Agriculture residues of oil palm waste are a big issue for all palm oil producer countries. The residues from oil palm frond are the most crucial to convert wealth. This study focused on oil palm- related agro biomass for mushroom substrate formulation for grey oyster mushroom cultivation. Mushrooms are a highly perishable vegetable that turn into postharvest waste within 4 to 7 days at normal temperatures. Therefore, in this study, the unsold mushroom was converted as a crackers food product to reduce the postharvest losses, especially for the small-scale mushroom grower. The agriculture biomass used for substrate preparation is a combination of oil palm frond (OPF), oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB), palm pressed fiber (PPF), and sawdust (SD). SD as a commercial substrate; thus, in this study, it was used as a control, and rice bran (RB) and lime (L) were used as supplement ingredients for all the treatments. The treatments were according to mixed formulation with the ratio of T0 (control: 97.2% SD, 0.8% RB + 2% L), T1 as a mixed ratio (60% RS + 22.2% EFB + 15% PPF + 0.8% RB + 2% L) and T2 as a mixed ratio (60% OPF + 22.2% EFB + 15% SD + 0.8% RB + 2% L). The total yield in 4 cycles showed 1.2 kg in T0 (sawdust), 1.4 kg in T1 (majority of rice straw), and 1.5kg (majority of oil palm frond) in T3 treated substrate. In this study, the oil palm frond was received free of cost as compared to sawdust and rice straw. Therefore, it showed using the oil palm frond not only gave a high yield of mushrooms at the same time, it was 100X lower the cost. Next, the unsold yielded mushrooms were used to for crackers preparation. The result obtained from this study indicates that mushroom crackers contain fat (11.34%), protein (2.19%), and carbohydrate (76.55%) while high in moisture (7.87%) and ash (2.06%) compared to commercial potato crackers. Overall acceptance of sensory evaluation towards mushroom crackers showed a high "extremely like" percentage, contributing about 66%. Thus, this study found that 66% of participants extremely liked the new innovative mushroom crackers. Overall, the results finding shows that oil palm substrate can be alternative economical substrate for grey oyster mushroom cultivation and food product from mushroom will be new item in snacks industry.

Aims: Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are a group of Gram-negative or Gram-variable bacteria that oxidise ethanol during the production of vinegar. The aim of this study was to isolate the AAB from both Lansium domesticum (Dokong) and Nephelium lappaceum (Rambutan), mother of vinegars (MV) and vinegars, as a potential starter culture for vinegar production.Methodology and results: The MV and vinegar samples were collected from six to eight weeks of fermented Dokong and Rambutan vinegar from the Food Laboratory of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), Jeli. The enriched samples were inoculated on selective Carr and GYC solid media. From the Carr medium, thirty-seven isolates that showed a yellow clear zone and seventy-eight isolates that showed a halo clear zone on the GYC medium were selected. Sixty isolates that produced higher total acidity (>60%) were characterized by Gram staining. Sixteen Gram-negative and fourteen Gram-variable isolates were subjected to 2.0% ethanol Carr medium to select for ethanol tolerance. Five ethanol-tolerant isolates were suitable for 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and molecular identification because they had 4% to 10% ethanol tolerance level utilisation on Carr solid medium. Based on the morphological and biochemical characteristics, isolates DV1 and RMV30 were Gram-variable. Meanwhile, RMV2, RMV19 and RMV37 were Gramnegative bacteria. RMV2, RMV19, RMV30 and RMV37 isolates were catalase-positive and oxidase negative. Only DV1 was catalase and oxidase positive. From the BLAST analysis, the obtained nucleotide sequences showed 100% homology, with RMV2, identified as Acetobacter fabarum, and DV1, RMV19, RMV30 and RMV37 were identified as A. pasteurianus.Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, five isolates were identified as Acetobacter species: Four isolates, DV1, RMV19, RMV30 and RMV37 strains, were identified as A. pasteurianus and RMV2 was identified as A. fabarum. DV1, RMV2, RMV19, RMV30 and RMV37 showed significant differences at (p<0.05) for ethanol utilisation at 4% and the highest toleration up to an ethanol concentration of 10%. The ability to tolerate high ethanol concentration during vinegar fermentation is a desirable in producing high acetic acid for vinegar production.

Introduction: Flooding may cause the microbial population in the soil to move from one area to another. Actinomycete, a type of soil microbe, has the most commercial value due to its ability to produce secondary metabolites. This study aimed to elucidate the antimicrobial activities of actinomycetes isolated from flooded and unflooded areas. Methods: Soils samples were collected from flooded areas in Dabong, Kelantan, and unflooded areas in Jeli, Kelantan. Three isolation methods were used to isolate actinomycetes; Sonication, Centrifugation and Chloramine T. The isolated strains were screened for morphological characteristics based on their growth pattern (spore formation), colony color, aerial and substrate mycelia color, and soluble pigment formation in the growth medium. Morphologically different strains were tested against Escherichia coli and Candida albicans for its antibacterial and antifungal activities. Results: A total of 970 actinomycete strains were isolated from soil samples (570 strains from flooded soil and 400 strains from unflooded soils). Only 281 strains were morphologically different. Thirty actinomycete strains were tested for antibacterial and antifungal activity. Seventeen of these inhibit at least one test microorganism. Conclusion: In conclusion, our observations reveal that the soil samples obtained from flooded areas display a wide variety of actinomycetes, as evident from their morphological characteristics. This finding suggests that the flooded soil areas possess a higher diversity of actinomycetes compared to non-flooded soil areas. Furthermore, we found that 57% of the tested actinomycete strains exhibited activity against at least one test organism, indicating their potential for future research.

Durian (Durio zibethinus) brings in princely revenue for the fruit economy in Southeast Asia, ushering the current trend of clearing forests for durian plantations. Despite the thorny fruit's popularity and increasing bat-durian papers, not many associate their vital plant-pollinator relationship. This unfamiliarity has led to the persisting negative connotations of bats as agricultural pests and worse, a disease carrier amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic. This review focuses on the bat-durian relationship comprising botanical insights and pollination ecology in relevance to the wider pteropodid-plant interactions. The majority of the studies compiled have concluded that bats are the most effective pollinator for durian than insects. Six fruit bat species (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) have been recorded pollinating durian flowers, with several other pteropodid species speculated to pollinate durian, including in non-native countries. Lastly, we address the research gaps for the bat-durian relationship, which can also be applied to other chiropterophilous plants.

BackgroundDiabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by elevated plasma glucose levels. It is often defined as a lifestyle disease having severe economic and physiological repercussions on the individual. One of the most prevalent clinical consequences of diabetes is the lagging pace of injury healing leading to chronic wounds, which still to date have limited treatment options. The objective of this research is to look into the wound healing capabilities of gallocatechin (GC) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) impregnated patches in diabetic rats. Experimental rats were dressed patches and the wound healing skin region was dissected at the end of the experiment for molecular analysis. The wound healing rate in diabetic rats dressed with CGP2 and CGP3 & silver sulfadiazine (AgS) patches were found to be high. While mRNA and immunofluorescence or immunohistochemistry assays reveal that Wnt3a and β-catenin levels were higher with Gsk-3β and c-fos levels were lower in diabetic rats dressed with in CGP2 and CGP3 as compared with diabetic rats dressed with DC+CGP1. Furthermore, apoptosis markers such as caspase-3, caspase-9, and Bax levels were reduced, whereas anti-apoptosis maker (Bcl-2) and proliferation marker (PCNA) levels were increased in diabetic rats dressed with CGP2 and CGP3 as compared with diabetic rats dressed with DC+CGP1. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that GC-AgNPs-CGP (CGP2 & CGP3) dressing on diabetes wound rats decreased changes in Wnt3a/β-catenin pathways, resulting in lower apoptosis and greater proliferation, so drastically improving diabetic wound healing.

Recent morphometric analysis on T. glis in Peninsular Malaysia indicates that there were more than one morphotypes in this species. Thus this study attempts to examine this phenomenon using mitochondrial DNA sequences of Cyt b and CO1 genes. A total of 74 DNA sequences for both genes were generated using available universal primers. Samples from Southern Thailand were found to be misidentified as T. glis when in fact these samples clustered with T. belangeri while one T. tana from Borneo was miss-identified as T. minor. The phylogenetic trees showed that there are at least one confirmed morphotype of Tupaia (new Tupaia sp.) that have yet to be described. The results also showed that the separation of T. glis morphotype 1 and 11 were visible in the combined genes tree, congruent with the morphometric phylogeny but had poor phylogenetic support.

This study is designed to investigate the combination of gallocatechin (GC) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for its wound healing ability in diabetic rats. Thirty male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: 1. Normal control rats dressed with blank CGP1; 2. Diabetic rats dressed with blank CGP1; 3. Diabetic rats dressed with 13.06 mu M of GC; 4. Diabetic rats dressed with 26.12 mu M of GC; 5. Diabetic rats dressed with 0.1% silver sulfadiazine patches. GC-AgNPs-CGP dressed diabetic rats showed significant FBG reduction, prevented the body weight losses and reduced the oxidative stress by lowering MDA content and elevated antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, CAT and GPx in wound healing skin of diabetic rats when compared to normal CGP. Besides, mRNA expression of Nrf2, Nqo-1, and Ho-1 was upregulated with downregulated expression of Keap-1 mRNA, which is supported by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, GC-AgNPs-CGP dressing increased growth factors such as VEGF, EGF, TGF-beta, and FGF-2 while decreasing MMP-2 in the skin of diabetic wound rats. In vitro permeation study demonstrated rapid GC release and permeation with a flux of 0.061 and 0.143 mg/sq.cm/h. In conclusion, the results indicated that GC-AgNPs-CGP dressing on diabetic wound rats modulated oxidative stress and inflammation with elevated growth factors; increased collagen synthesis thereby significantly improved the wound healing and could be beneficial for the management of diabetic wounds.

Agro-food entrepreneurship is one of the sectors that is popular in Malaysia. However, the failure rate in Malaysia is higher because people involved in agro-food entrepreneur are not aware of the business challenges and lacking knowledge about financial, marketing and management skills. The purpose of this research is to study the impact of participation of housewife and single mother in Agro-food Entrepreneurship (Frozen Food) and Marketing Strategy Training Module in Kelantan. A survey using a self-administered questionnaire has been conducted among 70 respondents who are involved in the Agro-food Entrepreneurship (Frozen Food) and Marketing Strategy Training Module in Kelantan through pre and post-assessments. The findings indicate that all respondents are interested in joining Agro-food Entrepreneurship (Frozen Food) and Marketing Strategy Training Module in Kelantan, and they have agreed that this training can improve the knowledge, skill and their quality of life. This study may provide useful information in identifying the best mechanisms to encourage women, especially housewife and single mothers’ participation in the Agro-food entrepreneurship training or program.

Coconut sap from Cocos nucifera could be obtained from the coconut flower, and it is quite a popular fresh drink in Malaysia. Due to microbial activity, coconut sap may change to alcoholic and acidic by spontaneous fermentation. Traditionally, chengal wood chips ( Neobalanocarpus heimii ) have been added in coconut sap to slow down the fermentation process. This research aims to evaluate the physicochemical properties (pH, total acidity, total soluble solids, colour), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and antimicrobial properties of coconut sap with and without the presence of chengal wood chips for ten weeks at 4 °C and 25 °C storage temperatures. The pH value of both samples was between 3.60 ± 0.01 to 6.66 ± 0.04. Total acidity ranged from 0.29 ± 0.11% to 4.26 ± 0.25%. Total soluble solids in both samples were around 8.3 ± 0.05 to 17.3 ± 0.05 °Brix. Colour analysis was also carried out based on the lightness value. Eighteen of VOCs were found in coconut sap with chengal wood chips versus 20 compounds without the chengal wood chips. Coconut sap with chengal wood chips kept at 4 °C had the lowest total plate count (1.19 x 104 - 1.78x106 CFU/mL) at week one until week seven, while total plate count of coconut sap without chengal wood chips was recorded as too numerous to count (TNTC) throughout the weeks. Chengal wood chip extracts inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , Candida albicans, and Aspergillus brasiliensis , as shown by a clear zone of inhibition. In conclusion, the presence of chengal wood in coconut sap has helped to slow down the fermentation process and inhibit the growth of microorganisms. Hence it can help to prolong the shelf life of coconut sap.

Various researchers have found that vinegar has antibacterial effect on different types of pathogenic bacteria which make it useful for a varieties of application in medical, food preservation and as cosmetic ingredient. Many new emerging tropical fruits vinegars were not tested for antibacterial properties especially for skin and acne causing treatment. Therefore, this study aim is to test several tropical fruits vinegar in order to determine their ability against skin and acne causing bacteria ultimately could lead to application of effective vinegars in personal care and cosmetic products. Tropical fruit vinegars such as pineapple, mango, coconut, dokong and rambutan vinegars were tested for the presence of acetic acid, titratable acid, pH and anti-microbial properties against acne causing bacteria Propionibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus . The presence of acetic acid content in the vinegar samples was determined using HPLC analysis against 100% glacial acetic acid standard and shown to be between 6.444, 6.959, 5.832, 6.484 and 6.373 min. Titratable acidity range lied between 1.14 ± 0.06% to 3.26 ± 0.09% of which rambutan vinegar showing highest acetic acid content while pineapple vinegar giving the lowest value. The pH value among five vinegar samples fell within the range of 3.06 to 3.65 of which pineapple vinegar has the lowest value and coconut vinegar had the highest pH. Antimicrobial properties of different tropical fruit vinegar samples with different percentage of acetic acid content in samples comprised of 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5% and 3.0% were determined by antimicrobial disk diffusion assay on Propionibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus . Clear zone of inhibition could be observed at 1% acetic acid in all samples, ranging from 7.8 mm to 8.6 mm against main acne causative bacteria, Propionibacterium acnes indicating that the vinegars has antibacterial properties against the bacterium

This research will be focus on the differences of perception of customers in Kelantan and Kuala Lumpur toward tropical fruits vinegar. Tropical fruit vinegar was used in this research with Rambutan and Dokong vinegar as the choice. Dokong and Rambutan are tropical seasonal fruits. The production quantity is getting higher these few years, and it results that farmers have to face all negative impact. Next, this study also reduces the import of vinegar product. Furthermore, this study also helps in fulfilling the national agenda in National Agro Food Policies 2011-2020. The amount of respondents are 108 in Kelantan and 69 in Kuala Lumpur. The major finding is Customers in Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan both accepts Natural Fruits Vinegar products. The result also shows that consumers are concern about the quality, safety, and nutritional content of products and prefer glass material for packaging than plastic material.

The objective of this study was to determine the expected minimum number of sequence readsneeded to achieve full coverage of the microbial species found in the gut of giant panda This wasdone by first, analyzing five different mammalian metagenomes namely horse, coyote, whitetaildeer, humpback whale and the bottlenose dolphin as metagenomic references; based on anapproximate of 1,000,000 sequence read estimation. After rarefaction analysis using MG-RASTVersion 3.0 analysis pipeline, an average value of 775,075 reads was found to be sufficient formetagenomic analysis. Next, the fecal matter of giant panda was sampled at Zoo Negara, andDNA extraction was performed. DNA extraction was then subjected to DNA qualification andquantification analysis; where the results show that the samples are still viable and sufficient inyield to be used for library preparation. After library preparation, the samples were sequencedusing IlluminaTM MiSeq® next generation sequencer. The results of this research serve as afoundation for further studies of the giant panda metagenome.

Flowering trees are considered the producers of allergenic agent carried by pollen protein.The isolation of protein of interest from intracellular compartment into a solution of well-defined composition especially from never isolated species involves the manipulation of several parameters.The aim of this work is to find the best isolation method for pollen protein of the widely distributed flowering fruit species in Malaysia includes Mangifera indica, Mangifera odorata, Durio graviolens, Durio zibethinus, Syzygium aqueum (red flower), Syzygium aqueum (white flower), to give the maximum yield extract of crude protein.The most efficient buffer to be used specifically for each species were as followed; Mangifera indica (Tris HCl 0.5M pH 6.8 with 1.3 mg/ml); Mangifera odorata (Tris HCl 0.5M pH 6.8 with 1.8 mg/ml); Durio graviolens (PBS 0.02M pH 7.4 with 1.6 mg/ml); Durio zibethinus (PBS 0.02M pH 7.4 with 2.2 mg/ml); Syzygium aqueum -red flower (Tris HCl 0.5M pH 6.8 with 1.0 mg/ml); Syzygium aqueumwhite flower (PBS 0.02M pH 6.8 with 1.7 mg/ml).Pectinase activity reveals the best ammonium sulfate percentage for Mangifera indica, Mangifera odorata, Durio graviolens, Durio zibethinus, Syzygium aqueum -red flower, Syzygium aqueum-white flower is either 80% or 85%.Different types of buffer definitely have different ability on the protein solubilization, while the 80% of salt precipitation was the most ideal percentage for salting out the protein in every sampled species.

Maitake (Grifola frondosa) mycelia contain high dietary and medicinal values that have gained great attentions from consumers. Proper drying can preserve their bio-availabilities prior to subsequent processing or consumption. Pure Maitake (Grifola frondosa) strain was cultivated in Mushroom Complete Medium (MCM) using submerged fermentation for 14 days. Maitake mycelia were harvested and treated respectively by vacuum, oven drying treatments while the fresh mycelia were assigned as control. All the samples were tested for Total Phenolic Content, DPPH radical scavenging assays and nutritional contents. Submerged fermentation produced mycelia biomass (1.3 ± 0.1 g/L) within 14 days of fermentation. Both the pH and reduced sugar content had decreased (P < 0.05) throughout fermentation. Vacuum dried mycelia had shown higher (P < 0.05) total phenolic (20.0 ± 0.4 mg GAE/g), DPPH radical scavenging activity (84.7 ± 0.1%), and soluble protein content (283.6 ± 7.1 µg/mL) as compared to other treated samples. The crude protein (39.1 ± 0.2), fat (5.7 ± 0.7), ash (11.1 ± 0.3%) of mycelia were well preserved using vacuum drying as compared to oven dried samples. The study has suggested that vacuum drying at 70 °C, 1000mBar has the advantage to preserve the nutritional and radical scavenging activity of high value maitake mycelia effectively at lower cost.

In the present study, the water extracts of Averrhoa bilimbi at different maturity stages were evaluated to investigate antimicrobial activity against two Gram positive and three Gram negative bacteria by disc diffusion and broth dilution assays. All of the bacterial isolates showed varying degrees of sensitivity towards A. bilimbi extracts. For disc diffusion assay, Gram positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus was more sensitive to the extract than Bacillus cereus with inhibition zone of 9.3 mm (young fruit), 12.3 mm (mature fruit) and 10 mm (ripe fruit). The findings also demonstrated that the extracts have stronger antimicrobial effects against Gram negative bacteria, Salmonella spp. with inhibition zone of 12 mm at young fruit, 11 mm at mature fruit and 9.3 mm at ripe fruit than Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. From broth dilution method, the MIC of extracts were 0.125 gml-1 at young stage, 0.25 gml-1 at mature stage and 0.5 gml-1 at ripe stage against Escherichia coli while 0.25 gml-1 at either young or ripe stage and 0.125 gml-1 at mature stage for S. aureus. The results suggested that the antimicrobial properties are influenced by the maturity stages of the fruit especially at early stage of maturity.