This study aims to verify direct relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and performance and the interaction of the perceived environment as third variable on EO-performance relation. The study was conducted on 210 firms among Bumiputera small and medium enterprises (BSMEs) in three states of northern Peninsular Malaysia, namely Penang, Kedah and Perlis. Using factor analysis and varimax rotation, each component was loaded with three items that has value of factor loadings more than .40. Factor analysis identified four factors of EO as independent variable namely, autonomy, innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking dimensions. Perceived environmental factors consisted of five dimensions of munificence, turbulence, competition, market dynamism, and restrictiveness identified as moderators. Three dependent variables identified as return on sales (ROS) return on assets (ROA) and return on capital (ROC) used in the study. Four control variables of sole proprietorship; partnership, private limited company and small-sized firm were dummy-coded to ascertain their influence in performance. EO dimensions are multidimensional where each of the four dimensions is a separate component. Each of the components consists of three items. Hypothesis testing utilized four steps hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Four steps model shown in F-value and positive beta coefficient shows the statistical significance of direct relation and interaction effect. In the first step of the analysis, two control variables directly affected ROS. The second step of the analysis found direct relation of three EO dimensions related to higher performance. In the third step, all perceived environmental factors found directly related with performance. The fourth step detected interaction effect where significant model and beta coefficients further tested with post-hoc probing by curve analysis on 2x2 graphs. Perceived environmental factors moderated the relationship between EO and performance

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Resurgence in agricultural-based sectors in Malaysia recently has prompted this study to explore the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) patterns as an indicator to explain Malaysian agro-based enterprises. The study is based on 615 observations of Bumiputera small and medium agro-based enterprises (BSMAEs) in three regional growth corridors (RGCs) throughout the Peninsular. Item analysis were done for all items in all regions and based on regions to describe their central tendency shown in mean and standard deviation value. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was run to segregate EO items into specific factor based on regions under study. Subsequently, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and discriminant analysis were run to indicate significant difference in some EO dimensions explaining the RGCs under study. EO dimensions of proactiveness and autonomy orientations were found significantly explained the RGCs. The findings suggest remodification of present policy formulation for small an medium enterprises development at regional level.

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.

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is an important crop for many tropical countries and is mainly cultivated for its beans (seeds) for making chocolate. In Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries, cocoa production is plagued by the cocoa pod borer (CPB) moth, Conopomorpha cramerella Snellen.1) Damage is caused by larvae that bore into the pod and feed on the placenta and pulp tissue surrounding the beans. This disrupts nutrient and water flow to developing beans and results in premature pod ripening.2) The resulting immature beans clump together and become unextractable, and are low in cocoa butter (triacylglycerol) quality.3 5) Current control efforts rely heavily on the use of insecticides, which are expensive and dangerous. 6) In the search for host plant resistance, many studies have been focused on the relationship of pod morphology and anatomy to CPB infestation. 1,3,7,8) It was found that the hardness and thickness of the sclerotic layer plays an important role in CPB resistance.3) The sclerotic layer is a lignified layer of tissue in the middle of the pod husk. The harder and thicker the sclerotic layer, the more difficult it is for CPB larvae to penetrate into or out of the pod. Other non physical elements may also contribute to CPB resistance, but no studies have yet been conducted. Nevertheless, there is still very little knowledge on many aspects of pod development, particularly at the cellular and molecular level.Proteomics offers an alternative and powerful method to address biological problems that cannot be dealt with adequately by genomics.9) It has been used extensively in many plants including important crops.10,11) Currently a gel based approach using 2 DE coupled with MS is still widely used as the core technique in proteomics.12,13) 2 DE gives high resolution of intact proteins from large complex protein mixtures that reveal changes in isoforms, post translational modifications, and protein expression levels, and at a reasonable cost. 13,14) Furthermore, it is recommended as an excellent proteomic approach for non model plants, 15) such as cocoa. To date, only a few proteomic analyses have been reported for cocoa. Previous studies were done to investigate protein changes in beans during fruit ripening, fermentation and other processes in chocolate making. 16,17) Recently, protein extraction for 2 DE has been established for leaves and meristem.18) There is no proteomic study, however, for pod husk, and none for any cocoa tissue combining 2 DE with MS. Pod husk is especially rich in polyphenols (particularly procyanidins) and gums (charged polysaccharides).19 21) Such compounds can hamper protein isolation, 2 DE analysis, and protein identification by MS. 14,22) Thus, a suitable sample preparation for pod husk is needed.Here, we report on the extraction of total proteins from cocoa pod husk for 2 DE analysis and also identification of the major proteins by MALDI TOF TOF MS to analyzing the pod husk proteome. For protein identification, we used de novo sequence analysis and cross species homolog...