NCBP sets biotech rice field tests late this year

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – Hundreds of residents of Central Luzon provinces have attended the series of public forums on biotechnology-derived rice conducted over the past two months in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

The forums were held to create awareness of and consult the people of Nueva Ecija and nearby provinces regarding the contained field trial of biotech rices with Xa-21 gene for resistance to bacterial blight (BB), a major rice disease.

Farmers, students, and representatives of religious groups and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) attended the forums, which were coordinated by the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice).

Drs. Rodante Tabien and Rhodora Aldemita of PhilRice, the forums’ resource persons, reported that about 95 percent of the participants favored the contained field trial of biotech rice with BB resistance.

The conduct of the public hearings is one of the requirements of the National Committee on Biosafety of the Philippines (NCBP) for the approval of PhilRice’s proposal on the contained field testing of biotech rice. NCBP is the multisectoral body coordinated by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that regulates biotechnology-related studies in the country.

The trials, which are expected to begin late this year upon NCBP’s approval, will be conducted in two sites – at the PhilRice central experiment station in the Science City of Muñoz and at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños.

PhilRice pointed out that rice infected with bacterial blight suffer 20-30 percent yield loss and 50 percent or more in extreme cases of the disease’s occurrences. So far, the best control method is the use of resistant variety.

Dr. Aldemita, one of the proponents of the confined field trial, said the biotech rice lines with Xa-21 have been found resistant to nine races of BB in greenhouse ineculation tests.

PhilRice, in cooperation with IRRI, hopes to observe the performance of thee transgenic rice lines in a natural environment, in this case a contained experimental field.

Through the field trial, she averred, PhilRice and IRRI researchers will be able to verify if these lines are indeed resistant to BB disease as shown in greenhouse results. Moreover, the experiment will evaluate gene transfer in adjacent rice plants within the contained facility.

The biotech rices are resistant to bacterial blight owing to the presence of the Xa-21 gene.

Dr. Tabien reported that the gene was introduced into the IR72 variety through particle bombardment, one of the modern breeding techniques used in crop breeding.

The Xa-21 gene that expresses resistance to BB was from Oryza longistaminata, a wild rice found in Africa. So far, O. longistaminata is the best source of the gene effective against several races of BB, according to the PhilRice scientists.

Dr. Tabien further explained that Xa is the naming code for the genes effective against Xanthomonas campestris pv oryzae, the bacterium that causes the BB disease. The 21 is the gene number assigned to it during its registration.