Angara approves 55 new crop varieties, cultivars

Agriculture Secretary Edgardo J. Angara has approved some 55 new crop varieties/cultivars and parent fruit trees recommended by the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) for commercial production.

This was announced by Plant Industry Director Blo Umpar Adiong who is Executive Secretary of NSIC. Adiong said the crop varieties are rice-6; rootcrops-4; tobacco - 1; hybrid corn - 16; open-pollinated corn - 3; avocado -1; durian - 4; mangoes - 2 and mungbean - 1.

Adiong said that of the 55 crops varieties, seven came from the BPI National Crop Research and Development Center in Los Baños, Laguna and Davao; BPI Kidapawan, North Cotabato while one was surveyed in Guimaras.

The crops are:

Lacson Dos is a small seeded durian that has superior flavor. It is prolific, bearing 70-85 round fruits per tree each fruit weighing 3,600 grams. Its yellow flesh is soft creamy and buttery and has 38 percent edible portion.

Puyat Durian also came from the BPI Davao. It bears 50-70 ellipsoidal 50-70 fruits with 40 percent edible portion. Its flesh is chrome yellow, soft, creamy and buttery.

Fresco is a mango owned by Prevada G. Fresco of Aguilar, San Lorenzo, Guimaras and scouted by Sofia Covacha of BPI Guimaras. It bears 3,500-4,000 fruits of 249.9 g each, it has high edible portion (80.16 percent), has small stone and very sweet when ripe.

Mabunga 2 is a mungbean recommended for both we- yields 1085 kg/ha and dry season - yields 1113 kg/ha - planting. It has 24.54 percent - protein carbohydrates - 62.61 percent, starch - 45.28 percent, ash - 4.03 percent and 1.25 percent crude fat.

Four coffee varieties have also been approved. They are:

Cf-A-99-03 or Arabica 2 coffee yields 987.21 g. The berries are elliptically rounded in shape with colors green when immature and red when ripe. The beans are narrow elliptical in shape with lenght of 1.05 cm., 100 beans weigh 45.9 g at (11 percent MC).

Cf-R99-039 or RMS coffee yields 1,441.75 g. The berries are spherical in shape; when immature and red when ripe. The numbers of berries per node is 20. 100 fruits weight 90.81 g (fresh). The bean has a narrow elliptical shape with a lenght of 1.03 cm, 100 beans weigh 31.36 g at (11 percent MC).

Cf-R99-03 or IC2 coffee yields 1,590.0 g. The berries are spherical in shape; green when immature and yellow when ripe. There are 18 berries per node. The beans are narrow elliptical shaped of about 1.03 cm, 100 beans weigh 37.32 g at (11 percent MC).