Skop Penyelidikan The new industrial crops cover the crops that have potential to be utilized as new source of growth in agricultural sector. The potential crops include kenaf, stevia and jatropha. While kenaf has been quite established, the other two potential industrial crops may need some more time before they can be recommended. Research on these new potential industrial crops involve many disciplines such as breeding; agronomy and crop production; pests, diseases and weeds management and postharvest handling of those crops.
As in the established industrial crops, most of these disciplines are handled by research staffs in the Rice & Industrial Crops Research Centre. Supports are also provided by other research centre in MARDI such as in field mechanization (Mechanization & Automation Research Centre).
Technologies recommended were obtained from trials carried out at various research stations located in many parts of this country. The studies were also carried out on a range of soil types and agro-ecologies to determine their suitability for these new industrial crops. The locations include mineral soils (Serdang, Seberang Perai, Kluang stations in Selangor, Pulau Pinang & Seberang Perai and Johor), marine alluvium (Teluk Intan station in Perak), bris (Telong station in Kelantan), tin-tailings (Kundang station in Selangor), acid sulphate soils (Kuala Linggi station in Melaka) and drained peat (Pontian station in Johor).
Main scope of research includes breeding, agronomy and production system, management of pests and diseases, post-harvest handling and product development.
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