Technology to Yield 300 Seedlings from One Coconut

Coconut somatic embryogenesis technology (CSet), a research initiative supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), can yield as much as 300 seedlings from just one coconut.  The idea is to generate not one planting material from one coconut, the way it is done now, but at least 100 planting materials and up to a thousand from the same one coconut or one coconut plumule, the primary bud of a coconut embryo.  

DOST Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña said the research program in collaboration with the PCA research center in San Ramon, in Zamboanga City is one of six simultaneous projects doing the same research optimizing Cset.  The highest yield has been attained at the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB) but researchers at different centers are leading towards high numbers of planting materials, Dela Peña said.  

Using genetic materials from high yielding tall and dwarf varieties, the target is 1,000 seedlings from one coconut plumule.  “Imagine the impact on the coconut replanting program,” Dela Peña said, adding it means fast-tracking the replacement of old coconut trees with new, high quality, high vigor coconuts.