Report of
FNCA 2015 Workshop on Biofertilizer Project

Opening Session & Open Seminar
Dr. Hannarong Shamsub, Deputy Executive Director of Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) and Dr. Surmsuk Salakpetch, Deputy Director General of Department of Agriculture (DOA), delivered remarks and expressed warm welcome to all participants. In addition, Dr. Hideki Namba, FNCA Advisor of Japan and Ms. Moe Aoki, Special Staff of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) gave speeches and thanked to TINT and DOA for their hospitality and great effort to this workshop.
As a keynote speech, Dr. Namba gave a presentation for overview and progress of FNCA activities in 2014 - 2015. He reviewed 10 FNCA projects and major successful results obtained. Then Dr. Shotaro Ando, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), PL of Japan, presented summary of activity on FNCA Biofertilizer Project and major issues of this workshop.

Open Seminar on Development of Nuclear Technology and Biofertilizer for Sustainable Agriculture was held on the first day of the workshop, November 24th, 2015. About 50 participants attended the half-day seminar with representatives from department, research institutions, universities, private companies in Thailand as well as those from FNCA member countries. At the session (1) Nuclear Technology for Sustainable Agriculture, five presentations were delivered. Firstly Dr. Sathaporn Jaiarree, Land Development Department, reported on improvement of sustainable agriculture by nuclear technology in Thailand. Secondly Dr. Phatchayaphon Meunchang introduced a trend of nuclear technology for improve biofertilizer production. Thirdly Dr. Phiriyatorn Suwanmala from TINT discussed production of plant growth promoter from Chitosan by radiation processing. Mr. Suniyom Taprab, Department of Rice, talked on application of mutation breeding for sustainable agriculture. Lastly Dr. Issay Narumi, Toyo University, introduced radiation breeding of industrial microorganisms in Japan.
At the Session (2) R&D of Biofertilizer for Sustainable Agriculture, 2 presentations were delivered. Prof. Dr. Neung Teaumroong, Suranaree University of Technology, reported on research and development of biofertilizer in Thailand. Ms. Julieta A. Anarna, University of the Philippines Los Banos, introduced application of radiation technology for biofertilizer production in the Philippines.

 

Country Report & Topic Session
Eight countries reported research progress for 2015 and plan for 2016-2017 respectively and following four topics were discussed.
- Extension of Radiation Sterilization for Commercial Biofertilizer Production
- Development of Multifunctional Biofertilizer and Strategy for Extension to Farmers
- Development of FNCA Guideline for Biofertilizer Quality Assurance and Control
- Evaluation of Experiment for Synergistic Effect of Biofertilizer and Irradiated Oligochitosan, Plant Growth Promoter, in 2015 and Future Prospects
- Development of Publication for Compared Effect of Radiation Sterilization and Autoclave

Project Activity Plan for 2015-2017
In the next phase from 2015 to 2017, the project will concentrate on:

1.	Accumulating the data of beneficial effects on irradiation carriers to publish the articles on the advantage of radiation sterilization of carriers in comparison with autoclave sterilization on survival of beneficial microbes in biofertilizer. The publishing will be in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam in 2015 and 2016.
2.	Radiation technology for biofertilizer carrier sterilization was already transfer to the biofertilizer manufacturing companies in Bangladesh, Indonesia (in the past), Malaysia, and the Philippines. Government should encourage nuclear energy institutes to promote the use of irradiation facility for sterilization of biofertilizer carrier.
3.	Evaluation of the synergistic effect of biofertilizer and irradiated oligochitosan for the reduction of plant dieseases and/or plant growth promoter.
4.	Development of the multifunctional biofertilizer from single or multiple strains depends on the requirements and conditions in each country with emphasis on the radiation breeding of microbes. FNCA coordinator of each member country may send a request to respective government for financial support on multifunctional biofertilizer research and development.
5.	Development of "FNCA Guideline Vol.2 Production of biofertilizer carrier using radiation technology" based on the scientific data and publication of the Guideline before the end of the project phase 4 (2017).
6.	In 2016, the project will be focused on: - Clarification of the effect of oligochitosan for plant disease resistance and/or nutrient use. - Development of multifunctional biofertilizer. - Clarification of the advantage of gamma-sterilized carrier to improve quality of biofertilizer.

 

Closing Session
Dr. Phatchayaphon Meunchang delivered a closing remarks and Dr. Hideki Namba expressed much appreciation to warm hospitality from Thailand.

Technical visit
On November 26th, participants visited sugarcane field in Suphan buri province. At the field, the farmer is using PGPR biofertilizer for sugarcane production with the cooperation of DOA. The result showed that PGPR biofertilizer combined with chemical fertilizer indicated better growth and cane yield as almost 150 tons/ha for plant cane, and 120 tons/ha for 1st and 2nd ratoon cane.

 

Minutes of
FNCA 2015 Workshop on Biofertilizer Project

1) Outline of Workshop

Session 1 Opening Session
Dr. Hannarong Shamsub, Deputy Executive Director of Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) and Dr. Surmsuk Salakpetch, Deputy Director General of Department of Agriculture (DOA), delivered remarks and expressed warm welcome to all participants. In addition, Dr. Hideki Namba, FNCA Advisor of Japan and Ms. Moe Aoki, Special Staff of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) gave speeches and thanked to TINT and DOA for their hospitality and great effort to this workshop. Then Dr. Phatchayaphon Meunchang, Project Leader (PL) of Thailand, introduced all participants of the workshop. Lastly, participants from Malaysia and the Philippines were nominated and accepted as rapporteurs of this workshop.

As a keynote speech, Dr. Namba gave a presentation for overview and progress of FNCA activities in 2014-2015. He reviewed 10 FNCA projects and major successful results obtained. Then Dr. Shotaro Ando, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), PL of Japan, presented summary of activity on FNCA Biofertilizer Project and major issues of this workshop.

Open Seminar
Open Seminar on Development of Nuclear Technology and Biofertilizer for Sustainable Agriculture was held on the first day of the workshop, November 24th, 2015. About 50 participants attended the half-day seminar with representatives from department, research institutions, universities, private companies in Thailand as well as those from FNCA member countries. At the session (1) Nuclear Technology for Sustainable Agriculture, five presentations were delivered. Firstly Dr. Sathaporn Jaiarree, Land Development Department, reported on improvement of sustainable agriculture by nuclear technology in Thailand. Secondly Dr. Phatchayaphon Meunchang introduced a trend of nuclear technology for improve biofertilizer production. Thirdly Dr. Phiriyatorn Suwanmala from TINT discussed production of plant growth promoter from Chitosan by radiation processing. Mr. Suniyom Taprab, Department of Rice, talked on application of mutation breeding for sustainable agriculture. Lastly Dr. Issay Narumi, Toyo University, introduced radiation breeding of industrial microorganisms in Japan.
At the Session (2) R&D of Biofertilizer for Sustainable Agriculture, 2 presentations were delivered. Prof. Dr. Neung Teaumroong, Suranaree University of Technology, reported on research and development of biofertilizer in Thailand. Ms. Julieta A. Anarna, University of the Philippines Los Banos, introduced application of radiation technology for biofertilizer production in the Philippines.

Session 2 Country Report
Eight countries reported research progress for 2015 and plan for 2016-2017 respectively. The summaries of reports are attached as Annex 3.

Session 3 Extension of Radiation Sterilization for Commercial Biofertilizer Production
All FNCA Biofertilizer members agreed that sterilization of carrier by using gamma irradiation improves the quality of biofertilizer and prolongs the shelf life of biofertilizer inoculant. However, the availability and accessibility of gamma irradiation for sterilization of biofertilizer carrier in some countries should be improved in the future. In Malaysia, China and the Philippines, gamma irradiation facilities for biofertilizer inoculant are available commercially but in other FNCA member countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam), only for research purposes. In Mongolia, there is no gamma irradiation facility.

Session 4 Development of Multifunctional Biofertilizer and Strategy for Extension to Farmers
The development of multifunctional biofertilizer and strategy for extension to farmers is summarized that; 1) member countries will conduct experiments on the functions of microbes in biofertilizers to clarify their multifunctionality. 2) FNCA biofertilizer project will present the result of experiments on multifunctional biofertilizer in next workshop.

Session 5 Development of FNCA Guideline for Biofertilizer Quality Assurance and Control
Procedure to edit "the FNCA guideline Vol. 2, Production of biofertilizer carrier using radiation technology" was discussed. Based on the draft made by Malaysian experts, table of contents and responsible person for each part to edit were agreed. Carrier preparation in Bangladesh will be added. Papers on comparison of radiation sterilization and autoclave of carrier will be referred in the guideline. It is also agreed that Dr. Khairuddin Bin Abdul Rahim, PL of Malaysia, will be the head of editors and it will be published before the end of this phase of project.

Session 6 Evaluation of Experiment for Synergistic Effect of Biofertilizer and Irradiated Oligochitosan, Plant Growth Promoter, in 2015 and Future Prospects
Concerning synergistic effects among biofertilizers and oligochitosan, 5 of 6 countries reported the positive synergistic effects of biofertilizer and irradiated oligochitosan on the plant growth and yield. The results of experiment in Thailand were not clear, in some case the synergistic effect was negative. Data of Vietnam showed positive effect of biofertilizer and irradiated oligochitosan on the suppression of bacterial wilt caused by R. solanacearum on tomato and cabbage. To evaluate the synergistic effects of biofertilizer and irradiated oligochitosan in the future, Dr. Shotaro ANDO will provide oligochitosan to evaluate its efficacy as elicitor or as plant growth promoter. Sharing the information on irradiated oligochitosan is very useful to biofertilizer project members. Member countries suggested to organize a joint-workshop of FNCA Biofertilizer and Electron Accerelator Application Projects.

Session 7 Development of Publication for Compared Effect of Radiation Sterilization and Autoclave
The workshop recognized the importance of presentation of experimental data on the comparison between radiation and autoclave sterilization, which will provide future references to concerned parties such as researchers, academia, industries, and end users. Scientific data presented in reliable publication may influence decision on accepting radiation in production of biofertilizer products, which results in enhancing implementation of sustainable agriculture among FNCA member countries. Several countries are preparing submission of scientific papers that will be published in the next year or next two years.

Session 8 Project Activity Plan for 2015-2017
In the next phase from 2015 to 2017, the project will concentrate on:

1.	Accumulating the data of beneficial effects on irradiation carriers to publish the articles on the advantage of radiation sterilization of carriers in comparison with autoclave sterilization on survival of beneficial microbes in biofertilizer. The publishing will be in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam in 2015 and 2016.
2.	Radiation technology for biofertilizer carrier sterilization was already transfer to the biofertilizer manufacturing companies in Bangladesh, Indonesia (in the past), Malaysia, and the Philippines. Government should encourage nuclear energy institutes to promote the use of irradiation facility for sterilization of biofertilizer carrier.
3.	Evaluation of the synergistic effect of biofertilizer and irradiated oligochitosan for the reduction of plant dieseases and/or plant growth promoter.
4.	Development of the multifunctional biofertilizer from single or multiple strains depends on the requirements and conditions in each country with emphasis on the radiation breeding of microbes. FNCA coordinator of each member country may send a request to respective government for financial support on multifunctional biofertilizer research and development.
5.	Development of "FNCA Guideline Vol.2 Production of biofertilizer carrier using radiation technology" based on the scientific data and publication of the Guideline before the end of the project phase 4 (2017).
6.	In 2016, the project will be focused on: - Clarification of the effect of oligochitosan for plant disease resistance and/or nutrient use. - Development of multifunctional biofertilizer. - Clarification of the advantage of gamma-sterilized carrier to improve quality of biofertilizer.

Session 8 Minutes and Conclusions
The minutes was discussed and agreed by all participants. It will be reported at the 17th Coordinators Meeting to be held in March 2016 in Japan. The next workshop may be held in Vietnam or Bangladesh.

Closing Session
Dr. Phatchayaphon Meunchang delivered a closing remarks and Dr. Hideki Namba expressed much appreciation to warm hospitality from Thailand.

Technical visit
On November 26th, participants visited sugarcane field in Suphan buri province. At the field, the farmer is using PGPR biofertilizer for sugarcane production with the cooperation of DOA. The result showed that PGPR biofertilizer combined with chemical fertilizer indicated better growth and cane yield as almost 150 tons/ha for plant cane, and 120 tons/ha for 1st and 2nd ratoon cane.

3) Annex
Annex 1 Program of FNCA 2015 Workshop on Biofertilizer
Annex 2 Participants List of FNCA 2015 Workshop on Biofertilizer
Annex 3 Summary of Session 2 Country Report

Program of
FNCA 2015 Workshop on Biofertilizer Project

November 24th (DAY 1st)

November 25th (DAY 2nd)

November 26th (DAY 3rd)

November 27th (DAY 4th)

Participants List of
FNCA 2015 Workshop on Biofertilizer Project

Bangladesh

Indonesia

Japan

Malaysia

Mongolia

The Philippines

Thailand

Vietnam