$10-M IRRI seed lab to study climate change effect on rice

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—Imagine giant refrigerators and microwave ovens.

A $10-million (approximately P480 million) plant-growth facility, meant for the studies of the impact of climate change on rice production, has started operating at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) compound here.

Sprawled across a 3,000-square meter area, the Australian-funded facility has eight controlled environment glasshouses and large sets of plant and seed laboratories that can simulate weather conditions such as drought, flood and heat.

It allows researchers to “precisely control” temperature, humidity, light intensity, atmospheric gases and water management systems, an IRRI statement said.

“Fundamentally, (the facility will) enable scientists to simulate the effects of climate change,” said Bruce Tolentino, IRRI deputy director general for communication and partnerships, in an interview at the opening of the facility last week.

“We will know exactly how the plants react to the effects of climate change and ensure how [they] will continue to grow and be productive [under these conditions],” he said.

Tolentino described the chambers as something like “giant refrigerators, microwaves or incubators that simulate climate conditions experienced in different countries such as the Philippines, Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.”

The facility was named after Lloyd T. Evans, the late Australian plant physiologist and a member of the IRRI board of trustees from 1984 to 1989. It was funded by the Australian government through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Tolentino said about three to four dozen scientists from around the globe would be working at the new plant facility.

He said similar research facilities were being built by the Philippine government on the University of the Philippines Diliman and Los Baños campuses, but IRRI remains to be the leading institution in science work.