Since 2017. CAS-TWAS Center of Excellence for Biotechnology (CoEBio) has carried out a cooperative research with Mauritian scientist HudaaNeetoo in the field of agricultural organic fertilizers. The purpose of this research project is to solve the technical problems of separation and identification of functional microbial strains in compost samples. There are two benefits of the bilateral research project, one is through the selection of the active single functional strains in the culturable stage to preserve the Functional Probiotics Culture Collectionof CoEBio, and the other is through the non-culturable techniques such as the second-generation sequencing of microbial community, to obtain the functional microbial community information of organic fertilizer in the composting process, which is helpful to guide the acceleration of composting maturity, shorten composting cycle and inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria.
The bilateral cooperation has an important guidance value for Mauritius in promoting the scientific development of its planting and breeding industry, controlling the cost of animal husbandry, increasing economic benefits and improving the ecological environment.The cooperative research was eventually published in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.10886). The results indicated that the application of liquid activated Effective Microorganisms (EM) to raw cattle manure could enhance its decontamination with complete elimination of enteric bacteria after 20 days.Theapplication of EM is an innovative,safe and environment-friendly approach in organic farming, and it shows great potential in reducing agricultural pollutions in many countries all over the world.
Introduction of CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology (CoEBio)
CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology (CoEBio) was founded in 2013, it is an open and integrative platform aiming to enhance the biotechnology development in developing countries.
CoEBio is supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement in developing countries, and affiliated at the Institute of Microbiology, CAS. CoEBio strives to improve and reinforce biotechnology education, scientific communication, project cooperation and strategic intelligence analysis with the purpose of providing biotechnological solutions to address the issues of resources, energy, population, health and environment issues within developing countries.
The main missions of CoEBio include:
1. Assisting developing countries in advancing the education of students and scholars, in the area of biotechnology.
2. Organizing biotechnology training courses, conferences, symposia, and workshops in developing countries.
3. Coordinating biotechnology related scientific research and development (R&D) projects for developing countries.
4. Strategic intelligence analysis for biotechnology development in developing countries.
