Activities in 2012 

Centre for Biodiversity Research (CBR) holds Agriculture Technology Seminar Series VI and UTAR Scientific Mini-Symposium Concurrently

Agriculture Technology Seminar and UTAR Science Mini Symposium (USMS) were successfully held on 24 November, 2012 (Saturday). The events were co-organised by the Centre for Biodiversity Research (CBR), Faculty of Science and Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research (IPSR).

The Agriculture Seminar series sixth with the theme "Sustainable Agriculture" was concurrently held at the UTAR Perak Campus Faculty of Science with USMS. Participants were from universities, public and industries. The seminar focused on topics related to the sustainability of agriculture industries such as the management of natural resources, effective estate and plantation management and practice, applications of geospatial information technology and disease management particularly with reference to the oil palm industry in Malaysia. The speakers consisted of experienced stakeholders involved directly with the agriculture industry, Dr. Paramananthan a/l Selliah (Managing Director, Param Agricultural Soil Surveys (M) Sdn. Bhd), Mr. Chew Poh Soon (Research Consultant & Plantation Advisor), Mr. Tey Seng Heng (Principal Research Officer, Applied Agricultural Resources Sdn. Bhd), and Mr. Khoo Khee Ming (Former Director, IJM Plantations Berhad) and academician from UTAR, Assoc. Prof. Dr Goh Teik Khiang. The seminar saw a great turn up with approximately 180 participants and served to be a good platform for them to gain new knowledge and share experience in the field of agriculture. The participants were able to interact with speakers during the Q&A sessions.

Besides, USMS which aims to foster and cultivate research interest among the students is an event to showcase the final year students’ research project of Faculty of Science. A total of 22 posters were exhibited for competition and four best poster prizes were awarded to the winners at the end of the seminar. 

The seminar’s organising chair, Prof. Peter Ooi summarised all the papers presented in the seminar before the end of the seminar. The seminar concluded with a brief closing remark from the Dean of Faculty of Science, Assoc. Dr. Lim Tuck Meng and a token of appreciation was presented to all the speakers and prizes were awarded to the best posters.

 

Speakers: Dr. Paramananthan a/l Selliah, Managing Director of Param Agricultural Soil Surveys (M) Sdn. Bhd (left) and Mr. Chew Poh Soon, Research Consultant & Plantation Advisor (right).

   

Speakers: Mr. Tey Seng Heng, Principal Research Officer from Applied Agricultural Resources Sdn. Bhd (left) and Mr. Khoo Khee Ming the Former Director of IJM Plantations Berhad (right).

   

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Goh Teik Khiang (left) from UTAR during his talk on mycology (left) and speakers join Prof. Emeritus Dr. Yong Hoi Sen (right, second from the left), the moderator, during the Q&A session.

  

Participants pay attention to the talk.

 

  

 Participants interact with the speakers

   

Prof. Dr. Peter Ooi (left) summarizes the talks presented and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lim Tuck Meng (right) gives a closing remark.

  

 UMSM Poster presentation: Students present their posters to the judges during the Q&A session.

   

 The winners of the UMSM poster presentation with their supervisors and UMSM coordinator (blue shirt) are all happily posing in front of camera (left). Agriculture Science students are selling vegetables cultivated by them as part of their assignment to the participants of the seminar.

 

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Agriculture Technology Seminar Series V Organized By UTAR Centre for Biodiversity Research (CBR) A Success

The fifth series of Agriculture Technology Seminar was successfully held on 19 May, 2012 (Saturday). The seminar was co-organised by the Centre for Biodiversity Research (CBR), Faculty of Science and Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research (IPSR). With the theme "Agro-biodiversity", the seminar was held at the UTAR Perak Campus Faculty of Science, DDK1. Participants of the seminar were from universities, public and industries. The seminar focused on topics related to the use of the biodiversity to improve agriculture sectors in Malaysia. Topics such as conservation and applications of biodiversity in various areas particularly the use of bio-control agents were discussed. The speakers are members of the community with experiences in sustainable agriculture and agro-biodiversity. A lively interaction between the participants and speakers during the seminar made it a wonderful platform for gaining new knowledge and experience sharing in the field of agriculture.

The seminar started off with welcome speech by the Organising Co-Chairperson, Dr. Tee Chong Siang, before handing over the floor to Dr. Wong Hann Ling to chair the seminar sessions. Speakers of the morning sessions were Datuk Dr. Abd. Shukor Abd. Rahman (Director General MARDI, MARDI Headquarters), Prof. Dr. Ooi Aun Chuan, Peter (Head of Department of Agricultural and Food Science, UTAR), Ms. Sarojeni V Rengam (Executive Director, Pesticide Action Network Asia and Pacific (PAN AP) Penang) and Dr. Ho Cheng Tuck (Consultant).  

Left, Datuk Dr. Abd. Shukor Abd. Rahman calls for the need to optimize the utilisation of biodiversity and to tap our biological resources rapidly and effectively. Right, Prof. Dr. Ooi Aun Chuan highlighted the importance of more ecological studies to understand the nature and how native pests are kept in check by their own natural enemies.

    

Left, Ms. Sarojeni Rengam from PAN AP is concerned about the negative impact on the health and lives of millions of agricultural workers, their communities and consumers worldwide together with the damage to biodiversity and the environment. Right, Dr. Ho Cheng Tuck shared his experience in overcoming the threat from rodents, particularly rats, major pest of agricultural crops.

 

Participants of the seminar pay full attention to talks delivered by speakers.

 

Left, Interaction among participants during tea break. Right, Participants take a break for lunch

 

During the afternoon session, Mr. Chung Gait Fee (Consultant), Dr. Leocadio Sebastian (Regional Director, Regional Office for Asia, the Pacific & Oceania, Bioversity International), Assistant Prof. Dr. Chai Tsun Thai (Faculty of Science, UTAR) and Dr. Amporn Winotai (Chief, Biological Control Research Group
Plant Protection Research and Development Office, Department of Agriculture Chatuchak, Thailand) continued to feed the participants more interesting knowledge in agro-biodiversity.

 

Left, Mr. Chung Gait Fee shared with the audience methods of weed control such as manual weeding, mechanical control, cultural control (mulching, intercropping), animal grazing, biological control and chemical control. Right, Dr. Leocadio Sebastian informed the audience that Bioversity International is working to investigate and promote the use and conservation of agricultural biodiversity towards better nutrition, improve smallholders’ livelihoods and enhance agricultural sustainability.

  

Left, Dr. Chai Tsun Thai, in his presentation, focused on medicinal potential and allelopathic properties of local plants and discussed the bioherbicidal potential of aquatic plants against terrestrial plants. Right, Dr. Amporn Thailand, from Thailand, shared her experience on the introduction of Asecodes hispinarum from Vietnam for the control of the coconut hispine beetle on coconut, Diadegma semiclausum from Malaysia for the control of the Diamondback moth and Anagyrus lopezi from Benin for the control of the cassava mealybug.

                           

Live interaction during Q&A session between the speaker and participants during the seminar.

     

Left, A participant interacts with the speaker during the seminar. Right, Dean of Faculty Science, Dr. Lim Tuck Meng, thanks all parties involved in making this seminar a success. The organizers of this seminar are grateful to Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) for the support to the Center of Biodiversity Research in organizing this seminar series. This meeting was successful as a result of the support from KLK Bhd.