UPLB Research and Extension News

More than a decade of research paid off!  Pest resistant varieties of eggplant were developed; ways to lessen the use or avoidance of insecticidal spraying were found; there was reduced pest population in the field; and eventually, high production yield was reached.

Dr. Merdelyn  C.  Lit of the Institute of Plant Breeding, Crop Science  Cluster of the College of Agriculture, UP Los Baños, who served as the project leader of three research projects on eggplant was pleased to report the major findings of these projects. 

Dr. Lit reported that results of their findings provided valuable information on the resistance of hundreds of eggplant genotypes and wild relatives against leafhopper and shoot/fruit borer, two current major insect pests of eggplant.  Several screening trials were conducted in UPLB, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Batangas.

Increased yield, as a consequence of reduced bacterial wilt infection made up the results obtained by UPLB researchers using grafting technique in eggplant production.

Project leader, Dr. Nenita L. Opina of the Crop Science Cluster of the College of Agriculture, UP Los Baños, indicated that when high-yielding, susceptible commercial varieties of eggplant were grafted with rootstocks resistant to bacterial wilt, reduced incidence of the disease was noted.  She added, however, that the degree of resistance showed by grafted plants was dependent on the level of resistance of the rootstocks.

Good news to our local dairy industry. UPLB-BIOTECH is in the way of refining its microbial rennet technology to make it more efficient and cheaper to use for cheese production.

Biotechnologist Dr. Susana Mercado reports that using coconut paring meal for culturing Rhizopus chinensis—a fungus which can ferment to produce an enzyme similar to chymosin — may be used as substitute for the more expensive wheat bran.