RP's 1st GM eggplant soon ready for commercialization

MANILA, Philippines - One more experimental cropping season and the country’s first genetically modified (GM) or biotechnology eggplant is set for commercial production.

The penultimate phase of the scientific process of developing the new crop, done at an experimental farm of the University of the Philippines Los Baños-Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB), was completed recently.

The UPLB-IPB plot is one of three sites in Luzon where the research project on the development of an eggplant resistant to fruit and shoot borer (FSB) is being conducted. FSB, the most destructive pest attacking eggplant in the Philippines and other Asian countries, can cause yield losses from 51 to 73 percent.

The GM or Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) eggplants planted in Sta. Maria (Pangasinan) and Bicol State University of Agriculture in Pili, Camarines Sur, have also been harvested.

The government, through the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI), requires two experimental seasons before a GM crop is allowed to be produced commercially.

Once a Bt eggplant is approved for commercial release, its seeds are made available to farmers.

The second season of the UPLB-IPB research on Bt eggplant will cover the last quarter of this year. Commercialization will follow.

Other trials also are set to be done in Visayas and Mindanao.

When the harvested Bt eggplants were opened up, they showed no signs of PSB, unlike the control plants planted side-by-side, which were badly infested.

Eggplant has been chosen as the focus of the research because it is now the country’s leading vegetable crop, area-wise (about 20,000 hectares) and volume of production. A good source of vitamins, fibers, and minerals, eggplant is one of the main sources of livelihood of small-scale farmers.

So far, there are no commercial varieties of eggplants with high resistance to FSB in the Philippines.

Bt eggplant developed with the help of biotechnology produces a natural protein that makes it resistant to FSB.

Once an FSB caterpillar feeds on Bt eggplant leaves, sheets, and fruits, it stops eating and eventually dies. The Bt protein in the biotech eggplant only effects FSB and not humans, farm animals, and other nontarget organisms.

Mahyco has developed a highly resistant biotech eggplant now used in India, Bangladesh, and the Philippines as source of FSB-resistant traits.

UPLB-IPB is developing FSB-resistant eggplant in partnership with Mahyco and Cornell University, and with support from USAID through ABSP II, ISAA, and DA.