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ABSTRACT:The excessive application of pesticides for agricultural production has raised quite some concern about environmental safety and sustainability. To reduce environmental impact of pesticide overuse, there is an increasing interest in using different elicitors including Jasmonic acid (JA) to induce resistance against pathogen and insect in crop. Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.), which is an important vegeTable cum spice crop around the world. The aims of this study were to compare the effectiveness of Jasmonic acid on growth, Phyto-physiological responses, yield and viruses control in chilli plant. It was evaluated the effectiveness of single spray of JA (JA1), double spray of JA (JA2), conventional pesticide (Malathion 50%) and without any of those or control. The experimental results showed that pesticide-treated plants perform much better at early growth stages and become less competitive to JA2 treatment at maturity. Double spray of jasmonic acid showed less stress symptoms in different antioxidant enzymes activities (GPX, APX and CAT), reduce percentage of disease incidence and severity as well as improve growth and yielding characters of chilli plant. Therefore application of Jasmonic acid in chilli could be a possible alternative of pesticide application and its two times exogenous spray (0.5mM) is most effective.

Malaysia, with its rapidly growing economy, exemplifies the tensions between conservation and development faced by many tropical nations. Here we present the results of a multi-stakeholder engagement exercise conducted to (1) define conservation priorities in Peninsular Malaysia and (2) explore differences in perceptions among and within stakeholder groups (i.e. government, academia, NGOs and the private sector). Our data collection involved two workshops and two online surveys where participants identified seven general conservation themes and ranked the top five priority issues within each theme. The themes were: (1) policy and management, (2) legislation and enforcement, (3) finance and resource allocation, (4) knowledge,

The excessive application of pesticides for agricultural production in Malaysia has raised quite some concern about environmental safety and sustainability. To reduce environmental impact of pesticide overuse, there is an increasing interest in using different elicitors to induce disease resistance in crop. Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.), which is an important vegetable cum spice crop in Malaysia, was used to compare the effectiveness of two natural elicitors (jasmonic acid and salicylic acid) with conventional pesticide application as control. The experimental results indicated that pesticide-treated plants showed rapid reduction in disease severity after application while elicitors perform slowly and its effectiveness increase gradually over time. Among the tested elicitors, jasmonic acid was found most effective regarding disease severity and yield of chilli compared with salicylic acid. Although used elicitors was not best performing treatment compared with conventional pesticide, some physiological parameters (relative chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthesis rate) and disease severity in chilli plants treated with jasmonic acid was very close to conventional pesticide. Therefore, jasmonic acid could be a potential elicitor for inducing disease resistance in chilli and salicylic acid may not an appropriate elicitor for chilli.