COLLECTION, PROPAGATION AND CONSERVATION OF INDIGENOUS FRUITS IN THE PHILIPPINES

More than 300 edible fruit-bearing plant species have been recorded in the Philippines. No less than 100 species are considered indigenous or have been introduced during prehistoric times and are now considered indigenous. Since 1976 the National Plant Genetic Resources Laboratory (NPGRL) of the Institute of Plant Breeding (IPB) at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna has collected 51 indigenous fruit-bearing species. Sexual and asexual propagation methods were studied. Representative plants were established in the fruit gene bank of the Institute as well as in one private fruit orchard. Furthermore, germplasm collections of the more common indigenous fruits have been evaluated and superior parents trees have been selected and registered as new fruit varieties with the National Seed Industry Council of the Department of Agriculture.