GMO Bt Eggplant at UPLB Campus
Here’s good news to farmers and agriculturists, including subdivision residents desiring to raise vegetables in cramped spaces.
The University of the Philippines-Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB) said it has completed the last phase of its scientific process of developing the genetically modified (GM) or biotechnology (Bt) eggplant, the first in the country, at its farm here.
The GM or Bt eggplant is resistant to fruit and shoot borers (FSB), the most destructive pest attacking eggplant in the Philippines and other Asian countries, causing production losses to farmers ranging from 51 percent to 73 percent annually.
“One more experimental cropping season and the country’s first GM or Bt eggplant is set for commercial production,” said the UPLB-IPB scientists.
UPLB scientists said the season of its research on the Bt eggplant covers the last quarter of this year, and commercialization is expected to take off early next year.
They said the UPLB-IPB plot is one of three sites in Luzon where the research project on the development of the GM or Bt eggplant is being conducted.