Dự án nông nghiệp " Why use legume inoculant on Groundnut! " potx

Using legume inoculant is a better way of adding nitrogen to your groundnut crop because it is: • cheaper than buying nitrogen fertilizer and • environmentally healthy Groundnuts belong

Appendix 4

Why use legume

inoculant on

Groundnut!

Using legume inoculant is a better way of

adding nitrogen to your groundnut crop

because it is:

• cheaper than buying nitrogen

fertilizer and

• environmentally healthy

Groundnuts belong to a group of plants known as legumes Legumes have the special ability to produce their own nitrogen through a special (symbiotic)

relationship they have with certain soil

microbes or root-nodule bacteria The

bacteria, commonly called rhizobia

invade (infect) the roots of the plant

and form nodules (nodulation) Rhizobia

in the nodules nourished by the plant

‘fix’ or convert atmospheric nitrogen

(N2) into compounds which the plant

utilizes for growth and grain production

Root nodules become visible after about

2-3 weeks

In Vietnam you now have access to these

rhizobia in the form of peat inoculants

You can purchase and apply these

inoculants to your seed (inoculation) at

sowing time, and benefit from this cheap source of nitrogen

By using legume inoculants on seed you will:

• grow healthy green plants without having to add nitrogen fertilizer

• achieve profitable grain yield

• contribute to higher available nitrogen for any subsequent crop such as rice as legumes leave fixed nitrogen behind in the soil

• save money by using biological nitrogen instead of chemical nitrogen

• be contributing to healthier, good farming practices which are being encouraged and implemented in Vietnam

For further information about legume inoculants contact:

Tran Yen Thao at: Oil Plants Institute, District 1, HO CHI MINH CITY

phone: 84 8 9143024

with legume inoculant

It is very important to use the correct

legume inoculant for your groundnut

seed

There are different inoculants for

different legumes Legume inoculants

made using peat contain a very high

number of rhizobia bacteria The

rhizobia are living organisms and very

sensitive to high temperature and

sunlight Great care should be taken

when handling and storing them to

prevent the rhizobia from dying The

rhizobial strain in each inoculant has

been carefully chosen by researchers to

ensure good nodulation and effective

nitrogen fixation in your crop Nitrogen

fixed from the atmosphere can be as

high as 100 kg/ha

Inoculation of seed

oSelect the inoculant for groundnut

and calculate the weight of inoculant

you need for the amount of seed to

be sown (about 1 kg / 100Kg of seed)

o Place the inoculant (1 kg) in a clean

bucket and slowly add up to 4 litre of

clean drinking water Continue to stir

until a smooth slurry is formed

oAdd a small amount of water to your

seeds to dampen the surface, and

then pour the wetted seeds into the

bucket containing your inoculant

slurry

oKeeping the bucket out of direct

sunlight, carefully mix together until

the seeds are evenly coated with the inoculant

oThe inoculated seed should be sown immediately or within 5 hours after inoculation into moist soil

oCheck roots for nodules after 4 weeks

o Nodules should be pink inside when cut

in half This indicates that nitrogen fixation is occurring

For further information about legume inoculants contact:

Tran Yen Thao at: Oil Plants Institute, District 1, HO CHI MINH CITY

phone: 84 8 9143024

Appendix 5

Visit to Cu Chi Bio-Chemical Fertilizer Joint Stock Company 27/02/2008

This Company was the first of 2 visited by staff

from NSW DPI (Elizabeth Hartley and Greg

Gemell), Dr Roz Deaker of Sydney University

and Tran Yen Thao of Oil Plants Institute HCMC

(Vietnam Project leader) The location is just over

1hr from Ho Chi Minh City We met with the

Vice Director of the company for about 1 hr and

discussed the purpose of our visit; technology

transfer and the potential for commercial

collaboration and production of legume

inoculants in Vietnam

We discussed a proposal whereby project staff

would supply legume inoculants and extension

material to farmers through the Cu Chi

company’s distribution network, after calculating

how big the farming area is General information

would be provided first then more details later

The Company distributes mineral fertilizer (N, P

and K) mixed in ratios according to the crop’s

requirements at different stages of growth and its

own make of bio-fertilizer using Azotobacter,

Trichoderma and another microorganism The

bio-fertilizer is mixed in with the NPK

Chemicals are imported form places such as Israel

and China

Soybean and groundnut are grown in many

regions in the Mekong Delta area, South East and

up through the Central Highlands Some

groundnut farmers in the Cu chi area are

expanding into vegetables The Cu chi company

could easily meet the requirement and supply

their peat to produce legume inoculants of more

than 100 tonne Based on the response from

farmers and the profitability of the venture the company will decide whether or not to invest into legume inoculants At this stage they could only be involved in free distribution of legume inoculants along with their chemical and bio-fertilizers If farmers respond positively

to using the rhizobial inoculants the company would be more interested in investment There

is a problem in getting feedback from farmers as all are not connected by phone and are not easily contactable

Without seeing the facilities, it was imagined

that project persons could prepare starter

broths of rhizobia for inoculation of the

fermenter to produce a test run for addition to

peat in packets The peat is used to make

bio-fertilizer inoculants It is high in S content and

requires neutralisation The pH is

approximately 3.00 and toxic to microbial

inoculant organisms The peat is ground to a

3mm powder, stacked in large piles (tonnes) and later a water slurry of ammonium sulphate, lime and molasses is added The microbials (Azotobacter, Trichoderma and

1 other) are also added at this stage Incubation is 12 days during which time the peat gets very warm (about 45º) as it ferments The final product has a pH of around 6.5 – 7.0 The microbials are cultured in a large open concrete vat of humic acid (extracted from soaked peat) The finished product is then bagged for sale Moisture content of the peat starts at 30-40% but drops to around 25% Random samples are sent to the government testing lab for certification

It was decided after seeing the fermentation

of the microbials and the production of the bio-fertiliser inoculants that this company would not be suitable to produce legume inoculants through its processes However, the company can be utilised as a possible source of distribution of legume inoculants

to farmers in the south of Vietnam

Photos:

Previous page:

• Peat stockpile

This page top to bottom

• Peat is sieved and stockpiled

• Microbes are cultured in an open concrete vat

• Culture plus other ingredients are trickled on and through the peat stockpile and allowed to ferment for 12 days

• The product is rolled into prills

• Bio-fertilizer and other nutrients are bagged for sale

Appendix 5

Visit to Thien Sinh Corporation “KOMIX” Bio-fertilizer Company 28/2/2008

The visit had been pre arranged by Tran Yen Thao

(Research Leader in Vietnam) via a letter of

introduction The meeting began with Yen Thao

explaining the objectives of the project, the purpose of

our visit and the future prospects of an inoculant

industry in Vietnam The meeting was arranged in 2

parts:

1 Introducing a new product: Given that Vietnamese farmers traditionally use

bio-fertilizer and chemical bio-fertilizers, what is the best way to introduce new rhizobial inoculants for application to soybean and groundnut What is the best way to promote and gain feedback on the use of rhizobial seed inoculants? We discussed fundamental questions; regarding the carrier, can the rhizobia be supplied in un-sterile peat? Sterilization costs would be very high if it was deemed necessary to pre-sterilize the peat carrier We discussed that the merit of using a sterile carrier was to allow the slow-growing rhizobia to populate the peat without competition from other organisms Maintaining good survival within the peat enables a high rhizobial number to be applied on seed at sowing If un-sterile peat has to be used then the rate of application would need to be determined Currently Vietnamese farmers apply up to 3t/ha bio-fertilizer, so a low application rate of 250g to 1kg/ha

of legume inoculant is a good saving on resources We also discussed the prospect

of combining rhizobia with existing bio-fertilizer products We suggested that the addition of an antifungal agent in bio-fertilizer might be an option to assist the slow growing rhizobia to survive, but for now we agreed that working with rhizobia as a single product was the best way for demonstrating the advantages of inoculation and nitrogen fixation, this would reduce the need for farmers to buy fertilizer N What is the benefit of residual N after the crop? The upshot is that when farmers adopt the practice of inoculating their legumes they would rely less

on costly fertilizer nitrogen for crop growth

2 Collaboration framework with OPI: We discussed

the best way to work together to promote the new

rhizobial product, to gain feedback through farmer

demonstration trials Working through KOMIX’s

extension agronomists they will collect data on

farmer interest and finally plan methods of

distribution KOMIX already has distribution in

place throughout Vietnam for their bio-fertilizers

(See map) It would be easy to distribute samples of

rhizobial inoculant with the bio-fertilizer KOMIX

would arrange for selected farmers to answer a few

questions in terms of their impressions of the

response to inoculation by using legume inoculants

and their willingness to use the rhizobial inoculants

to replace fertilizer N in the future

Can a pilot program to produce rhizobial inoculants be started immediately?

We discussed a proposal that the task be done in 2 phases

Phase 1 – demonstration and feedback for potential of new rhizobial product

OPI will produce and supply sample batches of soybean and groundnut inoculants for distribution by KOMIX OPI in the short term will use sterile Australian peat as the inoculant carrier Using these inoculants KOMIX will arrange demonstration field trials to obtain feedback from farmers at selected regions throughout Vietnam (about 7 regions x 4 trials in each = 28 trials) on the response to the use of inoculants and inoculation

Phase 2 - technology transfer OPI staff will take the technology to KOMIX OPI staff

will prepare legume inoculants at KOMIX using the company’s equipment KOMIX will send batch samples back top OPI for quality control tests and then distribute the inoculants for a second round of field trials for further feedback on the benefits of using rhizobial inoculants The basis of the feedback would compare Farmer standard practice (i.e bio-fertilizer + chemicals N, P and K) vs rhizobial inoculation minus nitrogenous fertilizer (i.e rhizobial inoculant + bio-fertilizer + chemicals P and K) When the costs of production are calculated, the viability of KOMIX producing legume inoculants commercially and the savings to the farmer by not having to buy fertilizer nitrogen will be known

In the mean time R&D at the 3 institutes (IAS, OPI and SFI) will continue to determine a suitable source of peat obtainable in Vietnam (e.g 3 types have been identified as possible carriers from KOMIX) to be used as a carrier to promote growth and survival of rhizobia After the meeting, we inspected the

company facilities KOMIX has a

preparation room, inoculation room,

sterilization facilities, fermenter room

and laboratory, adequate for the

production of legume inoculants

Photo opposite from left to right: the Chief

extension officer of KOMIX – KS Pham Van

Hai ; AusAID CARD Project Leader

Vietnam -Tran Yen Thao; Deputy manager

of technology KOMIX Ms Diep; Manager of

technology of KOMIX Ms Huong; KOMIX

technology consultant Nguyen Huu Ta and

NSW DPI ALIRU staff Ms Elizabeth Hartley

Photos:

Clockwise from the left:

1 Autoclave for sterilizing

media

2 Ms Houng, Tran Yen Thao

and Elizabeth Hartley discuss

the opportunities for

producing rhizobial inoculants

in the fermenter room

3 Measurements of moisture

content are made on peat

samples

4 Inspection of peat as a

possible carrier for legume

inoculants

•

Appendix 6

CHEAP NITROGEN for soybean and groundnut

Very soon Vietnamese farmers will save millions by being able to get cheap nitrogen for their soybean and groundnut crops These two plants are legumes which are capable of making their own nitrogen using soil bacteria called rhizobia

Rhizobia form nodules on plants in which nitrogen from air is converted to nitrogen for plant growth However, the correct rhizobia are needed for each legume to produce nitrogen Researchers working on a project funded by AUSAid CARD project (Australia) are currently developing inoculant technology to suit Vietnamese conditions so that farmers in Vietnam will have access to these beneficial rhizobia for their crops

It has been estimated that rhizobial inoculants could save Vietnamese farmers about 750

-900 billion VN dong (50-60 million A$) per year as inoculants can completely replace nitrogen fertilizer for legume production

Private companies are now invited to be involved in the commercial production of inoculants to meet the expected high demand by farmers

For more information please contact: Yen Thao Tran, the Oil Plants Institute of Vietnam,

171 – 175 Ham Nghi street, district 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Email address: yenthao9@yahoo.com

Nodulation on the soybean root

Farmers are evaluating nodulation and plant growth at a

demonstration field in DakLak Province