Category: AGRICULTURE

New technique to boost Shrimp Industry

The demand for shrimp is great in the international and local markets. However, an inadequate supply of natural food for shrimps presents a stumbling block to increased grow-out production.

Through the years, aquaculture scientists have sought for ways to improve the supply of natural food in the hatchery production of shrimps. Such is the motivation behind the development of a new technique in shrimp hatchery operations and management by Dr. Jesse D. Ronquiollo of the College of Fisheries, UP Visayas, Dr. Toshi Saisho and Shigesha Yamasaki of the Fisheries Kagoshima University.

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Ensuring Fruit Quality and Longevity through HWD

A simple non chemical solution may be the postharvest treatment that would effectively inhibit ripening and rapid disease development in fruits.

This developed as a study conducted by Mr. Antonio Acedo et al at the Postharvest Technology Laboratory in VISCA, Leyte, found that hot water dip (HWD) stops the ageing of banana (Latundan and saba) and mango (carabao and indian mango).

High perishability has been one of the major problem besetting the Philippine Fruit Industry. Serious postharvest losses are attributed to the physiological behaviour of fruits – rapid ripening sets in and postharvest diseases usually develop when mature fruits are harvested.

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Early Detection of Viral Infection in shrimps possible through use of new protocol

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol has been developed for the early detection of white-spot syndrome virus (WSSV), one of the most widespread and devastating infectious agents that have hit the shrimp aquaculture industry.

Dr. Lourdes Tapay of BIOTECH_UPLB, Dr. Cesar B. Nadala, Jr. And Dr Philip C. Loh of the University of Hawaii, with support from the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Oplan Sagip Sugpo Task Force, were the developers of the method. The details of the protocol were included in an article entitled “A polymerase chain reaction protocol for the detection of various geographic isolates of the white spot virus” by the Journal of Virological Methods 82 (1999) 39-43, which won for Dr. Tapay an International Publication Award from the University of the Philippine System. Continue reading “Early Detection of Viral Infection in shrimps possible through use of new protocol”

Genetic engineering Delays Ripening in Papaya and Mango

Genetic engineering Delays Ripening in Papaya and Mango

Through modern biotechnology or genetic engineering, researchers from the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) College of Agriculture at the University of the Philippines Los Banos enhanced tow of the country’s major fruit crops, papaya and mango to delay their ripening traits. Fruits with longer shelf lives can be now exported to more distant countries, making them more in-demand to the local market. They stay fresh longer without special refrigeration or other storage conditions.

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