Abstract The basal stem rot (BSR) disease of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is caused by the white rot fungus, Ganoderma boninense (G. boninense). This study discusses the use of a biological control approach to treat BSR by using mycolytic enzymes producing bacteria as biocontrol agents against G. boninense. Bacteria producing mycolytic enzymes which degrade fungal cell wall were targeted. The antifungal properties of Acinetobactor calcoaceticus (A. calcoaceticus), Chryseobacterium indologenes (C. indologenes), and Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) were tested against G. boninense. The three strains showed the ability to inhibit the growth of G. boninense in dual culture test, culture filtrate test, double plate assay, and soft agar encapsulation. In dual culture test, all three test strains showed high Percentage Inhibition of Diameter Growth (PIDG) value with P. putida having the highest PIDG value of approximately 90%. As for culture filtrate test, C. indologenes demonstrated the highest PIDG value, approximately 85%. Double plate assay and soft agar encapsulation depicted the similar result for all three test strains which the PIDG value for both tests were 90%. The isolated strains exhibited promising results in anti-Ganoderma testing.

Abstract Chilli or Pepper (Capsicum species) is an essential and critical plant shown as vegetable cum spice crop grown for the ornamental, medicinal and pharmaceutical applications. The present paper aimed to understand the relative changes in biochemical composition of the plants because of impacts of the induced mutation and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) investigation can be utilized to assess the alteration in the DNA structure. Minimum amount of proteins (799.997 µg/ml), carbohydrates (39.13 µg/ml) and free fatty acids (673.2 µg/ml) were found in very high intervening mutated plants. Maximum percentage of inhibition by the peroxidase activity (0.1685 μg/ml), catalase activity (0.078 μg/ml), diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (79.44±1.61 μg/ml) activity and 2, 2’- azino-bis (3-ethylbenzoithioazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (97.02±0.45 μg/ml) activities were found in profoundly exposed mutated plants compared to the normal Capsicum plant species. A dendrogram representing the similarity in DNA bands of Capsicum plants in different time intervals of UV-C radiations showed significant negative affinities. This study encourages us in understanding an induced mutation by UV-radiation on the Chilli plant leaves and its impact on plant cell creation and DNA structure. Therefore, this study brings mutation prompts diverse sorts of basic variations from the norm in cell organelles and its structure of the plant sources.

Abstract The quality of cocoa is determined by its unique and complex flavors which are contributed by several factors. This study aimed to investigate the cocoa flavor of three Malaysian cocoa clones, MCBC5, 4, and 2 fermented at different durations. Fresh cocoa beans were fermented for six days, and were sampled every 24 hours for drying. The quality of fermentation was determined by cut test and fermentation index (FI) of the dried beans. The cut test results showed that MCBC5 took the longest to be fully fermented (6 days) whereas MCBC4 and 2 took only five days. However, FI analysis, presented earlier completed fermentation. A portion of dried beans were roasted for 25 min at 127⁰C and ground to cocoa liquors for sensory evaluation by the Malaysian Cocoa Board’s trained panelists with Ghanaian cocoa liquor as the standard. The most intense cocoa flavor was MCBC2 fermented for five days (4.11 ± 0.83). The strong cocoa flavor in MCBC2 could be due to its low bitterness (2.86 ± 0.68) and astringency (3.56 ± 0.66) level and moderate level of acidity (1.86 ± 0.76) as high levels of bitterness, astringency, and acidity are known to mask the cocoa flavor, thus produce poor cocoa flavor. In conclusion, MCBC2 fermented for five days had the best cocoa flavor when compared with the MCBC5 and MCBC2.

Abstract COVID-19 pandemic has affected human life worldwide since the first discovery of human SARS-CoV-2 infection. Due to scarce understandings of this novel coronavirus, therapeutic interventions regardless of modern or traditional medicines are implemented according to previous knowledge on other virus outbreaks. Besides antiviral drugs, traditional Chinese medicine has concomitantly shown to alleviate clinical symptoms associated with this disease. Recently, emerging studies also indicate that integrating modern medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) could bring more significant benefits to COVID-19 patients. This minireview provides a summary on the earliest therapeutic approaches recommended by World Health Organization and approved by China FDA for COVID-19 treatment since the outbreak, which are based on the outcomes obtained from preclinical or clinical trials performed until December 2020. The underlying molecular actions of these medicines on COVID-19 that have progressively revealed are also deliberated here. However, the mechanistic actions of these medicines still required intensive research and clinical investigations as some mechanisms are in silico predicted. Due to the treatment urgency, the main limitation of these studies is small group of patients in the trials. Nevertheless, they serve as an important stepping stone for further therapeutic intervention.