Los Banos, Laguna, The Philippines
March 2, 2008
Source:
The Philippine STAR via
SEAMEO SEARCA
By Rudy A. Fernandez
Within two years, the Philippines will be a commercial producer
of genetically modified (GM) eggplant and papaya.
This is the timetable of studies being done at the
University of the Philippines
Los Baños - Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB).
In a 1.5-hectare fenced field experimental area within the
sprawling UPLB complex, GM eggplants are lushly growing while
biotech papaya plants have just been transplanted.
The progress of the project was assessed during a recent field
day by representatives of international and national agencies
supporting it, members of the research sector, and journalists,
including this writer.
Among those present were Dr. Clive James, chairman of the New
York-based International Service for the Acquisition of
Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA); Dr. Randy Hautea, ISAAA
global coordinator; Dr. Frank Shotkoski, director of the
Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project (ABSP) II-Southeast
Asia; Executive Director Patricio Faylon of the Philippine
Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research
and Development (PCARRD); UPLB vice chancellor Enrico Supangco;
and UPLB-IPB officials led by Director Jose Hernandez.
The research on eggplant is being undertaken by UPLB-IPB in
partnership with the Indian Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company
Ltd. (Mahyco). It is supported by the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) through ABSP II, EMERGE, and
ISAAA.
Mahyco has developed a high-resistant biotech eggplant with help
from Monsanto Co. These eggplant lines have been used as source
of the protection of biotech eggplants in India, the
Philippines, and Bangladesh.
Dr. Desiree Hautea of UPLB-IPB told this writer in an interview
that the eggplants were transplanted inside the fenced field
last Dec. 21.
The seeds from the eggplants to be harvested will be used in the
subsequent multi-location trials, which constitute the next
phase of the multi-stage research process.
The first phase was the seedling establishment inside a
greenhouse.
The first trial in the two-season multi-location experiments
will be done in three to four selected areas in Luzon. The
second will be conducted in about 10 sites in Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao.
The GM eggplant is expected to be commercialized by 2010 upon
approval by the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant
Industry (DA-BPI).
The new plant type is projected to be the answer to the fruit
and shoot borer (FSB), the most destructive pest attacking
eggplant in Asia. In the Philippines, for instance, losses from
FSB range from 51 to 73 percent. To date, there is no
FSB-resistant commercial eggplant variety.
Eggplant is now the country's top vegetable crop, covering about
20,000 hectares and yielding annually 179,000 tons valued at
about P2 billion.
The same process will be followed for the biotech papaya.
The papaya plants were transplanted last Feb. 8 and are expected
to be harvested by November or December 2008, Dr. Pablito
Magdalita told this writer.
This will be followed by the multi-location trials in Luzon and
in the Visayas, and eventually the commercialization.
The new plant type is resistant to papaya ringspot virus (PRSV),
which has been the scourge of the papaya industry since it was
first discovered in Silang, Cavite, in 1982. It has since spread
to other parts of the country, except Mindanao.
Infected papaya plants have stunted growth and produced deformed
fruits with concentric rings on the skin surface. Eventually,
the plants die.
A flagship biotech program of PCARRD, the papaya research is a
collaborative effort with ISAAA, ABSP II, USAID, the UPLB-based
Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research
in Agriculture (SEARCA), and Program for Biosafety Systems. |
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