More tests on genetically modified (GM) crops are upcoming in the Philippines after it became the first country in South East Asia to commercialize GM corn and planting of the GM Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn is seen to pick up to around 50,000 hectares this year.

Du Pont's subsidiary Pioneer HI-Bred Philippines, Inc. (PHBP) is conducting a multi-locational testing of a GM corn known not only to resist the prevalent Asiatic corn borer (ACB) but also armyworms that seasonally destroy corn crops and is thus seen to further raise local corn productivity.

Jet G. Parma, PHBP business manager, said  PHBP is presently testing a type of ACB-resistant Bt corn which is believed to have more pest-resistance capabilities than the commercialized GM corn in the country as this variety has been proven to resist armyworms in the countries as the United States.

"We have trials of Bt corn that is of a different strain.  It has more resistance (to pests) in terms of insect spectrum-more insects attack corn (like) armyworm and cutworm.  They're endemic to the Philippines, but the level of infestation is unpredictable," Parma said in an interview.

Samuel C. Dalmacio, PHBP plant pathologist, said PHBP is now testing the worm-resistant Bt corn called TC 1507 on seven locations including Isabela, Pangasinan, Bicol, and General Santos.

"We have tested it in the screen house in December last year.  In the US, TC 1507 is the GM corn that is broader in spectrum, (resistant to) fall army worm and black cutworm.  We don't have fall armyworm, but we have three species of armyworm - true armyworm, grass armyworm, and black armyworm," he said.

"It's possible that it will be controlled with 1507.  We have seen it in under laboratory condition.  We fed the larvae of armyworm with the leaf section of Bt corn.  We observed if it will live or die.  We found out that there were many larvae which were killed from the Bt corn leaf compared to the normal corn," he said.

Dalmacio said that while there is no data showing the extent of armyworm infestation in the Philippines, its pestilence, he said, could be very disturbing for farmers at certain seasons.

"We lack the data, but we observed that sometimes the infestation can be so sever that only the mid rib is left of the plant.  Infestation varies from season to season.  It may not be present in one season but will be there in the next," he said.