Dr. Pablito M. Magdalita, Professor from the Institute of Crop Science (ICropS), College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS) and UP Scientist, was awarded by the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) with the Regional Professorial Chair in recognition of his contribution in research in the field of plant breeding and biotechnology on 26 March 2018 at Umali Hall, SEARCA.

As one of the principal breeders of fruits, including the famous Sinta papaya hybrid, Roja rambutan, Mapino chico and Aguinaldo guayabano, and ornamentals such as the famed hibiscus hybrids, Dr. Magdalita presented his lecture entitled, “Classical Breeding and Biotechnology Strategies for Improvement of Selected Fruit Crops for Food Security and Rural Development”.

In his lecture, Dr. Magdalita emphasized that breeders and horticulturists need to work together to harness the potential of tropical fruits to meet the needs of the country’s population, as well as the neighboring countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and China that produce fruits very intensively not only for domestic consumption but also for export purposes.

Dr. Magdalita narrated how the Sinta Papaya, the first hybrid papaya developed in the Philippines with tolerance to Papaya Ring Spot Virus or PRSV, was developed thru hybridization and selection, and how it went through the market. There are other more devastating diseases, however, that need to be addressed in papaya such as the bacterial crown rot which his team is presently addressing by attempting to breed varieties resistant to this disease. Aside from papaya, Dr. Magdalita’s team developed tropical fruits that have been registered with the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) and other fruits with potential commercial production are in the pipeline.

(Photo by LB Lanosia, Jr.)

Further, biotechnology-assisted methods have been difficult because of regulatory problems associated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and some of these laboratory techniques are very essential to readily identify varieties with good fruit qualities, are resistant and/or tolerant to important diseases, and can notably identify sex type in papaya-whether male, female or hermaphrodite.

At the end, Dr. Magdalita mentioned that breeding strategies through classical and biotechnology are both important in developing fruit varieties and improving the performance of existing varieties in terms of their resilience to diseases and insect pests and prevalence of their good postharvest characteristics. Some of the challenges for researchers are to investigate other biotechnology tools like new breeding techniques that are not associated to GMOs, to develop papaya hybrids with double resistance to PRSV and bacterial crown rot, and to develop insect resistant papaya varieties through gene editing.  (MMBeltran, OVCRE)