Roswanira Abdul Wahab
Dept. of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Malaysia

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Occurrence and identification of Basidiomycetous Fomitopsis species the causal agent of Brown-rot in oil palm Elaeis guineensis in Johor, Malaysia Muhammad Muhammad; Roswanira Abdul Wahab; Mohd Hefni Rusli; Fahrul Huyop
Journal of Tropical Life Science Vol. 12 No. 1 (2022)
Publisher : Journal of Tropical Life Science

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.11594/jtls.12.01.03

Abstract

Macro fungi belonging to the family “Polyporaceae” in the phylum Basidiomycota are among the commonplace causal agents of plant diseases. In the present study, we reported the molecular characterization of a macro fungi basidiomycetous brown-rot fungal phytopathogen Fomitopsis strain MM4. The fungal phytopathogen was identified and molecular characterized from the infected stem and tissue of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) in Kulai, Johor. The 18SrRNA nucleotide sequence of the fungal pathogen strain MM4 showed 99% similarity with partial sequences of Antrodia serialis maintained in the genebank database. The pairwise multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the fungus clustered into a single branch of a phylogenetic tree; hence the fungus was designated as Fomitopsis meliae (MM4). The pathogenicity test revealed significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) in disease severity caused by the characterized basidiomycetous brown-rot F. meliae fungal pathogen on oil palm seedlings and the pathogen was successfully re-isolated from infected samples. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of 18S rRNA F. meliae Basidiomycota brown-rot fungi infecting oil palm (Elaeis guineensis). The findings of this study thus support the diversity of pathogenic macro fungi affecting oil palm trees in Malaysia.
Optimization of Endoglucanase Synthesis by Trichoderma harzianum via Taguchi Approach: Taguchi-optimized endoglucanase production by T. harzianum Hwee Li Teo; Roswanira Abdul Wahab
Journal of Tropical Life Science Vol. 13 No. 1 (2023)
Publisher : Journal of Tropical Life Science

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.11594/jtls.13.01.04

Abstract

The oil palm biomass produced by plantations and mills in Malaysia is the largest contributor to the nation’s agro-waste, with the oil palm leaves (OPL) topping the list. Nevertheless, the surplus of OPL might have applicability as the substrate for cultivating lignocellulolytic bio-degraders. Ipso facto, this study employed raw OPL as the carbon source for cultivating Trichoderma harzianum under solid-state fermentation (SSF). Optimization of the SSF process using the Taguchi orthogonal design to produce endoglucanase (CMCase) successfully established the optimal fermentation conditions as the following: 7.00 × 108 spore/g inoculum size, 50% moisture content, pH 12 Mandel’s medium, with 3-day incubation at 40°C. The crude enzyme cocktail exhibited the corresponding maximum activity of 417.49 U/g CMCase. The enzymatic activities were significantly affected by factors, moisture content, inoculum size, and initial pH (p-value < 0.05). In short, the high extracellular CMCase activity of the T. harzianum crude enzyme cocktail may prove valuable in accelerating the saccharification of cellulose for biofuel-and nanocellulose production.