On April 13, 2022, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (TIBCAS) hosted the COMSATS Joint Center for Industrial Biotechnology (CCIB) Workshop on “Crop Microbiome and Sustainable Agriculture” via online and offline, co-chaired by Prof. SUN Jibin, Deputy Director-General of TIB and Founding Director of CCIB, and Prof. HUANG Zhiyong, CCIB Coordinator of Joint R&D Group on Bio-agriculture. Prof. Ashraf Shaalan, Chairperson of COMSATS Coordinating Council, former President of National Research Centre (NRC), Egypt, on behalf of COMSATS, delivered an opening speech. Nearly 100 scientists and scholars from more than ten COMSATS member states such as China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Egypt and Tanzania attended the workshop.
Targeting at the major needs of sustainable development on agricultural, the workshop is focused on crop microbiome technologies, during which presentations and discussion are conducted around several topics including plant-microbiome interactions, the mechanism of improving crop yield and controlling diseases by microbiome, crop microbiome related technologies, products and applications.
Prof. SHEN Qirong, the Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering from Nanjing Agricultural University, pointed in his keynote presentation entitled “Manufacture of Bio-organic Fertilizers to Manipulate Soil Microbial Communities” that bio-organic fertilizer has a significant effect on soil acidification inhibition, soil-borne diseases prevention, soil nutrition adjustment and agricultural products improvement, etc. However, there are some problems such as the N loss, lack of efficient strains during the development of organic fertilizer. Prof. SHEN also introduced his team's work in new composting process, PH regulation of the composting using waste protein acid hydrolysate, and new technologies for the manufacture of bioorganic fertilizer by Bacillus and Trichoderma. He prospected that bioorganic fertilizer will have wide application potential in promoting agricultural sustainable development.
Besides, Prof. Mohammad Ali Malboobi, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Iran; Prof. Md. Mozammel Hoq, University of Dhaka Department of Microbiology, Bangladesh; Dr. Assemgul Sadvakassova, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University; Prof. BAI Yang, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, CAS and Prof. HUANG Zhiyong, TIB, CAS introduced their latest research progress in efficient phosphate biofertilizer, bacillus thuringiensis biopesticides for control of vegetable pests, bio-agricultural fertilizer development with nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria, interactions between plants and root microbiome in arabidopsis and rice, and microbiome inoculum, respectively. After the presentation, the participants made in-depth discussions on cooperation in the area of crop microbiome.
This is the first workshop organized by CCIB in 2022, which will be followed by a series of workshops on bio-energy, bio-based materials, bio-chemicals and future food.
CCIB Workshop on Crop Microbiome and Sustainable Agriculture
Prof. Ashraf Shaalan delivered an opening speech
Prof. SHEN Qirong made the keynote presentation
