First biotech food crop to be cultivated in the country

PILI, Camarines Sur—Filipinos will soon be able to cook worm-holes-free eggplant for their pinakbet, sinigang, torta or kare-kare. By late 2011 or early 2012 the genetically modified (GM) fruit-and-shoot-borer-resistant (FSBR) eggplant will be available in the Philippines.

The FSBR eggplant will be the “first public-sector GM/biotech crop product in the country” and the “first GM/biotech food crop to be cultivated in the country,” Dr. Desiree Hautea, research professor of the University of the Philippines Los Baños and FSBR eggplant project leader, noted its significance in the workshop and study tour for media practitioners in Bicol held in Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) in Pili, Camarines Sur. The workshop had the theme “Creating Awareness, Knowledge and Understanding of Biotech Crops.”

At the same time, she said that since the crop will be borer-free, it would increase the income of the farmers by 200 percent, or P50,000 additional income per hectare of production, thus reducing poverty among farmers.

“If there is no problem in the schedule, if there is no major disaster or typhoon, we hope we can submit the data from multilocation [testing] in Luzon by January or February 2011. If it is approved by the regulators by the middle of 2011, we will produce the seeds and the earliest [they] will be available [in the market] is in October 2011,” Dr. Hautea said.

The project is currently conducting multilocation field trials all over the country to test its viability in different parts of the Philippines.

Field trials are being held in Sta. Maria, Pangasinan; UPLB, Laguna; CBSUA, Pili, Camarines Sur; Sta. Barbara, Iloilo; Visayas State University, Baybay, Leyte; UP Mindanao, Davao City; and University of Southern Mindanao, Kabacan, Cotabato.

Conference participants visited the restricted field-trial site inside the CBSUA compound on Wednesday.

Dr. Dulce Mostoles, chairman of the Landscape and Environmental Department of CBSUA, told the BusinessMirror the FSBR field-trial eggplants in the university which were planted in April had an initial harvest of several eggplants on May 20.

Afterward, they would harvest every four days and terminate the field trial after 10 harvests. Another field trial will be made after two months, she said.

Developed in India
Also known as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) eggplant, it was developed throught modern biotechnology or genetic modification by incorporating the Bt gene into the eggplant. The FSBR eggplant produces natural protein that makes it resistant to FSB, the major pest problem in eggplant production. continued on A6

Once the FSB caterpillars feed on plant leaves, shoots and fruits, they lose appetite and eventually die, the project brochure said. It added that the Bt protein in the eggplant only affects FSB but not humans, farm animals and other nontarget organisms.

The FSBR eggplant was developed by Maharashtra Hybrid Seed Co. (Mahyco) in India. Containing the Bt cry1Ac gene (the same with the gene used in Bt cotton), it was tested for seven years in India starting in 2001, including in different climatic zones in the South Asian country, Dr. Hautea said.

She said food and feed safety tests conducted in India for FSBR eggplant showed that its nutritional composition has not changed, it did not cause allergenicity, it is not toxic to animals, including rats, cows, goats and birds, and it has no change in cooking and protein testing.

She said biosafety and food/feed safety of the Mahyco FSBR eggplant found that it “effectively controlled the eggplant [FSB] pest” and it “is as safe as its non-Bt conterpart.” The GM crop, however, is not yet commercialized in India.

Licensed to UPLB ‘royalty-free’
Dr. Hautea said Mahyco licensed the FSBR eggplant “royalty-free” to UPLB through a public-private partnership. This means that the Philippines is free to “bring it to commercial production.”

After the licensing agreement, Filipino scientists started the research in 2003. They made the research in India by introducing the FSBR eggplant technology to Philippine eggplant varieties they brought there. The positive result was brought to UP-IPB, which started its contained trial in the country in 2003, conducted the confined field trial in 2007, and the current multilocation trial all over the country.

Eggplant is No. 1 crop in RP
Dr. Hautea said eggplant is a very important crop in the country because it is now the No. 1 vegetable in volume production in the country, outranking tomato. It is used it many Filipino dishes like kare-kare, pinakbet, sinigang, paksiw and torta, and it is eaten as boiled, fried or broiled.

Unknown to many, eggplant, or locally known as talong, has high nutritional value because it has energy, carbohydrates, sugars, dietary fiber, fat, protein, and vitamins and minerals like vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9 and C, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and manganese, the Wikipedia said.

However, she said that despite the high yield, Filipino farmers lose 50 percent of the harvest to borer infestation. To prevent infestation, farmers spray insecticides to the crops up to 72 times—or every other day—per season of three to five months, making the cost of spraying amount to 24 percent of the production cost.

Besides, the financial drain to the farmers, frequent insecticide spraying was also linked to health and environmental hazards.

Dr. Hautea said the major areas of eggplant production in the country are Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Iloilo, Cebu Agusan, Davao and North Cotabato.

Local FSBR eggplant is damage-free
She said that based on the UP-IPB research, Bt eggplant showed no damage in its flesh, while the non-Bt corn was badly damaged.

She said it has no significant difference in moisture, oil, protein, ash, crude fiber and carbohydrate compositions, and it is within range of proximate values observed compared with the eggplants sampled from several wet markets in Laguna. As such, it will help improve the nutritional status of eggplant consumer.

The former IPB head added that no significant difference were observed for total phenols and flavonoid compositions between the Bt eggplant and its non-Bt counterpart.

Dr. Hautea also noted that Bt eggplant protects biodiversity because it has no adverse effect on nontarget lepidopterans or winged insects, such as cutworms, Helicoverpa and semilooper, and on sucking insects like leafhopper, mites, aphids and thrips. If the GM eggplant will be released to the market, Filipinos will enjoy eating their No. 1 vegetable more.