Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture (MJSA)

One of the impediments to artificially regenerating forests is seed dormancy and seed scarification improves germination rate. However, the majority of studies on seed treatment to break dormancy in dry tropical woody species have focussed on the seedling stage and little is known about the effects of seed treatment on saplings and trees. This study, conducted at a permanent site in central Zambia, aimed at determining the effects of seed scarification on seedling emergence and survival and growth and longevity of Senegalia polyacantha, a fast growing and nitrogen-fixing species that is widely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa. Seedling emergence from scarified and untreated seeds was monitored and first-year survival assessed. Enrichment planting with nursery transplants and direct sowing of scarified seed was undertaken and the survival and growth of planted and non-planted trees monitored for 17 years. Seed scarification increased seedling emergence but seedling survival was significantly reduced. Planted trees from scarified seeds had lower radial growth (0.22 cm yr-1) compared to non-planted trees (0.56 cm yr-1). Planted trees also had a shorter lifespan than non-planted trees. Seed scarification in S. polyacantha should be applied with caution to avoid significant negative effects on seedling survival and growth and longevity of trees.

Considering the context of climate change and food security issues of the poor, marginalized and vulnerable farmers; there is urgent need of characterization of the traits and its correlation in the different genotypes of finger millet for development of elite variety in Nepal. A field research was carried out at agronomy field at hill crop research program (HCRP), kabre, Dolakha from June to November, 2017in order to identify the phenotypic variability of the trait in different Nepalese landraces and create to promote the production and stability of neglected crops, finger millet. The field experiment was conducted in random complete block design with two replications. The result revealed that the finger millet genotypes showed the significant differences for days to 50 % heading, plant height, plant stand per square meter, bearing head per square meter, number of finger per head, thousand grain weight and grain yield. The genotypes ACC#513 (3.68 t/ha) fallowed by ACC#2303(3.65t ha-1), ACC#2275(3.57t ha-1) and ACC#5434 (3.39 t ha-1) produces highest grain yield. Correlation analysis revealed that plant height fallowed by plant stand per square meter, bearing head, number of finger per head and straw yield with minimum lodging percentage were most yield determinative traits and simultaneous selection for these traits might brining an improvement in finger millet grain yield.

The present study was undertaken to identify the morphological, physical and chemical characteristics of soils in Tushka, Aswan governorate, Egypt, in order to classify and evaluate them from the agricultural use view point. Tushka area is located in the western desert, upper Egypt. It lies between latitudes of 22° 48′ 00.7″ and 22° 28′ 44.2” N and longitudes of 31° 28′ 07.2″ and 31° 29′ 08.2″ E. The soils of the study area were none to slightly saline (ECe ranged from 0.53 to 6.85 dSm-1). Soil texture was mostly sand, loamy sand and sandy loam. Soil reaction (pH) tended to be mildly to moderately alkaline with a range of 7.6 to 8.1. Calcium carbonate and gypsum contents were very low. The soils were classified as Typic Torripsamments, Typic Torriorthents and Lithic Torriorthents. Most of the soils understudy were suitable for agricultural use. The results revealed that the capability of soils according to ASLE program was good (C2) and fair suitable (C3), moderate suitable (S3) using MicroLEIS (Cervatana model) and good, fair and poor using Modified Storie Index. Most of the selected crops were found to be the best grown ones on soils of the S2 and S3 suitability classes by ASLE program. Also, most of the selected crops were moderately (S3) and marginally suitable (S4) by MicroLEIS-ALMAGRA model. The main limitation factors of the study area for crop production were soil texture and soil depth.

Winter planting of maize in Inner Tarai region of Nepal is affected by planting dates. This experiment was conducted at research field of National Maize Research Program (NMRP) Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal from September to March in 2016 to 2017 to evaluate the yield performance of maize varieties under various panting dates. The experiment was conducted in factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in which eight treatments consisted of different combinations of two maize varieties (S03TEY-FM and RML-95/RML-96) and four planting dates (4th, 14th, and 24th September and 4th October). The results showed that the effect of planting dates on grain yield was highly significant. Similarly, the effect of varieties on grain yield was significant. Moreover, the interaction effect of them was significant. The earlier planting of maize varieties (September 4) produced the higher grain yield than later planting (October 4). Therefore, maize varieties should be planted in early September during winter season for achieving higher production.

This experiment was conducted to find out the effects of Trichoderma viride on growth and yield of wheat at Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Lamjung Campus, Sundarbazar, Lamjung during December 2016 – April 2017. The experiment consisted of seven treatments; (T1: Control; T2: Soil + NPK; T3: Soil inoculated Trichoderma; T4: Trichoderma + FYM; T5: Trichoderma + ½ NPK; T6: Trichoderma + NPK and T7 = Trichoderma + NPK + FYM) laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. The results showed that Trichoderma viride increased the plant height (4.6%), root weight (1.5%), leaf length (0.3%), panicle weight (9.1%), number of grains (3.8%), grain yield (36.5%), biological yield (13.7%), and biomass yield (2.7%) over control; while root length (-17.4%), number of leaves (-8.4%), tiller number (-10.8%), panicle number (-6.7%), panicle length (-8.4%) highlighted the negative impact of T. viride on wheat plant. T. viride displayed antagonism with inorganic fertilizer. When T. viride and NPK were accompanied with farmyard manure, most of the growth and yield parameter showed the highest value. Though Trichoderma viride decreases several growth parameters, it still can be used as biofertilizer which increases the grain yield. Using T. viride with a full dose of NPK during sowing stage may not be efficient and economical in terms of productivity. Introducing farmyard manure to T. viride gives better yield than T. viride alone.

Annually, enormous amount of palm oil mill effluent (POME) ranging between 56.58 to 70.55 million m3 are producedduring the production of palm oil. Its acidic and high organic loading characteristics can cause severe water pollution if discharged without proper treatment. In Malaysia, most oil palm production mills adopted ponding treatment system. However, this treatment requires high retention time and large build area. Thus, the treatment paradigm has shifted tointegrated high rate bioreactors by coupling anaerobic and aerobic processesdue to the incompetency of the conventional treatment in complying the standard effluent discharged outlined by the Department of Environment.Despite the outstanding treatment performance exhibited by this bioreactor, diluted POME was used in almost all previous studies instead of fresh raw POME. Therefore, the researched bioreactors may not be as efficient in real application. This present study aimed to employ the principle of two-stage anaerobic process followed by a single stage aerobic process for the treatment of fresh raw POME, in whicha two-stage upflow anaerobic sludge blanket digester was integrated with a single-stage anaerobic packed bed reactor. This is to ensure the lignocellulosic components will be broken down into simpler organic compounds in the first stage anaerobic bioreactor followed by their reduction in the second stage anaerobic and single stage aerobic bioreactors.With this, the potential mechanical problems and inhibition on the operational interference of the currently available integrated system is rectified. Thus, the overall performance can be enhanced.The treatment efficiency of this system was examined by evaluating the removal of several important parameters, namely chemical oxygen demand (COD) and sludge reduction reported in terms of total suspended solids (TSS). Throughout the 150 days of operation, approximately 93% and 55% of reduction were observed for COD and TSS, respectively, suggesting this integrated system was competent in treating high strength wastewater.Nonetheless, further research need to be made to ensure the stability consistency and feasibility of this integrated system.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance and change in the technical as well as technological efficiency in the total factor productivity of the 34 food processing industries in Malaysia, and to investigate the changes in their efficiency from 2009 to 2010 by applying two recent methods of data analysis, namely order-m and Malmquist productivity index. The results show that almost all industries have experienced an efficient technological contribution in their respective production functions, but there are wide dissimilarities in the technical efficiency of the organic composition of each industry. Also, there are variations in the change in efficiency scores from 2009 to 2010.