Displaying publications 281 - 300 of 424 in total

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  1. Ahmad AA, Hameed BH, Aziz N
    J Hazard Mater, 2007 Mar 6;141(1):70-6.
    PMID: 16887263
    Palm ash, an agriculture waste residue from palm-oil industry in Malaysia, was investigated as a replacement for the current expensive methods of removing direct blue 71 dye from an aqueous solution. The experimental data were analyzed by the Langmuir and Freundlich models of adsorption. Equilibrium data fitted well with Freundlich model in the range of 50-600mg/L. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of the palm ash was determined with the Langmuir equation and found to be 400.01mg dye per gram adsorbent at 30 degrees C. The rates of adsorption were found to conform to the pseudo-second-order kinetics with good correlation. The results indicate that the palm ash could be employed as a low-cost alternative to commercial activated carbon.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  2. Isha A, Yusof NA, Ahmad M, Suhendra D, Yunus WM, Zainal Z
    Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc, 2007 Aug;67(5):1398-402.
    PMID: 17141557
    Fatty hydroxamic acid (FHA) immobilized in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has been studied as a sensor element of an optical fibre chemical sensor for V(V). By using this instrument, V(V) in solution has been determined in the log concentration range of 0-2.5 (i.e. 1.0-300 mg/L). The detection limit was 1.0 mg/L. The relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of the method for the reproducibility study at V(V) concentration of 200 mg/L and 300 mg/L were calculated to be 2.9% and 2.0%, respectively. Interference from foreign ions was also studied at 1:1 mole ratio of V(V):foreign ions. It was found that, Fe(III) ion interfered most in the determination of vanadium(V). Excellent agreement with ICP-AES method was achieved when the proposed method was applied towards determination of V(V).
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  3. Vadamalai G, Hanold D, Rezaian MA, Randles JW
    Arch Virol, 2006 Jul;151(7):1447-56.
    PMID: 16470341
    Variants of Coconut cadang-cadang viroid have been identified in a plantation oil palm growing in Malaysia. Three size classes are described, comprising 297, 293, and 270 nt. Compared with the 296-nt form of coconut cadang-cadang viroid (CCCVd), all variants substituted C31 --> U in the pathogenicity domain and A175 --> C in the right-hand terminus. Other mutations and deletions accounted for the different sizes. These are the first sequences reported for variants of Coconut cadang-cadang viroid in a species other than coconut palm, and this is the first evidence that variants closely related to CCCVd occur outside the Philippines.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/virology*
  4. Foster WA, Snaddon JL, Turner EC, Fayle TM, Cockerill TD, Ellwood MD, et al.
    Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 2011 Nov 27;366(1582):3277-91.
    PMID: 22006968 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0041
    The conversion of natural forest to oil palm plantation is a major current threat to the conservation of biodiversity in South East Asia. Most animal taxa decrease in both species richness and abundance on conversion of forest to oil palm, and there is usually a severe loss of forest species. The extent of loss varies significantly across both different taxa and different microhabitats within the oil palm habitat. The principal driver of this loss in diversity is probably the biological and physical simplification of the habitat, but there is little direct evidence for this. The conservation of forest species requires the preservation of large reserves of intact forest, but we must not lose sight of the importance of conserving biodiversity and ecosystem processes within the oil palm habitat itself. We urgently need to carry out research that will establish whether maintaining diversity supports economically and ecologically important processes. There is some evidence that both landscape and local complexity can have positive impacts on biodiversity in the oil palm habitat. By intelligent manipulation of habitat complexity, it could be possible to enhance not only the number of species that can live in oil palm plantations but also their contribution to the healthy functioning of this exceptionally important and widespread landscape.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/physiology*
  5. Woodcock P, Edwards DP, Fayle TM, Newton RJ, Khen CV, Bottrell SH, et al.
    Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 2011 Nov 27;366(1582):3256-64.
    PMID: 22006966 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2011.0031
    South East Asia is widely regarded as a centre of threatened biodiversity owing to extensive logging and forest conversion to agriculture. In particular, forests degraded by repeated rounds of intensive logging are viewed as having little conservation value and are afforded meagre protection from conversion to oil palm. Here, we determine the biological value of such heavily degraded forests by comparing leaf-litter ant communities in unlogged (natural) and twice-logged forests in Sabah, Borneo. We accounted for impacts of logging on habitat heterogeneity by comparing species richness and composition at four nested spatial scales, and examining how species richness was partitioned across the landscape in each habitat. We found that twice-logged forest had fewer species occurrences, lower species richness at small spatial scales and altered species composition compared with natural forests. However, over 80 per cent of species found in unlogged forest were detected within twice-logged forest. Moreover, greater species turnover among sites in twice-logged forest resulted in identical species richness between habitats at the largest spatial scale. While two intensive logging cycles have negative impacts on ant communities, these degraded forests clearly provide important habitat for numerous species and preventing their conversion to oil palm and other crops should be a conservation priority.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/physiology
  6. Haron MJ, Tiansin M, Ibrahim NA, Kassim A, Wan Yunus WM, Talebi SM
    Water Sci Technol, 2011;63(8):1788-93.
    PMID: 21866782
    This paper describes the sorption of Pb(ll) from aqueous solution. Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) fiber was first grafted with poly(methylacrylate) and then treated with hydroxylammonium chloride in alkaline medium to produce hydroxamic acid (PHA) grafted OPEFB. Sorption of Pb(ll) by PHA-OPEFB was maximum at pH 5. The sorption followed the Langmuir model with maximum capacityof 125.0 mg g-1 at 25 degrees C. The sorption process was exothermic, as shown by the negative value of enthalpy change, Delta H0. The free energy change (DeltaG0) for the sorption was negative, showing that the sorption process was spontaneous. A kinetic study showed that the Pb(ll) sorption followed a second order kinetic model.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  7. Leow SS, Sekaran SD, Sundram K, Tan Y, Sambanthamurthi R
    BMC Genomics, 2011 Aug 25;12:432.
    PMID: 21864415 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-12-432
    BACKGROUND: Plant phenolics are important nutritional antioxidants which could aid in overcoming chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, two leading causes of death in the world. The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a rich source of water-soluble phenolics which have high antioxidant activities. This study aimed to identify the in vivo effects and molecular mechanisms involved in the biological activities of oil palm phenolics (OPP) during healthy states via microarray gene expression profiling, using mice supplemented with a normal diet as biological models.

    RESULTS: Having confirmed via histology, haematology and clinical biochemistry analyses that OPP is not toxic to mice, we further explored the gene expression changes caused by OPP through statistical and functional analyses using Illumina microarrays. OPP showed numerous biological activities in three major organs of mice, the liver, spleen and heart. In livers of mice given OPP, four lipid catabolism genes were up-regulated while five cholesterol biosynthesis genes were down-regulated, suggesting that OPP may play a role in reducing cardiovascular disease. OPP also up-regulated eighteen blood coagulation genes in spleens of mice. OPP elicited gene expression changes similar to the effects of caloric restriction in the hearts of mice supplemented with OPP. Microarray gene expression fold changes for six target genes in the three major organs tested were validated with real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and the correlation of fold changes obtained with these two techniques was high (R2 = 0.9653).

    CONCLUSIONS: OPP showed non-toxicity and various pleiotropic effects in mice. This study implies the potential application of OPP as a valuable source of wellness nutraceuticals, and further suggests the molecular mechanisms as to how dietary phenolics work in vivo.

    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  8. Susanto A, Sudharto PS, Purba RY
    Mycopathologia, 2005 Jan;159(1):153-7.
    PMID: 15750748
    Basal Stem Rot (BSR) disease caused by Ganoderma boninense is the most destructive disease in oil palm, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. The available control measures for BSR disease such as cultural practices and mechanical and chemical treatment have not proved satisfactory due to the fact that Ganoderma has various resting stages such as melanised mycelium, basidiospores and pseudosclerotia. Alternative control measures to overcome the Ganoderma problem are focused on the use of biological control agents and planting resistant material. Present studies conducted at Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute (IOPRI) are focused on enhancing the use of biological control agents for Ganoderma. These activities include screening biological agents from the oil palm rhizosphere in order to evaluate their effectiveness as biological agents in glasshouse and field trials, testing their antagonistic activities in large scale experiments and eradicating potential disease inoculum with biological agents. Several promising biological agents have been isolated, mainly Trichoderma harzianum, T. viride, Gliocladium viride, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Bacillus sp. A glasshouse and field trial for Ganoderma control indicated that treatment with T. harzianum and G. viride was superior to Bacillus sp. A large scale trial showed that the disease incidence was lower in a field treated with biological agents than in untreated fields. In a short term programme, research activities at IOPRI are currently focusing on selecting fungi that can completely degrade plant material in order to eradicate inoculum. Digging holes around the palm bole and adding empty fruit bunches have been investigated as ways to stimulate biological agents.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae*
  9. Sariah M, Choo CW, Zakaria H, Norihan MS
    Mycopathologia, 2005 Jan;159(1):113-7.
    PMID: 15750742
    Basal stem rot of oil palm caused by Ganoderma boninense is of major economic importance. Observations of the low incidence of disease due to Ganoderma species in natural stands, suggest that the disease is kept under control by some biological means. Trichoderma spp. are saprophytic fungi with high antagonistic activities against soil-borne pathogens. However, their abundance and distribution are soil and crop specific. Trichoderma species have been found to be concentrated in the A1 (0-30 cm) and Be soil horizons (30-60 cm), although the abundance of Trichoderma was not significantly different between the oil palm and non-oil palm ecosystems. Characterisation of Trichoderma isolates based on cultural, morphological and DNA polymorphism showed that T. harzianum, T. virens, T. koningii and T. longibrachiatum made up 72, 14, 10 and 4% of the total Trichoderma isolates isolated. As Trichoderma species are present in the oil palm ecosystem, but at lower numbers and in locations different from those desired, soil augmentation with antagonistic Trichoderma spp. can be developed as a strategy towards integrated management of basal stem rot of oil palm.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae*
  10. Mazaheri H, Lee KT, Bhatia S, Mohamed AR
    Bioresour Technol, 2010 Dec;101(23):9335-41.
    PMID: 20656481 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2010.07.004
    Thermal decomposition of oil palm fruit press fiber (FPF) into a liquid product (LP) was achieved using subcritical water treatment in the presence of sodium hydroxide in a high pressure batch reactor. This study uses experimental design and process optimisation tools to maximise the LP yield using response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite rotatable design (CCRD). The independent variables were temperature, residence time, particle size, specimen loading, and additive loading. The mathematical model that was developed fit the experimental results well for all of the response variables that were studied. The optimal conditions were found to be a temperature of 551 K, a residence time of 40 min, a particle size of 710-1000 microm, a specimen loading of 5 g, and a additive loading of 9 wt.% to achieve a LP yield of 76.16%.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  11. Kamaladini H, Abdullah SN, Aziz MA
    J Biosci Bioeng, 2011 Feb;111(2):217-25.
    PMID: 21044862 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiosc.2010.09.010
    Reporter gene activity under the regulation of the oil palm metallothionein-like gene, MT3-A promoter was assessed in prokaryotes. Vector constructs containing MT3-A promoter with (W1MT3-A) and without (W2MT3-A) five prime untranslated region (5'-UTR) fused to ß-glucuronidase (GUS) gene in pCAMBIA 1304 vector were produced. 5'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) using mRNA isolated from Escherichia coli and Agrobacterium tumefaciens harboring W1MT3-A confirmed that fusion transcripts of MT3-A 5'-UTR-GUS were successfully produced in both bacteria. Competitive PCR and GUS fluorometric assay showed changes in the level of GUS gene transcripts and enzyme activity in response to increasing concentrations of Cu²+ and Zn²+. The application of Cu²+ increased GUS activity and GUS mRNA level in both bacteria. In E. coli, a high level of GUS activity driven by W1MT3-A and W2MT3-A was observed in treatment with 25 μM Cu²+ resulting in an increase in the GUS mRNA level to 7.2 and 7.5 x 10⁻⁴ pmol/μl respectively, compared to the control (5.1 x 10⁻⁴ pmol/μl). The lowest GUS activity and GUS mRNA level were obtained for W1MT3-A and W2MT3-A in the presence of 100 μM Cu²+ in both bacteria compared to the control (without Cu²+). The application of different Zn²+ concentrations resulted in a strong decrease in the GUS activity and GUS mRNA level in E. coli and A. tumefaciens. These findings showed that the oil palm MT3-A promoter is functional in prokaryotes and produced detectable GUS transcripts and enzyme activities. This promoter may potentially be used in prokaryotic systems which require metal inducible gene expression.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/genetics*
  12. Lahijani P, Zainal ZA
    Bioresour Technol, 2011 Jan;102(2):2068-76.
    PMID: 20980143 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2010.09.101
    Gasification of palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) was investigated in a pilot-scale air-blown fluidized bed. The effect of bed temperature (650-1050 °C) on gasification performance was studied. To explore the potential of EFB, the gasification results were compared to that of sawdust. Results showed that maximum heating values (HHV) of 5.37 and 5.88 (MJ/Nm3), dry gas yield of 2.04 and 2.0 (Nm3/kg), carbon conversion of 93% and 85 % and cold gas efficiency of 72% and 71 % were obtained for EFB and sawdust at the temperature of 1050 °C and ER of 0.25. However, it was realized that agglomeration was the major issue in EFB gasification at high temperatures. To prevent the bed agglomeration, EFB gasification was performed at temperature of 770±20 °C while the ER was varied from 0.17 to 0.32. Maximum HHV of 4.53 was obtained at ER of 0.21 where no agglomeration was observed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  13. Fung WY, Yuen KH, Liong MT
    J Agric Food Chem, 2010 Jul 14;58(13):8077-84.
    PMID: 20568772 DOI: 10.1021/jf1012506
    Oil palm trunk (OPT), oil palm frond (OPF), and okara are agrowastes generated abundantly by the palm oil and soy industries. There are vast potentials for these fibrous biomass rather than disposal at landfills or incineration. Fibrous materials (FM) and alkali-treated fibrous residues (FR) were produced from the selected wastes and subsequently characterized. Functional properties such as emulsifying properties, mineral-binding capacity, and free radical scavenging activity were also evaluated for possible development of functional products. Supernatants (FS) generated from the alkaline treatment contained soluble fractions of fibers and were also characterized and used for the production of nanofibers. Okara FM had the highest (P < 0.05) protein (31.5%) and fat (12.2%) contents, which were significantly reduced following alkali treatment. The treatment also increased total dietary fiber (TDF) in okara by 107.9%, in OPT by 67.2%, and in OPF by 25.1%. The increased fiber fractions in FR enhanced functional properties such as water-holding capacities and oil-holding capacities. Okara displayed the highest (P < 0.05) emulsifying properties compared to OPT and OPF. High IDF content of OPT and OPF contributed to high antioxidant activities (377.2 and 367.8% higher than that of okara, respectively; P < 0.05). The soluble fraction from alkali treatment of fibers was successfully electrospun into nanofibers, which can be further developed into nanoencapsulants for bioactive compound or drug delivery.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  14. Cheong JN, Mirhosseini H, Tan CP
    Int J Food Sci Nutr, 2010 Jun;61(4):417-24.
    PMID: 20151850 DOI: 10.3109/09637481003591574
    The main objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of polyoxyethylene sorbitan esters and sodium caseinate on physicochemical properties of palm-based functional lipid nanodispersions prepared by the emulsification-evaporation technique. The results indicated that the average droplet size increased significantly (P < 0.05) by increasing the chain length of fatty acids and also by increasing the hydrophile-lipophile balance value. Among the prepared nanodispersions, the nanoemulsion containing Polysorbate 20 showed the smallest average droplet size (202 nm) and narrowest size distribution for tocopherol-tocotrienol nanodispersions, while sodium caseinate-stabilized nanodispersions containing carotenoids had the largest average droplet size (386 nm), thus indicating a greater emulsifying role for Polysorbate 20 compared with sodium caseinate.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  15. Wong CK, Bernardo R
    Theor Appl Genet, 2008 Apr;116(6):815-24.
    PMID: 18219476 DOI: 10.1007/s00122-008-0715-5
    Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) requires 19 years per cycle of phenotypic selection. The use of molecular markers may reduce the generation interval and the cost of oil-palm breeding. Our objectives were to compare, by simulation, the response to phenotypic selection, marker-assisted recurrent selection (MARS), and genomewide selection with small population sizes in oil palm, and assess the efficiency of each method in terms of years and cost per unit gain. Markers significantly associated with the trait were used to calculate the marker scores in MARS, whereas all markers were used (without significance tests) to calculate the marker scores in genomewide selection. Responses to phenotypic selection and genomewide selection were consistently greater than the response to MARS. With population sizes of N = 50 or 70, responses to genomewide selection were 4-25% larger than the corresponding responses to phenotypic selection, depending on the heritability and number of quantitative trait loci. Cost per unit gain was 26-57% lower with genomewide selection than with phenotypic selection when markers cost US $1.50 per data point, and 35-65% lower when markers cost $0.15 per data point. With population sizes of N = 50 or 70, time per unit gain was 11-23 years with genomewide selection and 14-25 years with phenotypic selection. We conclude that for a realistic yet relatively small population size of N = 50 in oil palm, genomewide selection is superior to MARS and phenotypic selection in terms of gain per unit cost and time. Our results should be generally applicable to other tree species that are characterized by long generation intervals, high costs of maintaining breeding plantations, and small population sizes in selection programs.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/genetics*
  16. Issabayeva G, Aroua MK, Sulaiman NM
    J Hazard Mater, 2008 Jun 30;155(1-2):109-13.
    PMID: 18179867 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2007.11.036
    The continuous adsorption of lead ions from aqueous solution on commercial, granular, unpretreated palm shell activated carbon (PSAC) was studied. Effect of pH, flow rates and presence of complexing agents (malonic and boric acids) were examined. The breakthrough period was longer at pH 5 indicating higher adsorption capacity of lead ions at higher pH. Increase of the flow rate, expectedly, resulted in the faster saturation of the carbon bed. Presence of complexing agents did not improve adsorption uptake of lead ions. However, presence of malonic acid resulted in smoother pH stabilization of solution compared to single lead and lead with boric acid systems. The results on continuous adsorption of lead were applied to the model proposed by Wang et al. [Y.-H. Wang, S.-H. Lin, R.-S. Juang, Removal of heavy metals ions from aqueous solutions using various low-cost adsorbents, J. Hazard. Mater. B 102 (2003) 291-302]. The agreement between experimental and modelled breakthrough curves was satisfactory at both pHs.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae*
  17. Aroua MK, Leong SP, Teo LY, Yin CY, Daud WM
    Bioresour Technol, 2008 Sep;99(13):5786-92.
    PMID: 18023577
    In this study, the kinetics of adsorption of Pb(II) from aqueous solution onto palm shell-based activated carbon (PSAC) were investigated by employing ion selective electrode (ISE) for real-time Pb(II) and pH monitoring. Usage of ISE was very appropriate for real-time adsorption kinetics data collection as it facilitated recording of adsorption data at very specific and short time intervals as well as provided consistent kinetics data. Parameters studied were initial Pb(II) concentration and agitation speed. It was found that increases in initial Pb(II) concentration and agitation speed resulted in higher initial rate of adsorption. Pseudo first-order, pseudo second-order, Elovich, intraparticle diffusion and liquid film diffusion models were used to fit the adsorption kinetics data. It was suggested that chemisorption was the rate-controlling step for adsorption of Pb(II) onto PSAC since the adsorption kinetics data fitted both the pseudo second-order and Elovich models well.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  18. Ho CL, Kwan YY, Choi MC, Tee SS, Ng WH, Lim KA, et al.
    BMC Genomics, 2007;8:381.
    PMID: 17953740
    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.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/genetics*
  19. Then YY, Ibrahim NA, Zainuddin N, Ariffin H, Yunus WM, Chieng BW
    Int J Mol Sci, 2014;15(9):15344-57.
    PMID: 25177865 DOI: 10.3390/ijms150915344
    In this paper, superheated steam (SHS) was used as cost effective and green processing technique to modify oil palm mesocarp fiber (OPMF) for biocomposite applications. The purpose of this modification was to promote the adhesion between fiber and thermoplastic. The modification was carried out in a SHS oven at various temperature (200-230 °C) and time (30-120 min) under normal atmospheric pressure. The biocomposites from SHS-treated OPMFs and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) at a weight ratio of 70:30 were prepared by melt blending technique. The mechanical properties and dimensional stability of the biocomposites were evaluated. This study showed that the SHS treatment increased the roughness of the fiber surface due to the removal of surface impurities and hemicellulose. The tensile, flexural and impact properties, as well as dimensional stability of the biocomposites were markedly enhanced by the presence of SHS-treated OPMF. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed improvement of interfacial adhesion between PBS and SHS-treated OPMF. This work demonstrated that SHS could be used as an eco-friendly and sustainable processing method for modification of OPMF in biocomposite fabrication.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae/chemistry*
  20. Sabiha-Hanim S, Mohd Noor MA, Rosma A
    Carbohydr Polym, 2015 Jan 22;115:533-9.
    PMID: 25439929 DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2014.08.087
    Steam explosion of oil palm frond has been carried out under different temperatures between 180 and 210°C for 4 min (severity of 2.96-3.84) after impregnation of the frond chips with water or KOH solution. The effects of impregnation and steam explosion conditions of oil palm fronds on the water soluble fraction and insoluble fraction were investigated. The maximum yield of hemicelluloses in water soluble fractions recovered was 23.49% and 25.33% for water and KOH impregnation, treated with steam explosion at temperature of 210°C (severity of 3.84) with a fractionation efficiency of 77.30% and 83.32%, respectively. Under this condition, the water insoluble fractions contained celluloses at 60.83% and 64.80% for water and KOH impregnation, respectively. The steam explosion temperature of 210°C for 4 min (logR(o) 3.84) was found to be the best condition in the extraction of hemicelluloses from OPF for both types of impregnation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Arecaceae*
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