Lum Mok Sam
@ums.edu.my
Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture
Universiti Malaysia Sabah
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Plant Physiology
Plant Biotechnology
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Ferrelly Venom Sinton, Robin Ah Lim Hee, and Lum Mok Sam
Science Alert
Nurul Hamizah Salman, Lum Mok Sam, Kimberly Ador, Bellericter Binjamin, Mohd Iftar Johwan Johny-Hasbulah, and Suzan Benedick
Hindawi Limited
Honey is a natural product of bees, and its chemical composition depends on the nectar sources of the surrounding flora as well as environmental factors. However, keeping hives in areas polluted with heavy metals can affect the quality of bee products such as honey. To date, there have been very few studies on the health risks of consuming honey at various locations in the Malaysian state of Sabah, Borneo, in relation to food standards and heavy metal contamination of honey from the stingless bee, Heterotrigona itama in association with pollutant sources. A total of 63 samples of raw and unprocessed honey were collected directly from beekeepers producing honey at five sites in the industrial areas. All selected heavy metals were measured using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrophotometer (ICP-OES). Overall, the most frequently detected element was Zn (0.090 mg/kg), followed by Pb (0.012 mg/kg), As (0.004 mg/kg), and Cr (0.003 mg/kg), while Cd (0.001 mg/kg) was the lowest element in honey from all areas. With the exception of Cr and Zn, a significant correlation was found between PCA factor score 1 and heavy metal concentration in honey for Pb, Cd, and As, suggesting that the source of pollution for these metal elements was from hives closer to major roads, cities/town, petrochemical hub, and power plants. Although the heavy metal concentrations in the honey samples did not exceed the food standard limits and therefore do not pose a health risk, the observed increase in heavy metal concentrations in honey in industrial areas could pose a potential risk in the future due to the growing interest in rearing of stingless bees for honey production in these areas of Sabah.
Robin A H Lim, , Mok Sam Lum, Januarius Gobilik, Kimberly Ador, Jamilah Nyuk Choon Lee, Jonal Majampan, Suzan Benedick, , ,et al.
Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia
The chemical properties of honey depend on the source of collection to packaging, but little is known about honey in Sabah. The aim of this study was to distinguish between the physicochemical properties and mineral content of 76 honey samples from local sources and supermarkets in Sabah, which were from contract beekeepers, unknown sources and branded honey. Raw honey was collected from contract beekeepers, while honey from unknown source was obtained from street vendors and wet markets, while branded honey was purchased from local supermarkets. The chemical parameters of the honey were assessed using established methods, while the mineral content of the honey was determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Significant differences were found in several parameters measured in honey from different sources, with principal component analysis (PCA) showing clear separation between the measured parameters, yielding five factors that accounted for up to 72.25% of the total explained variance. Honey from contract beekeepers showed significant differences and higher mineral content (Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Na and Zn) compared to honey from unknown source and branded honey. Potassium was the most important element in the study with an average of 2.65 g/kg and 629.4 mg/kg for sources from contract beekeepers and branded honey, respectively. The honey from the contract beekeepers was of better quality due to its high mineral content. The results suggest that honey from contract beekeepers could be a good choice when it comes to high mineral content.
K Bidin, A H Ahmad, F Cleophas, A Kamu, and M S Lum
IOP Publishing
Abstract Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important staple food for many countries including Malaysia. But the country is still relying on the import to meet its domestic demand. Though significant public resources allocated for the rice industry, rice cultivation is still perceived to be uneconomical and associated with poverty. Therefore, a hydroponic system is seen as an alternative rice cultivation system that possibly be able to overcome common problems encountered in conventional and traditional paddy cultivation such as irrigation systems, limited cultivation area, control of nutrient inputs, control of pests, and loss of community interest particularly the new generation towards paddy cultivation. This net house study which one of the objectives was conducted to examine the vegetative growth of two local rice varieties under hydroponic condition. The experiment was a split plot design with nutrient solution concentration as the main plot, and the subplot is a local rice variety consisting of low land variety TQR-8 Sri Aman and upland rice variety called as ‘Tadong’. Each treatment was replicated in four plants or pots. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the effect of nutrient solution concentration and variety on rice growth cultivated using hydroponic system. The results revealed that the hydroponically grown rice of TQR-8 Sri Aman has greater tillering ability compared to Tadong for both NCSs. On the other hand, Tadong variety showed higher plant height than TQR-8 Sri Aman grown under hydroponic system. In addition, interaction of variety and nutrient solution concentration was significantly difference on tiller number and plant height. Further analysis should be conducted to evaluate the yield and feasible of the rice grown using hydroponic system.
D Y Calley and M S Lum
IOP Publishing
Abstract Environmentally friendly soil amendments are becoming increasingly popular currently. This experiment was conducted in the insect-proof rain shelter from 15th August until 1st December 2020. This study compares the growth and yield of five local corn cultivars collected in Sabah; Jagung Kuning Ranau, Jagung Kampung Telupid, Jagung Pulut Telupid, Jagung Manis Telupid, and Jagung Manis Sandakan, planted on the same planting medium consisting of 25% dairy farm effluent (DFE) compost and 75% Silabukan soil. The experiment was laid in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with five replications. Corn cultivars had a significant influence (p<0.05) on all growth and yield parameters except for flag leaf width and the number of cobs per plant. Jagung Manis Telupid (C4) outperformed other cultivars in plant height (296.5 cm) and the number of leaves per plant (13.75). The highest flag leaf length (67.67 cm) was recorded by Jagung Kampung Telupid (C2). In comparison, Jagung Manis Sandakan (C5) had the highest cob length (16.24 cm), cob diameter (38 mm) and cob weight (106.63 g). Therefore, planting Jagung Manis Telupid (C4) is highly recommended for silage purposes, while Jagung Manis Sandakan (C5) for its cob yields. Further study in the open field is suggested as the growth and yield performance might be different due to other variables.
Siti Wardah Zaidun, Mohamadu Boyie Jalloh, Azwan Awang, Lum Mok Sam, Normah Awang Besar, Baba Musta, Osumanu Haruna Ahmed, and Latifah Omar
Eurasian Journal of Soil Sciences
Increase in cost of chemical fertilizers encourages the use of soil amendments such as biochar and zeolites to improve soil fertility. In this study, biochar produced from empty fruit bunch-palm oil mill effluent (EFB-POME) and clinoptilolite zeolite were used as soil amendments to improve soil fertility. The field experiment was carried out for two planting cycles to determine the effects of different rates of EFB POME biochar (0, 10, and 20 t ha -1 ), clinoptilolite zeolite (0, 1.25, and 2.5 t ha -1 ), and urea (60 and 120 kg ha -1 ) on selected soil chemical properties of Tanjung Lipat ( Typic Paleudults ). Biochar produced from EFB-POME increase soil total N, P, K, Ca, and Mg. The higher soil total N, P, K, Ca, and Mg could be related to the increase in soil pH, cation exchange capacity, and total organic carbon in soil with EFB-POME biochar but not with clinoptilolite zeolite. Thus, EFB-POME biochar was more suitable to be used in a tropical soil ( Typic Paleudults ) compared to clinoptilolite zeolite for improving the selected soil pH, CEC, TOC and available P, K, Ca and Mg.
Chong
Academic Journals
Basal stem rot (BSR) of oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis ) is caused by Ganoderma boninense , and, commercially, is one of the most devastating diseases in South East Asia. Losses of more than 80% of stands by the time they are halfway through their normal economic life have been reported. High incidence of BSR results in economic losses due to zero yields from dead palms and significantly reduced weight and number of fruit bunches in infected but living palms. Due to the importance of oil palm industry to Malaysia’s economy, the transfer of any materials that are related to Ganoderma is strictly prohibited from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak. No basic identification method using molecular techniques for the identification of G. boninense exist in this study for G. boninense isolates from Sabah. The only report on this pathogens isolate in Sabah was based on their morphology and pathogencity. In conjunction with the morphological similarities among the different isolates, there are numerous opinions on the aggressiveness of the pathogen in Sabah. The isolates of G. boninense from Sabah were claimed to be less aggressive compared to those from Peninsular Malaysia. This may be due to lower incidence of BSR in Sabah and Sarawak compared to Peninsular Malaysia. Since the oil palm industry is a fast income-generating tool, data related to it may be highly sensitive. Researchers, plantation managers and entrepreneurs are not forthcoming with the information on oil palm genetic materials or isolates of G. boninense with others. The current speculations on the Sabah isolates need further investigation. In this study, we report the identity of isolates Ganoderma from Langkon Oil Palm Estate in Sabah, Malaysia. The identity of these isolates was confirmed using DNA sequence analysis after PCR amplification. The latter method shows that the Sabah isolates were very similar to aggressive G. boninense strains FA5017 or FA5035 from West Malaysia, with a maximum similarity of 98%. Key words: Aggressive, FA5017, FA5035, G1_5, isolate.