This presentation was presented during the Asian Soil Partnership workshop that took place in Bangkok 14-16 December 2017. The presentation was made by Dr. Nopmanee Suvannang and Dr. Christian Hartmann

1. Nopmanee Suvannang (LDD, Thailand)
Christian Hartmann (IRD, France & Lao PDR)
: a Lab network able to
contribute to GSP/ASP pillar 5?
1Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand

2. Content of talk
- Background of SEALNET and the goal
- Activities of SEALNET 2.0 (2014-2016)
- Current status of some asian labs: results from
Soil Laboratory Lab Survey Questionaire 2016
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Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
- Gap and need to implement under the
SEALNET 2.0 in Asian & other regions
- Opportunity to implement SEALNET 2.0 in
Asian & other regions

3. Origins of the Network
1995
First mission: lab managers sharing experience for
soil analysis practices and interpretation for Agricultural and Environmental
samples.
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1998
Workshop: preparing a manual on Analytical
Methods for Agricultural and Environmental samples
(soil, plant, fertilizer and water)
2000
Workshop on Lab Analysis & Quality Assurance (QA)

4. Donor and support Institutes
1995, 1998 and 2000
IBSRAM (CGIAR), IRD (France), Crawford Fund (Australia), LDD (Thail.)
2001-2014 IRD (France) and LDD (Thailand)
Limited donors ==> only monitoring mode, ad hoc training only possible
when willing laboratories were able to provide their own support.
Outputs to date
-Pre-draft of Manual on Analytical Methods for
Agricultural and Environmental Samples: Soil, Plant, Fertilizer and Water
-Building the capacity of SEALNET Lab staff to undertake
soil analyses underpinned by a
Quality Assurance/Quality Control program (QA/QC)
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Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand

5. SEALNET 2.0
2014-2016
-collaboration between 3 ASEAN countries
supported by IRD (France) and LDD (Thailand)
- Thailand : LDD, KU, KKU
- LAO PDR : DALAM, NUOL
- Vietnam : SFRI, ICH
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2015
FAO support for our annual workshop training
(Bangkok 2015)

6. &
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Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
ASPAC:
(i) runs its own inter-laboratory proficiency testing,
(ii) certifies successful laboratories
2016

7. &
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Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
ASPAC:
(i) runs its own inter-laboratory proficiency testing,
(ii) certifies successful laboratories
2016 + 2017: offered in a free registration to 5 labs.
suggested by SEALNET
Laos, Vietnam, Thailand + Philippine, Indonesia.
(DALAM) (SFRI) (LDD) + (BSWM) (ISRI)
2016

8. The Goal of the SEALNET 2.0
One soil sample
send in any ASEAN or Regional country’s lab
… you must get the same results
!!!
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Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand

9. Lab. calibration and harmonisation:
-in the SE Asian Nations (ASEAN)
- in wider Asian regions.
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Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
The Objective of the SEALNET 2.0
- set up a regional Inter-Lab Proficiency
Program to implement QA/QC
procedures and processes.

10. Our question was: one soil sample to several labs…
do we get similar, or different results?
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Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
i.e. ==> similar or different conclusions about:
•evaluation of soil constraints to productivity?
•evaluation of soil degradation/improvement?
•advices on soil management options
to mitigate/ameliorate the soil constraints?

11. SEALNET strategy to get similar
analytical results?
• facilitate contacts and networking ;
• develop harmonised Standard Operating
Procedures (SOPs) for key soil tests;
• provide training and capacity-building for lab
staff- workshops, technical communications;
• implement a regional inter-laboratory
proficiency program to facilitate harmonised
quality assurance/control (QA/QC) in labs.
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==> SEALNET goals are
complementary to GSP/ASP - Pillar 5
==> “Harmonization of methods, measurements
and indicators for the sustainable management and
protection of soil resources”

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Regional GSP Implementation Plan (Pillar 5)
Identify national and regional reference labs
for training, soil analyses and sample exchange
Harmonize procedures and guidelines
on methods of soil description, sampling
Build an ASP lab network: ‘ASPNET’ ?
= expansion of SEALNET?
reminder

14. Why SEALNET 2.0 is interesting for
ASP and other regions?
- SEALNET 2.0 is a tool able to support all pillars.
- Efficient data exchange between regions
needs firstly to have quality data and
standardize/harmonize methods.
- ASEAN (10 countries) will implement
‘Guidelines for Soil and Nutrient Management’
that will consider only accredited soil labs.
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15. Achievements of SEALNET 2.0
2014-2016
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16. SEALNET achievements 2014-2016
workshop trainings in 2014-2016
(Vientiane 2014 (20, 3), Bangkok 2015 (40, 4), Hanoi 2016 (25, 3))
- capacity building;
- personal contacts and network development
Out put
-Increasing performance of the lab technician
-Increasing performance of the lab manager
-Draft Standard Operation procedure (SOP) for Organic
carbon (OC) and Available P
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Output
- get to know lab performances through soil testing
calibration
- improve the capacities of participating labs
Asian Soil Partnership Meeting 14-16 Dec 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
Inter-laboratory calibration of soil test in 2015
(18 Labs :Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand (13), Vietnam, Senegal and France)
Participation in ASPAC QA/QC Certification in 2016
(5 labs: Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, Phillippine)
SEALNET achievements 2014-2016 (continue)

18. launched a soil lab capacity survey (Aug. 2016):
questionnaire send to 15 soil labs in Asia,
we received 11 responses
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SEALNET achievements 2014-2016 (continue)

19. Current status of some asian labs:
results from Soil Lab Survey
Questionaire (2016)
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Involved
countries:

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Soil Chemical Testing method

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Soil Chemical Testing method (continue)

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Soil Physical Testing method

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Quality control

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Human Resource performance

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Conclusions from our lab survey

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• very different lab characteristics
(numb. staff samples, internal organisation);
• 50% do not have staff trained for soil testing;
• very diverse analytical techniques:
• - harmonisation is possible for some (pH)
• - but not for all (phosphorus, texture,…);
• Even with the same procedure, they are variations :
• - local procedures (shaking time, etc…)
• - unit to express the results (SOC/OM)

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29. Suggestions to develop SEALNET
in ASP (& other regions?)
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Technical elementsTechnical elements
for SEALNET (i) a laboratory
consists in 3 levels of nested activities;
(ii) different
actions are
needed…
for the
different
levels.
Management
Technical elements
Reagents, instruments, etc..
Analytical methods
pH, N, P, K, etc..

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Problem:
Solution:
Strategy:
Cost (national and/or FAO ressources)

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Problem:
Lack of standard soil tests procedures; no harmonised soil test
interpretation guidelines.
Solution:
(i) Implement SOPs for a basic suite of soil tests used for
the indicators (C, pH, NPK,…) (ii) provide a guideline to
harmonise soil tests & also their interpretation.
Strategy:
Needs coordination between lab managers, possibly
fitting with the ASEAN « Sustainable Agrifood System
Guidelines for Soil and Nutrient Management. »
Cost:
Meetings (traveling and accomodation).

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Problem:
Many labs (i) don’t measure the ‘quality’ of their data,
(ii) don’t know how to solve the problem of bad data.

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quality control:
measures the lab precision and accuracy
Precision: get same result when doing replicates.
Accuracy: get a result close to the ‘true’ value.

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Using ‘internal + external’ control:
precise and accurate.
Without quality control:
not precise not accurate
Using ‘internal quality control’:
precise! perhaps not accurate…
TARGET = ‘true’ or consensus value
= this is our objective!

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Problem: (precision)
Many labs (i) don’t measure the ‘quality’ of their data,
(ii) don’t know how to solve the problem of bad data.
Solution:
Implement Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and standard
QA/QC procedures, similarly in all ASP labs.
Strategy:
International workshop-trainings for lab staff & managers.
Managers: must do the same in their country (language…).
Cost:
operating cost in host lab.
traveling and accomodation of trainers/trainees.

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Problem (accuracy)
Many lab isolated from international context,
managers follow their own ‘target’.
Solution:
Implement international standards of lab management.
Participate international PT (external control)
Strategy:
SEALNET free proficiency testing + collaboration with
ASPAC (certification) to motivate lab managers/staff.
Cost:
SEALNET prepares and distributes regional
samples and buys certified samples

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What support SEALNET needs
to extend to ASP countries:
2. Fundings to organise workshop/trainings:
-national participants,
-trainers. soil samples.
1. Have a larger committee with active
and motivated ‘experts’
3. Fundings to buy ‘certified’ and ‘distribute’
national soil samples.

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What are the benefits that ASP
can get from SEALNET (ASPNET)?
(ii) Knowing the data quality allows to estimate the
indicators quality, the probability level of your
scenarios of future evolution, etc…..
(i) Knowing the data that can/cannot be compared or har-
monised increases the reliability of all indicators/maps/...
The soil lab provide most of the data used in
other documents/indicators/etc. ==>
(ii) Quality improvement can be measured

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A tool for the future…
South-East Asia Laboratory NETwork
Thanks for
your
attention