PH-Chinese Taipei project explores sources of disease resistance in tomatoes and peppers

A three-year collaboration project between the Philippine government and Chinese Taipei studies the sources of disease resistance against bacterial wilt and anthracnose in tomatoes and peppers. By the end of the project, it hopes to breed tomatoes and peppers resistant to the said diseases.

The project, “Disease Resistant Tomato and Pepper for Chinese Taipei and the Philippines” is monitored by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD). The project is under the Manila Economic and Cultural Office – Taipei Economic Cultural Office (MECO-TECO) Joint Research Program and is being implemented by the Institute of Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture and Food Science, University of the Philippines Los Baños (IPB-CAFS, UPLB).

According to Dr. Mark Angelo O. Balendres, project leader and the current head of the IPB-CAFS, UPLB, bacterial wilt in production areas in the Philippines is caused by two Ralstonia species namely, R. pseudosolanacearum and R. solanacearum.

Preliminary results showed that at least 10 tomato lines out of 23 lines screened, exhibited high resistance and tolerance against R. pseudosolanacearum and R. solanacearum.

Also, they found that there are Colletotrichum morphotypes that can penetrate through pepper fruits even without the presence of wounds.

Colletotrichum species are pathogens causing anthracnose in economically important crops like pepper.

These accomplishments were reported, reviewed, and evaluated in a virtual meeting organized recently by the Crops Research Division (CRD) of DOST-PCAARRD.

The meeting was participated by project team members from UPLB, Dr. Tonette P. Laude as the Technical Evaluator, and CRD representatives led by Ms. Renelle C. Yebron, Senior Science Research Specialist and Assistant Section Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Section. (Joel Norman R. Panganiban, DOST-PCAARRD S&T Media Services).