The successful control of basal rot disease (BSR) determined by early detection of infection because when the symptoms already appear, generally plants are difficult to save. The earlier the Ganoderma infection is known, the easier the control will be and the losses can be minimized. Therefore, early detection of Ganoderma infection is very necessary, which in this study was carried out by detecting volatile compounds using electronic nose (E-nose). E-nose detection has been carried out to analyze the compounds formed in pure Ganoderma culture. Detection of plants in the field carried out at 4 levels of infection, i.e. healthy, early, moderate and severe infection. The results concluded that Ganoderma mycelium when compared with other fungi (Trichoderma, Aspergillus and Omphalina) showed significant differences when analyzed using an unsupervised PCA chemometric system. The E-nose data processed using machine learning Support Vector Machine (SVM) was able to distinguish the aroma between Ganoderma boninense CSB, G. boninense ‘Rejosari’, and G. lucidum with an accuracy rate of 99.64%. E nose was able to differentiate with high accuracy (90.95%) of each infection level even though there was still a slice between in root sample.

As Black Soldier Fly farming has become an emerging trend in Indonesia there is a new opportunity to take advantage from the waste generated from the activity. One of them is the exuviae, which is resulted from the emergence of the fly and it has a high chitin content. Chitin from BSF exuviae have low Cristalinity Indexes. Hence, it shows a promising potential to be processed to produce a new biopolimer. Therefore, converting chitin from BSF exuviae into chitosan using deacetylation process was studied. The researched variables were temperature and the duration of the process, which were studied at 50, 60, 70, and 80°C for 12 hours and 8, 10, 12, and 14 hours at 60°C, respectively. Chitosan produced in the temperature of 60, 70, and 80°C has met the standard quality, and the best duration of deacetylation process was 8 hours. The solubility test in acetic acid (2%) showed that chitosan solubility was increased with the increase of temperature, while it decreased as the duration of the process becomes longer. Moreover, the degree of deacetylation showed that chitosan was produced with the best quality in 80°C of temperature (75.98%) and 8 hours of deacetylation process (71.12%).   Keywords: chitosan, degrees of deacetylation, exuviae of black soldier fly

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Indonesia is the third largest cocoa producer in the world, thus the number of cocoa pod husk (CPH) resulted from this activity is abundant. To handle this waste, farmer usually uses it directly as a feed source to small ruminants but this practice is less effective due to its low protein content and it also contains a substantial amount of lignin. Black Soldier Fly (BSF) (Hermetia illucens L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) larvae are known as bioconversion agents that can be fed upon various organic substrates and they are also high protein source. The aim of this research was to evaluate the possibility of BSF grown on CPH based on their relative growth rate (RGR), efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI), waste reduction index (WRI), and development time. Body size of the imago from each treatment was also measured. Larvae were fed with fresh CPH (F), fresh blended CPH (B), composted CPH (C), mix of fresh CPH with food waste (F+FW) and mix of composted CPH with food waste (C+FW). Food waste served as a control. The results of this study show that the most ideal treatment that possible to be applied in cocoa plantation was C+FW treatmentwhich gave average prepupal fresh weight of 11.20 g/100 larvae with 18 days of development time. This treatment had the highest value of WRI and RGR among all treatments. Composted CPH that mixed with food waste treatment also had a shorter development time of BSF larvae.

Biodiversity plays a crucial role in ensuring environmental sustainability. Plantrhizosphere microbiome interactions are ecologically important because they can alter the biological, chemical, and physical properties of the soil, ultimately affecting plant productivity. To maintain soil function, bio-ameliorant technologies, new modern composting crop residues, and limited use of synthetic pesticides have all been used to boost microbial activity in the soil. Soil management biotechnology is the use of microbes to maintain soil function, resulting in increased plant productivity. It offers a novel way to deal with a wide range of issues that are currently unsolved by conventional technology. It is thought that an improved relationship between above and below ground biodiversity can contribute to the re-establishment of essential biological functions. The Indonesian Research Institute for Biotechnology and Bioindustry (IRIBB), PT Riset Perkebunan Nusantara, has been working on developing plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) as a bio-ameliorant to improve the relationship between above and below ground biodiversity for sustainable management and increased plant productivity. Keywords: bio-ameliorant, biodiversity, biotechnology, rhizosphere, soil microbes