PCA-Albay: breathing life into coconut R&D

Research and development efforts continue to breathe life into the tree of life that is coconut.

At the 63-hectare Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA)-Albay Research Center (ARC) in Guinobatan, Albay, a small team of four dedicated scientists, together with nine

Coconut clonal propagation
With clonal propagation, the coconut’s tissues from parts like plumule (from the embryo) and inflorescence (flowers) undergo simulated growth in a specially formulated nutrient medium in a test tube. Given its hit-and-miss nature, however, clonal propagation has not been perfected by the team yet.

According to Orense, it takes 13–24 months to complete the tissue culture process to produce a healthy coconut clone. And the steps require patience and precision. At present, they are still looking at the problems in each step.

Orense admits the difficulty of coconut research because results don’t come easy. It has been 16 years since the ARC scientists took off from the clonal propagation project of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). “We need to assure the genetic integrity of the cultures and clones,” explains Orense, who hopes to work on DNA fingerprinting with the second phase of the project funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD).

Under the same project, protein analysis is underway to identify the protein markers that will determine if the work is on track.

The first phase, which ran for three years, was also funded by PCARRD. The Council’s funds has helped maintain the state-of-the-art ARC tissue culture laboratory screenhouse, including the purchase of some equipment.

Research funds also came from the European Union and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

The ARC scientists are hoping that one day, they will be able to repeatedly produce, from coconut flowers, at least 100 clones, take them out from the laboratory, and successfully grow them all on soil. Only then will they be able to say that the results have been significant.

Embryo-cultured Makapuno (ECM)
Embryo-cultured Makapuno, on the other hand, is the pride of PCA-ARC.

Division Chief Erlinda P. Rillo, Scientist IV, who has been growing Makapuno embryos in test tubes at the ARC laboratory for as long as she can remember, says that their embryo culture technique is now perfect. “We now have an optimized embryo culture protocol that is transferable and allows for at least 50% success of all Makapuno embryos planted, where before only 10–20% success was achieved,” says Rillo.

In fact, she says that if the plantation is relatively big, it is possible to achieve a 100% Makapuno yield from ECM palms. She cites the 10-hectare ECM plantation in Pilar, Sorsogon, and the 8-hectare Mitra farm in Sto. Tomas, Batangas, where ECM palms are producing 98–100% Makapuno nuts. These farms have been making the most of Rillo’s expertise in embryo culture.

At PCA-ARC, its 1.5-hectare Makapuno plantation, which is in the midst of other coconut varieties, yields 79–85% Makapuno.

Rillo and her team have improved the embryo culture technique of the late Dr. Emerita de Guzman of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) in the 1960s. With embryo culture, the production of healthy Makapuno plants is assured. On its own, the Makapuno embryo does not germinate; hence, it needs to be “rescued” and ‘cultured,” using a special medium of sugars, vitamins, and other elements, in the laboratory.

So what is so special about this mutant coconut of the Laguna variety, whose embryo rots eventually when not aided to develop normally?

It has potential as a multimillion-dollar industry. The local demand for the soft solid, jelly-like Makapuno meat is 4 million kilograms a year and only less than 3% is being met. Food manufacturers and fast-food chains like Jollibee have huge requirements for Makapuno. In 2004, it was exported, mostly as bottled preserve, to 41 countries.

Moreover, Rillo says that Makapuno’s high galactomannan content—a cellulosic material––has a variety of untapped uses: in the food industry as an edible candy wrapper; a material in microchips; a substance in pharmaceuticals; and even as an ingredient in personal care like facial masks.

If only the Philippines had an adequately funded, focused Makapuno development program, including product development, according to Rillo, the country could be the biggest producer of Makapuno and its high-value products in the world.

Realization came to her in 1989 when she visited a laboratory culturing Makapuno embryos in Bangkok, Thailand. To her surprise, the embryos were coming from Alaminos, Laguna, and the Thai scientist doing it was a UPLB graduate. These ECMs were being planted in Thailand’s Makapuno Island, south of Bangkok. What she saw prompted her to do something about this taken-for-granted high-value coconut germplasm.

“Makapuno is coconut, I am working at the Philippine Coconut Authority, and nobody is doing Makapuno research,” she decries. She talks about the efforts in Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, and Papua New Guinea in trying to develop their own kind of Makapuno. In the Philippines, where the tree of life thrives in abundance, Makapuno is at the backside, basically because copra, the traditional money-maker, cannot be made from it. And so this tireless scientist, who vows to keep going even after retirement, has been bringing her Makapuno advocacy to the industries and local governments in coconut-producing provinces.

In Bicol, she was able to encourage three local governments to shell out P300,000 each to ARC to produce ECM seedlings. This scheme hopes to make Bicol the region with the most number of ECM palms in the country.

“There are many interested persons willing to invest once affordable planting materials are available,” she says. One ECM seedling sells at P600.

In 10 years’ time, Rillo and her team are looking at a significant Makapuno industry with diversified food and non-food products already in the market. (Eileen C. Cardona, S&T Media Service)