LOS BAŅOS, Laguna - As the controversy over modern biotechnology, particularly genetically modified crops, continues to rage, scientists at the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) at the University of the Philippines Los Baņos unveiled Wednesday several new plant varieties bred the conventional way.

The new hybrid commodities are meant to focus on the "immense wealth of the Philippines' genetic resources as variable source for technology," according to Dr. Desiree Hautea, IPB director, who led last week's celebration of the institute's 27th foundation anniversary.

The new hybrid plants underscore the resourcefulness and perseverance of local plant breeders who have been consistently recognized for developing variants of feed and industrial crops and ornamentals, making them in demand in other countries.

The announcement of the new hybrid crops coincided with the rehabilitation and turnover of post-entry greenhouses and a deep well pump funded by the Philippine Sugar Institute, Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications. 

Hautea released the following new varieties, which have been recently approved by the IPB Germplasm Registration and Release Office.

Corn (IPB 2004 and IPB 2006):  These are three-way cross hybrids and mature from 105 to 110 days.  IPB 2004 has a mean yield of 6 tons a hectare, while IPB 2006 has a mean yield of 6.9 tons a hectare.

Vegetables: Four new improved tomato varieties consist of two open-pollinated lines (named Rosanna and Rica) and two F1 (first generation) hybrids (Assunta and Ara).  All varieties are adopted for off-season and were observed to be at least moderately resistant to bacterial wilt and foliage diseases.

Another vegetable, eggplant (A-300) labeled Tisay, has a good shelf life with resistance to bacterial wilt, shoot and fruit borer and leafhopper. T The fruits are striped light violet and cream.

Legumes: Also approved for release were two mungbean varieties (Pag-asa 19 and Pag-asa 21) with a mean seed yield ranging from 1.21 to 1.27 tons a hectare.  They mature from 58 tom 60 days after emergence and the seeds are medium-sized and glossy green.  Both varieties are resistant to powdery mildew and moderately resistant to Cercospora leaf spot.

Rootcrops:  One new cassava variety named Sultan 5 or NSIC CV-20 or UPL CV-11 was approved by the germplasm office.  Sultan 5 has a mean tuber yield of 34.2 ton a v(average of 12 trials) and 10 months maturity.  Dry matter content (roots/tuber) is 35.6 percent and starch content (roots/tuber) is 20.9 percent.  This variety can be grown in all regions of the Philippines.

A new sweet potato variety named UPL Sp 16 or NSIC Sp-24 was also approved by the germplasm office.

The average root/tuber yield is 13.4 tons a hectare (average of 18 trials).  Root dry matter content is 31.8 percent and root starch content is 16.1 percent.  It matures in 120 days.  The skin color is salmon, while the flesh color is yellow.  it can be grown all over the country.

In the foliage and flowering plant section, the IPB plant breeders have continued their work to develop the new gumamela (hibiscus) and are expected to release shortly five new hybrids dubbed "Celebrity Star Series."

Two years ago, the institute released for commercialization several other gumamela hybrids called "Centennial" and named after various Philippine heroines.

The IPB has also bred new crops such as cucumber, garden pea and bush snap bean.

The ongoing breeding program has been bolstered by IPB's germplasm collection and maintenance.  It has a national gene bank of all germplasm of important and potentially useful agricultural crops under the IPB national plant genetic resources laboratory.  It was established in 1976 to help conserve and maintain the country's biodiversity and preserve the plant genetic heredity for future generations.

According to Hautea, the laboratory now has a collection for 44,000 accessions of more than 500 species of crops.  She added that these are used by breeders to produce better crops and varieties and are distributed and exchanged with local and foreign research centers in germplasm networking.