San Fernando City, La Union (6 March) -- The eggplant, which is now considered as the country's top vegetable crop, will be commercially produced and genetically modified, University of the Philippines Los Banos-Institute of Plant Breeding (UPLB-IPB) announced recently.

The plant covers about 20,000 hectares and yielding about 179,000 tons annually and valued at about P2 billion, the new GM eggplant is projected to be the answer to the fruit and shoot borer (FSB), which UPLB considers the most destructive pest attacking eggplant in Asia.

"The eggplants were transplanted inside the 1.5 hectare fenced experimental area at the UPLB complex last December 21 and the seeds from the eggplants to be harvested will be used in the subsequent multi-location trials, which constitute the next phase of the multi-stage research process," Dr. Desiree Hautea of UPLB-IPB said.

The experimental project was assessed recently by representatives of international and local agencies from New York-based International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), Agricultural Biotechnology Support Project (ABSP) II-Southeast Asia, PCARRD, among others.

The UPLB-IPB is undertaking the research with the Indian Maharahtra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd. (Mahyco) and supported by USAID has established the 1st phase seedling inside a greenhouse. The 1st trial in the 2 season multi-location experiments will be done in three to four selected areas in Luzon while the 2nd phase will be conducted in about 10 sites also in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The GM eggplant is expected to be commercialized by 2010 upon approval by the Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Plant Industry. This high-resistant biotech eggplant was developed with the help of Monsanto Company and this has been used as a source of production of biotech eggplants in India, Philippines and Bangladesh.

For biotech papaya, the UPLB expects it to be harvested by November or December this year and will be followed by the multi-location trials in Luzon and Visayas then to be commercialized.

UPLB also reported that the new plant type is resistant to papaya ringspot virus which has destroyed the papaya industry since l982 except in Mindanao is also expected by the research agency to boost papaya production in the country.

This research project is a joint effort of the UPLB-IPB, USAID, ISAAA, SEARCA, ABSP II. (PIA-La Union)