Fruit Crops Postharvest Research Team of CA-CSC: 2009 Outstanding Research Team

Blemish-free. Perfectly sized. Firm, even-colored, and even-textured flesh. Evidently safe to eat. These are just some characteristics of fruits that make it to grocery shelves around the globe, with the potential to generate income for our farmers and beef up our exports. But even as the country produces an overabundance of fruits, until lately, it has not been able to capitalize much on this natural resource for a host of reasons, among which is their limited postharvest life.

Fruit postharvest losses in the Philippines can run up to an average of 28 percent, occurring during harvest, packing, transport, displaying, and even during consumption. Postharvest losses are caused by mishandling, poor storage, inefficiency in the distribution system, and pest and disease damage. Exacerbating the losses caused by factors inherent in the fruits and in our climate are poor infrastructure, transport limitations, the archipelagic nature of our country, and lack of technology.  

But much has been done in the latter area in the recent past. In UPLB, the Fruit Crops Postharvest Research Team of the Crop Science Cluster, College of Agriculture has contributed in great measure to push the frontiers of postharvest technology. The Team has been conducting basic and applied research toward industry-focused and needs-based technology development to address food safety and quality concerns in the export and domestic markets.

Abaca is endemic to the Philippines and is a source of fiber that is internationally known as Manila hemp. It is an important export crop and is a major dollar earner for the country, generating USD 80 million annually from 1996 to 2000. The Philippines supplies 85% of abaca in the world market. As of 2008, abaca was cultivated in about 140,000 hectares in 52 provinces. 

The demand for abaca pulp and fiber will continue to increase as more countries shift to the use of natural fibers in their bid to eliminate dependence on materials that use fossil fuels.  Car manufacturers use abaca as composite materials for vehicle interiors and automotive parts.  
 
The abaca industry is relying solely on traditional varieties for its survival in the absence of new and improved varieties. The old abaca varieties had outlived their usefulness and have become easy prey to disease-causing insects.  Aside from this, the abaca bunchy top virus or ABTV has posed a major threat to the fiber industry.
 
To help fight ABTV and revitalize the Philippine  abaca industry, Dr. Antonio G. Lalusin of the Institute of Plant Breeding-Crop Science Cluster (CSC-IPB) has developed abaca varieties that posses important  fiber characteristics that  are  vital  to the  industry,  and  more importantly, have built-in resistance to ABTV. 

Completing the required cycles of field tests, assessments, and official approval, the Institute of Plant Breeding is now preparing for distribution seeds of five new maize varieties with superior yields and which farmers can themselves produce.

Proceso H. Manguiat, IPB researcher in plant breeding and genetics, told the UP Newsletter that the new cultivars will go a long way in improving food production and meeting the nutritional needs of the population, especially in the corn-eating regions of the country.

Developed by the IPB maize breeding program and duly approved for distribution by the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC), the five new “open-pollinated cultivars” (OPCs) are Tupi Yellow (named after Tupi, South Cotabato, where the corn originated), with the commercial name of IPB Var. 9; IPB Composite 3, commercial name IBP Var. 11; IPB Composite 5, commercial name IPB Var. 13; Tupi White, commercial name IPC Var. 8; and Obatanpa or white Quality Protein Maize (QPM), commercial name IPB Var. 6.

Electricity used to be the single most expensive requirement in growing aster or baby's breath. Since 1980, when Los Baños was just a fledgling aster producer, growers spent more for electricity than any other input to ensure that light-sensitive aster would produce abundant flowery sprigs. In 2002, growers had to shell out over P30,000 for electricity and electrical materials in two cropping seasons to provide the most favorable lighting conditions for aster to produce flowers.

But total dependence on light-induced flowering in aster is now a thing of the past. Growers have at last been released from the grip of expensive and escalating electricity cost, thanks to a simple technology developed by Dr. Leonido Naranja, a professor in horticulture at the Crop Science Cluster, College of Agriculture in the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

The technology involves the use of gibberellic acid (GA), a phytohormone that Dr. Naranja has shown to work as a flower inducer. It has enabled farmers in Los Baños, Laguna to completely do away with the use of electricity to make aster produce flowers.