Concept of Islamic Leadership in Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas’s Philosophy

Islamic leadership is defined as a divine trust (amanah) from Allah, based on the Tauhidic paradigm of oneness of Allah that is focusing to serve HIM as HIS servant, while at the same time be the servant of Allah, perform the role of Khalefah (vicegerent) of Allah fully adheres to the Sunnah central to Islamic personality, characteristics and aklaq (Islamic moral and ethical) that was exemplified by the prophet (s.a.w), leading followers to the organization goals and to the straight path of the success in the Hereafter. It is based on this adopted definition that the paper tries to look into the notion from perspective of a Malaysian Muslim Philosopher to the core, Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, who believes in delivering amanah given to him, and at the same time perform the role of vicegerent of Allah. He suggests that lack of good leaders or rise of unqualified and false ones is one of the major problems of Ummah. Content analysis approach is engaged on both primary and secondary data collected. That is to say, it is a qualitative research in nature. The finding shows that the basis of Al-Attas’s concept of leadership is entrenched in Al-Qur’an and the tradition of the prophet in addition to his deep understanding on the Islamic Sciences such as Islamic theology, philosophy, and metaphysis and so on.

Rhizobacterial Mediated Induction of Phytoalexins in Rice to Suppress Blast Disease and Enhance Yield

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria are being widely utilized in agriculture due to their biopesticide and biofertilizer potential. The indigenous PGPR inhabiting certain hosts can act as potent bioinoculants due to their native habitat and acclimatization to the environment. In current study, rhizobacterial mediated suppression of blast disease was investigated. Four hundred and fifty indigenous isolates were obtained from rice rhizosphere to assess their antagonism towards rice blast pathogen Pyricularia oryzae. Only 100 isolates showed antagonistic activity. Twenty out of 100 isolates inhibited the mycelium growth of P. oryzae by 30–65% in vitro. Five strains, KFP-5, KFP-7, KFP-12, KFP- 17 and KFP-18, showing 63–65% antagonism towards P. oryzae, were tested for the production of biocontrol determinants and suppression of blast disease in rice plants. The antagonistic strains produced various biocontrol determinants such as the hydrolytic enzymes, protease, glucanase and cellulase with solubilization zone diameters of 10–19, 4.2–14.5 and 2–13.5 mm respectively and siderophores with zone diameter of 7–12 mm. The antagonistic strains also solubilized potassium, phosphorus and zinc from inorganic sources with solubilization zones of 2.1–3.2, 2.3–3.6 and 1.7-2.9 mm respectively. Three antagonistic strains, KFP-5, KFP-7 and KFP-17 significantly suppressed blast disease with a disease score 1.1–1.9 and increased yield of rice grown in pot. The antagonistic strains, KFP-5, KFP-7 and KFP-17 significantly induced the antioxidant enzymes against P. oryzae infection in rice and secrete biocontrol determinants in rhizosphere. They induced the activity of superoxide dismutase (1.7-1.9 fold), peroxidase (3.5-4.1 fold), polyphenol oxidase (3.0-3.8 fold), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (3.9-4.4 fold), in rice leaves and roots under hydroponic and soil conditions. The antagonistic strains also secreted multiple biocontrol determinants like protease (1.1-5.5 U/mg of soil or U/mL of hydroponic solution), glucanase, (1.0-1.3 U/mg of soil or U/mL of xii hydroponic solution), siderophores (6.5-42.8 µg/mL or mg) in the rhizosphere of different rice varieties. These antagonistic strains also exhibited bio efficacy under field conditions. They significantly reduced disease severity by 40-52% with grain yield of 3.2-3.9 ton ha-1 in rice. The bioantagonists significantly colonized the rice rhizosphere with a cell population of 2.40E+06-5.6E+07 CFU/g of soil. Rice plants treated with antagonistic bacterial suspension followed by challenge inoculation with P. oryzae were found to have higher enzymatic activities like superoxide dismutase (308-266 Ug-1 FW), peroxidase (change in absorbance (∆A) = 0.20-0.71 min-1 g-1FW), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (∆A = 0.32-0.59 min-1 g-1 FW) and polyphenol oxidase (∆A = 0.29-0.58 min-1 g-1 FW). A consistent performance of the strains was observed during consecutive two years. The potent antagonistic strains were identified as Bacillus spp. strains KFP-5 (Gene bank Accession No KT380825), Bacillus spp. KFP-7 (Gene bank Accession No KT380826) and Bacillus spp. KFP-17 (Gene bank Accession No KJ719446) by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. These findings suggest that indigenous Bacillus spp. could be a potential bioinoculum for rice to control blast diseases and enhance yield.