Heat transfer assessment of multi-tier chilling pipes for root zone cooling system under crop protection structure in the tropics

Root zone cooling technique has become an alternative cultivation method for temperate crops production in the tropics instead of cooling the aerial environment of the greenhouse. In this experiment, the root zone cooling system was incorporated with a multi-tier crop cultivation structure. This structure consisted of five tiers arranged in an A-shape design and was placed under an open rain shelter, thus, left it to undergo fluctuating environment temperature. There were five pillow polybags inserted with cocopeat and were placed on the structure. Each pillow polybag consisted of a single pipe that was buried inside the growth media located near the root zone area. This pipe that was connected to the chilled system acted as a cooling agent in controlling the growth media temperature. The objective of the study was to evaluate the Root Zone Cooling (RZC) system performance in distributing and controlling water-dissolved nutrient temperatures to meet crop-root requirement needs. From the experiment conducted, it was found that there was no significant difference between root zone temperature at different levels and lengths on multi-tier structure. The chilling pipes was able to distribute the temperatures to meet crop-root requirement needs along the multi-tier structure.

Delineation of Lithological Formation in Bukit Merah, Semanggol, Perak Using Groundwater Modelling Software

The knowledge of lithological formation is important to determine the potential aquifer for water resources management. This study aims to delineate the lithological formation of Bukit Merah, Semanggol using geological data. The preparation of lithological formation in the study was based on several factors such as electrical resistivity survey data, available well lithologies, geological map, and geological-related studies in the study area. The Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) profile produced from the resistivity survey was interpreted based on previous studies to determine the subsurface materials on the location. The estimation of soil lithology for the remaining wells was done to generate the overall subsoil pattern in the study area. A total of 15 types of soil were classified to represent the actual lithology in the study area. The simplification of the actual lithology was carried out based on rocks and soils group. The elevation of the ground surface and each soil layer were imported into Visual MODFLOW software, then the interpolation of elevation points was done. Two interpolators; Kriging and Natural Neighbouring were used to generate ground surface and model layers similar to the topography in the study area. As a result, it has been identified that the study areas consist of 4 main layers of lithological formation which are unconsolidated deposit, sedimentary, metamorphic, and granite. The upper layer is dominated by unconsolidated with a maximum thickness of about 150 m in the coastal area. Hence, it is concluded that the unconsolidated deposit layer in Bukit Merah is highly potential with groundwater resources in the alluvium aquifer at the upper layer which has the potential to be developed for purpose of irrigation in a paddy field in the Kerian area.

Development of 360-degree imaging system for fresh fruit bunch (FFB) identification

In every cycle of harvesting operation, farmer does not have any information on how many bunches and which oil palm tree will be harvested. By introducing the 360ᵒ camera imaging system, number of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) can be determined for every tree in a plantation area. Black bunch census was done manually to estimate yield. This was improved by video acquisition using a high resolution 360ᵒ camera integrated with an image processing software for video image processing to calculate number of FFB. Based on the standard planting pattern, it is time consuming process to circle each tree to acquire the 360ᵒ view of each tree. Current technology to approach bunches is destructive and conventional since the process involve physical contact between workers and FFB. Thus, a new method was established by the execution of All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) between rows in plantation area for video acquisition. Images were extracted and threshold by using MATLAB software. L*, a*, and b* color space was used for the bunch identification throughout 90 samples of images to identify the mean intensity value. Model threshold verification for another 48 samples of images resulted with Coefficient of Determination, R2 of 0.8029 for bunch identification. As a result, a new method for video acquisition was established as well as processing method for bunch identification for large scale plantation area.

Effect of agricultural waste as organic fertilizer on yield and soil properties of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.)

The use of fertilizer particularly for the inorganic fertilizers has increased annually to cope the global demand of crop production. Nevertheless, inorganic fertilizer is expensive and associate with the negative effects to the environment and the soil structure. Alternatively, agricultural waste can be composted and used as organic fertilizer. Although such fertilizer has low nutrient concentration and solubility, it releases nutrients slowly which makes them available for a longer period. Moreover, this agricultural waste such as biomass and manure from plantation and livestock farms are available in abundance. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effects of different types of fertilizer treatments as listed; T1 – inorganic fertilizer (control), T2 – chicken manure, T3 – cow manure, T4 – empty fruit bunch and T5 – cocoa pod husk on the production of cocoa mature tree and its soil fertility. The results have shown that organic fertilizers with its consistency application has produce comparable production with inorganic fertiliser and have no differences in the soil chemical properties between the treatments. Hence, this study has clearly demonstrated that agricultural wastes act as organic fertilizers were able to increase crop production and improved the soil fertility in cocoa cultivation.

Effects of maltodextrin on the physical properties of canola oil-based ice creams

Recent trend in production of healthy food products has stimulated ice cream manufacturers to minimize the saturated fat content by replacing it with high-unsaturated fat or oil such as canola oil, yet maintaining the physical properties of the end product. Addition of maltodextrin (MD) into the formulation may assist in obtaining the desirable physical properties. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop hard ice creams containing different ratios of canola oil and MD. Four ice cream formulations were prepared by weight: MD-0 (5% oil, 0% MD), MD-1 (4% oil, 1% MD), MD-2 (3% oil, 2% MD), and MD-3 (2% oil, 3% MD). Both MD-2 and MD-1 exhibited the highest (45.05±4.28%) and the lowest (32.49±1.20%) overrun, respectively, yet there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between all ice creams in terms of hardness (3.20-4.79 kg). Additionally, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between MD-0, MD-1, and MD-2 in their melting rates which were significantly slower (p < 0.05) than those of MD-3. In overall, decreasing the amount of oil (i.e. increasing amount of MD) resulted in significant (p < 0.05) increase in overrun, yet had no significant (p > 0.05) effect on the ice cream's hardness and melting rate except for MD-3 for the latter. The ice cream that exhibited the most desirable physical properties was MD-2 (overrun, 45.05±4.28%; hardness, 3.73±0.75 kg; slowest melting rate). This finding highlighted the potential of MD in providing desirable texture to the ice creams to certain extent. Future studies are recommended in maintaining the ice cream's flavour and physical properties upon storage, and in determining its sensory acceptability among consumers.

Condition monitoring of TPU/UPM Fiat tractors using ICP and OES techniques

The use of agricultural tractors for various operations within a day calls for adoption of condition monitoring techniques in maintenance management strategies especially regarding engine lubricating oil change interval and predicting components replacement time before premature failure. Six Fiat tractors from TPU/UPM were monitored over three oil change intervals and oil samples taken for analysis using inductively coupled plasma and optical emission spectroscopy (ICP & OES). Twenty-three elements including wearing elements from engine, additive elements from oil manufacturers, and contaminating elements from the environment were determined from 39 samples collected. Results indicated significant differences for 15 elements (Al, B, Ca, Cr, Cu, Pb, Mg, Mo, P, Ti, V, Zn, Si, K, and Na) belonging to wear, additive, and contaminating sources. This necessitated the use of condition monitoring for individual tractors instead of the general rule of preventive maintenance or even breakdown maintenance performed after the occurrence of failure.

Characterisation of gelatin extracted from buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) bone using papain pre-treatment

This study was carried out to extract gelatin from the bone of Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) by incorporating enzymatic pre-treatment. Papain-aided extraction (PE) (9.1 ppm of papain at 50 °C water) was employed in the pre-treatment step, in which non-enzymatic extraction (NE) was carried out for comparison. The gelatin obtained were next evaluated for their physicochemical properties such as moisture, protein, and ash content, colour, and UV-vis absorption. Functional properties of the gelatin which included emulsifying and foaming properties were also determined. Four-fold increments in yield (wet basis) were obtained for PE (29.92 %) as compared to NE (7.5 %). Moreover, no significance difference (p > 0.05) in moisture content was observed for both PE and NE, although the protein content of the gelatin was observed in the range between 70-90 %. The resulting gelatin from both extractions was generally yellowish in appearance and was confirmed by the colourimetry data where no significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed for both samples. The maximum absorption peak for both PE and NE were observed at 210 nm, which was in the range commonly reported for gelatin. In addition, the emulsifying and foaming capacity of PE and NE had no significant difference (p > 0.05), although emulsion stability for PE was shown to be significantly higher (p < 0.05) compared to NE. The present study was an attempt to evaluate the potential use of local buffalo bone as raw material for gelatin production, which found that extractability could be improved with enzymatic pre-treatment in obtaining acceptable gelatin qualities.