UPLB Research and Extension News

As the country celebrated this week the National Science and Technology Week with the theme “Filipinnovation: The Way Forward,” the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), headed by Secretary Mario Montejo, found the occasion fitting to honor the timely and significant innovations and contributions to science and technology of Filipino scientists and researchers.

Sharing the Gregorio Zara Medal for the Outstanding Technology Commercialization Award were Lilian Pateña of the UP Los Baños Institute of Plant Breeding for the research “Tissue Culture System for Banana,” and Eulito Bautista of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) for “Drum Seeder: Its Development and 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.

With all the hype on crispy and flavorful plump chicken breasts and chunky thighs, it’s no wonder that most people, particularly the young ones, prefer eating commercially-bred broiler over native chicken meat.

But with more and more people becoming health conscious and preferring to eat lean, healthy and organically-grown foods, the demand for native chicken is on the rise.

Optimizing the healthful benefits of eating native chicken meat and promoting this growing backyard industry, the Food Science Cluster-College of Agriculture of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) is developing and evaluating various products from native chicken meat to improve its eating quality.

More than 500 delegates attended the series of seminars “Maintaining the intestinal integrity and improving broiler and breeder performance through effective control of Salmonella and other Enterobacteria”, organised by Norel Animal Nutrition and its local partners in Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia.

The largest crowd was seen in Thailand, where Dr. Jiroj Sasipreeyajan, Professor of Avian Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), focused his speech on the consequences, at the farm and consumer levels, of infection with different strains of Salmonella.

In Manila (Philippines), the audience could listen to a very interesting presentation from Dr. Mildred Padilla, Professor at University of the Philippines Los Banos, Department of Veterinary Paraclinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Padilla reviewed the different food borne diseases encountered in the Philippines and also discussed surveys made in the country on the incidence of pathogens in farms and feeds.