KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has bagged three gold and one silver awards for its innovations at the International Invention, Innovation & Technology Exhibition 2020 (ITEX 2020) here.
Each of the four innovations also received the Malaysia Innovative Product Award (MIPA) at the two-day event which started on November 20.
MPOB said the three gold-winning innovations are Sawitsecure oil palm biosecurity toolkit application by Dr. Mohd Hefni Rusli, "The Plant Destroyer" molecular diagnostic marker by Dr Maizatul Suriza Mohamed and "Clonal Palm Series 3 (CPS3) – Productivity for Sustainability" by Siti Rahmah Abdul Rahman.
The board said SawitSecure was a tool kit for biosecurity risk management and emergency response plan for the Malaysian oil palm industry.
The application provides direction and guidance to all relevant sectors in preemptive actions, emergency response and incursion management. In emergency cases, stakeholders can easily send report or attach pictures to MPOB if they spot any abnormalities in the plantations or port of entry using the application.
CPS3 is a clonal planting material, developed to meet the country's aspiration towards higher production of palm oil and sustainable agriculture.
CPS3, the latest addition to MPOB's Clonal Palm Series, managed to produce 11.3 tonnes of oil per hectare compared to 8.6 tonnes per hectare per year for the best commercial planting materials.
Dr Maizatul's innovation, a simple and rapid molecular diagnostic marker enables the diagnostic of Phytophthora species, which destroys plants.
It uses loop-mediated isothermal amplification method, which offers fast, convenient, and robust technology to screen pathogens contamination in plant and soil samples such as oil palm, coconut, rubber, cocoa, durian, and vegetables.
Dr. Maizatul also won the "Best of The Best Invention Award MIPA" for her innovation.
Meanwhile, Dr. Shamala Sundram won the silver award for her innovation, "TrichoShield: A Holistic Control against Ganoderma Basal Stem Rot of Oil Palm".
TrichoShield is a product specially developed to control Ganoderma disease at the base of stems on palm trees.
"This environmentally-friendly product contains Trichoderma fungus which has endophytic properties that can provide effective control against the disease," MPOB director general Dr. Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said.
He said MPOB's success at the ITEX 2020 had proven that the technologies and innovations developed have an impact on the palm oil industry and technology commercialisation opportunities for local entrepreneurs.