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Report of
FNCA 2017 Joint Workshop on Biofertilizer & Electron Accelerator
Application Project

The FNCA joint workshop on Biofertilizer Project and Electron Accelerator Application Project JFY 2017 was held from 13 to 17 November in Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute (TARRI) of Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST),Japan. The workshop was organized by QST and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT). Forty (40) participants from 10 FNCA member countries, namely Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, participated in the workshop.

The workshop was opened with the welcoming remarks from Dr Yuichi Michikawa from MEXT, and Dr Atsushi Tanaka, Deputy Director General, TARRI, QST on behalf of Dr Hisayoshi Itoh, Director General of the institute.

Dr Atsushi Tanaka, QST

Opening Session

After the opening session, a Joint Open Seminar with TARRI titled "Application and Sustainable Development of Radiation Technology in Asia" was held in the institute, which was attended by 127 people. Eight presentations were delivered by scientists from Indonesia (1), Japan (4), the Philippines (2) and Vietnam (1).Please refer to the Annex 3 for the summary of Open Seminar.

Open Seminar Jointly Organised with QSTTARRI

On the second day of the Joint Workshop, country reports on Plant Growth Promoters (PGP) and biofertilizer were presented by each participant. Participants of the Electron Accelerator Application Project reported mainly on challenges and progress in commercialization of Plant Growth Promoters (PGP), and also new trials after its commercialization. Likewise, participants of the Biofertilizer Project presented mainly on synergetic effects of combined application of PGP and biofertilizer. After the country reports, the participants discussed the achievements in each country and possible future collaboration between two projects.Please refer to the Annex 4 for the summary ofPGP country reports.

The parallel sessions were held from the third day to the morning of fifth day. Each member country made a presentation on its current status of research and experiments, and also commercialization of Super Water Absorbents (SWA). On thefourth day, participants visited the TIARA, electron accelerator facilities, ⁶⁰Co irradiator and science plaza of QST. Please refer to the Annex 6-1 for the summary of SWA country reports.

Technical Visit in QST Takasaki

On the fifth day, after the parallel sessions, both projects gathered together again to report conclusions of the parallel sessions of each project. The workshop was closedofficially by closing remarks from Dr Shotaro Ando, Biofertilizer Project Leader of Japan and Dr Masao Tamada, Electron Accelerator Application Project Leader of Japan. Please refer to the the Workshop Minutes for more details.

In front of the Gingko Trees in QST

For the summary of parallel sessions of Biofertilizer project, please refer to the Annex 5.

<Joint Session>

[Opening Session]

Dr Yuichi Michikawa, Deputy Director, International Nuclear and Fusion Affairs Division, Research and Development Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and Dr Atsushi Tanaka, Deputy Director General, Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute, Quantum Beam Science Research Directorate, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology delivered remarks and expressed warm welcome to all participants. In addition, Mr Tomoaki Wada, FNCA Coordinator of Japan and Dr Hideki Namba, FNCA Advisor of Japan gave speeches to encourage active contribution from the participants for fruitful workshop. Then participants introduced themselves briefly.

As a keynote speech, Mr Wada delivered a presentation for overview and progress of FNCA activities in 2016 - 2017 and introduced major successful results obtained. Then Dr Shotaro Ando, FNCA Biofertilizer Project Leader of Japan and Dr Masao Tamada, FNCA Electron Accelerator Application Project Leader of Japan introduced their project activity and major issues of this workshop respectively.

[Open Seminar] "Application and Sustainable Development of Radiation Technology in Asia"

Open Seminar on "Application and Sustainable Development of Radiation Technology in Asia" was jointly held by FNCA and QST/TARRI on 13th November 2017 and was attended by ca. 130 participants. The summaries of the seminar are attached as Annex 3.

[Session 1 & 2] Country Report of Plant Growth Promoter (PGP) (EB Project)

Ten countries delivered report on plant growth promoter (PGP) of Electron Accelerator Application Project respectively. The summaries of reports are attached as Annex 4.

[Session 3] Report on Synergy Effect of Biofertilizer and PGP (BF Project)

Eight countries delivered report on synergy effect of biofertilizer and PGP respectively. The summaries of reports are attached as Annex 4.

[Session 4] Wrap-up of Synergy Effect on Biofertilizer and PGP

Synergy effects of biofertilizer and PGP (oligo chitosan) were reported by Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The synergy effects on rice were found by Bangladesh and Thailand while other counties show the positive effect on plant growth by combining biofertilizer and PGP. Bangladesh showed that grain yield increased up to 12% in semi-field test of rice plant. The combining effect of plant growth promoter and biofertilizer (Azospirillum) was greater than the sum of individual effects of PGP (4.5%) and biofertilizer (3.7%). Thailand showed that the synergy effect appeared in pot test of rice plant when chemical fertilizer level was reduced to 75%. Rice is an economically effective plant so that the obtained synergy effect is promising for socioeconomic benefit in participating countries.

[Session 5] Summary of Parallel Session and Exchange of View

Dr Ando reported a summary of the parallel session on Biofertilizer Project, and Dr Tamada reported a summary of parallel session on Electron Accelerator Application Project respectively and discussed on action plan in 2018-2020, followed by parallel session summary. The parallel session summary of the Biofertilizerproject is attached in Annex 5.

[Closing Session]

Minutes of the workshop were confirmed and agreed by all participants. It will be reported on 19th Coordinators Meeting. Dr Ando delivered a remark to close fruitful workshop and Dr Tamada expressed much appreciation from participants for contribution. Next workshop will be held in September or October 2018, in Kazakhstan.

<Parallel Session>

The parallel sessions were attended by experts on applications of electron accelerator and radiation processing of natural polymers from ten (10)FNCA participating countries namely Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, The Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

[Parallel Session 1] <PGP> Wrap-Up of Joint Session 1, Challenge and Progress for Commercialization of PGP

Dr Salma Sultana summarized the country reports presented at Joint Session 1, focusing on challenges and progress for the commercialization of PGP.The participants discussed on the theme after the lead speech.Discussion summary for this session is included in Parallel Session 2.

[Parallel Session 2] <PGP> Wrap-Up of Joint Session 2, New Trials after Commercialization of PGP

Dr Marina Binti Talib summarized the country reports presented at Joint Session 2, focusing onnew trials after commercialization of PGP. Indonesia faces problem with the registration of the product (PGP). While Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand have already commercialized the PGP, other countries still need to do field test as follows:

Indonesia and Vietnam conducted study on the effect of oligochitosan as animal feedsupplement. It was further suggested to study the synergistic effect combining PGP with SWA. For the next phase, all members agreed to work on the usage of radiation processing for different application for health, agriculture and environment.

[Parallel Session 3] <SWA> Country Report I, Current Status and Cost Effectiveness toward Commercialization

Five (5) country reports on their current activities of SWA were presented emphasizing on the cost effectiveness of the product. The summary of each report is attached in Annex 6-1.

[Parallel Session 4] <SWA> Country Report II, New Research and Obstacles after Commercialization of SWA

Five (5) country reports were presented on the new research and obstacles after commercialization of SWA. The summary of each report is attached in Annex 6-1.

[Parallel Session 5] <SWA> Wrap-Up of Parallel Session 3, Current Status and Cost Effectiveness toward Commercialization

Dr Darmawan Darwis, BATAN summarized the presentations of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia and the Philippines.Focus was given on the challenges for the commercialization of SWA. Discussions were as follows:

• Consistent data cannot be obtained due to climate change e.g. continuous rain fall.
• Indigenous raw materials and simple process should be considered for SWA production to reduce cost/price.
• The SWA should have greater cost effectiveness over other existing commercial products.
• Synergy effects of SWA and PGP should be investigated for plant growth.
• SWA should be dugged deep in soil e.g. 20-30 cm below ground for vegetables and 1 m for tree to prevent degradation by sunlight and to efficiently hold water.

[Parallel Session 6] <SWA> Wrap-Up of Parallel Session 4, New Research and Obstacles after Commercialization of SWA

Mr Alexandr Borissenko from Kazakhstan summarized the reports given by China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand and Vietnam.
In the discussion, it was suggested to investigate the long term effect of SWA on plants in 2-3 years period. It was also mentioned that SWA can be cost effective in three different aspects of application. First is on the method of preparation whereby robust hydrogel with good mechanical properties can be made. Second is on the application in the field where the advantage of SWA should be emphasized over the drop irrigation technology which serves as a competitor to the products.The third is on its economic benefits whereby the overall cost of the SWA should be well considered. Furthermore, it was emphasized that the use of SWA can be diversified for other applications such as medical, industrial or environmental usage to make it economically viable.

[Parallel Session 7] Coordination between FNCA and RCA/IAEA Projects on Radiation Processing

Dr Lucille V. Abad presented the IAEA RAS project on "Developing and up-scaling of radiation grafted materials for water treatment". The project will run for a duration of four years from 2018 to 2021. This project will have to be done by government parties in partnership with specific industries, government agencies or non-government agencies in the development of the radiation grafted materials to mitigate contaminants in waste water. Likewise, products will be tailored fit to the end user’s needs. This will promote the interest of the end-user and eventually may facilitate the technology transfer of products to industry. Requirements for participation of this project are as follows:

1. Countries must have the established facilities (gamma or e-beam) and laboratories for radiation grafting.
2. Countries must have previous works on radiation grafting.
3. Countries must have permanent researchers currently involved in radiation grafting activities or intends to establish the technology in their laboratories.

Joint meeting of IAEA and FNCA and other forms of collaboration should be considered in order to have more cooperation between IAEA and FNCA.

[Parallel Session 8] Three-Year Evaluation and Proposal for Next Phase

Dr Masao Tamada presented the achievements and future plans of the project, followed by the discussion of the participants. The major achievements in 3 years were as follows:

• Environmental-friendly products of PGP and SWA increased yield of crops and vegetables such as rice, chili and mung bean, giving some economic benefits to participating countries.
• Scale-up production has been achieved for PGP. Thailand increase yield from 100,000L/month to 100,000L/day has been produced at Thai Gamma Irradiation Center. Carrageenan PGP has been produced by using Electron Beam Facility to meet the 1,700L/h needed for multi-locational testing of rice in 37,000 ha in Philippines.
• Synergistic effects of PGP and biofertilizer was confirmed in rice plant.
• FNCA guideline on development of hydrogel and oligosaccharides by radiation processing edited in 2009 has been revised and uploaded to FNCA website.
• SWA (200 kg/day) has been produced at Thai Gamma Irradiation Center. Production machine for SWA (500 kg/day) using EB has been installed in Kazakhstan.

Other achievements and plansare summarized in the Table below.

These achievements are described in the Final Report of the Project. The participating countries discussed on new proposals for next FNCA phase.

[Parallel Session 9] Briefing on Technical Visit

Dr Mitsumasa Taguchi, QST gave a briefing on the technical visit at Takasaki Advanced Radiation Research Institute. The participants visited TIARA, electron accelerator facilities, ⁶⁰Coirradiator and science plaza of QST.

[Parallel Session 10] Summary and Preparation for Joint Closing Session

Dr Masao Tamada summarized overall parallel sessions for the preparation of closing session of Joint Workshop. See the Joint Workshop Minutes above for more details.

Program of
FNCA 2017 Joint Workshop on Biofertilizer & Electron Accelerator
Application Project