Project News

1. Training Course "Climate Change and Agricultural Production"

The project invited Dr. ANDO Ho (Professor Emeritus, Yamagata University) as with last year to conduct the training course "Climate Change and Agricultural Production" from 21st January to 3rd February.

Course coordinators of YAU proposed 3 (three) topics for experiments that 1) Influence on resolution speed of the soil organic matter with the temperature rise, 2) Influence on plant growth and yield of green beans with the temperature rise, 3) Varietal differences in germination rate of direct-seeded rice plants with the water temperature rise and Prof. Ando suggested one more experiment "Relation between the uneven fertilizer distribution and the crop growth in the paddy field and the upland field". The experiments prepared prior to conduct the course.

The course also provided the lectures related with soil, climate change and fertilization. Total 15 trainees participated from not only departments of YAU but also DOA and DAR.

Experiment "Influence on plant growth and yield of green beans with the temperature rise"

Collecting fertilized soil

Extracting nutrients from the collected soil

2. Implementation of Pilot Research

1) Research groups under the Pilot Research Program conducted fieldworks as follows.

• 2nd - 4th January:
  RB01-1-1 group conducted survey on the cultivation of pulses in Tonegwa TS, Yangon.
• 5th, 11th and 14th January:
  RB01-1-3 group conducted survey on the cultivation of vegetables in Phyinmana TS, Nay Pyi Taw.
• 6-7th January:
  RB01-1-1 group conducted survey on the cultivation of pulses in Phyinmana TS, Nay Pyi Taw.
• 6th, 21st and 27th January:
  RB03-1 group collected insects in 7 Townships in Nay Pyi Taw.
• 24th January - 1st February:
  CR08 group conducted survey on recognition of land scape by local youths and foreign tourists in Nyaung Oo TS, Mandalay.
• 26th-31st January:
  RB01-3 group conducted survey on supply chain of green beans in Yangon region.
• 28th January:
  RB01-1-3 group selected households for home garden survey in Phyinmana TS, Nay Pyi Taw.
• 28th- 31st January:
  RB01-1-1 group harvested and threshed sample of field peas in Tonegwa TS, Yangon.

2) Laboratory and in-farm experiments were also conducted as follows

• RA01-1-1 (Plant Breeding, Physiology and Ecology group):
  The team started to analyze input data.
• RA01-1-2 (Agronomy group):
  The team completed to investigate yielding abilities and other indicators of the varieties.
• RA01-2 (Soil and Water Science group):
  The team continues to screen the salt-tolerant rice varieties. And they also started to screen the salt and drought tolerant rice varieties by pot exam.
• RA02-1 (Plant Pathology group):
  Pathogens of rice blast and leaf blight collected in Zaya Thiri and Pyinmana were continuously cultured. And the team cultivates 94 varieties and strains of rice harvested by RA01-1 group to investigate disease tolerance.
• RA02-2 (Entomology and Zoology group):
  The team cultivated 93 rice varieties and strains harvested by RA01-1 group both in paddy field and pots to investigate tolerance against yellow stem borer. They will cultivate other varieties to do it sequentially.
• RA03-1 (Agricultural Economics group):
  The team is writing the paper on the countermeasures of local farmers against the negative impact of climate change to existing varieties of paddy rice.
• RB01-1-1 (Agronomy group):
  The team starts to input and analyze data of pulses collected from Thonegwa TS, Yangon and prepares the paper to present in the 9th International Conference on Environmental and Rural Development.
• RB01-1-3 (Horticulture and Agricultural Biotechnology):
  The team starts to input the data of vegetables cultivation collected in Phyinmana TS, Nay Pyi Taw.
• RB01-2 (Soil and Water Science group):
  N and Ca of collected 80 sample soils have been measured.
• RB02-1 (Plant Pathology group):
  The literature search is ongoing on methodology regarding nematode test.
• RB03-1 (Entomology and Zoology group):
  The team continues activities to identify and count pests collected by insect net in order to develop a pest-warning model.
• RC01-1 (Agronomy group):
  The team prepares the paper to present in the 9th International Conference on Environmental and Rural Development.
• RC02-1 (Horticulture and Agricultural Biotechnology):
  The team is analyzing the result of measurement of respiratory activity, producing ethylene and started to write the paper.
• RC-02-2 (Plant Pathology group):
  The team continues to cultivate pathogens isolated from the infected mango fruits.
• CR-04 (Plant Breeding, Physiology and Ecology group):
  Report writing on cultivation method in deep-water rice production area is ongoing. The presentation on the varietal variation of submergence tolerance was delivered at the 11th Agricultural Research Conference in YAU. The team also continues the surveys on the growth of deep-water rice.

Disease collection in farmer's field (RA02-1 group)

Identifying vermin collected in paddy fields (RB03-1 group)