A myopathy associated with elongated intramuscular protozoan schizonts of uncertain classification was observed in chickens in commercial farms. Of 152 affected fowls originating from 21 flocks in 12 farms, 149 were 24 weeks of age or older and 136 were broiler breeder birds. Both sexes were affected. The disease was only observed during the months of October, November and December, 1976 and 1977. The monthly mortality rate in affected adult flocks rose by 0.5% to 4% and the egg production declined by 5% to 15% during this period. Most affected birds were in good body condition or overweight. Gross lesions were usually present in all skeletal muscles and the cardiac muscle. They resembled nutritional myopathy, sarcosporidiosis, leucocytozoonosis or haemorrhagic syndrome. Microscopically visible elongated schizonts were demonstrated in skeletal muscles and the cardiac muscle in 49 of 55 birds examined histologically. The possible aetiology with respect to known parasites of muscles in fowls is discussed.
Coastal waters in South Johore, Malaysia are polluted to various degrees. The major pollution sources are domestric wastes from human settlements, agro-based wastes from palm oil mills and rubber processing factories, industrial effluents from industrial estates and discharges from animal farms. These pollution problems have adversely affected resources such as fisheries, recreational potential as well as the general aesthetic quality of the coastal environment particularly the Inner Johore Strait. Hence proper management and control measures are urgently needed to protect and further enhance the water quality to ensure environmentally sustainable development. This study examines various management options to control the pollution in the Inner Johore Strait. The options involve partial opening as well as complete removal of the Causeway to improve the tidal flow for more effective dilution and dispersion of pollutants. Computer simulation models are used to assess the impacts of the proposed options.
The Juru River flows through largely urbanized areas and is grossly polluted by domestic wastes and discharges from pig farms. Other than carrying highly polluting organic materials, these wastes are also contaminated with heavy metals. To ascertain the extent of heavy metal pollution in the river, total and non-residual concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn and Fe in sediment samples collected along the river were determined. The results indicate that both the total and non-residual metal concentrations in sediments can successfully be used to identify heavy metal pollution sources. The speciation of Zn, Mn and Fe in the sediment samples were investigated using a sequential leaching technique which identifies the elements among six operationally defined host fractions: (1) exchangeable, (2) carbonate and surface-associated, (3) easily reducible, (4) moderately reducible, (5) bound to organic matter and sulphides and (6) residual. The results indicate that Zn is mainly associated with the reducible fractions. Zn and Fe found in the moderately reducible fraction are significantly correlated, indicating that iron oxides is the preferred host phase by Zn.
The occurrence of tributyltin (TBT) is reported in the coastal waters of a few selected sites in Peninsular Malaysia. Water, bivalves and sediment samples collected were analysed specifically for TBT using sensitive analytical methods which involved a solvent extraction procedure with appropriate clean-up followed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric measurements. The levels of TBT in the seawater in unexposed areas were found in the range from <3.4 to 20 ng litre(-1) as compared to coastal areas with high boat and ship activities where TBT levels in seawater were generally above 30 ng litre(-1), with the highest level found at 281.8 ng litre(-1). TBT levels in the tissues of random cockle and soft-shell clam samples from local markets were found in the range from <0.5 to 3.7 ng g(-1) wet weight. The levels of TBT found in green mussel samples both from the market (23.5 ng g(-1) wet weight) and those from a mussel farm (14.2 ng g(-1) wet weight) indicate slight accumulation of TBT. In sediments, TBT levels were found ranging from <0.7 ng g(-1) dry weight in unexposed coastal sites to as high as 216.5 ng g(-1) dry weight for a site within a port area.
Assessment of the nutritional status of 4054 households from rural communities in Peninsular Malaysia was undertaken from 1992 to 1995. Body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were obtained from a self-selected sample of 1854 men and 2741 women aged >= 18 years. The BMI and WHR results are presented according to gender, age groups and type of community as defined by the main occupation, namely, fishing, rice farming, estate work, rubber and coconut small-holding. The mean BMI for men and women of all age groups are 22.5 kg/m2 and 23.8 kg/m2, respectively. The mean BMI for both genders increases with age between 18.0 and 49.9 years, after which the value declines. The prevalence of pre-obese (BMI >= 25.0-29.9 kg/m2) is 19.8% for men and 28.0% for women. The prevalence of obese men and women (>= 30.0 kg/m2) is 4.2% and 11.1%, respectively. The highest prevalence of pre-obese and obese men is found in the age groups of 30.0-49.9 years, while that for women is in the 40.0-49.9 years age group. The prevalence of pre-obesity and obesity is higher in women than in men for every age group. A similar result was indicated by WHR whereby a higher proportion of women (22.5%) than men (5%) for all ages was found to show central obesity. The prevalence of overweight adults is higher when compared with previous studies on subjects from almost similar rural communities. This study indicated that overweight is on the increase in rural communities, especially among female subjects.
The present study is unique in the Malaysian context on two counts; first, it employs for the first time a functional group approach (groups based on occupational or economic activity) in the assessment of community nutritional status. Second, the study provides on a nationwide-sampling basis, information on total blood cholesterol (TC) levels in rural children (7.0-12.9 years; n = 1921) and adolescents (13.0-17.9 years; n = 753) which were hitherto unavailable. Total blood cholesterol measurements were performed on 7184 subjects ranging from 7 to 75-years-old (males = 3151; females = 4033) from households in 69 rural villages and seven estates in peninsular Malaysia, which were based on selected multistage random sampling according to the household's involvement in the following economic activities: rice farming, rubber smallholding, coconut smallholding, fishing and employment in estates. In all functional groups, TC values increased with age and there was a distinct gender effect, namely females had higher TC values than males throughout the age spectrum analyzed. Mean TC levels for children and adolescents were in the range 3.85-4.37 mmol/L, rising markedly during adulthood to an overall mean of 4.91 ± 1.13 mmol/L for men and 5.17 ± 1.11 mmol/L for women. In adults (>= 18.0 years), there was marked disparity in mean TC values among the functional groups; males and females from rice households had the lowest mean TC values (4.58 and 4.99 mmol/L, respectively). Individuals at 'high risk' (TC > 6.20 mmol/L) averaged 16.0% in women and 11.6% in men, with women from the fishing, rubber and coconut households particularly affected (17.1-21.1%). When compared to earlier rural TC data reported for closely similar rural communities in the peninsula, the present findings suggest a 'hypercholesterolemic shift' approximating 0.39 mmol/L (15 mg/dL) in the adult population; however, this was not apparent in the children and adolescents from these rural communities.
To identify gender difference in safe and unsafe practice of pesticide handling in tobacco farmers of Malaysia, we conducted a 20-item questionnaire interview on storage of pesticide (4 questions), mixing of pesticide (3 questions), use of personal protective equipment and clothing while spraying pesticide (7 questions), activities during and after spraying of pesticide (5 questions), and maintenance of pesticide sprayer (1 question) in 496 tobacco farmers (395 males and 101 females) in Bachok District, Kelantan, Malaysia. Duration of employment was significantly longer in females than those in males (p<0.001). In addition, proportion with no formal education in females was significantly higher than those in males (p<0.05). The following eight common factors were extracted from the 20 questionnaires by principal components factor analysis after varimax rotation in all farmers: (1) use of personal protective equipment, (2) unsafe work habit, (3) reading and following instructions on pesticide label, (4) security, storage and disposal of pesticide container, (5) safe work habit, (6) proper handling of pesticide and maintenance of pesticide sprayer, (7) use of personal protective clothing, and (8) safe handling of pesticide. Results of analysis of covariance for the eight factor scores of all male and female farmers, controlling for educational level and duration of employment, showed that: (1) factor scores for use of personal protective equipment (p<0.001), use of personal protective clothing (p<0.001) and safe work habit (p<0.001) in females were significantly lower than those in males; (2) conversely, factor scores for reading and following instruction on pesticide label (p<0.001) and proper handling of pesticide and maintenance of pesticide sprayer (p<0.01) in males were significantly lower than those in females; and (3) there were no significant differences in other three factor scores (p>0.05). We therefore conclude that: (1) for female tobacco farmers, choice of personal attire tend to result in lower scores on use of personal protective equipment and personal protective clothing while personal hygiene practices result in lower score on safe work habit; and, (2) for male tobacco farmers, the lower scores on reading and following instruction on pesticide label and mixing pesticide and maintenance of pesticide sprayer in good condition suggests that they were not primarily involved in these activities. It is postulated that these differences in safe and unsafe practices of pesticide handling across gender is related to the choice of personal attire, personal hygiene practices and division of labour within farming households which in turn is influenced by prevailing sociocultural norms in the community.
In Sarawak, pig farm operators are required to treat the wastewater containing pig waste and spilt food in oxidation ponds before discharge. However, information on the impact of this industry on surface water quality is lacking. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the impact of pig farm effluent on the water quality of Serin River and its tributaries. Results of analysis show that the tributary that received pond effluent has significantly higher mean of total suspended solids (TSS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia-nitrogen (NH3 -N), reactive phosphorus (SRP) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentrations when compared to those of the tributary that did not receive pond effluent. Comparisons between the stations upstream and downstream of the discharge point indicated that BOD5 and COD were significantly higher at the downstream station that received pond effluent. Dissolved oxygen (DO) was the lowest at the tributary receiving effluent from pig farms with a mean of 2.40 mg/l. According to the Interim Water Quality Standard of the Department of Environment, water quality at the tributary that received pig farm effluent falls into Class III whereas that of the other stations falls into Class II. It is recommended that further studies be conducted on the management of waste to explore the possibility of turning the waste into a resource so that water quality of rivers can remain pristine for drinking and recreation.
This study was carried out to determine the concentrations of cypermethrin in total suspended particulate in air in several farming areas of Cameron Highlands. Samples of total suspended particulate were collected using a high volume air sampler (Model Graseby) from six different sampling sites around Cameron Highlands. Laboratory analysis of total suspended particulate was conducted by the standard method. High dosages of cypermethrin were used by farmers in the dry season. Results of the study showed that the concentrations of cypermethrin in total suspended particulate in the air samples were higher during the dry season (May-July 2004) compared to the rainy season (September-October 2004). There was a significant positive correlation between the concentrations of cypermethrin and total suspended particulate (p<0.05).
In December 2008, infected leaves of Trichosanthes cucumerina were observed on commercial cucurbit farms located in Pontian, Johor (south of West Malaysia). Bright yellow and small necrotic lesions were observed on the adaxial surface of the leaves, whereas sporangiophores were observed on pale yellowish brown-to-brown lesions on the abaxial surface. The length and width of the sporangia ranged from 19 to 36 μm (28.6) and 11 to 23 μm (17.6), respectively. The length of the sporangiophores ranged from 310 to 450 μm, with an average length of 380 μm. The pathogen was identified as Pseudoperonospora cubensis on the basis of the morphological criteria described by Palti and Cohen (2). To confirm the morphological findings, DNA was extracted from symptomatic tissue and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was PCR amplified using primers ITS5-P2 and ITS4 (3). The appropriate-sized amplicon was gel excised and column purified and then submitted for direct sequencing. The resulting 802 bp amplified ITS region was 100% identical to published P. cubensis sequences (GenBank Accession Nos. EU876603, EU876584, and AY198306). This sequence was deposited with NCBI GenBank under the Accession No. GU233293. In this study, pathogenicity tests were conducted using detached leaf disc assays (1) and a P. cubensis isolate obtained from T. cucumerina. For this purpose, leaf discs were excised from 6- to 8-week-old leaves of T. cucumerina using a 20-mm cork borer. Five leaf discs were placed with their abaxial surface facing upward on moist filter paper in petri dishes. Each of four leaf discs was inoculated with four 10-μl droplets of a 1 × 105 per ml sporangial suspension, whereas the fifth disc was inoculated with water droplets and served as a control. Three replications were completed. The leaf discs were placed in darkness at 14 ± 2°C for 24 h and subsequently incubated with a 12-h photoperiod. After 10 days, sporulation was observed on the sporangia-inoculated leaf discs with similar morphological features to the initial field samples. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. cubensis causing downy mildew of T. cucumerina in Malaysia. References: (1) A. Lebeda and M. P. Widrlechner. J. Plant Dis. Prot. 110:337, 2003. (2) J. Palti and Y. Cohen. Phytoparasitica 8:109, 1980. (3) H. Voglmayr and O. Constantinescu. Mycol. Res. 112:487, 2008.
Physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) is an important biofuel crop worldwide. Although it has been reported to be resistant to pests and diseases (1), stem cankers have been observed on this plant at several locations in Peninsular Malaysia since early February 2008. Necrotic lesions on branches appear as scars with vascular discoloration in the tissue below the lesion. The affected area is brownish and sunken in appearance. Disease incidence of these symptomatic nonwoody plants can reach up to 80% in a plantation. Forty-eight samples of symptomatic branches collected from six locations (University Farm, Setiu, Gemenceh, Pulau Carey, Port Dickson, and Kuala Selangor) were surface sterilized in 10% bleach, rinsed twice with sterile distilled water, air dried on filter paper, and plated on water agar. After 4 days, fungal colonies on the agar were transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25°C. Twenty-seven single-spore fungal cultures obtained from all locations produced white, aerial mycelium that became dull gray after a week in culture. Pycnidia from 30-day-old pure cultures produced dark brown, oval conidia that were two celled, thin walled, and oval shape with longitudinal striations. The average size of the conidia was 23.63 × 12.72 μm with a length/width ratio of 1.86. On the basis of conidial morphology, these cultures were identified as Lasiodiplodia theobromae. To confirm the identity of the isolates, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was amplified with ITS1/ITS4 primers and sequenced. The sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. HM466951, HM466953, HM466957, GU228527, HM466959, and GU219983). Sequences from the 27 isolates were 99 to 100% identical to two L. theobromae accessions in GenBank (Nos. HM008598 and HM999905). Hence, both morphological and molecular characteristics confirmed the isolates as L. theobromae. Pathogenicity tests were performed in the glasshouse with 2-month-old J. curcas seedlings. Each plant was wound inoculated by removing the bark on a branch to a depth of 2 mm with a 10-mm cork borer. Inoculation was conducted by inserting a 10-mm-diameter PDA plug of mycelium into the wound and wrapping the inoculation site with wetted, cotton wool and Parafilm. Control plants were treated with plugs of sterile PDA. Each isolate had four replicates and two controls. After 6 days of incubation, all inoculated plants produced sunken, necrotic lesions with vascular discoloration. Leaves were wilted and yellow above the point of inoculation on branches. The control plants remained symptomless. The pathogen was successfully reisolated from lesions on inoculated branches. L. theobromae has been reported to cause cankers and dieback in a wide range of hosts and is common in tropical and subtropical regions of the world (2,3). To our knowledge, this is the first report of stem canker associated with L. theobromae on J. curcas in Malaysia. References: (1) S. Chitra and S. K. Dhyani. Curr. Sci. 91:162, 2006. (2) S. Mohali et al. For. Pathol. 35:385, 2005. (3) E. Punithalingam. Page 519 in: CMI Descriptions of Pathogenic Fungi and Bacteria. Commonwealth Mycological Institute, Kew, Surrey, UK. 1976.
The elements that determine the success of development projects on goats and the prerequisites for ensuring this are discussed in the context of the bewildering diversity of goat genetic resources, production systems, multifunctionality, and opportunities for responding to constraints for productivity enhancement. Key determinants for the success of pro-poor projects are the imperatives of realistic project design, resolution of priorities and positive impacts to increase investments and spur agricultural growth, and appropriate policy. Throughout the developing world, there exist 97% of the total world population of 921 million goats across all agro-ecological zones (AEZs), including 570 breeds and 64% share of the breeds. They occupy a very important biological and socio-economic niche in farming systems making significant multifunctional contributions especially to food, nutrition and financial security, stability of farm households, and survival of the poor in the rural areas. Definitions are given of successful and failed projects. The analyses highlighted in successful projects the value of strong participatory efforts with farmers and climate change. Climate change effects on goats are inevitable and are mediated through heat stress, type of AEZ, water availability, quantity and quality of the available feed resources and type of production system. Within the prevailing production systems, improved integrated tree crops - ruminant systems are underestimated and are an important pathway to enhance C sequestration. Key development strategies and opportunities for research and development (R and D) are enormous, and include inter alia defining a policy framework, resolution of priority constraints using systems perspectives and community-based participatory activities, application of yield-enhancing technologies, intensification, scaling up, and impacts. The priority for development concerns the rainfed areas with large concentrations of ruminants in which goats, with a capacity to cope with heat tolerance, can be the entry point for development. Networks and networking are very important for the diffusion of information and can add value to R and D. Well formulated projects with clear priority setting and participatory R and D ensure success and the realisation of food security, improved livelihoods and self-reliance in the future.
Hylocereus undatus widely grows in southern China. Some varieties are planted for their fruits, known as dragon fruits or Pitaya, while some varieties for their flowers known as Bawanghua. Fresh or dried flowers of Bawanghua are used as routine Chinese medicinal food. Since 2008, a serious anthracnose disease has led to great losses on Bawanghua flower production farms in the Baiyun district of Guangzhou city in China. Anthracnose symptoms on young stems of Bawanghua are reddish-brown, sunken lesions with pink masses of spores in the center. The lesions expand rapidly in the field or in storage, and may coalesce in the warm and wet environment in spring and summer in Guangzhou. Fewer flowers develop on infected stems than on healthy ones. The fungus overwinters in infected debris in the soil. The disease caused a loss of up to 50% on Bawanghua. Putative pathogenic fungi with whitish-orange colonies were isolated from a small piece of tissue (3 × 3 mm) cut from a lesion margin and cultured on potato dextrose agar in a growth chamber at 25°C, 80% RH. Dark colonies with acervuli bearing pinkish conidial masses formed 14 days later. Single celled conidia were 11 to 18 × 4 to 6 μm. Based on these morphological characteristics, the fungi were identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. & Sacc (2). To confirm this, DNA was extracted from isolate BWH1 and multilocus analyses were completed with DNA sequence data generated from partial ITS region of nrDNA, actin (ACT) and glutamine synthetase (GS) nucleotide sequences by PCR, with C. gloeosporioides specific primers as ITS4 (5'-TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC-3') / CgInt (5'-GGCCTCCCGCCTCCGGGCGG-3'), GS-F (5'-ATGGCCGAGTACATCTGG-3') / GS-R (5'-GAACCGTCGAAGTTCCAC-3') and actin-R (5'-ATGTGCAAGGCCGGTTTCGC-3') / actin-F (5'-TACGAGTCCTTCTGGCCCAT-3'). The sequence alignment results indicated that the obtained partial ITS sequence of 468 bp (GenBank Accession No. KF051997), actin sequence of 282 bp (KF712382), and GS sequence of 1,021 bp (KF719176) are 99%, 96%, and 95% identical to JQ676185.1 for partial ITS, FJ907430 for ACT, and FJ972589 for GS of C. gloeosporioides previously deposited, respectively. For testing its pathogenicity, 20 μl of conidia suspension (1 × 106 conidia/ml) using sterile distilled water (SDW) was inoculated into artificial wounds on six healthy young stems of Bawanghua using sterile fine-syringe needle. Meanwhile, 20 μl of SDW was inoculated on six healthy stems as a control. The inoculated stems were kept at 25°C, about 90% relative humidity. Three independent experiments were carried out. Reddish-brown lesions formed after 10 days, on 100% stems (18 in total) inoculated by C. gloeosporioides, while no lesion formed on any control. The pathogen was successfully re-isolated from the inoculated stem lesions on Bawanghua. Thus, Koch's postulates were fulfilled. Colletotrichum anthracnose has been reported on Pitaya in Japan (3), Malaysia (1) and in Brazil (4). To our knowledge, this is the first report of anthracnose disease caused by C. gloeosporioides on young stems of Bawanghua (H. undatus) in China. References: (1) M. Masyahit et al. Am. J. Appl. Sci. 6:902, 2009. (2) B. C. Sutton. Page 402 in: Colletotrichum Biology, Pathology and Control. J. A. Bailey and M. J. Jeger, eds. CAB International, Wallingford, UK, 1992. (3) S. Taba et al. Jpn. J. Phytopathol. 72:25, 2006. (4) L. M. Takahashi et al. Australas. Plant Dis. Notes 3:96, 2008.
Extract from papaya leaves, a waste material from fruit farms in Malaysia was previously reported to possess remarkable antioxidative activities. In this study, papaya leaf extract was separated into fractions of different polarities [petroleum ether (PE), ethyl acetate (EA), n-butanol (NB) and water (W) fractions]. The aim of this research was to determine the most active fraction in terms of its chemopreventive effects towards oxidative stress and the chemical constituents involved. The cytoprotective nature of the papaya fractions was observed against t-BOOH-induced oxidative stress on HepG2 liver cell line. ROS assay indicated that only PE and EA effectively reduced the increment of radical due to the pro-oxidant, t-BOOH. Nevertheless, PE was a stronger ROS scavenger by demonstrating ROS reducing activity in a dose-dependent manner to the basal level. This fraction was also found to inhibit cell death caused by t-BOOH toxicity, attenuating lactate dehydrogenase enzyme leakage by more than 90% (p<0.05). In addition, gene expression of phase II antioxidant enzymes (hmox-1 and nqo-1) and their transcription factor (nrf-2) were shown to be upregulated upon PE treatment during a time-course study. A GC-MS fingerprint of the active fraction was subsequently obtained with standardization using the marker compound; α-tocopherol, a well known antioxidant. However, this pure compound was not as effective as its corresponding PE concentrations in ROS reduction. Hence, PE of papaya leaf extract was a strong antioxidant and cytoprotectant with tremendous potential to be harnessed into the next therapeutic remedy against oxidative stress of the liver.
A nematode population distribution survey was conducted in banana plantations/farms in Peninsular Malaysia from June 2004 to January 2006. This study highlights differences obtained from the survey compared with previously published reports in terms of species prevalence in banana plantations. As opposed to the widely reported prevalence of Radopholus similis (Cobb 1893) Thorne, 1949, on banana plants worldwide, Rotylenchulus reniformis Linford and Oliveira, 1940, was found to be the most common nematode species in the isolated soil samples (Prominence Value = 824.28; n=63) while Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid & White 1919) Chitwood, 1949, was predominant in the isolated root samples (Prominence Value = 449.77; n=57) in Peninsular Malaysia. Besides, contradicting previous reports, M. incognita was found to dominate Cavendish plantation areas in this region instead of R. similis. Inter-species interaction resulting in species predominance and co-dominance in banana rhizosphere was also observed in this study.
Yield performance in wheat (Triticum aestivum) was compared under crop residue, tillage system and nitrogen rate treatments in cereal based cropping system. The experiments were conducted at Agronomy Research Farm, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. Chopped crop residue on dry matter basis (5 t ha1-) of legume (Vigna unguicuata, var. Ebney) and cereal (Zea mays, var. Azam) was applied in main plots with no residue treatments and plowed with Mould Board (MB) and Cultivator as deep and shallow treatments, respectively. A month after the crop residue and tillage system treatments, field was uniformly plowed with cultivator and wheat was sown with drill in rows 25 cm apart in the month of November on both years. Both P2O55 and K2O (80 and 40 kg ha , respectively) were applied uniformly to all fields before sowing. Nitrogen as subplot treatment (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg ha-1) was applied in two splits, half at 15 and the other half at 45 days after sowing with uniform cultural practices for crop growth and development. Compared to year 1, crop of year 2 showed better phenology with extended life cycle (LC). On two years average across tillage and N treatments, biological yield did not change (p<0.05) under the residue but did report lower at no-residue treatment. Nonetheless, grain yield showed a significant (p<0.05) change with the highest in legume followed by cereal and the lowest in no-residue treatments. A non-significant tiller number and significant variations in grain weight and spike m-2 were observed that influenced the grain and biological yield differently. Deep than shallow tillage resulted in better traits, which returned better biomass and grain yield. Nitrogen application from control to every increment showed a significant (p<0.05) improvement in all observations contributing in yield. The study confirms the significance of legume vs. cereal over no-crop residue incorporated through deep tillage system with optimum N (120 kg ha-1) in cereal-based cropping system for sustainable performance to sustain soil C:N for future production.
Rice fields are traditional landscape in Malaysia that sustains various species of birds .Waterbirds, raptors, Passeriformes and Columbiformes were observed and counted using point count method at rice fields in Bandar Baharu, Kedah from March 2009 to February 2010. The current status of birds in the rice fields of Malaysia has not been widely researched. The objective of this study was to document the bird species richness and diversity and temporal bird distribution during the annual rice growing cycle. There were 5120 birds representing 67 species belonging to 29 families being recorded. The diversity index (Shannon-Wiener) varied monthly between 2.154 and 3 .321 . The most abundant bird family observed was Ardeidae (29.09%), followed by Sturnidae ( 10.15%) and Hirundinidae (7.86%). Rice growing seasons involve three main stages; direct seedling/transplanting, growing and harvesting. Each stage attracts different bird species to exist in the rice field and surrounding areas. Statistical analysis showed the alternative hypothesis that states abundance of bird species is different monthly was accepted (F1124= 3.033, p< 0.05). Farming activities and rice growing seasons regularly influenced birds' presence in the rice fields and attracted different bird species. Reclamation and urban development on the rice fields is a major concern. Conservation efforts and strict regulation of pesticide use should be implemented to develop sustainable agriculture practices that are beneficial to human and wildlife communities.
Helminthiasis due to strongyles such as Haemonchus contortus, coccidiosis caused by Eimeria sp. and blood parasite diseases such as theileriosis by Theileria sp. have been reported to cause severe morbidity and mortality annually in small ruminants in Malaysia. The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of helminthiasis, coccidiosis and theileriosis and to determine the packed cell volume (PCV) value of small ruminants in Perak, Malaysia. Blood and faecal samples were obtained from a total of 175 animals from 7 small ruminant farms in Kampar, Larut Matang and Selama, Kuala Kangsar and Manjung districts in Perak; the samples were examined for parasitic infestations from April to July 2011. The results of this study show that H. contortus was found in 152 (86.86%) animals, Eimeria sp. was found in 162 (92.57%) animals and the blood protozoa Theileria sp. was found in 25 (14.30%) animals. The PCV values of all of these animals were recorded between 7% and 44%. A total of 42 (24%) animals were anaemic, with a PCV of less than 21%. Continuous monitoring of small ruminant farms will provide important information for assisting farmers with managing the spread of parasitic infections and maintaining the productivity of animals.
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia ZBG7B was isolated from vineyard soil of Zellenberg, France. Here, we present the draft genome sequence of this bacterial strain, which has facilitated the prediction of function for several genes encoding biotechnologically important enzymes, such as xylosidase, xylanase, laccase, and chitinase.