Plant health management for quality planting materials was shared during the webinar of the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR) on 28 October 2021 via Facebook live.
Dr. Fe Dela Cueva, expert on Plant Pathology from the University of the Philippines-Institute of Plant Breeding, said that plant health management through precision diagnostics ensure the production and distribution of disease-free quality planting materials.
Further, she explained that plant diseases reduce the quality of food and threaten food production. “That is why ensuring disease-free quality planting materials is a key element in crop production through monitoring plant health, early detection of pathogens, and identification of major disease-causing organisms by reducing the spread of diseases, facilitating effective disease management strategies, thereby, increasing crop yield.”
This can be achieved, first, through the development of pathogen detection protocols through nucleic acid-based detection or antibody-based detection on various fruits (banana, guava, tamarind, rambutan, durian, duhat, cashew, mangosteen, and lanzones); on vegetables (cucumber, tomato, bitter gourd, eggplant, squash, lady fingers); on root crops like sweet potatoes; and ornamental crops.
Second, through diagnosis and indexing of important diseases of various crops and mass propagation and distribution of healthy planting materials to different DA-Regional Field Offices (RFO) and local government units in the regions.
And third, through collaboration with various institutions, including technical staff from DA-RFOs, provided knowledge through capacity building and training on disease diagnosis and plant micropropagation.
Dr. Dela Cueva, in her parting message, reminded that plant health monitoring is an important aspect of crop farming, and with the available information on plant diseases, appropriate control measures were recommended to ensure the plant health and the production of clean planting materials.