TO INCREASE  the competitiveness of the carabao mango, the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development invested P33 million on a project to be implemented by the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

The six-year program titled “Enhancing Competitiveness of Philippine ‘Carabao’ Mango through Varietal Improvement,” seeks to identify molecular markers associated with red blush, thick peel, and resistance to fruit fly and anthracnose through genotyping by sequencing technology.

It also aims to develop hybrids that may have the target traits singly or in combination with the other intended traits.

The program is spearheaded by Dr. Maria Luz Sison of the UPLB’s Institute of Plant Breeding.

Sison also presented the accomplishments of the project, “Characterization of ’Carabao’ and other Mango Varieties with Resistance to Fruit fly and Anthracnose.”

Through the project, she said four carabao mango selections with resistance to fruit fly and three other selections with resistance to anthracnose had been identified.

Meanwhile, Carolyn Alcasid, leader of the component project, “Characterization of ’Carabao’ and other Mango Varieties with Red Blush and Thick Peel, and Development of Hybrids,” said one carabao mango selection with excellent eating quality has been registered to the IPB Germplasm and Technology Release and Registration Office.

“The team also registered to the National Seed Industry Council two other mango varieties, ‘Mangoming’ and ‘Farrales’, which have potential for processing and as table type mango, respectively,” Alcasid said.

“Another Carabao mango selection with good eating quality and resistance to anthracnose was also identified and will be registered,” she added.

Among those who participated in the program review were the program team members from IPB-UPLB headed by Dr. Fe Dela Cueva, director of IPB and representatives of PCAARRD led by the Deputy Executive Director for Research and Development Dr. Feliciano Calora, Jr., Officer-in-Charge of the Crops Research Division Dr. Allan Siano and the CRD monitoring team.

Dr. Rene Rafael Espino, a retired professor from UPLB, served as the technical reviewer and evaluator.

“A phase 2 program in the pipeline will complete the characterization and evaluation of the developed mango hybrids,” the PCAARD said.