Harvesting fresh fruit bunches (FFB) is an important activity in the oil palm plantation industry. This study aimed to analyze the potential content of palm oil at the level of loose fruit that falls on the oil palm circle. Observations were made on five fresh fruit bunches with criteria 1, 3, and 5 respectively loose fruit per bunch that falls on the oil palm circle from oil palm trees that were 22, 16, 12, and 7 years old. All sample fresh fruit bunches were analyzed for potential oil to bunch and oil to wet mesocarp in the analytical laboratory of Bumitama Gunajaya Agro. Content of oil to wet mesocarp in loose fruit 1, 3, and 5 were 48,50 % b, 51,98 % a, and 53,21 % a respectively. While the content of oil to bunch in loose fruit 1, 3, and 5 were 24,19 % a, 25,52 % a, and 25,71 % a respectively. The highest potential for oil content occurs in ripe palm fruit with a level of loose fruit 5 grains per bunch that falls on that oil palm circle. Five grains per bunch on the oil palm circle can be used as an indicator for harvesters to harvest ripe fruit with optimal oil content.

The quality of CPO (Crude Palm Oil) is determined by the Free Fatty Acid (FFA) with the standard value below 5%. High FFA in CPO will cause further difficulties due to low refining rate and quality like rancidness and odor. The objective of this research was to determine the factors that affect the FFA content in CPO. This research was conducted from January until April 2021. Fruit samples were collected from BKLE and PNRE East Kotawaringin and analyzed to Analytical Laboratory PT BGA. The FFA value was determined using the titration method according to Indonesian National Standard (SNI). Based on this research, several factors such as rat and moth attacks, fruit maturity, fruit handling, and delayed delivery to the palm oil mill affected the FFA value. These factors caused an increase in the FFA value up to 41.10%‒204% compared to the average FFA value is only 0.77%‒1.29%. Therefore, minimizing the pre‐processing problem will reduce the potential of FFA value increment so that good quality CPO can be obtained.   Keywords: fruit handling, fruit maturity, pest attack, titration method

The Rat was one of the main pests in oil palm plantations cause able to significantly reduce oil palm yield. This research aimed to know the role of T. alba in controlling rat pest attacks in oil palm plantations. Observations were made on estates that had different ratios/hectare of T. alba nest boxes such as Pantai Harapan Estate (1:54), Kruing Estate (1:80), and Sungai Mirah Estate (1: 162). The presence of T. alba was observed every month at each nest box. The attack rate of rats was observed every month during January – December 2020 through a census attack in each plant block. Kruing estate was the highest nest box occupancy rate of T. alba of 37 %. The occupancy rates of Pantai Harapan Estate and Sungai Mirah Estate were 31% and 6%, respectively. While the rate of rat attacks in Pantai Harapan Estate, Kruing Estate, and Sungai Mirah Estate were 0.70 % a, 0.60 % a, 2,30 % b, respectively. The barn owl T. alba can control the attack of rats naturally and reduce the use of rodenticide. Rodenticide applications at Bumitama Agri Ltd for rat pest control in 2020 also decreased by 45% when compared to applications in 2019.

Trichoderma spp. is one of the biocontrol agents that have important benefits for agriculture in Indonesia. Exploration is carried out at PT Bumitama Gunajaya Agro Oil Palm Plantations in high yield blocks. This study aims to identify and determine the isolates of Trichoderma spp. and to find out its in vitro antagonism against Ganoderma spp. Morphological identification of Trichoderma spp. carried out using a trinocular microscope. There were six isolates analyzed based on internal transcribed spacer sequences (ITS) in ribosomal DNA region using PCR technique with ITS 1 and ITS 4. The results of this research showed that Trichoderma spp. original from PT BGA Central Kalimantan has diverse characteristics. Sequencing analysis showed that six isolates were in one group with Trichoderma asperellum isolates T5 (Acc. No. MH809176), IIPR-80 (Acc. No. MK841018) and TV5 (Acc. No. MH393299). Based on the antagonism test, it was found that six isolates were able to inhibit the growth of Ganoderma spp. with an average percentage value is ≥50%.

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