UPLB Research and Extension News

Last July, 11 remarkable Filipino scientists, all of them not older than 40, were recognized by the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), for contributions in the physical, natural, and social sciences.

NAST, the premier advisory body in science and technology in the country, chose the following individuals not only to spur them to do more research and service, but also to inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

Those recognized from the University of the Philippines include Von Mark Cruz.

Von Mark Cruz received his Bachelor of Science in Biology degree from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) in 1993 and, in 1998, his Master of Science in Genetics degree also from UPLB.

In 2006, with the help of the Fulbright program and the Department of Agriculture, Cruz got his doctorate in plant breeding from Iowa State University in the United States.

At UPLB, Cruz taught genetics and was active in biotechnology and genetics education and communication. While in the US, he taught plant germination and genomics to Native American students.

Shared hard work, commitment, passion, and cooperation – these are what it takes to be an outstanding research team and the National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) team definitely has these characteristics in their collective genes. Being a productive research team is never easy, especially if your group is just bouncing off from the ravages of a strong typhoon that hit your lab a few years ago.

The NPGRL is the forerunner of plant genetic resources conservation and management at the Institute of Plant Breeding-Crop Science Cluster, College of Agriculture and functions as the national leader in plant genetic resource activities.

The NPGRL has identified important and potentially useful agricultural crops that have been used by plant breeders and other researchers in their crop improvement and breeding activities through the processes of acquisition, characterization, conservation, regeneration, evaluation, and documentation. These valuable resources include both local and introduced landraces, traditional varieties, and farmer’s varieties.

Pardon me for lifting my bench, but one of my happiest moments was receiving a gumamela plant bred and named after me by the University of the Philippines-Los Banos Institute of Plant Industry. It felt like, well, winning in the 2010 elections, except that my prize is not co-terminus with the powers-that-be, but for life. As I received a pot of the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Domini Torrevillas’ — the hibiscus with resplendent dark orange petals that have a dark red eye zone, with a semi-erect habit and simple, glossy, egg-shaped leaves — at a launching ceremony at the UP Executive House in Diliman, QC, I paraphrased William Wordsworth’s poem on daffodils bringing joy to the heart: “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the gumamelas.” And I promised the audience that I would grow fields of this hybrid plant in my gardens in Cavite and Gingoog City.

Such a blessing has been showered on a number of women over the last few years. Given the award posthumously was Betty Go-Belmonte, founding chair of The Philippine STAR. Two awardees who attended the launch of my very own hibiscus were UP Regent Nelia T. Gonzalez and UP President Emerlinda Roman.

A lot has been written about Dr. Roman, the first woman president of the state university. On Dr. Gonzalez, her receiving the Hibiscus Nelia variety was part of a “triple treat,” as around the time she received the plant, she was also honored by the UPLB Alumni Association with a service award and the launching of professorial chairs named in her honor.

When one says flooding, our collective memories would take us to catastrophic Ondoy that flooded Manila and neighboring areas in September 2009. But flooding can be used as a crop production technique to control growth of weeds and to enhance yields.

The project that proved this was the runaway winner of the Best Paper Award from the Weed Science Society of the Philippines (WSSP), one of the three scientific societies of the Pest Management Council of the Philippines (PMCP) The PMCP celebrated its 41st anniversary and annual scientific convention on March 9-12 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Lanang, Davao City.The celebration and convention had for its theme the theme- “Biodiversity Conservation through Science-based Pest Management.”

The UPLB-International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) collaborative research project entitled “Submergence during germination and early growth differentially affects growth and carbohydrate metabolism in barnyardgrass and contrasting rice genotypes,” was authored by Lucy P. Estioko, Aurora M. Baltazar, Florinia E. Merca, Abdelbagi M. Ismail and David E. Johnson.