Agriculture Business Week

PCAMRD’s Dr. Rafael Guererro III gives an update on how artificial sex reversal is applied in tilapia.

Tilapias are warm water fishes originating from Africa and the Middle East that have been introduced to the Philippines for fish farming since 1050. The main tilapia Species cultured in ponds, cages and pens in the country is the Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). The Mozambique tilapia (Orenchromis mossnrnhiciis) and its hybrid with the Nile tilapia are grown in brackishwater ponds while the red tilapia (a hybrid of the Nile and Mozambique tilapias) is also produced in freshwater ponds and tanks to some extent are also commercially produced in the country.

A major drawback in the culture of tilapias is their ability to mature early at 2-3 months of age and breed frequently (every month at most). These characteristics cause the over-population of the stocked tilapia in ponds and the stunted growth of the fish. Moreover, with mixed-sex tilapia stocks, the sizes of the harvested fish vary from small to large because of the difference in the growth of the faster-growing males compared to the females. (more…)

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Posted on August 6th, 2008 under Aquaculture. Tags: Fish, Tilapia. Comments: None

Here’s a fearless forecast on what’s brewing for poultry breeders and broiler raisers.

The poultry industry is now on the threshold of a new scientific expansion in genetic improvement through molecular breeding. Established breeding practices, inspired by quantitative genetics, treat the animal as a black box with an imprecise number of genes that dictate its varied characteristics.

The 1980s significantly mark this technological timeline, where, slowly but surely, this black box was opened. The first major development that changed the surface of poultry breeding was the discovery of genetic markers. Genetic markers that shape the most widely used category were small anonymous repeat sequences of DNA called micro satellites that are scattered across the entire genome and can be used as landmarks to create a map of the genome.

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Posted on August 6th, 2008 under Poultry. Tags: Broiler, Chicken, Poultry. Comments: None

The use of TVP can bring down the cost of this old-fashioned recipe by 50%.

Menudo is an old-fashioned recipe which is normally served for fiesta, carinderia and special occasions. Pork and chicken are the varieties of meat that are being used for this recipe. For every preparation, one kilogram of meat is used in the amount of Php 150 per kilogram which can produce a yield of 12-14 serving portions.

The use of Textured Vegetable Protein Chunks (from Legacy USA) can bring down the cost of the recipe by 50%, by including i5o grams of TVP hydrated with 300 cc of water for three minutes. The hydrated TVP chunks can bring down the cost of the meat by 50% but the number of serving portions is still 12 - 14.
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Posted on August 6th, 2008 under Income Booster. Tags: Recipes. Comments: None

How that nature is horrendously unleashing its wrath due to man’s neglect, insensitivity and “sins” of environmental commission and omission, the agricultural world is joining the call not only to save the planet, but also to create measures to maintain our food security and power use. Biogas, the alternative fuel made from certain organic materials, has never been more relevant than now. And in the world of biogas technologies, particularly bio-digesters, one company stands out-PhilBIO.

For more than six years, Philippine Bio-Sciences Co., Inc. (PhilBIO) is at the helm in the design, installation of waste-to-energy (WTE) at farms, industrial plants and municipal waste facilities. A subsidiary of AsiaBioGas Co. Ltd, headquartered in Thailand, PhilBIO and its four other companies, have successfully implemented over 30 waste-to-energy systems using proprietary in ground bio-digester techniques known under the brand name “Covered Inground Anaerobic Reactor (CIGAR). The company’s systems treat wastewater effectively through the proper cultivation of microbial sludge to remove significantly the BOD and COD in wastewater, thereby capturing the biogas for on-site power use.

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Posted on August 6th, 2008 under SPOTlight, Technology. Tags: Biogas, Digesters. Comments: None