GREENFEED BULLETIN VOLUME 4

Greenfeed vision is to provide the agriculture industry with high efficient and environmental friendly fertilizer.

With those principles in mind, we are constanlly research and improving our existing range of new.

All agronomic research, development and laboratory fertilizer are carried out in the center. We provide our

customers with various soil tests, foliar tests and physiologic tests and consultancy services. The research

team is lead by a panel of agronomists and scientists.

Other than owning a laboratory the research team is also equipped with the latest Field Portable Agronomic

Equipments. The Investment of these equipments is to facilitate our technical advice of the precise application

of fertilizer to our clients.

Visit us at www.greenfeed.com.my

Equipment : LICOR 6400 Portable Photosynthesis System

Analysis : To evaluate the photosynthesis rate of the sample leaf for the oil palms

Equipment : Minolta SPAD 502 Leaf Chlorophyll Meter

Analysis : To determine the Chlorophyll of the sample leaf of the oil palms

Equipment : LAI 2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer

Analysis : To monitor the leaves area index of oil palms

Greenfeed Group reserves the right to change, modify or update its content, descriptions, specification, design, constructions and shapes of its products at anytime without prior notice.

Greenfeed logo is a trademark of Greenfeed Group ©. All right reserved.

REVIEW: CONSTRUCTION OF GREENFEED® PHYSIOLOGICAL RULER FOR OIL PALMS WITHIN

PLANTING AGE OF 1 YEAR AFTER PLANTING (YAP) UNTIL 25 YEARS AFTER PLANTING (YAP)

Technical Research and Development (TRD) Department

Muhammad Asyraf Abdul Aziz

1.0 SUMMARY

This paper carries the objective to provide physiological performance guidelines for oil palms applied with Greenfeed® Slow Release

Fertilizer. A total of 177 statistical data were obtained from the research archives carried out since 1995 on various plantations within

and outside of Malaysia. The physiological analysis involved were the photosynthesis rate measurement using the Li-COR 6400

Portable Photosynthesis System, leaf area index measurement using Plant Canopy Analyzer LAI-2000, and the chlorophyll content

using the SPAD Minolta 502 Chlorophyll Meter. The constructed Greenfeed® Ruler presents the expected physiological

performance range to be achieved by the oil palms applied with Greenfeed® Slow Release Fertilizer according the planting age. The

Greenfeed® Ruler covers from 1 Year After Planting (YAP) until 25 Years After Planting (YAP) which is accordingly the general

economic lifespan of the oil palms. Furthermore, above the standard cap of the economic lifespan, the correlations variability

exposed to the oil palms relating to their physiological performance were not suitable. This Greenfeed® Ruler is the first draft of such

guidelines ever constructed and further studies shall be carried out in order to make this draft much more informative and indicative.

Detailed study can be referred to later section of this paper.

Keywords: oil palm, physiological, slow release fertilizer, photosynthesis rate, chlorophyll, leaf area index.

2.0 INTRODUCTION

As of 31st October 2011, the total human population has

reached 7,000,000,000 people, which the last time it

happened was 12 year ago on 12th October 1999. The brisk

population growth would then lead to increase in global

demands for various available raw materials that are mostly

either depleting or not having a very long lifespan.

Furthermore, demands in food resources will as well

increased resulting directly from the rapid increment of human

population and thus, vital sustainable resources such as oil

palms must be managed properly. The importance of oil palms

in various sector must no be taken lightly as by far, oil palms

have the highest edible oil extraction rate as compared to

other viable sources such as soybean, rapeseed and many

more (per hectare). Furthermore, having the advantage of

being within the tropical region, Malaysia must continuously

carry out significant study on oil palms in term of improving the

yield production efficiency within limited areas and also

increasing the diversity contribution of the palm oil onto

another industries.

2.01 Oil Palm’s Importance and Contributions

One of the current significant achieved by the Malaysia is

through the introduction of the B5 Biodiesel, which was initially

officially launched on 1st June 2011. The B5 refers to the

composition of the biodiesel, which utilizes 5% of biodiesel

with the remaining 95% of the regular petroleum-based diesel.

With such small portion of the biodiesel incorporated into the

formulation, which was obtained from the processed palm oil,

it contributes significantly to the consumption of 12.4 million

litre of fossil-based diesel a year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Furthermore, all of the government monitored vehicle showed

no significant technical fault after using this B5 Biodiesel. Thus,

highlighting other significant importance of oil palms in other

industry. Furthermore, the palm oil and palm kernel oil have a

wide range of application of about 80% used for food

applications while the rest is feedstock for a number of

non-food applications (Salmiah, 2000). For example, the RBD

(refined, bleached, deodorized) olein and stearin are generally

used within the food industries such as margarines, vegetable

ghee, cooking oil, ice creams and many more. Several blends

have also been developed to produce solid fats with zero

content of trans-fatty acids (Berger, 1996). Other non-food

utilizations of palm oil would cover into the oleo-chemical

route, which resulted to several basic oleo-chemicals such as

fatty acids, esters, alcohol, nitrogen compounds, as well as

glycerol. Example of such use would be in the production of

detergent, softener, pharmaceutical products, lubricants,

fragrance industry, imidazolines, and many others.

Furthermore, important compositions such as Tocopherol

(TCP) within the palm oil were proven clinically to help improve

GREENFEED BULLETIN ISSUE 4, 20115

Greenfeed Group reserves the right to change, modify or update its content, descriptions, specification, design, constructions and shapes of its products at anytime without prior notice.

Greenfeed logo is a trademark of Greenfeed Group ©. All right reserved.

GREENFEED BULLETIN ISSUE 4, 201127

Additionally, the printing qualities are those of high grade as tests are carried out to ensure that the printing colour does not erode

over the course of time. Such occurrence is can be caused by long exposure under the sunlight. Furthermore, under such

circumstances, this would lead to the Ultraviolet-Rays to penetrate the packaging and affecting the initial quality of the fertilizer. Apart

from this, the packaging must also be able to withstand frictions and high forces applied onto it and this correlates to the second

category that is durability.

GREENFEED® SRF12 - 16 - 4 + 2 MgO + 0.54 B

MALAYSIA PATENT NO. PI20044120

GREENFEED® MTF13 - 10 - 15 + 2 MgO + 0.38 B

MALAYSIA PATENT NO. PI20044120

GREENFEED® HMTF13 - 10 - 22 + 2 MgO + 0.38 B

MALAYSIA PATENT NO. PI20061655

Plate 2: The established design of the Greenfeed product packaging agreed during the year 2000

3.0 DURABILITY

Durability is also another vital key characteristic that can be found in a good quality packaging. This quality is also one of the

characteristics that has improved a lot since the beginning of the manufacturing of Greenfeed® Slow Release Fertilizer. The current

packaging of Greenfeed® Slow Release Fertilizer is one of the thickest packaging that can be found within the industry. The course

of fertilizer delivery involves several physical activities involving transferring and relocating of the product beginning for the

manufacturing facility in Shah Alam, Selangor; to the clients which can be as far as Indonesia or Cambodia. Thus, the packaging

durability of Greenfeed® Slow Release Fertilizer must be high in order to be able to withstand such strenuous effect. Apart from the

thickness of the packaging, the sealing of the packaging must also be carried out properly.

For every bag of Greenfeed® Slow Release Fertilizer, the sealing was either double sealed or high-tension (thick) single sealed. This

again, is to ensure that the packaging bag does not tear up in any high friction events. Furthermore, it must be able to withstand high

vertical pressure that is caused by stacking of the fertilizer either for storage or during loading up within the container for

transportation. Such details are made to ensure that the condition of the fertilizer can be preserved over the course of explained

duration during the transporting and store keeping of the product.

All of the aforementioned key points regarding the quality of

Greenfeed® Slow Release Fertilizer packaging are made to

ensure that the best quality of the product can be sustained for

the benefit of the clients. Furthermore, the packaging are also

made clearly visible so that the clients are able to distinguish

Greenfeed® Slow Release fertilizer from other imitators or

competitors. The quality of the packaging were initially tested

and approved by the Quality Check (QC) department of

Greenfeed Groups and they will reject any defects or

shortcomings detected instantly.

“..the packaging durability of

Greenfeed® Slow Release

Fertilizer must be high in order to

be able to withstand

such strenuous effect.”