Lab Conference 20 January 2009

Lab 1.52 MPG Winter Conference

Tuesday January 20 2009 4S Pavilion 13.40-ca. 17.30h

NB allocated time is to include discussions BUT groups with common intros should not have them repeated by each member

Welcome and Introduction RMC

CHAIR PART 1 AEW

13.45 PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS (35)

Richard Cooper. How bacteria are recognized by hosts and what they do about it. 15
Hefni Rusli Part I. Diseases of oil palm in Malaysia: why Fusarium? 10
Yan Chen. Novel chitinase inhibitors; what do they do to fungal pathogens? 10

14.15 GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF CASSAVA (40)

· John Beeching. Cassava: room for improvement? 10
· Kimberly Jones. Is cassava post-harvest physiological deterioration a reactive oxygen- mediated programmed cell death? 15
· Adedapo Gbadegesin. Isolation and characterisation of root-specific promoters for stacking desirable traits in cassava 15

14.55 SPERMS’R’US
·
· Steve Dorus: Evolutionary genetics of male reproduction 15
· Rosie Parker: Comparative sperm proteomics: Are all sperm alike? 15
· Elaine Wilkin: Retrotransposition and the origin of novel sperm components 15

15.40 ……………………………BREAK……………………………………………………

CHAIR PART 2 RMC

16.00 RAPID IDENTIFICATION OF FUNGI (45)

Alan Wheals. Rapid identification of fungal genera, species and strains. 12
Hefni Rusli Part II. Species and strain specific identification in Fusarium associated with oil palm

Christophe Lambing. Genus specific PCR primers for Zygosaccharomyces and Zygotorulaspora

Alastair Muir. PCR identification of pathogenic fungal spp. using electrochemistry 15

16.45 INSECT INVESTIGATIONS (45)

· Keith Charnley. An aphid killing fungus: two approaches to host invasion 15
Vicky Laing. Behavioural fever in locusts 15
Glenda Orledge. The Australasian Cis bilamellatus in Northern Europe 15

**Load your talks onto the Departmental Laptop, which I’ll have available in the writing up room during the morning**

Meet after at Parade Bar for those that can make it.

Happy 800 years old birthday to Cambridge

It's all about hardworking. One can achieve their dreams by action. You may not be perfect. You may not the number 1 in your class neither among your friends nor your family. You may not be a straight A student. That doesn't matter. It's all about your will. You may have fallen along the way but you can get up and run again. Believe that we can. Trust in yourself. If others can do it then YOU CAN HAVE THE SUCCESS TOO. I know I will.

Beauty and the beast; Birthday

My Msc. abstract

My Msc. was truly a hard work physically and mentally. I’ve learned and gained a lot during this tenure. Nonetheless, I enjoyed every single day doing my research.

Abstract of thesis presented to the Senate of Universiti Putra Malaysia in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science

Trichoderma harzianum as a growth promoter of oil palms and factors affecting its mass production by submerged fermentation

By

MOHD HEFNI BIN RUSLI

Chairman: Professor Dr. Faridah Abdullah, PhD

Faculty : Science

The oil palm industry is one of the highest users of chemical-based fertilizers and pesticides in Malaysia. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of formulated Trichoderma (FA 1132) as an alternative biofertilizer for use in the industry. A nursery trial was conducted at the glasshouse in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), using a total of 45 seedlings. Six treatments were carried out to determine the effect of the formulated Trichoderma as a growth enhancer; the first 3 were single applications each of the formulated Trichoderma (strain FA 1132), commercial compost and chemical fertilizers respectively. The second consisted of mixed treatments of 1:1 Trichoderma formulation with fertilizers and 1:1 of the formulation with commercial compost. Five growth parameters assessed were increased stem girth, frond number, frond length, number of pinnae/longest frond and leaf chlorophyll content. The experiment was arranged in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) at 3 replicates of 15 seedlings per treatment. Results showed that the best growth enhancer of oil palm seedlings was the treatment with the formulated Trichoderma. The same treatments and parameters were used for field trial I at Taman Pertanian Pertanian Universiti (TPU), UPM; a forest clearing area and has never been planted with any crops before. The experiment was conducted in a RCBD at 3 replicates with 9 palms per subplot. Results showed that the application of the Trichoderma formulation again was the best growth enhancer of the oil palms compared to other treatments. In Mungka Estate, Segamat, Johor by using the same treatments as Field Trial I, experimental design set up in RCBD at 4 replicate plots of 20 palms per subplot, results showed that the mixed formulation, 1:1 Trichoderma formulation with fertilizers ranked the highest in terms of efficacy as the growth enhancer of oil palms. Field Trial II was actually an ex-oil palm field for second generation planting and may therefore have nutrient deficiency soils. In order to mass produced conidia of FA 1132, a submerged fermentation using potato sucrose broth as a media with 9% of molasses as nutrient supplement was conducted. It was stirred at an impeller speed of 750rpm and a dissolved oxygen tension rate of 75%. The results showed an increment to 4.6 x 109 conidia/ml per hour after 84 hours from 3.2 x 107 conidia/ml. Laboratory studies also conducted to optimize the production of FA 1132 conidia in solid state fermentation with an intention towards the development a suitable medium to replace palm fibers as the solid substrate medium for the production of FA 1132 and better suit for liquid formulation. Results found 500g milled rice at 100% moisture content with 9% molasses as a nutrient supplement and stirred homogenously at day six gave the best conidia counts at 107 conidia/ml stock in 14 days.

This was my first research abstract for the departmental seminar. I've presented 10 minutes talk to the all postgrads and lecturers. The presentation went very well but of course I am a bit nervous. This is my first experience to give a talk to different audience and perhaps it'll be even better next time.


Vascular wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. elaeidis (Foe) invades the host xylem and causes a devastating disease of oil palm in West and Central Africa and parts of South America. Nevertheless, this disease has not been reported in South East Asia, in spite of long term importation for breeding purposes of African seed and pollen, now known to be contaminated with Foe. Malaysia is the largest palm oil producer in the world and Foe remains a major threat to this industry.

Therefore, this study is being conducted in order to help Malaysia avoid and/or be prepared for this potential problem. Molecular diagnostic tools are being developed for rapid detection and quantification of Foe in diseased plant tissue, soil, seed and pollen. These tools can be used for quarantine purposes of any imported materials and to test infection of putative resistant palm genotypes. The only practicable control measure for this disease is breeding for disease resistant progeny. Hence, we intend to establish a small scale nursery trial for optimizing selection of resistant palm lines and to study the expression of resistance or tolerance of oil palm to Foe infection.

Treatment by fungicides is undesirable and largely unsuccessful for this disease. For that reason, we will evaluate the mycoparasitic fungus Trichoderma for potential biological control. Also we will investigate the possibility of Foe-suppressive soils in Malaysia in order to explain the non-appearance of this vascular disease there and possibly to reveal other potential biocontrol agents. Field work on the disease (detection; epidemiology; pathogen variation) will be conducted in Cameroon.

Hefni Rusli

Palestin

Kadang-kadang aku rasa menangis sampai keluar air mata darah pon masih tidak cukup untuk menangisi kesengsaraan para penduduk Palestin. Kekejaman setinggi manakah yang perlu lagi? Setinggi gunung manakah yang mayat yang harus ditindan? Nyawa Palestin bukan lagi murah bahkan sudah dilelong. Roket Israel menghujani, membedil dan mengaum di bumi Palestin.

Pemimpin dunia pekak. Pemimpin dunia buta. Regim-regim Arab harus dibaling dengan batu neraka. Aku berdoa agar dunia boleh hidup dalam keadaan yang aman dan sejahtera. Semoga kita semua berdoa ke arah itu kedamaian.