysis, TCA, and fatty acid biosynthesis pathways were also found up-regulated in high-yielding oil palm, among them; pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 component Subunit Beta (PDH), ATP-citrate lyase, β- ketoacyl-ACP synthases I (KAS I), β- ketoacyl-ACP synthases III (KAS III) and ketoacyl-ACP reductase (KAR). Sucrose metabolism-related genes such as Invertase, Sucrose Synthase 2 and Sucrose Phosphatase 2 were found to be down-regulated in high-yielding oil palms, compared to the lower yield palms. Our findings indicate that a higher carbon flux (channeled through down-regulation of the Sucrose Synthase 2 pathway) was being utilized by up-regulated genes involved in glycolysis, TCA and fatty acid biosynthesis leading to enhanced oil production in the high-yielding oil palm. These findings are an important stepping stone to understand the processes that lead to

Removal of oil palm trunk lignin in ammonium hydroxide pretreatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Az-Zahraa, Balqis; Zakaria, Sarani; Daud, Muhammad F. B.; Jaafar, Sharifah Nabihah Syed

2018-04-01

Alkaline pretreatment using ammonium hydroxide, NH4OH serves as one of a process to remove lignin from lignocellulosic biomass such as oil palm trunk fiber. In this study, the effect of NH4OH pretreatment on removal of oil palm trunk lignin was investigated. The oil palm trunk fiber was dissolved in NH4OH with different concentrations (6, 8 and 10 %), different duration (3, 5 and 7 h) and temperatures (60, 80 and 100 °C). The samples were analyzed by using UV-Vis to estimate the concentration of extracted lignin. The result indicates that the optimum conditions to gain maximum extracted lignin were 8% NH4OH, 100 °C and 5 h with concentration of 64 mgL-1 while the lowest was at 6% NH4OH, 100 °C and 5 h with concentration of 62.5 mgL-1.

A Genome-Wide Survey of Date Palm Cultivars Supports Two Major Subpopulations in Phoenix dactylifera.

PubMed

Mathew, Lisa S; Seidel, Michael A; George, Binu; Mathew, Sweety; Spannagl, Manuel; Haberer, Georg; Torres, Maria F; Al-Dous, Eman K; Al-Azwani, Eman K; Diboun, Ilhem; Krueger, Robert R; Mayer, Klaus F X; Mohamoud, Yasmin Ali; Suhre, Karsten; Malek, Joel A

2015-05-08

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the oldest cultivated trees and is intimately tied to the history of human civilization. There are hundreds of commercial cultivars with distinct fruit shapes, colors, and sizes growing mainly in arid lands from the west of North Africa to India. The origin of date palm domestication is still uncertain, and few studies have attempted to document genetic diversity across multiple regions. We conducted genotyping-by-sequencing on 70 female cultivar samples from across the date palm-growing regions, including four Phoenix species as the outgroup. Here, for the first time, we generate genome-wide genotyping data for 13,000-65,000 SNPs in a diverse set of date palm fruit and leaf samples. Our analysis provides the first genome-wide evidence confirming recent findings that the date palm cultivars segregate into two main regions of shared genetic background from North Africa and the Arabian Gulf. We identify genomic regions with high densities of geographically segregating SNPs and also observe higher levels of allele fixation on the recently described X-chromosome than on the autosomes. Our results fit a model with two centers of earliest cultivation including date palms autochthonous to North Africa. These results adjust our understanding of human agriculture history and will provide the foundation for more directed functional studies and a better understanding of genetic diversity in date palm. Copyright © 2015 Mathew et al.

21 CFR 172.861 - Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm... substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils. The food additive, cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils, may be safely used in food in accordance with the following...

21 CFR 172.861 - Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm... substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils. The food additive, cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils, may be safely used in food in accordance with the following...

21 CFR 172.861 - Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm... substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils. The food additive, cocoa butter substitute from coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or both oils, may be safely used in food in accordance with the following...

Molecular Identification of Date Palm Cultivars Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) Markers.

PubMed

Al-Khalifah, Nasser S; Shanavaskhan, A E

2017-01-01

Ambiguity in the total number of date palm cultivars across the world is pointing toward the necessity for an enumerative study using standard morphological and molecular markers. Among molecular markers, DNA markers are more suitable and ubiquitous to most applications. They are highly polymorphic in nature, frequently occurring in genomes, easy to access, and highly reproducible. Various molecular markers such as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), simple sequence repeats (SSR), inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR), and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers have been successfully used as efficient tools for analysis of genetic variation in date palm. This chapter explains a stepwise protocol for extracting total genomic DNA from date palm leaves. A user-friendly protocol for RAPD analysis and a table showing the primers used in different molecular techniques that produce polymorphisms in date palm are also provided.

Determination of Indonesian palm-oil-based bioenergy sustainability indicators using fuzzy inference system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arkeman, Y.; Rizkyanti, R. A.; Hambali, E.

2017-05-01

Development of Indonesian palm-oil-based bioenergy faces an international challenge regarding to sustainability issue, indicated by the establishment of standards on sustainable bioenergy. Currently, Indonesia has sustainability standards limited to palm-oil cultivation, while other standards are lacking appropriateness for Indonesian palm-oil-based bioenergy sustainability regarding to real condition in Indonesia. Thus, Indonesia requires sustainability indicators for Indonesian palm-oil-based bioenergy to gain recognition and easiness in marketing it. Determination of sustainability indicators was accomplished through three stages, which were preliminary analysis, indicator assessment (using fuzzy inference system), and system validation. Global Bioenergy partnership (GBEP) was used as the standard for the assessment because of its general for use, internationally accepted, and it contained balanced proportion between environment, economic, and social aspects. Result showed that the number of sustainability indicators using FIS method are 21 indicators. The system developed has an accuracy of 85%.

Identification and characterization of gene-based SSR markers in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.).

PubMed

Zhao, Yongli; Williams, Roxanne; Prakash, C S; He, Guohao

2012-12-15

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is an important tree in the Middle East and North Africa due to the nutritional value of its fruit. Molecular Breeding would accelerate genetic improvement of fruit tree through marker assisted selection. However, the lack of molecular markers in date palm restricts the application of molecular breeding. In this study, we analyzed 28,889 EST sequences from the date palm genome database to identify simple-sequence repeats (SSRs) and to develop gene-based markers, i.e. expressed sequence tag-SSRs (EST-SSRs). We identified 4,609 ESTs as containing SSRs, among which, trinucleotide motifs (69.7%) were the most common, followed by tetranucleotide (10.4%) and dinucleotide motifs (9.6%). The motif AG (85.7%) was most abundant in dinucleotides, while motifs AGG (26.8%), AAG (19.3%), and AGC (16.1%) were most common among trinucleotides. A total of 4,967 primer pairs were designed for EST-SSR markers from the computational data. In a follow up laboratory study, we tested a sample of 20 random selected primer pairs for amplification and polymorphism detection using genomic DNA from date palm cultivars. Nearly one-third of these primer pairs detected DNA polymorphism to differentiate the twelve date palm cultivars used. Functional categorization of EST sequences containing SSRs revealed that 3,108 (67.4%) of such ESTs had homology with known proteins. Date palm EST sequences exhibits a good resource for developing gene-based markers. These genic markers identified in our study may provide a valuable genetic and genomic tool for further genetic research and varietal development in date palm, such as diversity study, QTL mapping, and molecular breeding.

The addition of zeolite adsorbents and calcium oxide on purification of bioethanol from sugar palm (arenga pinnata merr)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herlina, Netti; Siska Dewi Harahap, Ici

2018-03-01

Bioethanol (C2H5OH) is a biochemical liquid produced by microorganisms through fermentation process on sugar molecules from carbohydrates. Bioethanol is a fuel of vegetable oil that has similar properties to premium. With its main product of palm juice, Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) is a potential source of sugar and carbohydrate for bioethanol production. Production of palm juice can reach up to 12-14 liters/tree/day with total sugar content in palm juice ranges from 12-15%. The purpose of this research was to produce highly-concentrated bioethanol from palm juice through fermentation proccess to subtitude fossil fuel. This study was conducted with three stages of treatment, namely: the fermentation of palm juice, distillation of bioethanol, and purification of bioethanol with the addition of adsorbent zeolite and calcium oxide.

Palm vein recognition based on directional empirical mode decomposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jen-Chun; Chang, Chien-Ping; Chen, Wei-Kuei

2014-04-01

Directional empirical mode decomposition (DEMD) has recently been proposed to make empirical mode decomposition suitable for the processing of texture analysis. Using DEMD, samples are decomposed into a series of images, referred to as two-dimensional intrinsic mode functions (2-D IMFs), from finer to large scale. A DEMD-based 2 linear discriminant analysis (LDA) for palm vein recognition is proposed. The proposed method progresses through three steps: (i) a set of 2-D IMF features of various scale and orientation are extracted using DEMD, (ii) the 2LDA method is then applied to reduce the dimensionality of the feature space in both the row and column directions, and (iii) the nearest neighbor classifier is used for classification. We also propose two strategies for using the set of 2-D IMF features: ensemble DEMD vein representation (EDVR) and multichannel DEMD vein representation (MDVR). In experiments using palm vein databases, the proposed MDVR-based 2LDA method achieved recognition accuracy of 99.73%, thereby demonstrating its feasibility for palm vein recognition.

Variation in bacterial endosymbionts associated with the date palm hopper, Ommatissus lybicus populations.

PubMed

Karimi, S; Izadi, H; Askari Seyahooei, M; Bagheri, A; Khodaygan, P

2018-04-01

The date palm hopper, Ommatissus lybicus, is a key pest of the date palm, which is expected to be comprised of many allopatric populations. The current study was carried out to determine bacterial endosymbiont diversity in the different populations of this pest. Ten date palm hopper populations were collected from the main date palm growing regions in Iran and an additional four samples from Pakistan, Oman, Egypt and Tunisia for detection of primary and secondary endosymbionts using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay with their specific primers. The PCR products were directly sequenced and edited using SeqMan software. The consensus sequences were subjected to a BLAST similarity search. The results revealed the presence of 'Candidatus Sulcia muelleri' (primary endosymbiont) and Wolbachia, Arsenophonus and Enterobacter (secondary endosymbionts) in all populations. This assay failed to detect 'Candidatus Nasuia deltocephalinicola' and Serratia in these populations. 'Ca. S. muelleri' exhibited a 100% infection frequency in populations and Wolbachia, Arsenophonus and Enterobacter demonstrated 100, 93.04 and 97.39% infection frequencies, respectively. The infection rate of Arsenophonus and Enterobacter ranged from 75 to 100% and 62.5 to 100%, respectively, in different populations of the insect. The results demonstrated multiple infections by 'Ca. Sulcia muelleri', Wolbachia, Arsenophonus and Enterobacter in the populations and may suggest significant roles for these endosymbionts on date palm hopper population fitness. This study provides an insight to endosymbiont variation in the date palm hopper populations; however, further investigation is needed to examine how these endosymbionts may affect host fitness.

Early Sex Identification in Date Palm by Male-Specific Sequence-Characterized Amplified Region (SCAR) Markers.

PubMed

Kharb, Pushpa; Mitra, Charu

2017-01-01

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a dioecious plant, and sex of the seedlings can be determined only at the time of first flowering which takes 4-5 years. Female date palm plants are of economic importance as they bear the fruit. Therefore, sex identification at an early stage is highly desirable. DNA-based markers are useful for early sex detection. In this chapter, we describe male-specific sequence-characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers to identify sex in date palm at the seedling stage. Genomic DNA is isolated separately from both male and female date palm genotypes. Amplification of this genomic DNA isolated from male and female plants using the SCAR primers results in an amplicon of 406 bp in both female and male samples and a unique amplicon of 354 bp only in male samples. Based on this amplification pattern, the sex of date palm seedlings can be predicted.

Conceptual design of semi-automatic wheelbarrow to overcome ergonomics problems among palm oil plantation workers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nawik, N. S. M.; Deros, B. M.; Rahman, M. N. A.; Sukadarin, E. H.; Nordin, N.; Tamrin, S. B. M.; Bakar, S. A.; Norzan, M. L.

2015-12-01

An ergonomics problem is one of the main issues faced by palm oil plantation workers especially during harvesting and collecting of fresh fruit bunches (FFB). Intensive manual handling and labor activities involved have been associated with high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among palm oil plantation workers. New and safe technology on machines and equipment in palm oil plantation are very important in order to help workers reduce risks and injuries while working. The aim of this research is to improve the design of a wheelbarrow, which is suitable for workers and a small size oil palm plantation. The wheelbarrow design was drawn using CATIA ergonomic features. The characteristic of ergonomics assessment is performed by comparing the existing design of wheelbarrow. Conceptual design was developed based on the problems that have been reported by workers. From the analysis of the problem, finally have resulting concept design the ergonomic quality of semi-automatic wheelbarrow with safe and suitable used for palm oil plantation workers.

Biosynthesis and characterization of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3- hydroxyhexanoate) from palm oil products in a Wautersia eutropha mutant.

PubMed

Loo, Ching-Yee; Lee, Wing-Hin; Tsuge, Takeharu; Doi, Yoshiharu; Sudesh, Kumar

2005-09-01

Palm kernel oil, palm olein, crude palm oil and palm acid oil were used for the synthesis of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(3HB-co-3HHx)] by a mutant strain of Wautersia eutropha (formerly Ralstonia eutropha) harboring the Aeromonas caviae polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase gene. Palm kernel oil was an excellent carbon source for the production of cell biomass and P(3HB-co-3HHx). About 87% (w/w) of the cell dry weight as P(3HB-co-3HHx) was obtained using 5 g palm kernel oil/l. Gravimetric and microscopic analyses further confirmed the high PHA content in the recombinant cells. The molar fraction of 3HHx remained constant at 5 mol % regardless of the type and concentration of palm oil products used. The small amount of 3HHx units was confirmed by 13C NMR analysis. The number average molecular weight (M(n)) of the PHA copolymer produced from the various palm oil products ranged from 27 0000 to 46 0000 Da. The polydispersity was in the range of 2.6-3.9.

Nitrogen management is essential to prevent tropical oil palm plantations from causing ground-level ozone pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hewitt, Nick; Lee, James

2010-05-01

More than half the world's rainforest has been lost to agriculture since the Industrial Revolution. Among the most widespread tropical crops is oil palm (Elaeis guineensis): global production now exceeds 35 million tonnes per year. In Malaysia, for example, 13% of land area is now oil palm plantation, compared with 1% in 1974. There are enormous pressures to increase palm oil production for food, domestic products, and, especially, biofuels. Greater use of palm oil for biofuel production is predicated on the assumption that palm oil is an ‘‘environmentally friendly'' fuel feedstock. Here we show, using measurements and models, that oil palm plantations in Malaysia directly emit more oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds than rainforest. These compounds lead to the production of ground-level ozone (O3), an air pollutant that damages human health, plants, and materials, reduces crop productivity, and has effects on the Earth's climate. Our measurements show that, at present, O3 concentrations do not differ significantly over rainforest and adjacent oil palm plantation landscapes. However, our model calculations predict that if concentrations of oxides of nitrogen in Borneo are allowed to reach those currently seen over rural North America and Europe, ground-level O3 concentrations will reach 100 parts per billion (109) volume (ppbv) and exceed levels known to be harmful to human health. Our study provides an early warning of the urgent need to develop policies that manage nitrogen emissions if the detrimental effects of palm oil production on air quality and climate are to be avoided.

The Impact of Selective-Logging and Forest Clearance for Oil Palm on Fungal Communities in Borneo

PubMed Central

Kerfahi, Dorsaf; Tripathi, Binu M.; Lee, Junghoon; Edwards, David P.; Adams, Jonathan M.

2014-01-01

Tropical forests are being rapidly altered by logging, and cleared for agriculture. Understanding the effects of these land use changes on soil fungi, which play vital roles in the soil ecosystem functioning and services, is a major conservation frontier. Using 454-pyrosequencing of the ITS1 region of extracted soil DNA, we compared communities of soil fungi between unlogged, once-logged, and twice-logged rainforest, and areas cleared for oil palm, in Sabah, Malaysia. Overall fungal community composition differed significantly between forest and oil palm plantation. The OTU richness and Chao 1 were higher in forest, compared to oil palm plantation. As a proportion of total reads, Basidiomycota were more abundant in forest soil, compared to oil palm plantation soil. The turnover of fungal OTUs across space, true β-diversity, was also higher in forest than oil palm plantation. Ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal abundance was significantly different between land uses, with highest relative abundance (out of total fungal reads) observed in unlogged forest soil, lower abundance in logged forest, and lowest in oil palm. In their entirety, these results indicate a pervasive effect of conversion to oil palm on fungal community structure. Such wholesale changes in fungal communities might impact the long-term sustainability of oil palm agriculture. Logging also has more subtle long term effects, on relative abundance of EcM fungi, which might affect tree recruitment and nutrient cycling. However, in general the logged forest retains most of the diversity and community composition of unlogged forest. PMID:25405609

The impact of selective-logging and forest clearance for oil palm on fungal communities in Borneo.

PubMed

Kerfahi, Dorsaf; Tripathi, Binu M; Lee, Junghoon; Edwards, David P; Adams, Jonathan M

2014-01-01

Tropical forests are being rapidly altered by logging, and cleared for agriculture. Understanding the effects of these land use changes on soil fungi, which play vital roles in the soil ecosystem functioning and services, is a major conservation frontier. Using 454-pyrosequencing of the ITS1 region of extracted soil DNA, we compared communities of soil fungi between unlogged, once-logged, and twice-logged rainforest, and areas cleared for oil palm, in Sabah, Malaysia. Overall fungal community composition differed significantly between forest and oil palm plantation. The OTU richness and Chao 1 were higher in forest, compared to oil palm plantation. As a proportion of total reads, Basidiomycota were more abundant in forest soil, compared to oil palm plantation soil. The turnover of fungal OTUs across space, true β-diversity, was also higher in forest than oil palm plantation. Ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal abundance was significantly different between land uses, with highest relative abundance (out of total fungal reads) observed in unlogged forest soil, lower abundance in logged forest, and lowest in oil palm. In their entirety, these results indicate a pervasive effect of conversion to oil palm on fungal community structure. Such wholesale changes in fungal communities might impact the long-term sustainability of oil palm agriculture. Logging also has more subtle long term effects, on relative abundance of EcM fungi, which might affect tree recruitment and nutrient cycling. However, in general the logged forest retains most of the diversity and community composition of unlogged forest.

Nitrogen management is essential to prevent tropical oil palm plantations from causing ground-level ozone pollution

PubMed Central

Hewitt, C. N.; MacKenzie, A. R.; Di Carlo, P.; Di Marco, C. F.; Dorsey, J. R.; Evans, M.; Fowler, D.; Gallagher, M. W.; Hopkins, J. R.; Jones, C. E.; Langford, B.; Lee, J. D.; Lewis, A. C.; Lim, S. F.; McQuaid, J.; Misztal, P.; Moller, S. J.; Monks, P. S.; Nemitz, E.; Oram, D. E.; Owen, S. M.; Phillips, G. J.; Pugh, T. A. M.; Pyle, J. A.; Reeves, C. E.; Ryder, J.; Siong, J.; Skiba, U.; Stewart, D. J.

2009-01-01

More than half the world's rainforest has been lost to agriculture since the Industrial Revolution. Among the most widespread tropical crops is oil palm (Elaeis guineensis): global production now exceeds 35 million tonnes per year. In Malaysia, for example, 13% of land area is now oil palm plantation, compared with 1% in 1974. There are enormous pressures to increase palm oil production for food, domestic products, and, especially, biofuels. Greater use of palm oil for biofuel production is predicated on the assumption that palm oil is an “environmentally friendly” fuel feedstock. Here we show, using measurements and models, that oil palm plantations in Malaysia directly emit more oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds than rainforest. These compounds lead to the production of ground-level ozone (O3), an air pollutant that damages human health, plants, and materials, reduces crop productivity, and has effects on the Earth's climate. Our measurements show that, at present, O3 concentrations do not differ significantly over rainforest and adjacent oil palm plantation landscapes. However, our model calculations predict that if concentrations of oxides of nitrogen in Borneo are allowed to reach those currently seen over rural North America and Europe, ground-level O3 concentrations will reach 100 parts per billion (109) volume (ppbv) and exceed levels known to be harmful to human health. Our study provides an early warning of the urgent need to develop policies that manage nitrogen emissions if the detrimental effects of palm oil production on air quality and climate are to be avoided. PMID:19841269

Productivity improvement with green approach to palm oil factory productivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matondang, N.

2018-02-01

The palm oil factory (POF) processes fresh fruit bunches into crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil (PKO) by products in the form of liquid and solid waste. One of the solid wastes produced in POF Tanjung Kasau is empty fruit bunches of palm oil (FBPO) which have been burned completely on incinerator tubes so that potentially produces pollutants that pollute the environment. If FBPO waste is managed properly, it will improve the productivity of the company. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study to find out how far the increased productivity of the company can reduce their impact on the environment, if FBPO is used as raw material of liquid smoke. The productivity improvement approach is done by Green Productivity concept, by looking at three aspects: environmental, social and economical. Green Productivity aims to protect the environment simultaneously by increasing the productivity of the company. One way is to turn FBPO waste into liquid smoke product is by pyrolysis process. The results showed that turning FBPO solid waste into liquid smoke will increase productivity by 18.18%. Implementation of Green Productivity can improve productivity through the improvement of FBPO waste treatment process which has been done by perfect combustion by pyrolysis process so that waste can be minimized to create environment industry POF clean and friendly environment.

Effect of plasticizer on moisture sorption isotherm of sugar palm (Arenga Pinnata) starch film

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jatmiko, Tri Hadi; Poeloengasih, Crescentiana D.; Prasetyo, Dwi Joko; Rosyida, Vita Taufika

2016-02-01

The effect of plasticizer type (glycerol, sorbitol) and plasticizer concentrations (30, 35, 40, 45% w/w polymer) on the moisture sorption isotherm characteristics of sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) starch films were investigated. Moisture affinity of sugar palm starch films was influenced by the plasticizer type and plasticizer concentration. The affinity of the glycerol plasticized film is stronger than that of sorbitol plasticized film. Sugar palm starch film with a higher concentration of glycerol absorbs more moisture with higher initial absorption rate than that of with sorbitol. Films with higher plasticizer concentration of glycerol and sorbitol show higher equilibrium moisture contents at the given relative humidity. The moisture sorption isotherm characteristic of sugar palm starch films can be described very well with the semi empirical 4 parameter Peleg's model.

Charting novel allergens from date palm pollen (Phoenix sylvestris) using homology driven proteomics.

PubMed

Saha, Bodhisattwa; Bhattacharya, Swati Gupta

2017-08-08

Pollen grains from Phoenix sylvestris (date palm), a commonly cultivated tree in India has been found to cause severe allergic diseases in an increasing percentage of hypersensitive individuals. To unearth its allergenic components, pollen protein were profiled by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by immunoblotting with date palm pollen sensitive patient sera. Allergens were identified by MALDI-TOF/TOF employing a layered proteomic approach combining conventional database dependent search and manual de novo sequencing followed by homology-based search as Phoenix sylvestris is unsequenced. Derivatization of tryptic peptides by acetylation has been demonstrated to differentiate the 'b' from the 'y' ions facilitating efficient de novo sequencing. Ten allergenic proteins were identified, out of which six showed homology with known allergens while others were reported for the first time. Amongst these, isoflavone reductase, beta-conglycinin, S-adenosyl methionine synthase, 1, 4 glucan synthase and beta-galactosidase were commonly reported as allergens from coconut pollen and presumably responsible for cross-reactivity. One of the allergens had IgE binding epitope recognized by its glycan moiety. The allergenic potency of date palm pollen has been demonstrated using in vitro tests. The identified allergens can be used to develop vaccines for immunotherapy against date palm pollen allergy. Identification of allergenic proteins from sources harboring them is essential in developing therapeutic interventions. This is the first comprehensive study on the identification of allergens from Phoenix sylvestris (date palm) pollen, one of the major aeroallergens in India using a proteomic approach. Proteomic methods are being increasingly used to identify allergens. However, since many of these proteins arise from species which are un-sequenced, it becomes difficult to interpret those using conventional proteomics. Date palm being an unsequenced species, the Ig

The characteristics of palm oil plantation solid biomass wastes as raw material for bio oil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yanti, RN; Hambali, E.; Pari, G.; Suryani, A.

2018-03-01

Indonesia is the largest palm oil plantations estate in the world. It reached 11,30 million hectares in 2015 and increased up to 11,67 million hectares in 2016. The advancement of technology recent, the solid waste of palm oil plantation can be re-produced become bio oil through pyrolysis hydrothermal process and utilized for biofuel. The purpose of this research was to analyze the characteristics of feedstock of bio oil of solid waste of palm oil plantations estate. The feedstock used was derived from solid waste of palm oil plantations in Riau Province. Characteristic analysis of waste oil included chemical compound content (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin), ultimate analysis (C, H, N, O, S) to know height heating value (HHV). The result of analysis of chemical content showed that solid waste of palm cellulose 31,33 – 66,36 %, hemicellulose 7,54 – 17,94 %, lignin 21,43 - 43,1. The HHV of hydrothermal pyrolysis feedstock was 15,18 kJ/gram - 19,57 kJ/gram. Generally, the solid waste of palm oil plantations estate containing lignocellulose can be utilized as bio oil through hydrothermal pyrolysis. The CG-MS analysis of bio oil indicated hydrocarbon contents such as pentadecane, octadecane, hexadecane and benzene.

77 FR 19663 - Notice of Data Availability Concerning Renewable Fuels Produced from Palm Oil Under the RFS...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-02

... Concerning Renewable Fuels Produced from Palm Oil Under the RFS Program; Extension of Comment Period AGENCY... of Data Availability Concerning Renewable Fuels Produced from Palm Oil under the RFS Program'' (the notice is herein referred to as the ``palm oil NODA''). EPA published a NODA, which included a request...

77 FR 8254 - Notice of Data Availability Concerning Renewable Fuels Produced From Palm Oil Under the RFS...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-14

... Concerning Renewable Fuels Produced From Palm Oil Under the RFS Program; Extension of Comment Period AGENCY... of Data Availability Concerning Renewable Fuels Produced From Palm Oil Under the RFS Program'' (the notice is herein referred to as the ``palm oil NODA''). EPA published a NODA, which included a request...

An investigation of age and yield of fresh fruit bunches of oil palm based on ALOS PALSAR 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darmawan, S.; Takeuchi, W.; Haryati, A.; M, R. Najib A.; Na'aim, M.

2016-06-01

The objective on this study is to investigate age and yield of FFB of oil palms based on ALOS PALSAR 2. Study areas in oil palm plantations areas of Jerantut, Pahang Malaysia. Methodology consists collecting of ALOS PALSAR 2 and tabular data on the study area, processing of ALOS PALSAR 2 including of converting digital numbers to normalize radar cross sections (NRCS), topography correction and filtering, making of regions of interest according to areas of age and yield of FFB of oil palms and making of relationship analysis between backscatter value of HH, HV and age and yield of FFB of oil palm. The results have showed relationship between HH, HV and age of oil palm which R2 of 0.63 for HH and 0.42 for HV that indicated increasing of age of oil palm as increasing of HH and HV value. Also relationship between HH, HV and yield of FFB of oil palm which R2 of 0.26 for HH and 0.15 for HV, that indicated increasing of yield of FFB as decreasing of HH and HV value.

The development of rotary drum dryer for palm fruit sterilization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanifarianty, S.; Legwiriyakul, A.; Alimalbari, A.; Nuntadusit, C.; Theppaya, T.; Wae-Hayee, M.

2018-01-01

The aim of this research was to design and develop a rotary drum dryer for palm fruit sterilization. In this article, the results of the effect of ventilation hole number on the reduction of moisture content in palm fruit were presented. The experimental set up was a drum dryer which has 57.5 cm in a diameter and 90 cm in a length (the size was similar to 200-littre steel drum container). A driving gear and a gear motor rotated the drum dryer. The ventilation hole were drilled on the lateral side of the drum. The diameter of ventilation hole was 10 mm, and the number of ventilation hole were 18, 36 and 72 hole (each side was 9, 18 and 36 hole, respectively). In the experiment, the palm fruit was dried by using LPG to burn and heat the bottom of the drum. The flow rate of LPG was controlled to keep the temperature inside the drum steadily at 120°C.

Computer-Vision-Assisted Palm Rehabilitation With Supervised Learning.

PubMed

Vamsikrishna, K M; Dogra, Debi Prosad; Desarkar, Maunendra Sankar

2016-05-01

Physical rehabilitation supported by the computer-assisted-interface is gaining popularity among health-care fraternity. In this paper, we have proposed a computer-vision-assisted contactless methodology to facilitate palm and finger rehabilitation. Leap motion controller has been interfaced with a computing device to record parameters describing 3-D movements of the palm of a user undergoing rehabilitation. We have proposed an interface using Unity3D development platform. Our interface is capable of analyzing intermediate steps of rehabilitation without the help of an expert, and it can provide online feedback to the user. Isolated gestures are classified using linear discriminant analysis (DA) and support vector machines (SVM). Finally, a set of discrete hidden Markov models (HMM) have been used to classify gesture sequence performed during rehabilitation. Experimental validation using a large number of samples collected from healthy volunteers reveals that DA and SVM perform similarly while applied on isolated gesture recognition. We have compared the results of HMM-based sequence classification with CRF-based techniques. Our results confirm that both HMM and CRF perform quite similarly when tested on gesture sequences. The proposed system can be used for home-based palm or finger rehabilitation in the absence of experts.

Estimation of carbon allocation of Macauba palm (Acrocomia aculeata) - A new Brazilian biofuel alternative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imbuzeiro, H. A.

2016-12-01

The Macauba palm (Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lood. ex Mart) is a native oil palm of the tropical America growing in anthropic areas, especially in grazing lands of Brazilian Cerrado. Macauba palm displays intense fruiting which results in high fruit and oil yield (3.0 - 6.0 ton/ha/year). The main Macauba palm differentials are: it is adapted to the environment with marked water restriction (1000 mm annual precipitation) which makes it resistant to drought and it does not compete with areas of rainforest; the oil is similar in composition to the African palm oil (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) and can be used in several industrial applications such as biofuels, food, cosmetics, pharmaceutics and oil chemistry. Additionally, Macauba fruit processing generates several by-products like edible pulp bran, high-protein edible kernel bran, dense endocarp biomass, and husk biomass, all valuable products. Today, 172 million hectares of Brazilian land are used for grazing, of which 30 million hectares of these lands are degraded due to poor land use, 6 million in the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. Macauba could be cultivated in these degraded lands and is a candidate to become the main raw material for production of biokerosene. A new productive chain is forming in Brazil, the first commercial plantation of Macauba was implemented last year in Minas Gerais state and it is important to estimate the environmental impacts of this plantation, in terms of carbon (C) allocation. There is a lack of experimental data on Macauba carbon allocation and this study aimed to estimate the carbon allocation (leaves, stems and roots) of Macauba palm. The results suggest that Macauba palm is important in contributing to the carbon allocation and nutrient cycling.

Estimation of carbon allocation of Macauba palm (Acrocomia aculeata) - A new Brazilian biofuel alternative

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imbuzeiro, H. A.; Moreira, S. L. S.; Motoike, S. Y.; Fernandes, R. B. A.

2017-12-01

The Macauba palm (Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lood. ex Mart) is a native oil palm of the tropical America growing in anthropic areas, especially in grazing lands of Brazilian Cerrado. Macauba palm displays intense fruiting which results in high fruit and oil yield (3.0 - 6.0 ton/ha/year). The main Macauba palm differentials are: it is adapted to the environment with marked water restriction (1000 mm annual precipitation) which makes it resistant to drought and it does not compete with areas of rainforest; the oil is similar in composition to the African palm oil (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) and can be used in several industrial applications such as biofuels, food, cosmetics, pharmaceutics and oil chemistry. Additionally, Macauba fruit processing generates several by-products like edible pulp bran, high-protein edible kernel bran, dense endocarp biomass, and husk biomass, all valuable products. Today, 172 million hectares of Brazilian land are used for grazing, of which 30 million hectares of these lands are degraded due to poor land use, 6 million in the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. Macauba could be cultivated in these degraded lands and is a candidate to become the main raw material for production of biokerosene. A new productive chain is forming in Brazil, the first commercial plantation of Macauba was implemented last year in Minas Gerais state and it is important to estimate the environmental impacts of this plantation, in terms of carbon (C) allocation. There is a lack of experimental data on Macauba carbon allocation and this study aimed to estimate the carbon allocation (leaves, stems and roots) of Macauba palm. The results suggest that Macauba palm is important in contributing to the carbon allocation.

Effects of the Diet on the Microbiota of the Red Palm Weevil (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae)

PubMed Central

Montagna, Matteo; Chouaia, Bessem; Mazza, Giuseppe; Prosdocimi, Erica Maria; Crotti, Elena; Mereghetti, Valeria; Vacchini, Violetta; Giorgi, Annamaria; De Biase, Alessio; Longo, Santi; Cervo, Rita; Lozzia, Giuseppe Carlo; Alma, Alberto; Bandi, Claudio; Daffonchio, Daniele

2015-01-01

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, also known as the red palm weevil, is regarded as the major pest of palm trees. Although studies of the microbiota associated with this species have been performed in recent years, little attention has been dedicated to the influence of the diet in shaping the host bacterial community. Here, we investigated the influence of food sources (i.e. palm tissues vs apple based substrate) on the microbial diversity associated with RPW, which was compared with the microbiota associated with wild individuals of the sister species Rhynchophorus vulneratus. The bacterial characterization was performed using a culture independent approach, i.e. the 16S rRNA pyrotag, and a culture dependent approach for a subset of the samples, in order to obtain bacterial isolates from RPW tissues. The bacterial community appeared significantly influenced by diet. Proteobacteria resulted to be the most abundant clade and was present in all the specimens of the three examined weevil groups. Within Proteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae were identified in all the organs analysed, including hemolymph and reproductive organs. The apple-fed RPWs and the wild R. vulneratus showed a second dominant taxon within Firmicutes that was scarcely present in the microbiota associated with palm-fed RPWs. A comparative analysis on the bacteria associated with the palm tissues highlighted that 12 bacterial genera out of the 13 identified in the plant tissues were also present in weevils, thus indicating that palm tissues may present a source for bacterial acquisition. PMID:25635833

Hydraulic properties of fronds from palms of varying height and habitat.

PubMed

Renninger, Heidi J; Phillips, Nathan

2011-12-01

Because palms grow in highly varying climates and reach considerable heights, they present a unique opportunity to evaluate how environment and plant size impact hydraulic function. We studied hydraulic properties of petioles from palms of varying height from three species: Iriartea deltoidea, a tropical rainforest species; Mauritia flexuosa, a tropical rainforest, swamp species; and Washingtonia robusta, a subtropical species. We measured leaf areas, petiole cross-sectional areas, specific conductivity (K(S)), petiole anatomical properties, vulnerability to embolism and leaf water potentials and calculated petiole Huber values and leaf-specific conductivities (K(L)). Leaf and petiole cross-sectional areas varied widely with height. However, hydraulic properties including Huber values, K(S) and K(L), remained constant. The two palmate species, M. flexuosa and W. robusta, had larger Huber values than I. deltoidea, a pinnately-compound species which exhibited the highest K(S). Metaxylem vessel diameters and vascular bundle densities varied with height in opposing patterns to maintain petiole conductivities. I. deltoidea and W. robusta petioles had similar P(50) values (the point at which 50% of hydraulic conductivity is lost) averaged over all crown heights, but W. robusta exhibited more negative P(50) values in taller palms. Comparison of P (50) values with transpiring midday leaf water potentials, as well as a double-dye staining experiment in a 1-m-tall palm, suggested that a fairly significant amount of embolisms were occurring and refilled on a diurnal basis. Therefore, across palms differing widely in height and growing environments, we found convergence in water transport per unit leaf area (K(L)) with individuals exhibiting differing strategies for achieving this.

De novo genome sequencing and comparative genomics of the date palm Phoenix dactylifera)

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Date Palm has been vital to the Middle East and other arid regions of the world for more than 5000 years. The date palm's ability to withstand extremely harsh conditions, while producing highly nutritious fruit with relatively minimal care, makes it a good candidate for improving arid land agricultu...

Solid Catalyst Nanoparticles derived from Oil-Palm Empty Fruit Bunches (OP-EFB) as a Renewable Catalyst for Biodiesel Production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Husin, H.; Asnawi, T. M.; Firdaus, A.; Husaini, H.; Ibrahim, I.; Hasfita, F.

2018-05-01

Solid nanocatalyst derived from oil-palm empty fruit bunches (OP-EFB) fiber was successfully synthesized and its application for biodiesel production was investigated. The OPEFB was treated by burning, milling and heating methods to generate ashes in a nanoparticle size. The nanoparticle palm-bunch ash was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The effects of the calcination temperature and catalyst amounts for transesterification reactions were investigated. XRD analysis of palm bunch ash exhibited that the highest composition of peaks characteristic were potassium oxide (K2O). SEM analysis showed that the nano palm bunch ash have a particle size ranging of 150-400 nm. The highest conversion of palm-oil to biodiesel reach to 97.90% was observed by using of palm bunch ash nanocatalyst which heated at 600°C, 3 h reaction time and 1% catalyst amount. Reusability of palm bunch ash catalysts was also examined. It was found that of its high active sites, reusable solid catalyst was obtained by just heating of palm bunch ash. It has a capability to reduce not only the amount of catalyst consumption but also reduce the reaction time of transesterification process.

The tensile properties of single sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) fibre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bachtiar, D.; Sapuan, S. M.; Zainudin, E. S.; Khalina, A.; Dahlan, K. Z. M.

2010-05-01

This paper presents a brief description and characterization of the sugar palm fibres, still rare in the scientific community, compared to other natural fibres employed in polymeric composites. Sugar palm fibres are cellulose-based fibres extracted from the Arenga pinnata plant. The characterization consists of tensile test and the morphological examination. The average tensile properties results of fibres such as Young's modulus is equal to 3.69 GPa, tensile strength is equal to 190.29 MPa, and strain at failure is equal to 19.6%.

Closing oil palm yield gaps among Indonesian smallholders through industry schemes, pruning, weeding and improved seeds

PubMed Central

Soliman, T.; Lim, F. K. S.; Lee, J. S. H.

2016-01-01

Oil palm production has led to large losses of valuable habitats for tropical biodiversity. Sparing of land for nature could in theory be attained if oil palm yields increased. The efficiency of oil palm smallholders is below its potential capacity, but the factors determining efficiency are poorly understood. We employed a two-stage data envelopment analysis approach to assess the influence of agronomic, supply chain and management factors on oil palm production efficiency in 190 smallholders in six villages in Indonesia. The results show that, on average, yield increases of 65% were possible and that fertilizer and herbicide use was excessive and inefficient. Adopting industry-supported scheme management practices, use of high-quality seeds and higher pruning and weeding rates were found to improve efficiency. Smallholder oil palm production intensification in Indonesia has the capacity to increase production by 26%, an equivalent of 1.75 million hectares of land. PMID:27853605

Closing oil palm yield gaps among Indonesian smallholders through industry schemes, pruning, weeding and improved seeds.

PubMed

Soliman, T; Lim, F K S; Lee, J S H; Carrasco, L R

2016-08-01

Oil palm production has led to large losses of valuable habitats for tropical biodiversity. Sparing of land for nature could in theory be attained if oil palm yields increased. The efficiency of oil palm smallholders is below its potential capacity, but the factors determining efficiency are poorly understood. We employed a two-stage data envelopment analysis approach to assess the influence of agronomic, supply chain and management factors on oil palm production efficiency in 190 smallholders in six villages in Indonesia. The results show that, on average, yield increases of 65% were possible and that fertilizer and herbicide use was excessive and inefficient. Adopting industry-supported scheme management practices, use of high-quality seeds and higher pruning and weeding rates were found to improve efficiency. Smallholder oil palm production intensification in Indonesia has the capacity to increase production by 26%, an equivalent of 1.75 million hectares of land.

Critical parameters for sterilization of oil palm fruit by microwave irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarah, Maya; Taib, M. R.

2017-08-01

Study to evaluate critical parameters for microwave irradiation to sterilize oil palm fruit was carried out at power density of 560 to 1120 W/kg. Critical parameters are important to ensure moisture loss during sterilization exceed the critical moisture (Mc) but less than maximum moisture (Mmax). Critical moisture in this study was determined according to dielectric loss factor of heated oil palm fruits at 2450 MHz. It was obtained from slope characterization of dielectric loss factor-vs-moisture loss curve. The Mc was used to indicate critical temperature (Tc) and critical time (tc) for microwave sterilization. To ensure moisture loss above critical value but not exceed maximum value, the combinations of time-temperature for sterilization of oil palm fruits by microwave irradiation were 6 min and 75°C to 17 min and 82°C respectively.

Water footprint assessment of oil palm in Malaysia: A preliminary study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muhammad-Muaz, A.; Marlia, M. H.

2014-09-01

This study evaluates the water footprint of growing oil palm in Malaysia based on the water footprint method. The crop water use was determined using the CROPWAT 8.0 model developed by the Land and Water Development Division of FAO. The total water footprint for growing oil palm is 243 m3/ton. The result of this study showed that the green water footprint is 1.5 orders of magnitude larger compared to the blue water footprint. Besides providing updated status of total water used from the oil palm plantation, our result also shows that this baseline information helps in identifying which areas need to be conserved and what type of recommendation that should be drawn. As the results of the water footprint can differ between locations, the inclusion of local water stress index should be considered in the calculation of water footprint.

Palm oil based nanofluids for enhancing heat transfer and rheological properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hussein, A. M.; Lingenthiran; Kadirgamma, K.; Noor, M. M.; Aik, L. K.

2018-04-01

Colloidal suspensions of nanomaterials size not more than 100 nm in basefluid are defined as nanofluids. The thermal and rheological properties study of oil based nanofluid is conducted to develop stable transformers palm oil based nanofluid. This paper describes the analysis techniques to determine the enhancement of thermal properties of nanofluids. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has dispersed in the palm oil to prepare nanofluids with volume concentration (0.01-0.09) percentage. Both thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluid have measured by using the hot wire method and viscometer equipment respectively. Results indicate that the stable nanofluids improve the thermal properties as compared to palm oil. Results showed that the friction factor decreases as the Reynolds number increases and increases as the volume concentration increases. Additionally, the Nusselt number increases as the Reynolds number and volume concentration of the nanofluid increases.

Desiccation and Cold Hardening of Date Palm Somatic Embryos Improve Germination.

PubMed

Shareef, Hussein J

2017-01-01

Embryogenic suspension cultures of date palm are ideal for mass propagation of somatic embryos; however, the low percentage of germination of somatic embryos (SE) remains an impediment. This chapter focuses on two important physical factors to improve germination of date palm somatic embryos: the use of partial desiccation (3 h) of somatic embryos and the exposure to low temperature (4 °C for 24 h). High germination percentage (41%) is achieved by desiccation for 3 h. Moreover, adding 0.3 g/L activated charcoal (AC) to the liquid medium further improves somatic embryo number and weight as well as the percentage of germination. Moreover, partial desiccation and low temperature exposure tend to increase proline content. This improved protocol for somatic embryo germination is potentially applicable for commercial micropropagation of date palm.

Elemental and thermo-chemical analysis of oil palm fronds for biomass energy conversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guangul, Fiseha Mekonnen; Sulaiman, Shaharin Anwar; Raghavan, Vijay R.

2012-06-01

Oil palm frond is the most abundant yet untapped biomass waste in Malaysia. This paper investigates the characteristics of raw oil palm fronds and its ash to evaluate its potential utilization as a biomass fuel for gasification process using single throat downdraft gasifier. The morphological nature, elemental content, proximate and ultimate analysis and calorific value were studied. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and x-ray fluorescence were used to investigate the surface morphology, elemental and mineralogical nature of oil palm frond and its ash. The results were compared with other agricultural and forestry biomass wastes. From proximate analysis volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash were found to be 83.5%, 15.2% and 1.3%, respectively on dry basis. From ultimate analysis result values of 44.58%, 4.53%, 0.71% and 0.07% for carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur were found respectively on dry basis. Oxygen was determined by difference and found to be 48.81%. The proximate and ultimate analysis results indicate that oil palm frond is better than agricultural wastes and less than most forestry wastes to use as a feedstock in the gasification process in order to get a better quality of syngas. The amount of ash content in OPF was found to be much less than in agricultural wastes and higher than most forestry wastes. From x-ray fluorescence analysis CaO and K2O were found as the major oxides in oil palm fronds and rice husk ash with the amount of 28.46% and 15.71% respectively. The overall results of oil palm fronds were found to be satisfactory to use as a feedstock for the process of gasification.

Work volume and strength training responses to resistive exercise improve with periodic heat extraction from the palm.

PubMed

Grahn, Dennis A; Cao, Vinh H; Nguyen, Christopher M; Liu, Mengyuan T; Heller, H Craig

2012-09-01

Body core cooling via the palm of a hand increases work volume during resistive exercise. We asked: (a) "Is there a correlation between elevated core temperatures and fatigue onset during resistive exercise?" and (b) "Does palm cooling between sets of resistive exercise affect strength and work volume training responses?" Core temperature was manipulated by 30-45 minutes of fixed load and duration treadmill exercise in the heat with or without palm cooling. Work volume was then assessed by 4 sets of fixed load bench press exercises. Core temperatures were reduced and work volumes increased after palm cooling (Control: Tes = 39.0 ± 0.1° C, 36 ± 7 reps vs. Cooling: Tes = 38.4 ± 0.2° C, 42 ± 7 reps, mean ± SD, n = 8, p < 0.001). In separate experiments, the impact of palm cooling on work volume and strength training responses were assessed. The participants completed biweekly bench press or pull-up exercises for multiple successive weeks. Palm cooling was applied for 3 minutes between sets of exercise. Over 3 weeks of bench press training, palm cooling increased work volume by 40% (vs. 13% with no treatment; n = 8, p < 0.05). Over 6 weeks of pull-up training, palm cooling increased work volume by 144% in pull-up experienced subjects (vs. 5% over 2 weeks with no treatment; n = 7, p < 0.001) and by 80% in pull-up naïve subjects (vs. 20% with no treatment; n = 11, p < 0.01). Strength (1 repetition maximum) increased 22% over 10 weeks of pyramid bench press training (4 weeks with no treatment followed by 6 weeks with palm cooling; n = 10, p < 0.001). These results verify previous observations about the effects of palm cooling on work volume, demonstrate a link between core temperature and fatigue onset during resistive exercise, and suggest a novel means for improving strength and work volume training responses.

Study on Energy Productivity Ratio (EPR) at palm kernel oil processing factory: case study on PT-X at Sumatera Utara Plantation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haryanto, B.; Bukit, R. Br; Situmeang, E. M.; Christina, E. P.; Pandiangan, F.

2018-02-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the performance, productivity and feasibility of the operation of palm kernel processing plant based on Energy Productivity Ratio (EPR). EPR is expressed as the ratio of output to input energy and by-product. Palm Kernel plan is process in palm kernel to become palm kernel oil. The procedure started from collecting data needed as energy input such as: palm kernel prices, energy demand and depreciation of the factory. The energy output and its by-product comprise the whole production price such as: palm kernel oil price and the remaining products such as shells and pulp price. Calculation the equality of energy of palm kernel oil is to analyze the value of Energy Productivity Ratio (EPR) bases on processing capacity per year. The investigation has been done in Kernel Oil Processing Plant PT-X at Sumatera Utara plantation. The value of EPR was 1.54 (EPR > 1), which indicated that the processing of palm kernel into palm kernel oil is feasible to be operated based on the energy productivity.

Evapotranspiration and crop coefficient of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) on the main nursery in a greenhouse

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sigalingging, R.; Sumono; Rahmansyah, N.

2018-02-01

The estimation of crop water requirement is an important part of oil palm plantation because fruit yield of oil palm can be affected by water stress. Evapotranspiration and crop coefficient of oil palm using Tenera variety at 7-12 months old was determined. Soil texture was sandy loam with 73.8 % sand, 10.8 % silt, 15.77 % clay and 1.41 % organic matter. The results showed that the oil palm getting older decreased significantly in bulk density, particle density and porosity of soil caused the root of oil palm enlarged (19.42 g to 53.37 g). This was indicated by increased the dry root weight. On the other hand, the value of evapotranspiration and crop coefficient increased significantly, that was 1.85 to 2.00 mm/day and 0.8 to 0.87 respectively.

Optimization of palm fruit sterilization by microwave irradiation using response surface methodology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarah, M.; Madinah, I.; Salamah, S.

2018-02-01

This study reported optimization of palm fruit sterilization process by microwave irradiation. The results of fractional factorial experiments showed no significant external factors affecting temperature of microwave sterilization (MS). Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed and model equation of MS of palm fruit was built. Response surface plots and their corresponding contour plots were analyzed as well as solving model equation. The optimum process parameters for lipase reduction were obtained from MS of 1 kg palm fruit at microwave power of 486 Watt and heating time of 14 minutes. The experimental results showed reduction of lipase activity in the present work under MS treatment. The adequacy of the model equation for predicting the optimum response value was verified by validation data (P>0.15).

Identifying Where REDD+ Financially Out-Competes Oil Palm in Floodplain Landscapes Using a Fine-Scale Approach

PubMed Central

MacMillan, Douglas C.; Xofis, Panteleimon; Ancrenaz, Marc; Tzanopoulos, Joseph; Ong, Robert; Goossens, Benoit; Koh, Lian Pin; Del Valle, Christian; Peter, Lucy; Morel, Alexandra C.; Lackman, Isabelle; Chung, Robin; Kler, Harjinder; Ambu, Laurentius; Baya, William; Knight, Andrew T.

2016-01-01

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) aims to avoid forest conversion to alternative land-uses through financial incentives. Oil-palm has high opportunity costs, which according to current literature questions the financial competitiveness of REDD+ in tropical lowlands. To understand this more, we undertook regional fine-scale and coarse-scale analyses (through carbon mapping and economic modelling) to assess the financial viability of REDD+ in safeguarding unprotected forest (30,173 ha) in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain in Malaysian Borneo. Results estimate 4.7 million metric tons of carbon (MgC) in unprotected forest, with 64% allocated for oil-palm cultivations. Through fine-scale mapping and carbon accounting, we demonstrated that REDD+ can outcompete oil-palm in regions with low suitability, with low carbon prices and low carbon stock. In areas with medium oil-palm suitability, REDD+ could outcompete oil palm in areas with: very high carbon and lower carbon price; medium carbon price and average carbon stock; or, low carbon stock and high carbon price. Areas with high oil palm suitability, REDD+ could only outcompete with higher carbon price and higher carbon stock. In the coarse-scale model, oil-palm outcompeted REDD+ in all cases. For the fine-scale models at the landscape level, low carbon offset prices (US $3 MgCO2e) would enable REDD+ to outcompete oil-palm in 55% of the unprotected forests requiring US $27 million to secure these areas for 25 years. Higher carbon offset price (US $30 MgCO2e) would increase the competitiveness of REDD+ within the landscape but would still only capture between 69%-74% of the unprotected forest, requiring US $380–416 million in carbon financing. REDD+ has been identified as a strategy to mitigate climate change by many countries (including Malaysia). Although REDD+ in certain scenarios cannot outcompete oil palm, this research contributes to the global REDD+ debate by: highlighting REDD

Identifying Where REDD+ Financially Out-Competes Oil Palm in Floodplain Landscapes Using a Fine-Scale Approach.

PubMed

Abram, Nicola K; MacMillan, Douglas C; Xofis, Panteleimon; Ancrenaz, Marc; Tzanopoulos, Joseph; Ong, Robert; Goossens, Benoit; Koh, Lian Pin; Del Valle, Christian; Peter, Lucy; Morel, Alexandra C; Lackman, Isabelle; Chung, Robin; Kler, Harjinder; Ambu, Laurentius; Baya, William; Knight, Andrew T

2016-01-01

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) aims to avoid forest conversion to alternative land-uses through financial incentives. Oil-palm has high opportunity costs, which according to current literature questions the financial competitiveness of REDD+ in tropical lowlands. To understand this more, we undertook regional fine-scale and coarse-scale analyses (through carbon mapping and economic modelling) to assess the financial viability of REDD+ in safeguarding unprotected forest (30,173 ha) in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain in Malaysian Borneo. Results estimate 4.7 million metric tons of carbon (MgC) in unprotected forest, with 64% allocated for oil-palm cultivations. Through fine-scale mapping and carbon accounting, we demonstrated that REDD+ can outcompete oil-palm in regions with low suitability, with low carbon prices and low carbon stock. In areas with medium oil-palm suitability, REDD+ could outcompete oil palm in areas with: very high carbon and lower carbon price; medium carbon price and average carbon stock; or, low carbon stock and high carbon price. Areas with high oil palm suitability, REDD+ could only outcompete with higher carbon price and higher carbon stock. In the coarse-scale model, oil-palm outcompeted REDD+ in all cases. For the fine-scale models at the landscape level, low carbon offset prices (US $3 MgCO2e) would enable REDD+ to outcompete oil-palm in 55% of the unprotected forests requiring US $27 million to secure these areas for 25 years. Higher carbon offset price (US $30 MgCO2e) would increase the competitiveness of REDD+ within the landscape but would still only capture between 69%-74% of the unprotected forest, requiring US $380-416 million in carbon financing. REDD+ has been identified as a strategy to mitigate climate change by many countries (including Malaysia). Although REDD+ in certain scenarios cannot outcompete oil palm, this research contributes to the global REDD+ debate by: highlighting REDD

Naturally p-Hydroxybenzoylated Lignins in Palms

Treesearch

Fachuang Lu; Steven D. Karlen; Matt Regner; Hoon Kim; Sally A. Ralph; Run-Cang Sun; Ken-ichi Kuroda; Mary Ann Augustin; Raymond Mawson; Henry Sabarez; Tanoj Singh; Gerardo Jimenez-Monteon; Sarani Zakaria; Stefan Hill; Philip J. Harris; Wout Boerjan; Curtis G. Wilkerson; Shawn D. Mansfield; John Ralph

2015-01-01

The industrial production of palm oil concurrently generates a substantial amount of empty fruit bunch (EFB) fibers that could be used as a feedstock in a lignocellulose based biorefinery. Lignin byproducts generated by this process may offer opportunities for the isolation of value-added products, such as p-hydroxybenzoate (pBz),...

The shrinking rainforest, and the need for accurate data a satellite radar approach to quantifying Indonesia's palm oil obsession

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trischan, John

Rapid deforestation has been occurring in Southeast Asia for majority of the last quarter century. This is due in large by the expansion of oil palm plantations. These plantations fill the need globally for the palm oil they provide. On the other hand, they are removing some of the last remaining primary rainforests on the planet. The issue concerning the ongoing demise of rainforests in the region involves the availability of data in order to monitor the expansion of palm, at the cost of rainforest. Providing a simplified approach to mapping oil palm plantations in hopes of spreading palm analysis regionally in an effort to obtain a better grasp on the land use dynamics. Using spatial filtering techniques, the complexity of radar data are simplified in order to use for palm detection.

Identification of Ganoderma Disease Resistance Loci Using Natural Field Infection of an Oil Palm Multiparental Population

PubMed Central

Tisné, Sébastien; Pomiès, Virginie; Riou, Virginie; Syahputra, Indra; Cochard, Benoît; Denis, Marie

2017-01-01

Multi-parental populations are promising tools for identifying quantitative disease resistance loci. Stem rot caused by Ganoderma boninense is a major threat to palm oil production, with yield losses of up to 80% prompting premature replantation of palms. There is evidence of genetic resistance sources, but the genetic architecture of Ganoderma resistance has not yet been investigated. This study aimed to identify Ganoderma resistance loci using an oil palm multi-parental population derived from nine major founders of ongoing breeding programs. A total of 1200 palm trees of the multi-parental population was planted in plots naturally infected by Ganoderma, and their health status was assessed biannually over 25 yr. The data were treated as survival data, and modeled using the Cox regression model, including a spatial effect to take the spatial component in the spread of Ganoderma into account. Based on the genotypes of 757 palm trees out of the 1200 planted, and on pedigree information, resistance loci were identified using a random effect with identity-by-descent kinship matrices as covariance matrices in the Cox model. Four Ganoderma resistance loci were identified, two controlling the occurrence of the first Ganoderma symptoms, and two the death of palm trees, while favorable haplotypes were identified among a major gene pool for ongoing breeding programs. This study implemented an efficient and flexible QTL mapping approach, and generated unique valuable information for the selection of oil palm varieties resistant to Ganoderma disease. PMID:28592650

Batako Quality Optimization with Addition of Palm Oil Stem Fiber from Kampar District and Dumai City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zainuri; Yanti, Gusneli; Wahyuni Megasari, Shanti

2017-12-01

The waste of dry palm oil produced by 148 trees per hectare is 3,108 ton/month or 37,296 ton/year as calculated. Riau province has oil palm plantations covering an area of 2.399.172 hectares (BPS Riau Province, 2014). It can be estimated the amount of waste generated. Palm stem waste can be utilized, one of which is the utilization of midrib fiber as an added material in the manufacture of batako. Batako- fiber that is made still must be examined feasibility as building materials. The purpose of this study was to determine the optimization of the quality of batako works by the addition of palm stem fiber originated from the districts of Kampar and Dumai. This research used experimental method with laboratory research. Batako-fiber with the addition of palm fiber stem 1% of the weight of cement can increase the value of compressive strength above the normal batako and a batako with first quality according to SNI 03-0349-1989 standard. The use of palm stem fiber originating from the Kampar district resulted in better batakos with higher average compressive strength values than the dumai-derived fibers, especially in the addition of 1% fiber by weight of cement. The finding of this research is that the batakos originating from Kampar district are better than those from Dumai city. The most optimal addition of palm fiber burrs to batako-fiber products is 1% of the weight of cement.

Changes in carbohydrate metabolism in coconut palms infected with the lethal yellowing phytoplasma.

PubMed

Maust, B E; Espadas, F; Talavera, C; Aguilar, M; Santamaría, J M; Oropeza, C

2003-08-01

ABSTRACT Lethal yellowing (LY), a disease caused by a phytoplasma, is the most devastating disease affecting coconut (Cocos nucifera) in Mexico. Thousands of coconut palm trees have died on the Yucatan peninsula while plantations in Central America and on the Pacific coast of Mexico are severely threatened. Polymerase chain reaction assays enable identification of incubating palm trees (stage 0+, phytoplasma detected but palm asymptomatic). With the development of LY, palm trees exhibit various visual symptoms such as premature nut fall (stage 1), inflorescence necrosis (stages 2 to 3), leaf chlorosis and senescence (stages 4 to 6), and finally palm death. However, physiological changes occur in the leaves and roots prior to onset of visual symptoms. Stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, and root respiration decreased in stages 0+ to 6. The number of active photosystem II (PSII) reaction centers decreased during stage 2, but maximum quantum use efficiency of PSII remained similar until stage 3 before declining. Sugar and starch concentrations in intermediate leaves (leaf 14) and upper leaves (leaf 4) increased from stage 0- (healthy) to stages 2 to 4, while root carbohydrate concentrations decreased rapidly from stage 0- to stage 0+ (incubating phytoplasma). Although photosynthetic rates and root carbohydrate concentrations decreased, leaf carbohydrate concentrations increased, suggesting inhibition of sugar transport in the phloem leading to stress in sink tissues and development of visual symptoms of LY.

Palmyra palm (Borassus aethiopum Mart.) fruits: novel raw materials for the pectin industry.

PubMed

Assoi, Sylvie; Konan, Koffi; Agbo, Georges N; Dodo, Hortense; Holser, Ron; Wicker, Louise

2017-05-01

Preventing post-harvest waste of Palmyra palm (Borassus aethiopum Mart.) fruits is possible by recovery of pectin as a value-added ingredient. Extraction conditions on yield and functionality of Palmyra palm pectin was determined at different temperatures and pH values with 30 min extraction time. Palmyra palm fruits contain more than 650 g kg -1 galacturonic acid and produce soft gels with sucrose in acidic media despite a high degree of acetylation (∼5%). Mechanical deformation of pectin gel was similar when extracted at pH 2.5 and 70 °C or under natural pH at room temperature or 70 °C. Pectins isolated at pH 7 exhibited comparable gel softness (G'/G″) with commercial pectin. Palm pectins also showed emulsifying activity greater than 50%, attributed to high protein content of 8 g 100 g -1 . For pectins extracted at pH near 5.2-5.5, molar mass ranged from 3.00 to 3.38 × 10 5 g mol -1 ; intrinsic viscosity ranged from 218 to 297 mL g -1 ; arabinose was the main neutral sugar; ζ-potential ranged from -23 to -25 mV. Palm fruit offers an inexpensive raw material to extract pectin in environmentally friendly and economical way and yield a pectin with unique gelling, viscosifying and emulsifying properties. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Recent developments in the use of acoustic sensors and signal processing tools to target early infestations of Red Palm Weevil in agricultural environments

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Much of the damage caused by red palm weevil larvae to date palms, ornamental palms, and palm offshoots could be mitigated by early detection and treatment of infestations. Acoustic technology has potential to enable early detection, but the short, high-frequency sound impulses produced by red palm ...

Auto Guided Oil Palm Planter by using multi-GNSS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nur Aini, I.; W, Aimrun; Amin, M. S. M.; Ezrin, M. H.; Shafri, H. Z.

2014-06-01

Planting is one of the most important operations in plantation because it could affect the total area of productivity since it is the starting point in cultivation. In oil palm plantation, lining and spacing of oil palm shall be laid out and coincided with the topographic area and a system of drains. Conventionally, planting of oil palm will require the polarization process in order to prevent and overcome the lack of influence of the sun rise and get a regular crop row. Polarization is done after the completion of the opening area by using the spike wood with 1 m length painted at the top and 100 m length of wire. This process will generally require at least five persons at a time to pull the wire and carry the spikes while the other two persons will act as observer and spikes craftsmen respectively with the ability of the team is 3ha/day. Therefore, the aim of this project is to develop the oil palm planting technique by using multi- GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). Generally, this project will involve five main steps mainly; design of planting pattern by using SOLIDWORKS software, determine the boundary coordinate of planting area, georeference process with ArcGIS, stakeout process with Tracy software and finally marking up the location with the wooden spikes. The results proved that the multi- GNSS is capable to provide the high accuracy with less than 1 m in precise positioning system without augmentation data. With the ability of one person, time taken to complete 70 m × 50 m planting area is 290 min, which is 25 min faster than using GPS (Global Positioning System) only.

Effect of high pressure microfluidization on the crystallization behavior of palm stearin - palm olein blends.

PubMed

Han, Lijuan; Li, Lin; Li, Bing; Zhao, Lei; Liu, Guoqin; Liu, Xinqi; Wang, Xuede

2014-04-24

Moderate and high microfluidization pressures (60 and 120 MPa) and different treatment times (once and twice) were used to investigate the effect of high-pressure microfluidization (HPM) treatment on the crystallization behavior and physical properties of binary mixtures of palm stearin (PS) and palm olein (PO). The polarized light microscopy (PLM), texture analyzer, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques were applied to analyze the changes in crystal network structure, hardness, polymorphism and thermal property of the control and treated blends. PLM results showed that HPM caused significant reductions in maximum crystal diameter in all treated blends, and thus led to changes in the crystal network structure, and finally caused higher hardness in than the control blends. The XRD study demonstrated that HPM altered crystalline polymorphism. The HPM-treated blends showed a predominance of the more stable β' form, which is of more interest for food applications, while the control blend had more α- and β-form. This result was further confirmed by DSC observations. These changes in crystallization behavior indicated that HPM treatment was more likely to modify the crystallization processes and nucleation mechanisms.

Preliminary evaluation of physical and chemical characterization of waste palm oil shell as cool material replaced in asphaltic concrete as fine aggregate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anuar, M. A. M.; Anting, N.; Shahidan, S.; Lee, Y. Y.; Din, M. F. Md; Khalid, F. S.; Nazri, W. M. H. W.

2017-11-01

Malaysia is one of the biggest producer of palm oil product and currently as main source of economy for the country. During the production of crude palm oil, a large amount of waste material is generated, such as palm oil fibres, palm oil shells and empty fruit bunches. Palm oil shell aggregate (POSA) is identified as a material that shows good potential to be used as a fine aggregate replacement in asphaltic concrete. On other hand, the chemical compound that exist in the Palm Oil Shell (POS) have shown a good potential as reflective component in cool-material. The purpose of this study is to obtain the physical and chemical properties of palm oil shell. The result shows the apparent particle density of Palm Oil Shell is 1.6 mg/m3. The specific gravity of palm oil shell was obtained with the value 1.6 and the water absorption amount of palm oil shell recorded from this study was 25.1%. The X-Ray Fluorescence study shows that palm oil shell contains the highest amount of SiO2 (46.412 wt%) and the second highest amount of Fe2O3 (34.016 wt%), both is the main output of relectivity compound. As a conclusion, waste palm oil shell has a potential to be used as alternative material for fine aggregate replacement. Besides that, the amount of chemical element that consist in palm oil shell which high in SiO2 and Fe2O3, promising the benefit to mitigate urban heat island as a cooling material agent.

Storage and Viability Assessment of Date Palm Pollen.

PubMed

Maryam; Jaskani, Muhammad J; Naqvi, Summar A

2017-01-01

Pollen storage and viability are very important for pollination, breeding, biodiversity, biotechnology, conservation, and other biological and non-biological studies of the date palm. Optimizing procedures and duration of storage are important for effective and long-term date palm pollen storage and viability. Here we describe pollen storage methods, such as room temperature (25-30 °C), refrigeration (4 °C), storage at 4 °C in desiccators, deep freezer (-20 °C), and cryopreservation (-196 °C). Based on pollen viability by staining and in vitro germination methods, cryopreservation is the best method for long-term storage without any significant effect on pollen viability (75-84%); however, the percentage of pollen viability depends on the storage period.

Bacterial diversity of oil palm Elaeis guineensis basal stems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amran, Afzufira; Jangi, Mohd Sanusi; Aqma, Wan Syaidatul; Yusof, Nurul Yuziana Mohd; Bakar, Mohd Faizal Abu; Isa, Mohd Noor Mat

2016-11-01

Oil palm, Elaeis guineensis is one of the major industrial production crops in Malaysia. Basal stem rot, caused by the white fungus, Ganoderma boninense, is a disease that reduces oil palm yields in most production areas of the world. Understanding of bacterial community that is associated with Ganoderma infection will shed light on how this bacterial community contributes toward the severity of the infection. In this preliminary study, we assessed the bacterial community that inhabit the basal stems of E. guineensis based on 16S rRNA gene as a marker using next generation sequencing platform. This result showed that a total of 84,372 operational taxonomic-units (OTUs) were identified within six samples analyzed. A total 55,049 OTUs were assigned to known taxonomy whereas 29,323 were unassigned. Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most abundant phyla found in all six samples and the unique taxonomy assigned for each infected and healthy samples were also identified. The findings from this study will further enhance our knowledge in the interaction of bacterial communities against Ganoderma infection within the oil palm host plant and for a better management of the basal stems rot disease.

Experimental investigation on gaseous emissions from the combustion of date palm residues in laboratory scale furnace.

PubMed

El may, Yassine; Jeguirim, Mejdi; Dorge, Sophie; Trouvé, Gwenaelle; Said, Rachid

2013-03-01

Emissions characteristics from the combustion of five date palm residues, DPR, (Date Palm Leaflets, Date Palm Rachis, Date Palm Trunk, Date Stones and fruitstalk prunings) in a laboratory scale furnace were investigated. Release of gaseous products such as CO2, CO, VOC, NOx and SO2 were measured at 600-800°C. The main goal was to analyze thermal behaviors and gaseous emissions in order to select the most convenient biofuel for an application in domestic boiler installations. Regards to biofuel characteristics, date stone have the highest energy density (11.4GJ/m(3)) and the lowest ash content (close to 1.2%). Combustion tests show that among the tested date palm residues, date stone may be the promising biofuel for the design of combustion processing system. However, a special attention to the design of the secondary air supply should be given to prevent high emissions of CO and volatile matters. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Palm oil and human health. Meeting report of NFI: Nutrition Foundation of Italy symposium.

PubMed

Marangoni, Franca; Galli, Claudio; Ghiselli, Andrea; Lercker, Giovanni; La Vecchia, Carlo; Maffeis, Claudio; Agostoni, Carlo; Ballardini, Donatella; Brignoli, Ovidio; Faggiano, Pompilio; Giacco, Rosalba; Macca, Claudio; Magni, Paolo; Marelli, Giuseppe; Marrocco, Walter; Miniello, Vito Leonardo; Mureddu, Gian Francesco; Pellegrini, Nicoletta; Stella, Roberto; Troiano, Ersilia; Verduci, Elvira; Volpe, Roberto; Poli, Andrea

2017-09-01

The use of palm oil by the food industry is increasingly criticized, especially in Italy, for its purported negative effects on human health and environment. This paper summarizes the conclusions of a Symposium on this topic, gathered by the Nutrition Foundation of Italy, among experts representing a number of Italian Medical and Nutritional Scientific Societies. Toxicological and environmental issues were not considered. Participants agreed that: no evidence does exist on the specific health effects of palm oil consumption as compared to other saturated fatty acids-rich fats; the stereospecific distribution of saturated fatty acids in the triacylglycerol molecule of palm oil limits their absorption rate and metabolic effects; in agreement with International guidelines, saturated fatty acids intake should be kept <10% of total energy, within a balanced diet; within these limits, no effect of palm oil consumption on human health (and specifically on CVD or cancer risk) can be foreseen.

Design of transportation and distribution Oil Palm Trunk of (OPT) in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norita, Defi; Arkeman, Yandra

2018-03-01

This research initiated from the area of oil palm plantations in Indonesia 13 million hectares, triggering consternation of abundance of oil palm trunk when garden regeneration is done. If 4 percent of the area is rehabilitated every year, almost 100 million cubic feet of oil palm will be trash. Biomass in the form of pellets can be processed from oil palm trunk. It is then disseminated back to the palm oil processing area into biomass. The amount of transportation cost of the used ships and trucks was defined as parameters. So the objective function determined the type and number of ship and truck trips that provide the minimum transportation cost. To optimize logistics transportation network in regional port cluster, combining hub-and-spoke transportation system among regional port with consolidation and dispersing transportation systems between ports and their own hinterlands, a nonlinear optimization model for two-stage logistics system in regional port cluster was introduced to simultaneously determine the following factors: the hinterlands serviced by individual ports and transportation capacity operated between each port and its hinterland, cargo transportation volume and corresponding transportation capacity allocated via a hub port from an original port to a destination port, cargo transportation volume and corresponding transportation capacity allocated directly from an original port to a destination port. Finally, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the application of the proposed model. It can be shown that the solution to the proposed non-linear model can be obtained by transforming it into linear programming models.

Compressive and flexural strength of concrete containing palm oil biomass clinker and polypropylene fibres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrahim, M. H. Wan; Mangi, Sajjad Ali; Burhanudin, M. K.; Ridzuan, M. B.; Jamaluddin, N.; Shahidan, S.; Wong, YH; Faisal, SK; Fadzil, M. A.; Ramadhansyah, P. J.; Ayop, S. S.; Othman, N. H.

2017-11-01

This paper presents the effects of using palm oil biomass (POB) clinker with polypropylene (PP) fibres in concrete on its compressive and flexural strength performances. Due to infrastructural development works, the use of concrete in the construction industry has been increased. Simultaneously, it raises the demand natural sand, which causes depletion of natural resources. While considering the environmental and economic benefits, the utilization of industrial waste by-products in concrete will be the alternative solution of the problem. Among the waste products, one of such waste by-product is the palm oil biomass clinker, which is a waste product from burning processes of palm oil fibres. Therefore, it is important to utilize palm oil biomass clinker as partial replacement of fine aggregates in concrete. Considering the facts, an experimental study was conducted to find out the potential usage of palm oil fibres in concrete. In this study, total 48 number of specimens were cast to evaluate the compressive and flexural strength performances. Polypropylene fibre was added in concrete at the rate of 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.6%, and sand was replaced at a constant rate of 10% with palm oil biomass clinker. The flexural strength of concrete was noticed in the range of 2.25 MPa and 2.29 MPa, whereas, the higher value of flexural strength was recorded with 0.4% polypropylene fibre addition. Hence, these results show that the strength performances of concrete containing POB clinker could be improved with the addition of polypropylene fibre.

[The age-specific features of palm dermatoglyphics in the adults subjects].

PubMed

Teplov, K V; Bozhchenko, A P; Tolmachev, I A; Moiseenko, S A

2016-01-01

This article was designed to consider the congenital age-specific features of palm dermatoglyphics in the adults subjects (including the type of the papillary patterns, axial tri-radii, the termini of palmar main lines, the rudiments of palmar lines, the dermatoglyphic ridge count between the stable anatomical structures). The objective of the study was to look for the new diagnostic markers of the biological age. It included the identification of the palm prints obtained from 180 Caucasoid men and 120 women at the age varying from 16 to 80 years. The results of the mathematical and statistical analysis provided the basis for drawing up the list of 18 attributes of palm dermatoglyphics significantly (p<0.05) differing in the frequency of occurrence between the representatives of individual age groups. The methods are proposed allowing to use these findings for the expert evaluation of the age of unknown subjects.

Date palm sap linked to Nipah virus outbreak in Bangladesh, 2008.

PubMed

Rahman, Muhammad Aziz; Hossain, Mohammad Jahangir; Sultana, Sharmin; Homaira, Nusrat; Khan, Salah Uddin; Rahman, Mahmudur; Gurley, Emily S; Rollin, Pierre E; Lo, Michael K; Comer, James A; Lowe, Luis; Rota, Paul A; Ksiazek, Thomas G; Kenah, Eben; Sharker, Yushuf; Luby, Stephen P

2012-01-01

We investigated a cluster of patients with encephalitis in the Manikgonj and Rajbari Districts of Bangladesh in February 2008 to determine the etiology and risk factors for disease. We classified persons as confirmed Nipah cases by the presence of immunoglobulin M antibodies against Nipah virus (NiV), or by the presence of NiV RNA or by isolation of NiV from cerebrospinal fluid or throat swabs who had onset of symptoms between February 6 and March 10, 2008. We classified persons as probable cases if they reported fever with convulsions or altered mental status, who resided in the outbreak areas during that period, and who died before serum samples were collected. For the case-control study, we compared both confirmed and probable Nipah case-patients to controls, who were free from illness during the reference period. We used motion-sensor-infrared cameras to observe bat's contact of date palm sap. We identified four confirmed and six probable case-patients, nine (90%) of whom died. The median age of the cases was 10 years; eight were males. The outbreak occurred simultaneously in two communities that were 44 km apart and separated by a river. Drinking raw date palm sap 2-12 days before illness onset was the only risk factor most strongly associated with the illness (adjusted odds ratio 25, 95% confidence intervals 3.3-∞, p<0.001). Case-patients reported no history of physical contact with bats, though community members often reported seeing bats. Infrared camera photographs showed that Pteropus bats frequently visited date palm trees in those communities where sap was collected for human consumption. This is the second Nipah outbreak in Bangladesh where date palm sap has been implicated as the vehicle of transmission. Fresh date palm sap should not be drunk, unless effective steps have been taken to prevent bat access to the sap during collection.

The oil palm Shell gene controls oil yield and encodes a homologue of SEEDSTICK

PubMed Central

Singh, Rajinder; Leslie Low, Eng-Ti; Ooi, Leslie Cheng-Li; Ong-Abdullah, Meilina; Chin, Ting Ngoot; Nagappan, Jayanthi; Nookiah, Rajanaidu; Amiruddin, Mohd Din; Rosli, Rozana; Abdul Manaf, Mohamad Arif; Chan, Kuang-Lim; Halim, Mohd Amin; Azizi, Norazah; Lakey, Nathan; Smith, Steven W; Budiman, Muhammad A; Hogan, Michael; Bacher, Blaire; Van Brunt, Andrew; Wang, Chunyan; Ordway, Jared M; Sambanthamurthi, Ravigadevi; Martienssen, Robert A

2014-01-01

A key event in the domestication and breeding of the oil palm, Elaeis guineensis, was loss of the thick coconut-like shell surrounding the kernel. Modern E. guineensis has three fruit forms, dura (thick-shelled), pisifera (shell-less) and tenera (thin-shelled), a hybrid between dura and pisifera1–4. The pisifera palm is usually female-sterile but the tenera yields far more oil than dura, and is the basis for commercial palm oil production in all of Southeast Asia5. Here, we describe the mapping and identification of the Shell gene responsible for the different fruit forms. Using homozygosity mapping by sequencing we found two independent mutations in the DNA binding domain of a homologue of the MADS-box gene SEEDSTICK (STK) which controls ovule identity and seed development in Arabidopsis. The Shell gene is responsible for the tenera phenotype in both cultivated and wild palms from sub-Saharan Africa, and our findings provide a genetic explanation for the single gene heterosis attributed to Shell, via heterodimerization. This gene mutation explains the single most important economic trait in oil palm, and has implications for the competing interests of global edible oil production, biofuels and rainforest conservation6. PMID:23883930

Characterization of Bio-Oil from Fast Pyrolysis of Palm Frond and Empty Fruit Bunch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Solikhah, M. D.; Pratiwi, F. T.; Heryana, Y.; Wimada, A. R.; Karuana, F.; Raksodewanto, AA; Kismanto, A.

2018-04-01

As the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, 109 million tons of palm frond and 46 million tons of empty fruit bunch (EFB) were produced annually in Indonesia. These two kinds of palm biomass were still in low-application and could be potentially used as future energy resources such as biofuel. One of the promising methods to convert palm frond and EFB into biofuel, as a dense and easy to transport material, is fast pyrolysis. Before pyrolysis, biomass feedstock was characterized their component and elemental compositions, moisture content and higher heating value (HHV). Fast pyrolysis processes were conducted at a temperature of 350˚C using thermal oil heater as a heat carrier. The gas phase from pyrolysis was condensed and produced a dark color and water soluble liquid called bio-oil. As GC-MS data shows, the bio-oil from both feed stocks was dominated by acetic acid, furans, phenols, aldehydes, and ketones. The HHV was reported 12.19 and 26.49 MJ/kg, while water content was 41.91 and 11.54 wt% for bio-oil from palm frond and EFB, respectively. The high content of lignin in EFB effects to the low content of water, high content of phenolic compound, and high calorific value in the bio-oil from EFB.

Formulation and characterization of date palm fibers mortar by addition of silica fume

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mokhtari, A.; Kriker, A.; Ouaggad, H.; Merad, N.

2018-05-01

This paper presents the results of experimental investigations of the formulated and characterization of date palm fibers mortar by addition of silica fume. The use of addition mineral is widely used in the production of cements through the world. The objective of this work is to bring our contribution to the recovery of local resources in the occurrence vegetable fibers of date palm to weak cost and from renewable source and integrate it in the filled of building. Date palm fiber are from Ouargla town in south of Algeria. Different mortar mixtures were prepared in which the cement was substitute by 10% of silica fume. The mechanical characteristics (compressive and flexural strength) of date palm fibers mortar by treatment of the matrix by the adding of silica fume were examined. The results obtained have shown that the mortar workability as well as the compressive and flexural strength decreases with increasing the silica fume replacement. The results showed that the use of silica fume enabled to evaluate the flexural strength. However, another treatment of fibers and matrix will be recommended for Improved the characteristics.

Effect of adding palm oil mill decanter cake slurry with regular turning operation on the composting process and quality of compost from oil palm empty fruit bunches.

PubMed

Yahya, Azmi; Sye, Chong Puay; Ishola, Tajudeen Abiodun; Suryanto, Hadi

2010-11-01

Formation of compost from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) and decanter cake slurry by adding palm oil mill effluent (POME) with regular turning operation was investigated. The experiment was conducted in a commercial composting plant under the normal production process. The addition of decanter cake slurry has hastened the composting process of the EFB. The C/N ratio after 51 days for the mature compost with the decanter cake slurry was 18.65 while that of the matured compost without the decanter cake slurry remained high at 28.96. The compost formed from the addition of decanter cake to EFB and POME had 46.4% nitrogen, 17.9% phosphorus, 17.7% potassium and 23.1% calcium more than that without decanter cake. The use of compost produced from EFB, POME and decanter cake slurry could solve more environmental problems and enhance economic benefits in the oil palm industry.

Simultaneous treatment of raw palm oil mill effluent and biodegradation of palm fiber in a high-rate CSTR.

PubMed

Khemkhao, Maneerat; Techkarnjanaruk, Somkiet; Phalakornkule, Chantaraporn

2015-02-01

A high-rate continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) was used to produce biogas from raw palm oil mill effluent (POME) at 55°C at a highest organic loading rate (OLR) of 19 g COD/ld. Physical and chemical pretreatments were not performed on the raw POME. In order to promote retention of suspended solids, the CSTR was installed with a deflector at its upper section. The average methane yield was 0.27 l/g COD, and the biogas production rate per reactor volume was 6.23 l/l d, and the tCOD removal efficiency was 82%. The hydrolysis rate of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin was 6.7, 3.0 and 1.9 g/d, respectively. The results of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) suggested that the dominant hydrolytic bacteria responsible for the biodegradation of the palm fiber and residual oil were Clostridium sp., while the dominant methanogens were Methanothermobacter sp. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The structure-mechanical relationship of palm vascular tissue.

PubMed

Wang, Ningling; Liu, Wangyu; Huang, Jiale; Ma, Ke

2014-08-01

The structure-mechanical relationship of palm sheath is studied with numerical and experimental methods. The cellular structure of the vascular tissue is rebuilt with an image-based reconstruction method and used to create finite element models. The validity of the models is firstly verified with the results from the tensile tests. Then, the cell walls inside each of the specific regions (fiber cap, vessel, xylem, etc.) are randomly removed to obtain virtually imperfect structures. By comparing the magnitudes of performance degradation in the different imperfect structures, the influences of each region on the overall mechanical performances of the vascular tissue are discussed. The longitudinal stiffness and yield strength are sensitive to the defects in the vessel regions. While in the transverse directions (including the radial and tangential directions), the parenchymatous tissue determines the mechanical properties of the vascular tissue. Moreover, the hydraulic, dynamic response and energy absorption behavior of the vascular tissue are numerically explored. The flexibility of natural palm tissue enhances its impact resistance. Under the quasi-static compression, the cell walls connecting the fiber cap and the vessel dissipate more energy. The dominant role of the fiber cap in the plastic energy dissipation under high-speed impact is observed. And the radially-arranged fiber cap also allows the palm tissue to improve its tangential mechanical performances under hydraulic pressure. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cycad Palm Toxicosis in 14 Dogs from Texas.

PubMed

Clarke, Carolyn; Burney, Derek

The goal of this study is to report clinical information, diagnostic findings, and treatment modalities; assess variables that may help distinguish survivors from nonsurvivors; and review the outcome of cycad palm toxicosis in dogs. Fourteen client-owned dogs with confirmed cycad palm ingestion were identified by reviewing the medical record database at Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists. Information on signalment, time of ingestion to presentation, clinical signs, physical examination findings, initial and peak/nadir laboratory abnormalities, radiographic and ultrasonographic findings, treatment modalities, liver histopathology, and clinical outcome was retrieved. Of the 14 dogs, nine (64%) died as a direct result of cycad palm intoxication, and three survivors had persistently elevated liver enzymes, signifying residual liver damage. Despite decontamination, patients continued to display evidence of illness, indicating rapid absorption of toxins. When evaluating initial and peak/nadir laboratory values, nadir serum albumin levels and nadir platelet counts were significantly lower in nonsurvivors compared to survivors (1.25 g/dL [0.4-2.1 g/dL] versus 2.6 g/dL [1.7-3.4 g/dL] and 21 × 10 3 [0-64 × 10 3 ] versus 62 × 10 3 [6-144 × 10 3 ], respectively). In this cohort of dogs, the case fatality rate was higher than previously reported. Nadir serum albumin levels and nadir platelet counts may help distinguish potential survivors from nonsurvivors.

Date palm sap collection: exploring opportunities to prevent Nipah transmission.

PubMed

Nahar, Nazmun; Sultana, Rebeca; Gurley, Emily S; Hossain, M Jahangir; Luby, Stephen P

2010-06-01

Nipah virus (NiV) infection is a seasonal disease in Bangladesh that coincides with the date palm sap collection season. Raw date palm sap is a delicacy to drink in Bengali culture. If fruit bats that are infected with NiV gain access to the sap for drinking, they might occasionally contaminate the sap through saliva and urine. In February 2007, we conducted a qualitative study in six villages, interviewing 27 date palm sap collectors (gachhis) within the geographical area where NiV outbreaks have occurred since 2001. Gachhis reported that bats pose a challenge to successful collection of quality sap, because bats drink and defecate into the sap which markedly reduces its value. They know some methods to prevent access by bats and other pests but do not use them consistently, because of lack of time and resources. Further studies to explore the effectiveness of these methods and to motivate gachhis to invest their time and money to use them could reduce the risk of human Nipah infection in Bangladesh.

Molecular Identification of Fungal Contamination in Date Palm Tissue Cultures.

PubMed

Abass, Mohammed H

2017-01-01

Fungal contamination of in vitro cultures of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is the major constraint to their initiation and maintenance. Different molecular approaches have been applied successfully to analyze both inter- and intraspecific variation among fungal species as well as determine their identity. This chapter describes step-by-step procedures of molecular identification of fungal contaminants by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) products of the most common fungal contaminants of date palm tissue culture. To begin with, samples of genera Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Epicoccum, and Penicillium were collected to isolate each fungal genus and extraction of genomic DNA. Polymerase chain reactions were accomplished by ITS primers (ITS1 and ITS4) for each fungal contaminant as well as for sequencing. Subsequently, they are analyzed by Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) search of ITS sequence to reveal the identity of each individual fungal contaminant species. The molecular identification herein is a rapid and reliable procedure to identify date palm fungal contaminants which is very important in their control and treatment.

Analysis and functional annotation of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from multiple tissues of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)

PubMed Central

Ho, Chai-Ling; Kwan, Yen-Yen; Choi, Mei-Chooi; Tee, Sue-Sean; Ng, Wai-Har; Lim, Kok-Ang; Lee, Yang-Ping; Ooi, Siew-Eng; Lee, Weng-Wah; Tee, Jin-Ming; Tan, Siang-Hee; Kulaveerasingam, Harikrishna; Alwee, Sharifah Shahrul Rabiah Syed; Abdullah, Meilina Ong

2007-01-01

Background Oil palm is the second largest source of edible oil which contributes to approximately 20% of the world's production of oils and fats. In order to understand the molecular biology involved in in vitro propagation, flowering, efficient utilization of nitrogen sources and root diseases, we have initiated an expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis on oil palm. Results In this study, six cDNA libraries from oil palm zygotic embryos, suspension cells, shoot apical meristems, young flowers, mature flowers and roots, were constructed. We have generated a total of 14537 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from these libraries, from which 6464 tentative unique contigs (TUCs) and 2129 singletons were obtained. Approximately 6008 of these tentative unique genes (TUGs) have significant matches to the non-redundant protein database, from which 2361 were assigned to one or more Gene Ontology categories. Predominant transcripts and differentially expressed genes were identified in multiple oil palm tissues. Homologues of genes involved in many aspects of flower development were also identified among the EST collection, such as CONSTANS-like, AGAMOUS-like (AGL)2, AGL20, LFY-like, SQUAMOSA, SQUAMOSA binding protein (SBP) etc. Majority of them are the first representatives in oil palm, providing opportunities to explore the cause of epigenetic homeotic flowering abnormality in oil palm, given the importance of flowering in fruit production. The transcript levels of two flowering-related genes, EgSBP and EgSEP were analysed in the flower tissues of various developmental stages. Gene homologues for enzymes involved in oil biosynthesis, utilization of nitrogen sources, and scavenging of oxygen radicals, were also uncovered among the oil palm ESTs. Conclusion The EST sequences generated will allow comparative genomic studies between oil palm and other monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, development of gene-targeted markers for the reference genetic map, design and

Identification of Ganoderma Disease Resistance Loci Using Natural Field Infection of an Oil Palm Multiparental Population.

PubMed

Tisné, Sébastien; Pomiès, Virginie; Riou, Virginie; Syahputra, Indra; Cochard, Benoît; Denis, Marie

2017-06-07

Multi-parental populations are promising tools for identifying quantitative disease resistance loci. Stem rot caused by Ganoderma boninense is a major threat to palm oil production, with yield losses of up to 80% prompting premature replantation of palms. There is evidence of genetic resistance sources, but the genetic architecture of Ganoderma resistance has not yet been investigated. This study aimed to identify Ganoderma resistance loci using an oil palm multi-parental population derived from nine major founders of ongoing breeding programs. A total of 1200 palm trees of the multi-parental population was planted in plots naturally infected by Ganoderma , and their health status was assessed biannually over 25 yr. The data were treated as survival data, and modeled using the Cox regression model, including a spatial effect to take the spatial component in the spread of Ganoderma into account. Based on the genotypes of 757 palm trees out of the 1200 planted, and on pedigree information, resistance loci were identified using a random effect with identity-by-descent kinship matrices as covariance matrices in the Cox model. Four Ganoderma resistance loci were identified, two controlling the occurrence of the first Ganoderma symptoms, and two the death of palm trees, while favorable haplotypes were identified among a major gene pool for ongoing breeding programs. This study implemented an efficient and flexible QTL mapping approach, and generated unique valuable information for the selection of oil palm varieties resistant to Ganoderma disease. Copyright © 2017 Tisné et al.

[Distribution, surface and protected area of palm-swamps in Costa Rica and Nicaragua].

PubMed

Serrano-Sandí, Juan; Bonilla-Murillo, Fabian; Sasa, Mahmood

2013-09-01

In Central America, palm swamps are known collectively as yolillales. These wetlands are usually dominated by the raffia palm Raphia taedigera, but also by the royal palm Manicaria saccifera and -in lower extensions- by the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera. The yolillales tend to be poor in woody species and are characteristic of regions with high rainfall and extensive hydroperiods, so they remain flooded most of the year. The dominance of large raffia palm leaves in the canopy, allow these environments to be distinguishable in aerial photographs, which consequently has helped to map them along most of their distribution. However, while maps depicting yolillales are available, the extent of their surface area, perimeter and connectivity remains poorly understood. This is particularly true for yolillales in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, countries that share a good proportion of palm dominated swaps in the Rio San Juan Basin. In addition, it is not known the actual area of these environments that is under any category of protection according to the conservation systems of both countries. As a first step to catalog yolillal wetlands in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, this paper evaluates cartographic maps to delineate yolillales in the region. A subsample of yolillales mapped in this study were visited and we geo-referenced them and evaluate the extent and condition of the swamp. A total of 110 883.2ha are classified as yolillales in Nicaragua, equivalent to 22% of wetland surface area recorded for that country (excluding the Cocibolca and Xolothn Lakes). In Costa Rica, 53 931.3ha are covered by these palm dominated swamps, which represent 16.24% of the total surface area covered by wetlands. About 47% of the area covered by yolillales in Nicaragua is under some category of protection, the largest extensions protected by Cerro Silva, Laguna Tale Sulumas and Indio Maiz Nature Reserves. In Costa Rica, 55.5% of the area covered by yolillal is located within protected areas

Rigid polyurethane/oil palm fibre biocomposite foam

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alis, Adilah; Majid, Rohah A.; Nasir, Izzah Athirah Ahmad; Mustaffa, Nor Syatika; Hassan, Wan Hasamuddin Wan

2017-07-01

Rigid polyurethane (PU) biocomposite foam had been successfully prepared by reacting palm oil-derived polyol (PO-p) with polymeric 4, 4-diphenylmethane diisocynate (p-MDI). Two types of alkali-treated oil palm fibres namely, empty fruit bunch (EFB) and palm pressed fibre (PPF) were used as fillers to be incorporated into PU foam at 2.5 wt%, 5 wt% and 7.5 wt% fibre loadings. The effects of these fibres on surface morphology, compressive strength and thermal transition behaviours of biocomposite foams were investigated. Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) analysis confirmed the formation of urethane linkages (-NHCOO) in all samples at 1530-1540 cm-1. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed the average melting peak temperature (Tm) of biocomposite foams (132°C) were lower Tm than that of pure PU foam (161.67°C) and the increase amount of fibres did not give significant effect on the Tm of both biocomposite systems. Meanwhile, the microscopic images of PU-PPF foams exhibited smaller and uniform cell size morphologies compared with the PU-EFB foams that had coarse and irregular cell sizes, especially at 7.5wt% EFB. These findings were manifested with the gradually increase of compressive strength of PU-PPF at all PPF ratios while for PU-EFB system, the compressive strength increased up to 5 wt% before reduced at 7.5 wt% loading. It was thought due to the residual oil in PPF fibre had plasticized the PU matrix to a little extent, thus helping the dispersion of PPF fibre across the matrix.

DNA Profiles of MTG (Moderat Tahan Gano) Oil Palm Variety Based on SSR Marker

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Putri, L. A. P.; Setiado, H.; Hardianti, R.

2017-03-01

The oil palm, an economically important tree in Indonesia, has been one of the world’s major sources of edible oil and a significant precursor of biodiesel fuel. The objectives of this study were to know DNA profile of commercial MTG (Moderat Tahan Gano) oil palm variety collections. A total of 10 trees MTG oil palm variety were used for analysis. In this experiment, the DNA profile diversity was assessed using mEgCIR0174 and SSR-1 loci of oil palm’s specific SSR markers. The results of the experiment indicated out of 3 alleles of pcr product of mEgCIR0174 (198, 203 and 208 bp) and SSR-1 (201, 217 and 232 bp). These preliminary results demonstrated SSR marker can be used to evaluate genetic relatedness among trees of MTG (Moderat Tahan Gano) oil palm variety derived from different crossing or difference to desease resistance trait or misslabeled.

A high performance liquid chromatography method for determination of furfural in crude palm oil.

PubMed

Loi, Chia Chun; Boo, Huey Chern; Mohammed, Abdulkarim Sabo; Ariffin, Abdul Azis

2011-09-01

A modified steam distillation method was developed to extract furfural from crude palm oil (CPO). The collected distillates were analysed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with an ultraviolet diode detector at 284nm. The HPLC method allowed identification and quantification of furfural in CPO. The unique thermal extraction of CPO whereby the fresh fruit bunches (FFB) are first subjected to steam treatment, distinguishes itself from other solvent-extracted or cold-pressed vegetable oils. The presence of furfural was also determined in the fresh palm oil from FFB (without undergoing the normal extraction process), palm olein, palm stearin, olive oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, soya oil and corn oil. The chromatograms of the extracts were compared to that of standard furfural. Furfural was only detected in CPO. The CPO consignments obtained from four mills were shown to contain 7.54 to 20.60mg/kg furfural. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization and Amplification of Gene-Based Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) Markers in Date Palm.

PubMed

Zhao, Yongli; Keremane, Manjunath; Prakash, Channapatna S; He, Guohao

2017-01-01

The paucity of molecular markers limits the application of genetic and genomic research in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.). Availability of expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences in date palm may provide a good resource for developing gene-based markers. This study characterizes a substantial fraction of transcriptome sequences containing simple sequence repeats (SSRs) from the EST sequences in date palm. The EST sequences studied are mainly homologous to those of Elaeis guineensis and Musa acuminata. A total of 911 gene-based SSR markers, characterized with functional annotations, have provided a useful basis not only for discovering candidate genes and understanding genetic basis of traits of interest but also for developing genetic and genomic tools for molecular research in date palm, such as diversity study, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, and molecular breeding. The procedures of DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of these gene-based SSR markers, and gel electrophoresis of PCR products are described in this chapter.

Pyrolysis of Date palm waste in a fixed-bed reactor: Characterization of pyrolytic products.

PubMed

Bensidhom, Gmar; Ben Hassen-Trabelsi, Aïda; Alper, Koray; Sghairoun, Maher; Zaafouri, Kaouther; Trabelsi, Ismail

2018-01-01

The pyrolysis of several Tunisian Date Palm Wastes (DPW): Date Palm Rachis (DPR), Date Palm Leaflets (DPL), Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) and Date Palm Glaich (DPG) was run using a fixed-bed reactor, from room temperature to 500°C, with 15°C/min as heating rate and -5°C as condensation temperature, in order to produce bio-oil, biochar and syngas. In these conditions, the bio-oil yield ranges from 17.03wt% for DPL to 25.99wt% for EFB. For the biochar, the highest yield (36.66wt%) was obtained for DPL and the lowest one (31.66wt%) was obtained from DPG while the syngas production varies from 39.10wt% for DPR to 46.31wt% DPL. The raw material and pyrolysis products have been characterized using elemental analysis thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The syngas composition has been characterized using gas analyzer. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adding palm oil to the diet of sheep alters fatty acids profile on yogurt: Benefits to consumers.

PubMed

Bianchi, Anderson E; Silva, Aleksandro S DA; Biazus, Angelisa H; Richards, Neila S P S; Pellegrini, Luis G; Baldissera, Matheus D; Macedo, Vicente P; Silveira, André L F DA

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to modify the fatty acid profile of yogurt from sheep milk by the inclusion of different concentrations of palm oil into their diet. Thus, thirty-six sheep during lactation were separated in four groups with nine animals each, as described below: the group T0 (0%); the group T2 (inclusion of 2% of palm oil); the group T4 (inclusion of 4% of palm oil) and the group T6 (inclusion of 6% of palm oil). After 60 days of the supplementation, milk samples were collected and yogurt was produced, which was evaluated regarding the concentration of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PFA). A significant reduction (p<0.05) in most SFA and a significant increase (p<0.05) on MFA and PFA was observed in the yogurt of sheep supplemented with 4 and 6% of palm oil. Consequently, it is possible to conclude that palm oil supplementation exerts positive effects on yogurt, since it led to the reduction of undesirable fatty acids and increased fatty acids beneficial to human health.

Utilization of oil palm fronds in producing activated carbon using Na2CO3 as an activator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maulina, S.; Anwari, FN

2018-02-01

Oil Palm Frond is a waste in palm oil plantations that have the potential to be processed into more valuable products. This possibility is because of the presence of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in oil palm fronds. Therefore, this study aimed to utilize oil palm fronds in manufacturing of activated carbon through pyrolysis and impregnation that meets the requirements of the Industrial National Standard 06-3730-1995. The palm-fringed oil palm fronds were pyrolyzed in reactors at 150°C, 200°C, and 250°C for 60 minutes. Subsequently, the charcoal produced from the pyrolysis was smoothed with a ball mill, sieved with a size of 140 meshes, and impregnated using a Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3) for 24 hours at a concentration of 0 %, 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5 % (w/v). The activated carbon has 35.13% of charcoal yield, 8.6% of water content, 14.25% of ash content, 24.75% of volatile matter, 72.75% of fixed carbon, and 492.29 of iodine number. Moreover, SEM analysis indicated that activated carbon porous are coarse and distributed.

Responses of soil fungi to logging and oil palm agriculture in Southeast Asian tropical forests.

PubMed

McGuire, K L; D'Angelo, H; Brearley, F Q; Gedallovich, S M; Babar, N; Yang, N; Gillikin, C M; Gradoville, R; Bateman, C; Turner, B L; Mansor, P; Leff, J W; Fierer, N

2015-05-01

Human land use alters soil microbial composition and function in a variety of systems, although few comparable studies have been done in tropical forests and tropical agricultural production areas. Logging and the expansion of oil palm agriculture are two of the most significant drivers of tropical deforestation, and the latter is most prevalent in Southeast Asia. The aim of this study was to compare soil fungal communities from three sites in Malaysia that represent three of the most dominant land-use types in the Southeast Asia tropics: a primary forest, a regenerating forest that had been selectively logged 50 years previously, and a 25-year-old oil palm plantation. Soil cores were collected from three replicate plots at each site, and fungal communities were sequenced using the Illumina platform. Extracellular enzyme assays were assessed as a proxy for soil microbial function. We found that fungal communities were distinct across all sites, although fungal composition in the regenerating forest was more similar to the primary forest than either forest community was to the oil palm site. Ectomycorrhizal fungi, which are important associates of the dominant Dipterocarpaceae tree family in this region, were compositionally distinct across forests, but were nearly absent from oil palm soils. Extracellular enzyme assays indicated that the soil ecosystem in oil palm plantations experienced altered nutrient cycling dynamics, but there were few differences between regenerating and primary forest soils. Together, these results show that logging and the replacement of primary forest with oil palm plantations alter fungal community and function, although forests regenerating from logging had more similarities with primary forests in terms of fungal composition and nutrient cycling potential. Since oil palm agriculture is currently the mostly rapidly expanding equatorial crop and logging is pervasive across tropical ecosystems, these findings may have broad applicability.

Characterization and Evolution of Conserved MicroRNA through Duplication Events in Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera)

PubMed Central

Yang, Yaodong; Mason, Annaliese S.; Lei, Xintao; Ma, Zilong

2013-01-01

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in a wide range of species. Highly conserved miRNAs regulate ancestral transcription factors common to all plants, and control important basic processes such as cell division and meristem function. We selected 21 conserved miRNA families to analyze the distribution and maintenance of miRNAs. Recently, the first genome sequence in Palmaceae was released: date palm (Phoenix dactylifera). We conducted a systematic miRNA analysis in date palm, computationally identifying and characterizing the distribution and duplication of conserved miRNAs in this species compared to other published plant genomes. A total of 81 miRNAs belonging to 18 miRNA families were identified in date palm. The majority of miRNAs in date palm and seven other well-studied plant species were located in intergenic regions and located 4 to 5 kb away from the nearest protein-coding genes. Sequence comparison showed that 67% of date palm miRNA members were present in duplicated segments, and that 135 pairs of miRNA-containing segments were duplicated in Arabidopsis, tomato, orange, rice, apple, poplar and soybean with a high similarity of non coding sequences between duplicated segments, indicating genomic duplication was a major force for expansion of conserved miRNAs. Duplicated miRNA pairs in date palm showed divergence in pre-miRNA sequence and in number of promoters, implying that these duplicated pairs may have undergone divergent evolution. Comparisons between date palm and the seven other plant species for the gain/loss of miR167 loci in an ancient segment shared between monocots and dicots suggested that these conserved miRNAs were highly influenced by and diverged as a result of genomic duplication events. PMID:23951162

Characterization and evolution of conserved MicroRNA through duplication events in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera).

PubMed

Xiao, Yong; Xia, Wei; Yang, Yaodong; Mason, Annaliese S; Lei, Xintao; Ma, Zilong

2013-01-01

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in a wide range of species. Highly conserved miRNAs regulate ancestral transcription factors common to all plants, and control important basic processes such as cell division and meristem function. We selected 21 conserved miRNA families to analyze the distribution and maintenance of miRNAs. Recently, the first genome sequence in Palmaceae was released: date palm (Phoenix dactylifera). We conducted a systematic miRNA analysis in date palm, computationally identifying and characterizing the distribution and duplication of conserved miRNAs in this species compared to other published plant genomes. A total of 81 miRNAs belonging to 18 miRNA families were identified in date palm. The majority of miRNAs in date palm and seven other well-studied plant species were located in intergenic regions and located 4 to 5 kb away from the nearest protein-coding genes. Sequence comparison showed that 67% of date palm miRNA members were present in duplicated segments, and that 135 pairs of miRNA-containing segments were duplicated in Arabidopsis, tomato, orange, rice, apple, poplar and soybean with a high similarity of non coding sequences between duplicated segments, indicating genomic duplication was a major force for expansion of conserved miRNAs. Duplicated miRNA pairs in date palm showed divergence in pre-miRNA sequence and in number of promoters, implying that these duplicated pairs may have undergone divergent evolution. Comparisons between date palm and the seven other plant species for the gain/loss of miR167 loci in an ancient segment shared between monocots and dicots suggested that these conserved miRNAs were highly influenced by and diverged as a result of genomic duplication events.

Validity of PALMS GPS scoring of active and passive travel compared with SenseCam.

PubMed

Carlson, Jordan A; Jankowska, Marta M; Meseck, Kristin; Godbole, Suneeta; Natarajan, Loki; Raab, Fredric; Demchak, Barry; Patrick, Kevin; Kerr, Jacqueline

2015-03-01

The objective of this study is to assess validity of the personal activity location measurement system (PALMS) for deriving time spent walking/running, bicycling, and in vehicle, using SenseCam (Microsoft, Redmond, WA) as the comparison. Forty adult cyclists wore a Qstarz BT-Q1000XT GPS data logger (Qstarz International Co., Taipei, Taiwan) and SenseCam (camera worn around the neck capturing multiple images every minute) for a mean time of 4 d. PALMS used distance and speed between global positioning system (GPS) points to classify whether each minute was part of a trip (yes/no), and if so, the trip mode (walking/running, bicycling, or in vehicle). SenseCam images were annotated to create the same classifications (i.e., trip yes/no and mode). Contingency tables (2 × 2) and confusion matrices were calculated at the minute level for PALMS versus SenseCam classifications. Mixed-effects linear regression models estimated agreement (mean differences and intraclass correlation coefficients) between PALMS and SenseCam with regard to minutes/day in each mode. Minute-level sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value were ≥88%, and positive predictive value was ≥75% for non-mode-specific trip detection. Seventy-two percent to 80% of outdoor walking/running minutes, 73% of bicycling minutes, and 74%-76% of in-vehicle minutes were correctly classified by PALMS. For minutes per day, PALMS had a mean bias (i.e., amount of over or under estimation) of 2.4-3.1 min (11%-15%) for walking/running, 2.3-2.9 min (7%-9%) for bicycling, and 4.3-5 min (15%-17%) for vehicle time. Intraclass correlation coefficients were ≥0.80 for all modes. PALMS has validity for processing GPS data to objectively measure time spent walking/running, bicycling, and in vehicle in population studies. Assessing travel patterns is one of many valuable applications of GPS in physical activity research that can improve our understanding of the determinants and health outcomes of active

Impacts of human-related practices on Ommatissus lybicus infestations of date palm in Oman.

PubMed

Al-Kindi, Khalifa M; Kwan, Paul; Andrew, Nigel R; Welch, Mitchell

2017-01-01

Date palm cultivation is economically important in the Sultanate of Oman, with significant financial investments coming from both the government and private individuals. However, a widespread Dubas bug (DB) (Ommatissus lybicus Bergevin) infestation has impacted regions including the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Russia, and Spain, resulting in widespread damages to date palms. In this study, techniques in spatial statistics including ordinary least squares (OLS), geographically weighted regression (GRW), and exploratory regression (ER) were applied to (a) model the correlation between DB infestations and human-related practices that include irrigation methods, row spacing, palm tree density, and management of undercover and intercropped vegetation, and (b) predict the locations of future DB infestations in northern Oman. Firstly, we extracted row spacing and palm tree density information from remote sensed satellite images. Secondly, we collected data on irrigation practices and management by using a simple questionnaire, augmented with spatial data. Thirdly, we conducted our statistical analyses using all possible combinations of values over a given set of candidate variables using the chosen predictive modelling and regression techniques. Lastly, we identified the combination of human-related practices that are most conducive to the survival and spread of DB. Our results show that there was a strong correlation between DB infestations and several human-related practices parameters (R2 = 0.70). Variables including palm tree density, spacing between trees (less than 5 x 5 m), insecticide application, date palm and farm service (pruning, dethroning, remove weeds, and thinning), irrigation systems, offshoots removal, fertilisation and labour (non-educated) issues, were all found to significantly influence the degree of DB infestations. This study is expected to help reduce the extent and cost of aerial and ground sprayings, while facilitating the allocation of

Silage or fresh by-product of peach palm as roughage in the feeding of lambs.

PubMed

dos Santos Cabral, Ícaro; Azevêdo, José Augusto Gomes; de Almeida, Flávio Moreira; Pereira, Luiz Gustavo Ribeiro; de Araújo, Gherman Garcia Leal; Nogueira, Abdon Santos; Souza, Lígia Lins; de Oliveira, Gisele Andrade; de Oliveira Filho, Carlos Alberto Alves

2015-03-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate intake and apparent digestibility of agro-industrial by-product of peach palm in diets for lambs. Twenty castrated, crossbred Santa Ines lambs, with average age of 150 days and body weight of 22.4 ± 3.4 kg, were distributed in a completely randomized design with four experimental diets composed of the following: fresh by-product of peach palm enriched with urea + ammonia sulfate (FU); fresh peach palm by-product + concentrate (FP); silage of peach palm by-product + concentrate (SP); and silage of peach palm by-product enriched with 15% of cornmeal + concentrate (SPC). Intake was recorded daily, and the digestibility coefficients were estimated with the internal marker indigestible acid detergent fiber (iADF). Diet FU resulted in the lowest intake and digestibility of the nutrients evaluated. Animals receiving diet FP showed higher intakes of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), total digestible nutrients (TDN), and digestible energy (DE) in relation to animals fed diets SP and SPC. Diets SP and SPC showed higher coefficients of digestibility of DM, OM, CP, and NDF than diet FP. Diet SP reduced the intakes of DM, OM, ether extract (EE), non-fibrous carbohydrate (NFC), TDN, and DE and the digestibility coefficients of DM, OM, and NFC as compared with diet SPC. Feedlot lambs fed a diet with fresh peach palm by-product + concentrate (diet FP) have higher nutrient intake.

A Genome-Wide Survey of Date Palm Cultivars Supports Two Major Subpopulations in Phoenix dactylifera

PubMed Central

Mathew, Lisa S.; Seidel, Michael A.; George, Binu; Mathew, Sweety; Spannagl, Manuel; Haberer, Georg; Torres, Maria F.; Al-Dous, Eman K.; Al-Azwani, Eman K.; Diboun, Ilhem; Krueger, Robert R.; Mayer, Klaus F. X.; Mohamoud, Yasmin Ali; Suhre, Karsten; Malek, Joel A.

2015-01-01

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the oldest cultivated trees and is intimately tied to the history of human civilization. There are hundreds of commercial cultivars with distinct fruit shapes, colors, and sizes growing mainly in arid lands from the west of North Africa to India. The origin of date palm domestication is still uncertain, and few studies have attempted to document genetic diversity across multiple regions. We conducted genotyping-by-sequencing on 70 female cultivar samples from across the date palm–growing regions, including four Phoenix species as the outgroup. Here, for the first time, we generate genome-wide genotyping data for 13,000–65,000 SNPs in a diverse set of date palm fruit and leaf samples. Our analysis provides the first genome-wide evidence confirming recent findings that the date palm cultivars segregate into two main regions of shared genetic background from North Africa and the Arabian Gulf. We identify genomic regions with high densities of geographically segregating SNPs and also observe higher levels of allele fixation on the recently described X-chromosome than on the autosomes. Our results fit a model with two centers of earliest cultivation including date palms autochthonous to North Africa. These results adjust our understanding of human agriculture history and will provide the foundation for more directed functional studies and a better understanding of genetic diversity in date palm. PMID:25957276

Bacterial community shift for monitoring the co-composting of oil palm empty fruit bunch and palm oil mill effluent anaerobic sludge.

PubMed

Zainudin, Mohd Huzairi Mohd; Ramli, Norhayati; Hassan, Mohd Ali; Shirai, Yoshihito; Tashiro, Kosuke; Sakai, Kenji; Tashiro, Yukihiro

2017-06-01

A recently developed rapid co-composting of oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) and palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic sludge is beginning to attract attention from the palm oil industry in managing the disposal of these wastes. However, a deeper understanding of microbial diversity is required for the sustainable practice of the co-compositing process. In this study, an in-depth assessment of bacterial community succession at different stages of the pilot scale co-composting of OPEFB-POME anaerobic sludge was performed using 454-pyrosequencing, which was then correlated with the changes of physicochemical properties including temperature, oxygen level and moisture content. Approximately 58,122 of 16S rRNA gene amplicons with more than 500 operational taxonomy units (OTUs) were obtained. Alpha diversity and principal component analysis (PCoA) indicated that bacterial diversity and distributions were most influenced by the physicochemical properties of the co-composting stages, which showed remarkable shifts of dominant species throughout the process. Species related to Devosia yakushimensis and Desemzia incerta are shown to emerge as dominant bacteria in the thermophilic stage, while Planococcus rifietoensis correlated best with the later stage of co-composting. This study proved the bacterial community shifts in the co-composting stages corresponded with the changes of the physicochemical properties, and may, therefore, be useful in monitoring the progress of co-composting and compost maturity.

Salt tolerance research in date palm tree (Phoenix dactylifera L.), past, present, and future perspectives.

PubMed

Yaish, Mahmoud W; Kumar, Prakash P

2015-01-01

The date palm can adapt to extreme drought, to heat, and to relatively high levels of soil salinity. However, excessive amounts of salt due to irrigation with brackish water lead to a significant reduction in the productivity of the fruits as well as marked decrease in the viable numbers of the date palm trees. It is imperative that the nature of the existing salt-adaptation mechanism be understood in order to develop future date palm varieties that can tolerate excessive soil salinity. In this perspective article, several research strategies, obstacles, and precautions are discussed in light of recent advancements accomplished in this field and the properties of this species. In addition to a physiological characterization, we propose the use of a full range of OMICS technologies, coupled with reverse genetics approaches, aimed toward understanding the salt-adaption mechanism in the date palm. Information generated by these analyses should highlight transcriptional and posttranscriptional modifications controlling the salt-adaptation mechanisms. As an extremophile with a natural tolerance for a wide range of abiotic stresses, the date palm may represent a treasure trove of novel genetic resources for salinity tolerance.

Ripeness detection simulation of oil palm fruit bunches using laser-based imaging system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiddiq, Minarni; Fitmawati, Anjasmara, Ridho; Sari, Nurmaya; Hefniati

2017-01-01

Ripeness is one of important factors for quality sorting of harvested oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB). Traditional ripeness classifications using FFB color and number of fruit loose for harvesting have some disadvantages especially for high oil palm trees. A laser based imaging system is proposed to substitute the traditional method. In this study, ripeness detection simulation of oil palm FFBs was performed. The system composed of two diode lasers with 532 nm and 680 nm in wavelengths and a CMOS camera which was set on a rotating plate for easy adjustment of laser beam hitting FFB. The FFB samples were placed on an aluminum platform with 4 height variations, 1.5 m, 2 m, 2.5 m, and 3 m. The relations of reflectance intensities represented by Red Green Blue (RGB) values of the FFB images to the height variations and ripeness levels of FFBs with and without laser beam were analyzed. The samples were from Tenera variety with 4 ripeness levels called F0, F1, F3, and F4. The results showed that the red component of RGB values were dominant for FFBs without laser and with red laser. The average RGB values are higher for F3 (ripe) level and F4 (overripe). Imaging with green laser showed consistency. Imaging methods using laser was able to differentiate ripeness levels of oil palm fresh fruit bunch, it could be applied for future remote detection of oil palm FFB ripeness.

Greenhouse gas emissions during plantation stage of palm oil-based biofuel production addressing different land conversion scenarios in Malaysia.

PubMed

Kusin, Faradiella Mohd; Akhir, Nurul Izzati Mat; Mohamat-Yusuff, Ferdaus; Awang, Muhamad

2017-02-01

The environmental impacts with regard to agro-based biofuel production have been associated with the impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this study, field GHG emissions during plantation stage of palm oil-based biofuel production associated with land use changes for oil palm plantation development have been evaluated. Three different sites of different land use changes prior to oil palm plantation were chosen; converted land-use (large and small-scales) and logged-over forest. Field sampling for determination of soil N-mineralisation and soil organic carbon (SOC) was undertaken at the sites according to the age of palm, i.e. <5 years (immature), 5-20 and >21 years (mature oil palms). The field data were incorporated into the estimation of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) and the resulting CO 2 -eq emissions as well as for estimation of carbon stock changes. Irrespective of the land conversion scenarios, the nitrous oxide emissions were found in the range of 6.47-7.78 kg N 2 O-N/ha resulting in 498-590 kg CO 2 -eq/ha. On the other hand, the conversion of tropical forest into oil palm plantation has resulted in relatively higher GHG emissions (i.e. four times higher and carbon stock reduction by >50%) compared to converted land use (converted rubber plantation) for oil palm development. The conversion from previously rubber plantation into oil palm plantation would increase the carbon savings (20% in increase) thus sustaining the environmental benefits from the palm oil-based biofuel production.

Analysis of In-Situ Spectral Reflectance of Sago and Other Palms: Implications for Their Detection in Optical Satellite Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rendon Santillan, Jojene; Makinano-Santillan, Meriam

2018-04-01

We present a characterization, comparison and analysis of in-situ spectral reflectance of Sago and other palms (coconut, oil palm and nipa) to ascertain on which part of the electromagnetic spectrum these palms are distinguishable from each other. The analysis also aims to reveal information that will assist in selecting which band to use when mapping Sago palms using the images acquired by these sensors. The datasets used in the analysis consisted of averaged spectral reflectance curves of each palm species measured within the 345-1045 nm wavelength range using an Ocean Optics USB4000-VIS-NIR Miniature Fiber Optic Spectrometer. This in-situ reflectance data was also resampled to match the spectral response of the 4 bands of ALOS AVNIR-2, 3 bands of ASTER VNIR, 4 bands of Landsat 7 ETM+, 5 bands of Landsat 8, and 8 bands of Worldview-2 (WV2). Examination of the spectral reflectance curves showed that the near infra-red region, specifically at 770, 800 and 875 nm, provides the best wavelengths where Sago palms can be distinguished from other palms. The resampling of the in-situ reflectance spectra to match the spectral response of optical sensors made possible the analysis of the differences in reflectance values of Sago and other palms in different bands of the sensors. Overall, the knowledge learned from the analysis can be useful in the actual analysis of optical satellite images, specifically in determining which band to include or to exclude, or whether to use all bands of a sensor in discriminating and mapping Sago palms.

Key glycolytic branch influences mesocarp oil content in oil palm.

PubMed

Ruzlan, Nurliyana; Low, Yoke Sum Jaime; Win, Wilonita; Azizah Musa, Noor; Ong, Ai-Ling; Chew, Fook-Tim; Appleton, David; Mohd Yusof, Hirzun; Kulaveerasingam, Harikrishna

2017-08-29

The fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase catalyzed glycolysis branch that forms dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate was identified as a key driver of increased oil synthesis in oil palm and was validated in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Reduction in triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) activity in a yeast knockdown mutant resulted in 19% increase in lipid content, while yeast strains overexpressing oil palm fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (EgFBA) and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (EgG3PDH) showed increased lipid content by 16% and 21%, respectively. Genetic association analysis on oil palm SNPs of EgTPI SD_SNP_000035801 and EgGAPDH SD_SNP_000041011 showed that palms harboring homozygous GG in EgTPI and heterozygous AG in EgGAPDH exhibited higher mesocarp oil content based on dry weight. In addition, AG genotype of the SNP of EgG3PDH SD_SNP_000008411 was associated with higher mean mesocarp oil content, whereas GG genotype of the EgFBA SNP SD_SNP_000007765 was favourable. Additive effects were observed with a combination of favourable alleles in TPI and FBA in Nigerian x AVROS population (family F7) with highest allele frequency GG.GG being associated with a mean increase of 3.77% (p value = 2.3E -16 ) oil content over the Family 1. An analogous effect was observed in yeast, where overexpressed EgFBA in TPI - resulted in a 30% oil increment. These results provide insights into flux balances in glycolysis leading to higher yield in mesocarp oil-producing fruit.

Amazonian Native Palm Fruits as Sources of Antioxidant Bioactive Compounds

PubMed Central

dos Santos, Mary de Fátima Guedes; Mamede, Rosa Virginia Soares; Rufino, Maria do Socorro Moura; de Brito, Edy Sousa; Alves, Ricardo Elesbão

2015-01-01

The Amazon region has many sources of fruits, especially native ones not yet explored, but which have some potential for use, as is the case with certain palms. The objective of this study was to evaluate the content of bioactive compounds and total antioxidant capacities of fruits from native palms from the Brazilian Amazon. The fruits of five palm species (bacaba, buriti, inajá, pupunha, and tucumã) were evaluated for levels of ascorbic acid, anthocyanins, yellow flavonoids, total carotenoids, and total extractable polyphenols, as well as the total antioxidant capacities. The fruits had high contents of extractable total polyphenols, especially bacaba and tucumã (941.56 and 158.98 mg of galic acid·100g−1), total carotenoids in the case of tucumã and buriti (7.24 and 4.67 mg·100g−1), and anthocyanins in bacaba (80.76 mg·100g−1). As for the antioxidant capacity, bacaba had the highest total antioxidant activity by the Oxygen Radical Antioxidant Capacity (ORAC) (194.67 µM·Trolox·g−1), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (47.46 g·pulp·g−1 DPPH), and β-carotene/linoleic acid (92.17% Oxidation Inhibition (O.I) methods. Bacaba phenolic profile revealed the presence of cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside and other flavonoids. The palm fruits studied can be considered good sources of bioactive compounds, some containing higher amounts than that of commonly consumed fruits. Total extractable polyphenols and anthocyanins were directly correlated to antioxidant activity in these fruits. PMID:26783846

Experimental Biodiversity Enrichment in Oil-Palm-Dominated Landscapes in Indonesia.

PubMed

Teuscher, Miriam; Gérard, Anne; Brose, Ulrich; Buchori, Damayanti; Clough, Yann; Ehbrecht, Martin; Hölscher, Dirk; Irawan, Bambang; Sundawati, Leti; Wollni, Meike; Kreft, Holger

2016-01-01

Tropical biodiversity is threatened by the expansion of oil-palm plantations. Reduced-impact farming systems such as agroforests, have been proposed to increase biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. In regions where oil-palm plantations already dominate the landscape, this increase can only be achieved through systematic ecological restoration. However, our knowledge about the underlying ecological and socio-economic processes, constraints, and trade-offs of ecological restoration in oil-palm landscapes is very limited. To bridge this gap, we established a long-term biodiversity enrichment experiment. We established experimental tree islands in a conventional oil-palm plantation and systematically varied plot size, tree diversity, and tree species composition. Here, we describe the rationale and the design of the experiment, the ecosystem variables (soil, topography, canopy openness) and biotic characteristics (associated vegetation, invertebrates, birds) of the experimental site prior to the establishment of the experiment, and initial experimental effects on the fauna. Already one year after establishment of the experiment, tree plantings had an overall positive effect on the bird and invertebrate communities at the plantation scale. The diversity and abundance of invertebrates was positively affected by the size of the tree islands. Based on these results, we expect a further increase of biodiversity and associated ecological functions in the future. The long-term interdisciplinary monitoring of ecosystem variables, flora, fauna, and socio-economic aspects will allow us to evaluate the suitability of tree islands as a restoration measure. Thereof, guidelines for ecologically improved and socio-economically viable restoration and management concepts could be developed.

Experimental Biodiversity Enrichment in Oil-Palm-Dominated Landscapes in Indonesia

PubMed Central

Teuscher, Miriam; Gérard, Anne; Brose, Ulrich; Buchori, Damayanti; Clough, Yann; Ehbrecht, Martin; Hölscher, Dirk; Irawan, Bambang; Sundawati, Leti; Wollni, Meike; Kreft, Holger

2016-01-01

Tropical biodiversity is threatened by the expansion of oil-palm plantations. Reduced-impact farming systems such as agroforests, have been proposed to increase biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. In regions where oil-palm plantations already dominate the landscape, this increase can only be achieved through systematic ecological restoration. However, our knowledge about the underlying ecological and socio-economic processes, constraints, and trade-offs of ecological restoration in oil-palm landscapes is very limited. To bridge this gap, we established a long-term biodiversity enrichment experiment. We established experimental tree islands in a conventional oil-palm plantation and systematically varied plot size, tree diversity, and tree species composition. Here, we describe the rationale and the design of the experiment, the ecosystem variables (soil, topography, canopy openness) and biotic characteristics (associated vegetation, invertebrates, birds) of the experimental site prior to the establishment of the experiment, and initial experimental effects on the fauna. Already one year after establishment of the experiment, tree plantings had an overall positive effect on the bird and invertebrate communities at the plantation scale. The diversity and abundance of invertebrates was positively affected by the size of the tree islands. Based on these results, we expect a further increase of biodiversity and associated ecological functions in the future. The long-term interdisciplinary monitoring of ecosystem variables, flora, fauna, and socio-economic aspects will allow us to evaluate the suitability of tree islands as a restoration measure. Thereof, guidelines for ecologically improved and socio-economically viable restoration and management concepts could be developed. PMID:27799935

Non-stationary time series modeling on caterpillars pest of palm oil for early warning system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setiyowati, Susi; Nugraha, Rida F.; Mukhaiyar, Utriweni

2015-12-01

The oil palm production has an important role for the plantation and economic sector in Indonesia. One of the important problems in the cultivation of oil palm plantation is pests which causes damage to the quality of fruits. The caterpillar pest which feed palm tree's leaves will cause decline in quality of palm oil production. Early warning system is needed to minimize losses due to this pest. Here, we applied non-stationary time series modeling, especially the family of autoregressive models to predict the number of pests based on its historical data. We realized that there is some uniqueness of these pests data, i.e. the spike value that occur almost periodically. Through some simulations and case study, we obtain that the selection of constant factor has a significance influence to the model so that it can shoot the spikes value precisely.

[Preliminary plant inventory of the palm-swamps in the Caribbean of Costa Rica and Nicaragua].

PubMed

Rueda, Ricardo; Jarquín, Orlando; Munguía, Blanca; Reyes, Aquiles; Coronado, Indiana

2013-09-01

In the Caribbean slope of Isthmian Central America, plant associations dominated by the palms Raphia taedigera and Manicaria saccifera develop in poorly drained or waterlogged soils. These associations are known locally as yolillales or palm-swamps, although there are differences in the forest structure and plant diversity associated with both palm species. In this paper, we report the results of a preliminary inventory of tree species found in eight palm-swamps at five locations in southeastern Nicaragua and northeastern Costa Rica. Our data reveal low tree diversity in these swamps with only 60 species accounted in them. This figure is equivalent to close to 8% of the plant species known for this region. In general, R. taedigera dominates flooded areas with extensive hydroperiods and lower floristic diversity, while M. saccifera is often found in flooded forests with more structure and diversity.

Molecular Analysis of Date Palm Genetic Diversity Using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter-Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSRs).

PubMed

El Sharabasy, Sherif F; Soliman, Khaled A

2017-01-01

The date palm is an ancient domesticated plant with great diversity and has been cultivated in the Middle East and North Africa for at last 5000 years. Date palm cultivars are classified based on the fruit moisture content, as dry, semidry, and soft dates. There are a number of biochemical and molecular techniques available for characterization of the date palm variation. This chapter focuses on the DNA-based markers random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) techniques, in addition to biochemical markers based on isozyme analysis. These techniques coupled with appropriate statistical tools proved useful for determining phylogenetic relationships among date palm cultivars and provide information resources for date palm gene banks.

Oasis desert farming selects environment-specific date palm root endophytic communities and cultivable bacteria that promote resistance to drought.

PubMed

Cherif, Hanene; Marasco, Ramona; Rolli, Eleonora; Ferjani, Raoudha; Fusi, Marco; Soussi, Asma; Mapelli, Francesca; Blilou, Ikram; Borin, Sara; Boudabous, Abdellatif; Cherif, Ameur; Daffonchio, Daniele; Ouzari, Hadda

2015-08-01

Oases are desert-farming agro-ecosystems, where date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) plays a keystone role in offsetting the effects of drought and maintaining a suitable microclimate for agriculture. At present, abundance, diversity and plant growth promotion (PGP) of date palm root-associated bacteria remain unknown. Considering the environmental pressure determined by the water scarcity in the desert environments, we hypothesized that bacteria associated with date palm roots improve plant resistance to drought. Here, the ecology of date palm root endophytes from oases in the Tunisian Sahara was studied with emphasis on their capacity to promote growth under drought. Endophytic communities segregated along a north-south gradient in correlation with geo-climatic parameters. Screening of 120 endophytes indicated that date palm roots select for bacteria with multiple PGP traits. Bacteria rapidly cross-colonized the root tissues of different species of plants, including the original Tunisian date palm cultivar, Saudi Arabian cultivars and Arabidopsis. Selected endophytes significantly increased the biomass of date palms exposed to repeated drought stress periods during a 9-month greenhouse experiment. Overall, results indicate that date palm roots shape endophytic communities that are capable to promote plant growth under drought conditions, thereby contributing an essential ecological service to the entire oasis ecosystem. © 2015 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Study on Fired Clay Bricks by Replacing Clay with Palm Oil Waste: Effects on Physical and Mechanical Properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kadir, A. A.; Sarani, N. A.; Abdullah, M. M. A. B.; Perju, M. C.; Sandu, A. V.

2017-06-01

Palm oil is one of the major agricultural industries in Malaysia. Due to the poor management system, the discarded palm oil waste has always been linked to the environment issues. During processing of palm oil, a considerable amount of solid waste by-products in the form of fibres, shells, empty fruit bunches and fly ashes are produce rapidly. Therefore, this study was conducted to incorporate 1%, 5% and 10% of palm oil waste into fired clay brick. Samples of brick were fired at 1050°C temperature with heating rates of 1°C/min. Manufactured bricks were tested with physical and mechanical properties including firing shrinkage, dry density, water absorption and compressive strength. The results demonstrated that the replacement of 1% up to 5% of palm oil waste had improved several properties, although, a decrease of performance in certain aspects has also been observed. As a result, palm oil waste can be utilized in an environmentally safe way into fired clay brick thus providing adequate properties of fired clay brick.

Development and Validation of a High-Density SNP Genotyping Array for African Oil Palm.

PubMed

Kwong, Qi Bin; Teh, Chee Keng; Ong, Ai Ling; Heng, Huey Ying; Lee, Heng Leng; Mohamed, Mohaimi; Low, Joel Zi-Bin; Apparow, Sukganah; Chew, Fook Tim; Mayes, Sean; Kulaveerasingam, Harikrishna; Tammi, Martti; Appleton, David Ross

2016-08-01

High-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping arrays are powerful tools that can measure the level of genetic polymorphism within a population. To develop a whole-genome SNP array for oil palms, SNP discovery was performed using deep resequencing of eight libraries derived from 132 Elaeis guineensis and Elaeis oleifera palms belonging to 59 origins, resulting in the discovery of >3 million putative SNPs. After SNP filtering, the Illumina OP200K custom array was built with 170 860 successful probes. Phenetic clustering analysis revealed that the array could distinguish between palms of different origins in a way consistent with pedigree records. Genome-wide linkage disequilibrium declined more slowly for the commercial populations (ranging from 120 kb at r(2) = 0.43 to 146 kb at r(2) = 0.50) when compared with the semi-wild populations (19.5 kb at r(2) = 0.22). Genetic fixation mapping comparing the semi-wild and commercial population identified 321 selective sweeps. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) detected a significant peak on chromosome 2 associated with the polygenic component of the shell thickness trait (based on the trait shell-to-fruit; S/F %) in tenera palms. Testing of a genomic selection model on the same trait resulted in good prediction accuracy (r = 0.65) with 42% of the S/F % variation explained. The first high-density SNP genotyping array for oil palm has been developed and shown to be robust for use in genetic studies and with potential for developing early trait prediction to shorten the oil palm breeding cycle. Copyright © 2016 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Microprojectile Bombardment Transformation of Date Palm Using the Insecticidal Cholesterol Oxidase (ChoA) Gene.

PubMed

Allam, Mai A; Saker, Mahmoud M

2017-01-01

The overall objective of this work is to optimize the transformation system for date palm as a first step toward production of date palm clones resistant to noxious pests. A construct harboring the cholesterol oxidase (ChoA) gene, which renders plant resistance against insect attack, is introduced into embryogenic date palm callus using the PDS-1000/He particle bombardment system. The process involves the establishment of embryogenic callus cultures as well as immature embryo-derived microcalli that are used as target tissues for shooting and optimization of transformation conditions. This chapter in addition explains molecular and histochemical assays conducted to confirm gene integration and expression.

Multi-objective model of waste transportation management for crude palm oil industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silalahi, Meslin; Mawengkang, Herman; Irsa Syahputri, Nenna

2018-02-01

The crude palm oil industry is an agro-industrial commodity. The global market of this industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years, such that it has a strategic value to be developed for Indonesian economy. Despite these economic benefits there are a number of environmental problems at the factories, such as high water consumption, the generation of a large amount of wastewater with a high organic content, and the generation of a large quantity of solid wastes and air pollution. In terms of waste transportation, we propose a multiobjective programming model for managing business environmental risk in a crude palm oil manufacture which gives the best possible configuration of waste management facilities and allocates wastes to these facilities. Then we develop an interactive approach for tackling logistics and environmental risk production planning problem for the crude palm oil industry.

Synchronization of Somatic Embryogenesis in Date Palm Suspension Culture Using Abscisic Acid.

PubMed

Alwael, Hussain A; Naik, Poornananda M; Al-Khayri, Jameel M

2017-01-01

Somatic embryogenesis is considered the most effective method for commercial propagation of date palm. However, the limitation of obtaining synchronized development of somatic embryos remains an impediment. The synchronization of somatic embryo development is ideal for the applications to produce artificial seeds. Abscisic acid (ABA) is associated with stress response and influences in vitro growth and development. This chapter describes an effective method to achieve synchronized development of somatic embryos in date palm cell suspension culture. Among the ABA concentrations tested (0, 1, 10, 50, 100 μM), the best synchronized growth was obtained in response to 50-100 μM. Here we provide a comprehensive protocol for in vitro plant regeneration of date palm starting with shoot-tip explant, callus initiation and growth, cell suspension establishment, embryogenesis synchronization with ABA treatment, somatic embryo germination, and rooting as well as acclimatized plantlet establishment.

Enhanced Indirect Somatic Embryogenesis of Date Palm Using Low Levels of Seawater.

PubMed

Taha, Rania A

2017-01-01

Date palm tolerates salinity, drought, and high temperatures. Arid and semiarid zones, especially the Middle East region, need a huge number of date palms for cultivation. To meet this demand, tissue culture techniques have great potential for mass production of plantlets, especially using the indirect embryogenesis technique; any improvement of these techniques is a worthy objective. Low levels of salinity can enhance growth and development of tolerant plants. A low level of seawater, a natural source of salinity, reduces the time required for micropropagation processes of date palm cv. Malkaby when added to MS medium. Medium containing seawater at 500 ppm total dissolved solid (TDS) (12.2 mL/L) improves callus proliferation, whereas 1500 ppm (36.59 mL/L) enhances plant regeneration including multiplication of secondary embryos, embryo germination, and rooting.

Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Rhodnius pallescens (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) Infesting Coyol Palms in the Dry Arch of Panamá.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Indra G; Saldaña, Azael; González, Kadir; Pineda, Vanessa; Perea, Milixa; Santamaría, Ana M; de Junca, Carmen C; Chaves, Luis F; Calzada, José E

2018-05-04

Ecoepidemiological scenarios for Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas transmission are partially shaped by kissing bug vector ecology. The presence of Attalea butyracea Kunth, the 'royal palm', is a major risk factor for Chagas disease transmission in Panamá given their frequent infestations by Rhodnius pallescens Barber, a major neotropical T. cruzi vector. It was assumed that in Panamá this relationship was very close and unique, limiting the niche of R. pallescens to that of Att. butyracea. However, here we present observations about T. cruzi-infected R. pallescens infesting coyol palms, Acrocomia aculeata Jacquin, in Pedasí district, Los Santos Province, Panamá. Between May 2015 and August 2016, we sampled kissing bugs from 83 coyol palms using mice-baited traps placed at the crown of each palm during the dry and wet season. We collected 62 R. pallescens and one Eratyrus cuspidatus Stål kissing bugs. Using logistic regression, we found that the probability of kissing bug infestation in coyol palms increased during the rainy season, with infructescence number and palm height. We examined adult R. pallescens bugs (n = 30) and found T. cruzi in 67% of the samples. We were able to isolate and characterize T. cruzi from parasites present in the feces from R. pallescens, all parasites belonging to the TC I lineage. We found that green fronds number and house proximity increased T. cruzi infection probability in kissing bugs collected in coyol palms. These results highlight coyol palms as a potential risk factor for Chagas disease transmission in the dry arch of Panamá.

A Gathering Storm: How Palm Beach County Schools Fail Poor and Minority Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carmona, Lisa A.; Wheelock, Anne; First, Joan

This report takes a hard look at the day-to-day workings of Palm Beach County (Florida) schools to explain why the systemic change model of Florida's current reform legislation is likely to fail the students in greatest need of improved schooling. The Palm Beach County School District is the 4th largest district in Florida, and the 15th largest in…

Implementation Study of the Comprehensive Services Program of Palm Beach County, Florida. Final Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyons, Sandra; Karlstrom, Mikael; Haywood, Thomas

2007-01-01

The Comprehensive Services Program of Palm Beach County, Florida, was an ambitious and innovative effort to improve the school readiness of low-income children in Palm Beach County by identifying needs early and providing early intervention services to support physical, cognitive, and emotional health and development. Services were delivered to…

A Gate-to-gate Case Study of the Life Cycle Assessment of an Oil Palm Seedling

PubMed Central

Muhamad, Halimah; Sahid, Ismail Bin; Surif, Salmijah; Ai, Tan Yew; May, Choo Yuen

2012-01-01

The palm oil industry has played an important role in the economic development of Malaysia and has enhanced the economic welfare of its people. To determine the environmental impact of the oil palm seedling at the nursery stage, information on inputs and outputs need to be assessed. The oil palm nursery is the first link in the palm oil supply chain. A gate-to-gate study was carried out whereby the system boundary was set to only include the process of the oil palm seedling. The starting point was a germinated seed in a small polyethylene bag (6 in × 9 in) in which it remained until the seedling was approximately 3 to 4 months old. The seedling was then transferred into a larger polyethylene bag (12 in × 15 in), where it remained until it was 10–12 months old, when it was planted in the field (plantation). The functional unit for this life cycle inventory (LCI) is based on the production of one seedling. Generally, within the system boundary, the production of an oil palm seedling has only two major environmental impact points, the polybags used to grow the seedling and the fungicide (dithiocarbamate) used to control pathogenic fungi, as both the polybags and the dithiocarbamate are derived from fossil fuel. PMID:24575222

Red palm oil: nutritional, physiological and therapeutic roles in improving human wellbeing and quality of life.

PubMed

Oguntibeju, O O; Esterhuyse, A J; Truter, E J

2009-01-01

The link between dietary fats and cardiovascular disease has created a growing interest in dietary red palm oil research. Also, the link between nutrition and health, oxidative stress and the severity or progression of disease has stimulated further interest in the potential role of red palm oil (a natural antioxidant product) to improve oxidative status by reducing oxidative stress in patients with cardiovascular disease, cancer and other chronic diseases. In spite of its level of saturated fatty acid content (50%), red palm oil has not been found to promote atherosclerosis and/or arterial thrombosis. This is probably due to the ratio of its saturated fatty acid to unsaturated fatty acid content and its high concentration of antioxidants such as beta-carotene, tocotrienols, tocopherols and vitamin E. It has also been reported that the consumption of red palm oil reduces the level of endogenous cholesterol, and this seems to be due to the presence of the tocotrienols and the peculiar isomeric position of its fatty acids. The benefits of red palm oil to health include a reduction in the risk of arterial thrombosis and/or atherosclerosis, inhibition of endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis, platelet aggregation, a reduction in oxidative stress and a reduction in blood pressure. It has also been shown that dietary red palm oil, taken in moderation in animals and humans, promotes the efficient utilisation of nutrients, activates hepatic drug metabolising enzymes, facilitates the haemoglobinisation of red blood cells and improves immune function. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the nutritional, physiological and biochemical roles of red palm oil in improving wellbeing and quality of life.

Involvement of metabolites in early defense mechanism of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) against Ganoderma disease.

PubMed

Nusaibah, S A; Siti Nor Akmar, A; Idris, A S; Sariah, M; Mohamad Pauzi, Z

2016-12-01

Understanding the mechanism of interaction between the oil palm and its key pathogen, Ganoderma spp. is crucial as the disease caused by this fungal pathogen leads to a major loss of revenue in leading palm oil producing countries in Southeast Asia. Here in this study, we assess the morphological and biochemical changes in Ganoderma disease infected oil palm seedling roots in both resistant and susceptible progenies. Rubber woodblocks fully colonized by G. boninense were applied as a source of inoculum to artificially infect the roots of resistant and susceptible oil palm progenies. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to measure an array of plant metabolites in 100 resistant and susceptible oil palm seedling roots treated with pathogenic Ganoderma boninense fungus. Statistical effects, univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify key-Ganoderma disease associated metabolic agitations in both resistant and susceptible oil palm root tissues. Ganoderma disease related defense shifts were characterized based on (i) increased antifungal activity in crude extracts, (ii) increased lipid levels, beta- and gamma-sitosterol particularly in the resistant progeny, (iii) detection of heterocyclic aromatic organic compounds, benzo [h] quinoline, pyridine, pyrimidine (iv) elevation in antioxidants, alpha- and beta-tocopherol (iv) degraded cortical cell wall layers, possibly resulting from fungal hydrolytic enzyme activity needed for initial penetration. The present study suggested that plant metabolites mainly lipids and heterocyclic aromatic organic metabolites could be potentially involved in early oil palm defense mechanism against G. boninense infection, which may also highlight biomarkers for disease detection, treatment, development of resistant variety and monitoring. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Impact of logging and forest conversion to oil palm plantations on soil bacterial communities in Borneo.

PubMed

Lee-Cruz, Larisa; Edwards, David P; Tripathi, Binu M; Adams, Jonathan M

2013-12-01

Tropical forests are being rapidly altered by logging and cleared for agriculture. Understanding the effects of these land use changes on soil bacteria, which constitute a large proportion of total biodiversity and perform important ecosystem functions, is a major conservation frontier. Here we studied the effects of logging history and forest conversion to oil palm plantations in Sabah, Borneo, on the soil bacterial community. We used paired-end Illumina sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, V3 region, to compare the bacterial communities in primary, once-logged, and twice-logged forest and land converted to oil palm plantations. Bacteria were grouped into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) at the 97% similarity level, and OTU richness and local-scale α-diversity showed no difference between the various forest types and oil palm plantations. Focusing on the turnover of bacteria across space, true β-diversity was higher in oil palm plantation soil than in forest soil, whereas community dissimilarity-based metrics of β-diversity were only marginally different between habitats, suggesting that at large scales, oil palm plantation soil could have higher overall γ-diversity than forest soil, driven by a slightly more heterogeneous community across space. Clearance of primary and logged forest for oil palm plantations did, however, significantly impact the composition of soil bacterial communities, reflecting in part the loss of some forest bacteria, whereas primary and logged forests did not differ in composition. Overall, our results suggest that the soil bacteria of tropical forest are to some extent resilient or resistant to logging but that the impacts of forest conversion to oil palm plantations are more severe.

Diversity of Hymenoptera (Insecta) on different ages of oil palm in Lekir Plantation, Perak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azhari, Muhammad Luqman Hakim; Hazmi, Izfa Riza

2018-04-01

This study was conducted to determine the diversity of Hymenoptera on the different ages of oil palm namely plot 12, 9 and 5 years old. Sampling was carried out from November 2015 to February 2016 at Ladang Lekir, Perak using Malaise traps and Window trap. A total of 3052 individuals Hymenopteran consisting of 58 morphospecies and 35 subfamilies of 17 families were successfully collected. The most abundant species recorded was the Pimplinae.sp4 with 447 individuals (relative abundance, RA=14.51%). According to the plot, plot 9 years old have the highest reading for all three Peilou Equality Index (E'=0.983), Shannon Diversity Index (H'=3.939) and Simpson Diversity Index (D'=0.9795) with 55 species have been recorded. The t-tests showed that there were no significant difference in term of the diversity index (H') between palm plots 9 years old and 12 years old, while there were significant differences between the two plot (9 years old and 12 years old) with 5 old palm plot. The species accumulation curve showed that only 5 old palm plot nearly asymptotic. This study is expected to help the management to provide basic information for future research and as well, to develop and implement tools, methods, strategies in farm management practices of the oil palm plantations in Malaysia.

Climate change affecting oil palm agronomy, and oil palm cultivation increasing climate change, require amelioration.

PubMed

Paterson, R Russell M; Lima, Nelson

2018-01-01

Palm oil is used in various valued commodities and is a large global industry worth over US$ 50 billion annually. Oil palms (OP) are grown commercially in Indonesia and Malaysia and other countries within Latin America and Africa. The large-scale land-use change has high ecological, economic, and social impacts. Tropical countries in particular are affected negatively by climate change (CC) which also has a detrimental impact on OP agronomy, whereas the cultivation of OP increases CC. Amelioration of both is required. The reduced ability to grow OP will reduce CC, which may allow more cultivation tending to increase CC, in a decreasing cycle. OP could be increasingly grown in more suitable regions occurring under CC. Enhancing the soil fauna may compensate for the effect of CC on OP agriculture to some extent. The effect of OP cultivation on CC may be reduced by employing reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation plans, for example, by avoiding illegal fire land clearing. Other ameliorating methods are reported herein. More research is required involving good management practices that can offset the increases in CC by OP plantations. Overall, OP-growing countries should support the Paris convention on reducing CC as the most feasible scheme for reducing CC.

A specific PFT and sub-canopy structure for simulating oil palm in the Community Land Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Y.; Knohl, A.; Roupsard, O.; Bernoux, M.; LE Maire, G.; Panferov, O.; Kotowska, M.; Meijide, A.

2015-12-01

Towards an effort to quantify the effects of rainforests to oil palm conversion on land-atmosphere carbon, water and energy fluxes, a specific plant functional type (PFT) and sub-canopy structure are developed for simulating oil palm within the Community Land Model (CLM4.5). Current global land surface models only simulate annual crops beside natural vegetation. In this study, a multilayer oil palm subroutine is developed in CLM4.5 for simulating oil palm's phenology and carbon and nitrogen allocation. The oil palm has monopodial morphology and sequential phenology of around 40 stacked phytomers, each carrying a large leaf and a fruit bunch, forming a natural multilayer canopy. A sub-canopy phenological and physiological parameterization is thus introduced, so that multiple phytomer components develop simultaneously but according to their different phenological steps (growth, yield and senescence) at different canopy layers. This specific multilayer structure was proved useful for simulating canopy development in terms of leaf area index (LAI) and fruit yield in terms of carbon and nitrogen outputs in Jambi, Sumatra (Fan et al. 2015). The study supports that species-specific traits, such as palm's monopodial morphology and sequential phenology, are necessary representations in terrestrial biosphere models in order to accurately simulate vegetation dynamics and feedbacks to climate. Further, oil palm's multilayer structure allows adding all canopy-level calculations of radiation, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and respiration, beside phenology, also to the sub-canopy level, so as to eliminate scale mismatch problem among different processes. A series of adaptations are made to the CLM model. Initial results show that the adapted multilayer radiative transfer scheme and the explicit represention of oil palm's canopy structure improve on simulating photosynthesis-light response curve. The explicit photosynthesis and dynamic leaf nitrogen calculations per canopy

An Iterative Learning Algorithm to Map Oil Palm Plantations from Synthetic Aperture Radar and Crowdsourcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinto, N.; Zhang, Z.; Perger, C.; Aguilar-Amuchastegui, N.; Almeyda Zambrano, A. M.; Broadbent, E. N.; Simard, M.; Banerjee, S.

2017-12-01

The oil palm Elaeis spp. grows exclusively in the tropics and provides 30% of the world's vegetable oil. While oil palm-derived biodiesel can reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels, plantation establishment may be associated with peat fires and deforestation. The ability to monitor plantation establishment and their expansion over carbon-rich tropical forests is critical for quantifying the net impact of oil palm commodities on carbon fluxes. Our objective is to develop a robust methodology to map oil palm plantations in tropical biomes, based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from Sentinel-1, ALOS/PALSAR2, and UAVSAR. The C- and L-band signal from these instruments are sensitive to vegetation parameters such as canopy volume, trunk shape, and trunk spatial arrangement, that are critical to differentiate crops from forests and native palms. Based on Bayesian statistics, the learning algorithm employed here adapts to growing knowledge as sites and trainning points are added. We will present an iterative approach wherein a model is initially built at the site with the most training points - in our case, Costa Rica. Model posteriors from Costa Rica, depicting polarimetric signatures of oil palm plantations, are then used as priors in a classification exercise taking place in South Kalimantan. Results are evaluated by local researchers using the LACO Wiki interface. All validation points, including missclassified sites, are used in an additional iteration to improve model results to >90% overall accuracy. We report on the impact of plantation age on polarimetric signatures, and we also compare model performance with and without L-band data.

Recent developments in the use of acoustic sensors and signal processing tools to target early infestations of red palm weevil (Coleopter: Curculionidae) in agricultural environments

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Much of the damage caused by red palm weevil larvae to date palms, ornamental palms, and palm offshoots could be mitigated by early detection and treatment of infestations. Acoustic technology has potential to enable early detection, but the short, high-frequency sound impulses produced by red palm ...

Microstructure, nutrient composition and antioxidant capacity of king palm flour: a new potential source of dietary fibre.

PubMed

de Simas, Karina N; Vieira, Leila do N; Podestá, Rossana; Vieira, Manoela A; Rockenbach, Ismael I; Petkowicz, Carmen L O; de Deus Medeiros, João; de Francisco, Alícia; Amante, Edna R; Amboni, Renata D M C

2010-07-01

The objective of this research was to evaluate the chemical composition, microstructure, and antioxidant capacity of king palm flour obtained from residues from organic king palm (Archontophoenix alexandrae) processing. King palm flour exhibited high levels of dietary fibre (70.85%) and total ash (3.27%); low contents of protein (3.51%) and lipid (0.91%). Iron, magnesium, calcium and potassium contents were 7.31, 517.03, 801.33 and 1041.95 mg/100g, respectively. The high concentration of glucose, xylose and arabinose suggests the presence of some polysaccharides, such as cellulose and hemicelluloses (xyloglucans and arabinoxylans). Methanol and aqueous extracts of king palm flour showed 1.27 and 0.95 mg/g (Gallic Acid Equivalents) of total polyphenols, respectively. Methanol extract yielded the best antioxidant activity in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH()) and 2,2'-azino-di(3-ethylbenzthiazoline sulphonate) (ABTS()(+)) methods. The micrographs of leaf sheath showed the presence of druses, which are characterized as calcium oxalate deposition, contributing to the calcium content in king palm flour. The presence of primary and secondary cell walls lignified in leaf sheath contributed to high levels of dietary fibre detected in king palm flour. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.