Plant Health Lab
Location: Building A, Room number: A-415 & Building B, Room number: B-301
Description of the lab:
Our research theme focuses on Molecular plant pathology. The first laboratory established for this research, “Healthyrice Laboratory” was established in 2019 under the JEAI-Healthyrice project (https://jeai-healthyrice.weebly.com/) under the support of Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC), and the Ministry of Education, Young, and Sport of Cambodia via the Higher Education Improvement Project (sub-project: ITC-HEIP-SGA#04). The lab is at B-301, building B, Institute of Technology of Cambodia.
To strengthen and enlarge our research capacity, a related laboratory “Plant Health” was established in 2024 and is fully functional in 2025. The Plant Health laboratory is located in building A, A-415. The lab establishment was financially supported by the projects LMI LEAD (https://lmilead.wordpress.com/) founded by IRD, and the FEF-Healthyrice (Facebook page:
FEF-Healthyrice) was founded by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs via the Embassy of France in Cambodia. A Nethouse was also built and funded by the Plant Health project (Agropolis Fondation, France) and FEF-Healthyrice.
Some photos of the equipment in the lab and the net house:
Research areas:
- Plant health research
- Soil and plant microbiomes
- Microbial biotechnology
- Integrated pest management
- Rice quality
Methodologies:
- Morphology techniques: isolation, quantification, and identification of the rice pests and diseases from plant material
- Molecular techniques:
- Molecular diagnostic of plant pests and diseases by PCR
- Analysis of soil and plant microbiomes (DNA extraction, production of amplicon barcode sequences (sub-contracted), bioinformatic analyses of sequences).
- DNA extraction, quantification, and amplification by PCR and gel electrophoresis techniques
- Plant and soil microbiology techniques: culture of various microorganisms (bacteria, fungi), production of biomass and bio inoculum
- Bio-inoculum tests of beneficial microbiomes on plant development and tolerance to pests and diseases
- Analysis of rice quality (Near Infrared Spectroscopy for protein and amylose content, detection of phytopathogens)
- Contact information:
ITC correspondent
- Name of person in charge: Dr. SUONG Malyna
- Position: Vice Head of the International Relations Office
- Phone number: +855 86 936 525
- Email: suong@itc.edu.kh
IRD correspondent
- For LMI LEAD project: Dr. Lionel Moulin, Email: moulin@ird.fr
- For FEF-Healthyrice project: Dr. Stéphane Bellafiore, Email: bellafiore@ird.fr
More about the JEAI-Healthyrice project:
https://jeai-healthyrice.weebly.com/
More about the LMI LEAD project:
- Website: https://lmilead.wordpress.com/
- Telegram: https://t.me/lmileadCambodia
- Facebook: LMI LEAD Cambodia
More about the FEF-Healthyrice project:
- Facebook page: FEF-Healthyrice
- Telegram Channel: https://t.me/FEF_Healthyrice
