KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) will receive funding from Electronic Sensor Technology Inc (EST) to conduct research and validate the use of zNose® in early detection of ganoderma.
A Letter of Agreement (LOA), under which EST will channel research funding to the University’s Sustainable Palm Oil Research (SPOR) Unit, was signed.
Vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Harun Abdullah in his welcoming remark at the signing ceremony said the collaboration with EST would pave the way for useful methods and innovations for the palm oil industry, particularly in dealing with BSR disease caused by ganoderma.
He said UMS was one of the higher learning institutions in Malaysia which was actively involved in oil palm research and invited other industry players to engage the university for similar collaborations.
Ganoderma boninense is the cause of Basal Stem Rot (BSR) the most devastating disease infecting oil palm trees in South East Asia.
In Malaysia, the losses due to BSR was estimated up to USD 500 million a year, with no remedy yet to be found.
In most of the time, plantation managers failed to detect the disease or infection due to unavailability of detection method to be employed at large scale in their plantations, where most of the detections merely depended on the observation of foliage symptoms.
However, the development of the foliage symptoms is slow and was confused with other symptoms of nutrient deficiency.
zNose® is a brand of mobile organic, biological and chemical real time analyser developed by EST.
“We appreciate the initiative from EST and understand the hard work behind all parties involved, especially SPOR and the dean, Faculty of Science and Natural Resources for making this LOA signing possible,” said Harun in his welcoming remarks for the signing.
He was represented by deputy vice-chancellor (Academic & International), Prof Dr Shariff A K Omang Al-Haj.
Representing EST were its CEO, William Wittmeyer and board member Maggie Tham.
Founded in 1995, EST is a California-based company also known for developing many chemical vapour analysis processes.
At the workshop participated by estate workers and officers earlier, important steps and precautions in sampling and preparing the infected tissues for analysis until the pathogen is finally detected were demonstrated.
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