UPLB Research and Extension News

After years of study, researchers from the Institute of Plant Breeding at UP Los Baños (UPLB) have developed a tissue culture (TC) protocol for mango coupled with a successful system for transplant to soil. This research study, “Tissue Culture of Mango var. ‘Carabao,’” won the Philippine Agriculture and Resources Research Foundation, Inc. (PARRFI) Research and Development Award at Los Baños Science Community’s celebration of the National Science and Technology Week.

The technology is important as it is a rapid method of propagating superior “Carabao” strains. Tissue culture of woody species like the mango is prone to failure. In previous attempts both locally and abroad, tissues turned brown easily or failed to form callus or regenerate into embryos/plantlets. Complicating the situation is the difficulty in ensuring the survival of tissue-cultured plants when transferred to the soil.

According to team leader Lilian F. Pateña, “the technology can be used to propagate elite stocks, and to conserve germplasm, and it can also be used for germplasm exchange.” The team spent a year in developing the TC requirements for the induction of embryos from tissue cells (somatic embryos) and proliferation of the cells. Then it took three years to come up with the right acclimatization and transfer techniques to ensure that the plantlets survived in the soil.

The UPLB team includes Maureen Bonna C. Ines, Alice B. Formaran, and Ramon C. Barba. Their research work is the first report of a TC system that successfully accomplished the stages from tissue culture up to transfer to soil of a poly-embryonic mango.

The “Carabao” or “Manila Super-mango” is the third leading Philippine export fruit after banana and pineapple.

The project was funded by the Department of Science and Technology, UPLB, and Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development.