Statistical discrimination of latex between healthy and white root infected Hevea brasiliensis tree based on protein concentration

Abstract

White root disease is a critical factor of infection to rubber trees in Malaysia. Therefore, research represent the identification of healthy and infected rubber trees is very significant in order to maintain the yield of rubber tree latex. A total of 60 samples from healthy and white root disease (WRD) infected rubber tree respectively were tested using uv-vis spectrophotometer to measure the protein concentration. Statistical analyses were carried out to determine the relationship of the protein concentration with the health condition of the rubber tree. The results indicates that, both healthy and white root disease infected tree shows discrimination by looking at the mean difference and p-value from paired sample t-test. Based on this experiment, suitable sensor could be developed in order to identify the health condition of rubber tree. Keywords: protein concentration; hevea brasiliensis ; white root disease; uv-vis spectrophotometer; t-test