OVCRE's blog
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.
When an agricultural technician is out in the field, without a library or laboratory in sight, how does he answer the farmers' question: “What type of soil does my farm have?”
Gone will be the days when technicians have to get soil samples and bring it first to their offices or laboratory and return to an impatient farmer a few days later to bring the news.
Increased yield, as a consequence of reduced bacterial wilt infection made up the results obtained by UPLB researchers using grafting technique in eggplant production.
In a recent study by pesticide toxicologists at UP Los Baños, the injection of neonicotenoid pesticides such as thiametoxam, imidachloprid and clothianidin in coconut trunks was found safe and effective in controlling the coconut leaf beetle (Brontispa longgisima).
In simple rites held at the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB), UP Los Baños yesterday June 10, Dr. Artemio Salazar, together with UPLB officials led by Chancellor Luis Rey I. Velasco presented the new YAP (Yield and Protein) corn variety to the Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur C. Yap, whom the corn was named after.
The Bioremediation Research Team of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology based in UP Los Baños is currently conducting studies to rehabilitate several contaminated sites in the country. These include an abandoned mining site at Mogpog, Marinduque, and bodies of water in Bulacan.
With focus on Jatropa, sweet sorghum and cassava, biofuel research and development is fast gaining momentum in the Philippines. Just recently, the drive to produce diesel fuel from renewable and non-food biodiesel feedstock such as microalgae has gotten a big boost.
The University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) has recently organized a group of biotechnologists and chemical engineers to conduct scientific investigations in a bid to produce ethanol from so-called 3rd generation biofuel feedstocks.
Part of the 6,500 hectare land grant property of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) straddling the provinces of Laguna and Quezon is currently being developed into tree farms for biofuel, timber and agroforestry enterprises.
Each barangay, town or city in the Philippines has its own story to tell about its waste disposal problems. While some of them lack or have none to guarantee good waste disposal management, the town of Los Baños in Laguna has one to vouch for a cleaner future with the promising results of a research project currently done by the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).
Dr. Virginia Cuevas of the Institute of Biological Sciences of UPLB and her co-researchers have recently identified Xylaria mutants that can be potentially developed into a product capable of degrading plastic bags usually found in dumpsites. Xylaria is a fungus that grows on dead wood, utilizing the latter’s components such cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin as food. In 2001, Dr. Cuevas showed evidence of Xylaria colonizing polyethylene (PET) plastic strips. Most plastic bags, including garbage bags, are now made of PET.
Farmers and businessmen in the Philippines have scrambled planting the Physic Nut (Jatropha curcas), a biofuel crop seen having big potential returns once the mandatory use of biodiesel is fully implemented in the country.
However, some of those who have gone full steam ahead establishing farms are now beset with problems, one of which is seed storage.
In the Old Testament, Noah built an ark, unknowing if the rains would ever come, he entrusted his fate with God.
Limnology experts at the University of the Philippines Los Baños have turned themselves into little Noahs, building “arks” to provide a haven to our native and endemic freshwater fishes. The collected fishes, according to Dr. Vachel Gay Paller of the UPLB Limnological Research Station (UPLB LRS), will be part of the “Fish Ark Philippines”—a project aimed to study and conserve these erstwhile untapped resources.
The Philippines’ biosafety regulation procedures are not only costly, but take too long. These are the findings of a concluded study at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.
Biotechnologists at UP Los Baños are hard at work putting the final touches to the prototype of a wastewater treatment system that uses bacteria.
