Bio-N. Bio-Green. Nitroplus. Mycogroe. Animal vaccines. Diagnostic immunoassay kits. Brown magic.

These and more are the products of the R&D breakthroughs achieved over the past 25 years by the UP Los Baños-National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (BIOTECH).

The agriculture sector is now benefiting from thee technologies, Dr. Teresita M. Espino, BIOTECH director, reported at a program marking the celebration of the institution’s 25th anniversary on Nov. 22-26.

Take Bio-N, a microbial-based fertilizer mainly composed of micro-organisms (bacteria) isolated from the roots of talahib. These bacteria can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable by rice and corn plants and can enhance shoot grow and root development.

Bio-N comes in powder form in a handy 200-gram packet, which is meant for either seed inoculation, direct broadcasting over seeds, or mixed with water as root dip.

It can replace 30-50 percent of the total nitrogen requirement of rice and corn and can increase their yields. Eggplant, tomato, ampalaya, lettuce, and okra can also use Bio-N.

To date, 15 manufacturing plants producing Bio-N have been set up in strategic places in the country, Dr. Mercedes Garcia, the UPLB scientist who developed the technology told The STAR.

More information about the BIOTECH technologies:

• Bio-Green is a bio-organic fertilizer produced from agricultural and agro-industrial wastes composted by fungal inocula and enriched with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Chicken, swine, or cattle manure can be combined with farm wastes such as rice straw, coffee hulls, corn stover, sugarcane bagasse, and mudpress and processed into Bio-Green. This fertilizer can increase yield by 20-30 percent and make plants healthier.

• Nitroplus is a seed inoculant for legumes composed of bacteria (rhizobia) and carriers such as soil and charcoal. The rhizobia, together with the legumes, can fix nitrogen from the air, making it available for the plants. Nitroplus can take the place of chemical fertilizer.

• Mycogroe is a soil-based biological fertilizer containing spores ectomycorrhizal fungi, It can reduce chemical fertilizer use by 60-85 percent. When inoculated to seedlings, Mycogroe will infect the roots and help absorb water and nutrients> Applied only once through the plant’s entire life, Mycogroe is ideal only for reforestation tree species.

• Animal vaccines developed by BIOTECH are highly protective against diseases of cattle, carabaos, and fowls. The vaccines are used for immunization against haemorrhagic septicimia, fowl cholera, and infectious coryza.

• BIOTECH diagnostic immunoassay kits provide quality control laboratories, research and teaching institutions with an effective tool for detecting plant, food, and feed pathogens and mycotoxine. Twenty-one diagnostic kits for as many viruses of plants and microorganisms have been produced.

• Brown magic is a biofertilizer for orchids.

Others developed by BIOTECH are microbial insecticides, detection kit for food bacterial pathogens, food and feed enzymes, enzyme extraction of essential oils, and mycovam.