The Institute of Plant Breeding of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (IPB-UPLB) is developing nutrient formulations for producing cheaper and clean potato planting materials through aeroponics.
Aeroponics is a soil-less method of producing potato seeds by enclosing plant roots in a dark compartment.
It requires a smaller space and potentially lower input costs like labor, nutrients, water, and chemical pesticides while producing more seeds relative to conventional seed production.
Aside from the nutrient formulations, systemic pesticides and root hormones were used to improve the `capability of the system.
The nutrient formulations were outputs of the project, potato seed production through aeroponics implemented by UPLB and the Department of Agriculture Region 10-Northern Mindanao Agricultural Crops and Livestock Research Complex and funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology.
The project targets a yield of 40 mini tuber plants, five times higher than that produced through the conventional method, which only produces eight mini tuber plants. The UPLB produced 15 mini tuber plants; Benguet State University, 19; and DA 10-NMACLRC, 27.
