The Philippines has opened its first facility dedicated to agricultural genomics, the Agricultural Genomics Research Center (AGRC) at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB). The launch took place on 21 September, according to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which served as the project's management consultant.

The centre brings together genomics and other "omics" technologies, including transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, with bioinformatics, and is meant to serve as a national hub and a regional resource for research on crops, livestock and microorganisms. Its intended applications include climate resilience, food security and environmental sustainability.

For rice, IRRI says, genomic information can help breeders identify useful traits and speed up the development of varieties better adapted to drought, flooding, disease and other problems. The same methods can be applied to other crops, to livestock and to microorganisms.

The AGRC was built through a six-year, USD 14.95 million project funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in partnership with UPLB, with IRRI as project management consultant.

Photo: IRRI / CGIAR

Source: CGIAR