Annex 4. Parallel Session Summary on Biofertilizer Project

Parallel Session Summary on Biofertilizer ProjectAt the beginning of Session, Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora, Director of National Institute ofMolecular Biology and Biotechnology (BIOTECH), University of the Philippines Los Baños(UPLB), delivered welcome remarks.

Session 3Achievement and Challenges of the Project

I. Application of Radiation Sterilization of Carriers and Challenges
Dr. Issay Narumi, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) delivered a lead speech andintroduced the effect of carrier sterilization (gamma-irradiation, autoclaving andnon-sterilized control) on inoculant survival during storage period. Gamma-irradiation orautoclaving maintained the cell density of Rhizobium greater than the initial cell density
after 6-month storage, while the cell density was significantly decreased in biofertilizers
made from non-sterilized carriers. In some cases, depending on carrier materials used,gamma-sterilization was superior to autoclave-sterilization in enhancing the inoculant’ssurvival. Indonesia and Thailand reported that autoclave-sterilization of carriers showed adeleterious effect on survival of Azospirillum, whereas gamma-irradiation did not.

II. Developing a FNCA Manual for Quality Standard of Biofertilizer
Dr. Sompong Meunchang, Department of Agriculture of Thailand (DOA) and Dr. Shotaro
Ando, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), delivered a leadspeech respectively. New Fertilizer Act including biofertilizer and Biofertilizer Quality
Standard of Thailand were introduced. The evaluation method of microbial materials foragriculture, which was proposed by the expert committee on microbial materials of JapaneseSociety of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, was also introduced. The importance of quality
standard of biofertilizer to promote the biofertilizer use was confirmed among the members ofbiofertilizer project and it was agreed that QC manual of biofertilizer will be edited based on
the QC manual of biofertilizer of Thailand.

III. Development of Multi-functional Biofertilizer (Containing Selection of Suitable Kinds ofMicroorganism and Selection of Plants and Soil/Area for Effective Application ofBiofertilizer)
Three lead speeches were delivered by Dr. Masataka Aino, Hyogo Prefectural Technology
Center for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Dr. Sompong Meunchang, Department ofAgriculture (DOA), and Dr. Pham Van Toan, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentof Vietnam (MARD) and Project Leaders from 5 countries also presented the progress report.
Different kinds of works on the development of multi-functional biofertilizers that havemulti-effects on the growth, nutrition uptake of plant as well as reduction of plant disease
were reported.
-1-China: Many kinds of inoculation test using different soils, different crops and different
strains were carried out. Phosphate-solublizing bacteria of P2-1A + nitrogen fixing bacteria ofRN5 gave a promising growth effect to soybean at black soil.
Indonesia: For vegetables cultivated in the highland area with high soil organic matter,
mixed inoculant of Azotobacter in combination with 50% compost was more effective thanapplication as single inoculant. In case of carrot, it was observed that fresh weight increase
47% vs 29 %, respectively. While increase in fresh weight in application of 100% compost was20%.
Bio-organic fertilizer (organic fertilizer enriched with beneficial soil microbes namely
Azotobacter, Azospirillum and phosphate solubilizing microbes) was tested to evaluate theability of bio-organic fertilizer to replace partly inorganic NPK fertilizer for rice growth. We
found that bio-organic fertilizer (300kg/ha) was able to replace 150kg of the inorganic NPK
fertilizer needed by rice. No significant differenceint rice yield between treatment 100%
inorganic NPK fertilizer (300kg/ha) with treatment 300kg/ha bio-organic fertilizer plus
150kg/ha inorganic NPK fertilizer.
Japan: Improvements of Bradyrhizobium and endophytic bacteria using ion beams werecarried out. In case of improvement of Bradyrhizobium in terms of high temperature
tolerance, several candidates surviving at 45⁰C were obtained. In case of improvement ofendophytic bacteria in terms of antagonism against the tomato bacterial wilt, many usefulmutants were obtained.
Malaysia: The additional effect of ‘nitrogen-fixing activity’ of selected multifunctional
bacteria (phosphate-solubilizing, plant growth promoting and antagonism to bacterial wilt)
applied to several kinds of vegetables was evaluated using the 15N isotopic tracer technique,and high level of contribution of N2 fixation was observed. The data were discussed and it wassuggested that further experiments should be carried out to confirm the data.
The Philippines: Confirmatory studies on the efficacy of Bio-N for high value solanaceous
crops and sugarcane were conducted. The first set up was testing on the efficacy of Bio-N for
tomato (cv. Diamante), integration of Bio inoculants namely Bio-N, Bio Groe and Mykovam
in combination with chemical fertilizers. The result of the data for the efficacy trial for hybrid
tomato (cv. Diamante) showed the highest yield with plants applied with full chemicalfertilizer producing 7.69 tons per hectare, followed by plants inoculated with Bio-N in
combination of the 1/2 recommended rate of chemical fertilizers. Lowest yield was observedon the control and Bio-N alone. Another experiment was conducted for sugarcane to be used
for securing permit for registration.
Thailand:Multifunctional

biofertilizer

withco-inoculantsof

Azospirillum

andBradyrhizobium for leguminous plants are developing. At first, to select effective strains,
Azospirillum isolates which respond with Bradyrhizobium specific for vegetable soybeanwere screened by pot and field experiments. The effectiveness of co-inoculation was confirmedin this study.
Viet Nam: Based on physical and chemical properties, and relationship between microbes
and plant, many kinds of microbes having abilities of nitrogen fixing, dissolving phosphorus-2-and potassium, and so forth.

IV. Commercial Application of Biofertilizer and Challenges
Dr. Khairuddin Bin Abdul Rahim, Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) delivered alead speech and reported that although highly dependent on chemical fertilizers for decades,
the Malaysian agricultural sector is presently giving organic fertilizer and biofertilizers duerecognition. This is partly due to market demand and government supports for green
technology. The numbers of companies producing biofertilizers of good qualities areincreasing. The plantation industries of oil palm and rubber and to a lesser extent, of fruit
trees and herbal plants, are at present embarking on their own to produce biofertilizer
products. There is great potential for improved commercialization of indigenous biofertilizer
products in Malaysia. Biofertilizer commercialization has been going on in the severalcountries. In Indonesia, companies have been using gamma-ray irradiation to carriers intheir biofertilizer production, as well as Malaysia. Since companies may not only needfinished product in transfer of technology or commercialization process, it is difficult tocommercialize products developed in national institute. We need to promote outputs fromnational institute through seminar, roadshows, exhibition, and media.

V. Application of Biofertilizer with Plant Growth Promoter of Oligo-chitosan
Dr. Masataka Aino, Hyogo Prefectural Technology Center for Agriculture, Forestry andFisheries delivered a lead speech for application of oligo-chitosan to biofertilizer. Chitosan isnaturally-occurring compound and oligo-chitosan has potential to control plant diseases.
These molecules inhibit fungal growth and development. According to Dr. Aino’s presentation,
the combination with oligo-chitosan and Live Coat (Cell-nae-genki) was not more practical,
when treated at same time. However, when treated with oligo-chitosan at one day before
transplant to soil contaminated by the pathogen, suppression effect against tomato bacterialwilt was much higher than those in the individually-treated. It was supposed thatoligo-chitosan induced resistance for seedling treated with bio-pesticide strongly. We
concluded that the effect of oligo-chitosan with biofertilizer would be investigated.

Session 4

Special Talk on Sustainable Agriculture and Biofertilizer in the Philippines

Dr. Mercedes Umali Garcia, University of the Philippines, Los Banos
A source of biologically fixed nitrogen through the associative system has been developed at
the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (BIOTECH), UPLB with abrand name Bio-N. Bio-N is a microbial-based fertilizer that was isolated from the roots ofTalahib (Saccharum spontaneum L.) and contains Azospirillum as its major component withsoil and charcoal as its carrier. Bio-N has been extensively tested in different varieties of riceand corn in various areas nationwide before its commercialization in 2002. Performance of
Bio-N based on numerous studies and experience of current users of the product has shownthat it could significantly increase production with decreasing cost. The development of
microbial inoculants for enhanced plant growth and yield is already accepted and utilized by-3-the Filipino farmers. BIOTECH had successfully transferred the technology through theestablishment of mixing plants with the support of the Department of Agriculture.

Session 5Activity Plan in 2011

Dr. Tadashi Yokoyama, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) delivered alead speech and summarized the project review for 2007-2010 and activity plan for 2011, oneach topic in Session 3. All participants discussed the topics and made a summary for theparallel session on Biofertilizer Project.

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