In a recent Mindanao-wide webinar, the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) introduced "omics" as an emerging field of scientific technology that involves the study of molecular interactions found in living organisms. During the webinar, Glenn B. Gregorio, SEARCA director, discussed the importance of integrating omics in crop breeding program from variety development up to commercialization.
The webinar titled "Omics Research, Moving Past Pandemics: Omics in Agriculture" organized by the Philippine Genome Center Mindanao focused on potential applications, challenges and solutions of omics technologies in mitigating impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Gregorio proposed a modern breeding program that includes laying out breeding strategies in a crop master plan that will also include crop market analysis or market intelligence, and strength-weakness-opportunity-threat analysis by market segment.
He said the future for crop improvement in the tropics is incredibly bright, built on a strengthening collaboration between the academic community and commercial crop breeders.
"Crop improvement seems slow in the view of business and other disciplines since developing commercially ready products takes a long process [and] many are impatient with this process and offer better techniques and tools to shorten it but still fail in the implementation of a new breeding program and much more in the commercialization stage," Gregorio said.
He noted omics research has been adversely affected by issues in agriculture, including increased productivity, product quality, resistance to pest and diseases, market of produce, climate change, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations economic integration.
"The recent levelling off in rice yields highlighted the need to introduce new sources of germplasm, genetic variation, and modern breeding techniques into existing rice breeding program," he said.
He noted that even if there is no change in harvested area, what needs to be done is to increase rice or cereal production in the next 10 years.
"We need to mechanize our farmlands and adapt digital agriculture; use smart seeds which are high-quality, pest and disease resistant, and climate change ready," Gregorio said.
He said there are innovative ways in conducting research and extension by considering the business component, value addition to produce, and market-driven and product-oriented research for development.
"The reality of genomics in agriculture is won or lost at the farmer and consumer level, where applicability and sustainability are tested," Gregorio added.