Tag: coconut

Dolores Ramirez – Filipino Scientist

Dolores  A. Ramirez

 

Dr. Ramirez is recognized for her researches in biochemical genetics and cytogenetics. She has been working on the genetic systems controlling the makapuno endosperm of coconut; the genetics of chemical resistance factors against Cercospora leaf spot; and the cytogenetics of the hybrids of rice with related wild species.

Dr. Ramirez was holder of the SEARCA Professorial Chair for Genetics (1974-76) , and recipient of the Gregorio Y. Zara award in basic research (1976), Rizal Pro patria award for outstanding achievement in science (biochemical genetics0 (1981), and UP Professorial achievement award in agriculture (1985).

She was a graduate of University of the Philippines , B.S.A., 1956. M Sc. (Cytogenetics) , University of Minnesota, 1958. Ph. D. (Biochemical Genetics) Purdue University, 1963. Born September 20 1931.

Source: Directory of Academician and Outstanding Young Scientist

Dolores Ramirez Picture

Buko is cadang-cadang viroid-free

Philippine buko is cadang-cadang viroid-free, experts confirm

by Mary Charlotte O. Fresco

BAR TODAY –April-June 2002

Around 80% of our coconut products goes to foreign market, generating US$ 741.77 million a year. This makes us the third largest producer of coconut oil and desiccated coconut in the world. Our young coconut orbuko even performs well in neighboring countries like Taiwan and Malaysia.

This was before export bans were imposed on our coconut products.

In 1998, Brazil was the first to set trade restrictions on our desiccated coconut. Malaysia and Taiwan followed years later by imposing a ban on our buko for fear that it was contaminated with the dreaded cadang-cadang viroid.

In 2000, experts from the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) in Albay did a series of rigorous viroid-detection process and declared that the meat and water of young and mature coconuts in the Philippines are free of the cadang-cadang viroid.

Checking the viroid Cadang-cadang was confirmed to be a viroid disease in the late 70s. Its causal agent is the coconutcadang-cadang viroid or CCCVd, which is often transmitted through pollen and seed, and contaminated farm tool such as scythe. Viroids should not be mistaken with viruses because they are much smaller and have different molecular and biological properties.

The disease is common in the Bicol region and also present in some areas in Quezon, Aurora, Biliran (particularly in Maripipi Island), Northern and Eastern Samar.

Researchers MJB Rodriguez and LP Estioko of PCA-Albay Research Center, hoping to exempt the young coconut from the ban, employed a more reliable and sensitive diagnosis for the presence of CCCVd. It is an improved molecular hybridization assay (MHA) that can be efficiently used to detect the concentration of the viroid in different parts of the nuts.

They gathered samples of young (about 6 to 9 month old) and mature nuts (a year old) from both healthy and infected palms and immediately subjected them to CCCVd analysis.

Continue reading “Buko is cadang-cadang viroid-free”

Coconut nectar: The newest craze

Coconut nectar: The newest craze

By: Gemma C. Delmo

Following the popularity of virgin coconut oil in the market, another coconut by-product is out to captivate Filipino health buffs- the coconut nectar. Discovered by Dr. Gerino Macias, a scientist  based in Ormoc City, Leyte, the coconut nectar or coco-nectar is an all-natural food supplement made from coconut extracts with all the guaranteed nutrients a body needs. Containing 24 amino acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and growth hormones, these nutrients are said to strengthen our immune system and a therapeutic at the same time. With no preservatives, chemicals and sugar, the coco nectar, which looks and tastes like coco jam, can be safely consumed (1 spoon daily) by both children and adults.

The coco nectar itself is not new. What makes it novel is the natural and innovative way of extracting the sap from the coconut tree. “The apparatus that naturally secreted by the sap from the coconut trees was the real discovery,” says William Gallofin, a coco-nectar distributor in Metro, Manila. “Dr. Macias invented an apparatus similar that of a honeybee. The bee, when processing honey, lets the nectar pass through its stomach and when it comes out, the nectar is already made into honey. The same apparatus does the same. The machine extracts thenectar or the sap from the tree and as it passes through the machine, the water is separated from the nectar. When it comes out, it is already concentrated no further processes needed.”

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Nursery Plant Pots from Coconut Coir

Nursery Plant Pots from Coconut Coir

Plants grow faster in pots made of coconut husk with coconut dust than in soil. For example,
nursery plants like:
1. Asparagus springerie – grown in coconut husk with equal amounts of dust and swine
marine had more cuttings than those planted in rice field with swine manure.
2. Anthurium – more flowers per plant.
3. Dracaena fragrans (leafy plant) – increased roots
4. Mussaendes – longer roots (with spagnum moss and coconut) during marcotting.
5. Amherstia nobilis – faster marcotting even without the use of growth hormones.
PCARRD
Balitang Pambukid
May 1987

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