Los Baños, Laguna – Twelve hybrids of mango were confirmed through hybridity testing and three mango accessions with potential resistance to anthracnose were identified based on a review of a mango breeding program, on its second year. 
Titled Enhancing Competitiveness of Philippine ‘Carabao’ Mango through Varietal Improvement, the program with three component projects aims to identify molecular markers associated with red blush, thick peel, and resistance to fruit fly and anthracnose and to develop hybrids with those target traits.
The program is being funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) and is considered to be the first breeding program for the said commodity.
The accomplishments were presented by the project teams from the Institute of Plant Breeding University of the Philippines Los Baños (IPB-UPLB) led by program leader Ms. Lolita Valencia, and project leaders Drs. Eureka Teresa Ocampo and Maria Luz Sison.
Dr. Rene Rafael Espino, a crop improvement expert, and Dr. Rita Laude, an expert on crop genetics, both from UPLB, served as the members of the Technical Review and Evaluation Panel (TREP).
Since the program is the first extensive program on mango breeding in the Philippines, Dr. Espino encouraged the team to do their best and build the foundation of mango breeding in the country.
The program review is one of DOST-PCAARRD’s monitoring and evaluation activities to assess the accomplishments of the projects vis-à-vis their objectives and targets, and to identify the gaps in implementation to determine appropriate actions to address them.