Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Agriculture (MJSA)

TLC (thin-layer chromatography) is a standard technique for simultaneously screening and monitoring chemical character in a large number of samples. The goal of this study was to explore if alpha-mangostin (a common secondary metabolite) could be detected in mangosteen pericarp phytochemical fingerprints and how much of it could be represented using a standard calibration curve. The antioxidant activity has been touted as a primary active ingredient in many commercial goods, including cosmetics and food supplements. To test for the antioxidant reaction to the DPPH onto the TLC plate, mangosteen pericarps were obtained from 12 orchards that were grown without pesticides in Cha-Uat (CU), Lan Saka (LS), and Phrom Khiri (PK) districts of Nakhon Si Thammarat. The samples were dried and powdered before being extracted with methanol using the reflux technique. After that, the TLC was utilized to determine the phytochemical fingerprint. The quality of phytochemicals from the LS orchards was found to differ from CU and PK samples, with different bands of compounds at RF 0.2, 0.25, and 0.57. The average amount of alpha-mangostin in the 12 samples was not statistically different, according to a one-way analysis of variance with a p-value of 0.05. The average range of interest (ROI) intensity area of the antioxidant was investigated using a one-way analysis of variance with a p-value of 0.05 and repeated comparisons across the sample groups by Tukeys multiple comparison test. The average antioxidant reaction between the CU and PS group and the CU and PK group was significantly different.

Innovation is a product of collaborative effort and processes that make use of the expertise of and involves multiple stakeholders in its engineering. Most current studies focus on challenges, opportunities, and strategies for innovation. However, the role of support organisations and their specific innovative practices that foster sustainability in organic farming remain scantly researched and unknown. This study investigated innovative practices emanating from collaboration between support organisations/groups and farmers. Also, the question on how these practices influence the sustainability of organic farming was answered. A cross-sectional explorative research design was applied to collect data through semi-structured questions using interviews and focus groups in Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg federal states, Germany. Innovative practices were performed at three key organisational levels namely; compliance with organic farming standards; production processes as well as marketing and consumer engagement. The findings revealed that collaborative innovative practices by support organisations/groups at the market and consumer engagement level was greater compared to other levels. The importance of innovative practices varied across the four dimensions (environmental, social, political, and economic) of organic farming sustainability. Organic farming innovations must be enhanced to improve the organic farming situation like improving area productivity, balancing for environmental friendly and safer agricultural practices as well as food security.

Fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) is a Lepidopteran moth of Noctuidae family. Due to its polyphagous characteristic with a large host range, strong migration ability, high fecundity (average egg production per female is about 1500) and lack of diapause has already contributed to its invasiveness in America and Africa. Recently it has been introduced in Asia in the year 2018. Though it has been only around three years of Fall armyworm (FAW) introduction, it has already spread into many Asian countries and on the way to cause havoc. Though it can infest many crops, its main target and maximum yield loss has occurred in case of Maize. In America and Africa, farmers are already well known to this pest and have adapted themselves to reduce crop loss to some extent by undertaking several management options. As this pest is completely new to Asia, farmers do not know much about its biology, nature of damage and control measures. And their misdiagnosis of the pest leads to panic and increased crop loss. Therefore, it is very important to increase awareness among the farmers to identify its attack on the right time to take suitable control measures as well as preventive measures for upcoming cropping seasons. Some of the cultural, mechanical, biological and chemical control measures those were effective in reducing its infestation outside Asia, has also found to be effective inside Asia. Collaboration of these control measures according to the field condition is main concern for the cultivators. But the integrated pest management option alone can also help to keep FAW population much below economic injury level and prevent its invasiveness as a tool of sustainable management for ensuring food security.

The study; conducted from January, 2020 to June, 2020; focuses on the comparative study of the area, production, and productivity trend of potatoes over 50 years in Sindhuli district and Nepal and a brief overview on quantity supply to the Kalimati fruits and vegetable market. The time-series data from 1968/69 to 2017/18 of Sindhuli and Nepal along with 6 years supply data (2013/14-2018/19) from different districts to Kalimati market were collected from reliable sources (Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development and Kalimati Fruits and Vegetable Market Development Board) and analysis was done using Microsoft Excel. Between 1968/69 and 2017/18, the area under potato cultivation in Nepal and Sindhuli has changed by 573 percent and -46 percent respectively while production increased by 907.6 percent in Nepal and 46 percent in Sindhuli. After 1982 dramatic shift in production was observed in Nepal as there was 7 percent of growth rate while in Sindhuli, the production trend highly fluctuates throughout the period. The average yield was 9.75mt/ha and 8.75mt/ha for Nepal and Sindhuli district. Sindhuli district contributes 1.16 percent of Nepalese potato growing area and 0.91 percent of Nepalese potato production. The trend of quantity supply reveals that during 6 years, Indian potato contributes 58 percent of the total amount that came into Kalimati market, while within-country Kavre has the largest share of 19 percent followed by Kathmandu-6 percent and Dolakha-4 percent. However, the trend of quantity supply of potatoes seems highly fluctuating and the Nepalese market is dominated by Indian imports.

Many plant extracts could be considered as natural effective tool against yellow mite instead of synthetic chemicals. The research was aimed at studying the effects of plant extracts on Polyphagotarsonemus latus Banks infestation and jute yield production. This experiment was conducted in Manikganj, Bangladesh following randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments were Neem oil 3% (T1), Neem leaf extract @ 1:30 (T2), Mahagoni seed extract @ 1: 10 (T3) Turmeric powder extract @ 1: 40 (T4), Garlic paste extract @ 1:30 (T5) and control (T6). Percent reduction of mite population was found in neem oil (87.94%), neem leaf extract (85.76%) and garlic paste extract (86.48%) at 72 hrs after spray. After 7 days of spraying, Neem oil treated plot received the best reduction (89.05 %) followed by neem leaf extract (87.03%), Mahogany (79.60%), turmeric (78.02%), and garlic (80.06%), respectively. Neem oil treated plot showed highest fibre yield (2.95tha-1). Control plot showed highest mite infestation with lowest yield contributing attributes. Neem oil/leaf extract and mahogany seed extracts were found effective to control yellow mite infestation resulting higher fibre yield production.

Blood meal as an animal feed supplement promotes agricultural sustainability. Blood meal which is high in proteins, lacks certain nutrients hence is expected to give impact on the chicken behaviour and welfare. This study was carried out to determine the impact of blood meal supplement on chicken behaviour. The study involved 100 chickens which were bred in semi-opened poultry house for 6 weeks. At 6th week, chickens provided with fish meal (FM) only had a higher body weight compared to that of the group provided with FM and blood meal supplement (FBM). Normal behaviour such as walking, standing, feeding, drinking, dust bathing and lying down were not significantly affected by the changes in the meal (p>0.05). However, based on a single assessor assessment, FBM group displayed higher score in explore and escape characteristics, than the FM group. On the other hand, FM group displayed a slightly higher score for fear behaviour than the FBM. Findings in this study leads to the conclusion that blood meal supplement has influence on the welfare in chickens farming in terms of their exploration, fear, and escape behaviours. Therefore, amount of blood meal as animal feed supplement in poultry production should be determined carefully to avoid any potential detrimental effect on poultry welfare.

The subsurface drip irrigation technique is introduced in many agricultural areas of Morocco, particularly in the forage production systems. This study aims to determine the optimal sowing pattern of forage corn equipped with a subsurface drip irrigation system. A field experiment was carried out on sandy soil. Five rows spacing were evaluated: 40 cm, 55 cm, 70 cm, 85 cm, and 100 cm. The sowing rate was around 120000 plants ha-1. The subsurface irrigation system consisted of drip lines buried at 30 cm and separated by 100 cm with 1 L h-1 emitters and 50 cm as emitters spacing. The results revealed that the fraction of PARi and the accumulated PARi were not influenced by the sowing pattern. The highest corn dry biomass was recorded at 40 cm, 70 cm, and 85 cm row spacing. The biomass increase was mainly attributed to grain yield. The lowest irrigation water use efficiency was recorded at 100 cm row spacing (4.3 kg m-3). Concerning the forage quality, the sowing pattern did not influence the net energy for lactation and other forage quality parameters.

The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of age, sex, running distance and origin of horse on racing speed for Thoroughbred Arabian horse in Tunisia. Although the occidental type is known to be more successful in racing than the Tunisian type, we undertook this study to try to confirm or deny this supremacy for a sample of racehorses born in Tunisia from occidental father. A total of 333 racing records were considered for race performance. The effects of environmental factors on (sex, age, father’s origin, race distance, number of race seasons) race performance were analyzed using the least-squares method(LSM).The racehorses studied were all Arabian Thoroughbred horses in operation at the racecourse of Ksar Said from 2010 to 2020. They are 180 horses, 90 horses born of a Tunisian father, and 90 horses born in Tunisia ofthe occidentalfather. These horses are the best and most successful in their category. The study revealed that the gender and age effectswere statistically insignificant onracingperformance. Race performance was significantly influenced by the distance and the origin of the father which affirms the improving role of the occidentalhorse in the Tunisian population.

Agriculture multifunctionality highlights the importance of non-food benefits as joint products of agriculture. A study on the non-food benefits of agriculture is important to explore the potential of innovating the agricultural industry for sustainable development. The societal influence of agriculture multifunctionality (AMF), for instance job opportunities, more environmental-friendly crop-production methods and food security, is not much known, especially in Malaysia. Thus, the objectives of this study are to estimate the economic value and the factors influencing willingness-to-pay (WTP) for AMF. Additionally, there are vast potentials in AMF to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2, 8 and 12. A contingent valuation (CV) with two payment solicitation formats was commissioned on respondents in Kuala Lumpur to study the WTP an agricultural premium of the purchase values of agricultural products to support AMF. The findings support the direction of innovating the agricultural industry through AMF as one of the forerunners of sustainable growth for developing countries like Malaysia. Although only half of the respondents vowed their WTP for AMF, it is observed that households, which spend more on agricultural products such like vegetables, fruits and related goods are having higher odds ratio of WTP for AMF. The odds ratios change to values of more than 1.00 with spending, which was three times the mean value. And that payment card format begets higher odds ratio of WTP for AMF compared to open-ended CV method format. The findings encourage entrepreneurs, especially the youth to venture into the innovative non-food benefits of agriculture for more responsible usage of our natural resources and decent economic growth.

Pesticides have been a major contributor to the growth of agricultural productivity and food supply. Pesticides were a key factor in significant agricultural productivity growth during the last century and continue to be a critical factor in reducing crop damage. Fifteen insecticides were investigated to select their effective and economic doses against Hairy caterpillar in a Tossa Jute variety during April-October’ 2020 at the Department of Entomology, Manikganj and Narayanganj, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute (BJRI), Bangladesh following Randomized Completely Block Design with three replications. All new insecticides with a standard were found effective for controlling jute hairy caterpillar giving 95.38, 94.55, 95.19, 92.85, 93.59, 94.22, 93.49, 93.62, 89.84, 95.72, 93.56, 93.38, 94.42, 95.39, 91.34 and 95.41 % at Manikganj; 95.78, 93.32, 93.97, 93.18, 92.09, 92.49, 93.74, 92.93, 92.29, 93.69, 93.95, 93.17, 95.31, 94.99, 92.11 and 94.53 % reduction of infestation at Narayanganj at 5th day after spray over control plot respectively. In Manikganj, the highest fibre yield (3.66 t/ha) was found in the plot treated with Rock 20 EC and the lowest (2.96t/ha) was found in Reset 20WDG treated plot. In case of Narayanganj, the highest fibre yield (3.85 t/ha) was found in the plot treated with Proxy 20 EC and the lowest (2.79t/ha) was found in Daman treated plot. These insecticides can be recommended for the farmer’s use to control jute hairy caterpillar.