Pharmaceutical, industrial prospects eyed
The Philippines is exploring bamboo varieties that grow in rivers and volcanic areas of Cagayan Valley that may have huge economic potential for pharmaceutical-industrial products given a phytochemical screening under a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) project.
In a partnership with Cagayan State University (CSU)-Gonzaga, DENR is carrying out a phytochemical screening and DNA barcoding of economically important bamboo species in Cagayan Valley, the first of such study.
It will be carried out as part of the aim to conserve and propagate the species in typhoon-affected Cagayan Valley as earlier mandated by DENR.
The Bamboo Characterization Project of CSU-Gonzaga through its Project Leader Jeff M. Opeña was just presented at DENR Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) in Sta. Ana, Cagayan.
“Cagayan is rich natural systems, not only agro-ecosystems but grasslands, and others like waterfalls and volcanic areas where sulfur-rich soil is found. For example, we will study if the Bayog bamboo species carry different morphological and phytochemical characteristics when they are grown in sulfur-rich volcanic areas,” said Opeña.
The target for the study are bamboo species that grow in two of Cagayan Valley’s volcanoes — the Smith Volcano, also called Mount Babuyan, which is politically located in Calayan Island, and Mount Cagua in Gonzaga.
“Bamboo has numerous industrial, pharmaceutical, phytochemical, medical, nutritional, and food advantages. Characterization of bamboo germplasm is an important connection between conservation of diversity and utilization of germplasm (seeds or living tissues that carry genetic resources useful in plant breeding and conservation),” according to Alvin Jose L. Reyes and Eddie B. Abugan Jr of the Project Management Division (PMD).
PMD is one of the units of the DENR’s Foreign Assisted and Special Projects.
The bamboo project costs P1.601 million, consisting of P1.261 million from DENR and P340,000 from CSU. Aside from involving DENR’s local offices in Cagayan, the implementor includes the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Offices of Cagayan, and the Central Analytical Laboratory of CSU.
CSU obtained a “gratuitous permit” that allows it to collect bamboo samples to conduct the bamboo characterization in the Palaui Island Protected Landscape and Seascape.
The project also aims to refurbish a research laboratory in CSU-Gonzaga.
DNA barcoding will be a modern and innovative way to characterize bamboo species. It will accelerate experts’ identification of the species that they desire to use based on traits—such as fast propagation or medicinal properties.
Bamboo has been traditionally characterized based on its flowering frequency or abundance—annual flowering, sporadic or regular flowering, and gregarious flowering.
“However, characterization using floral morphology posed a limitation and difficulty due to the requirement of a long period which can occur in years or even decades,” according to Reyes and Abugan.
Moreover, biochemical characterization through phytochemical (plant chemistry) screening enables experts in pharmaceuticals and medicine to detect plant secondary metabolites in bamboo which have utilization potentials in the industry.
While primary metabolites include small molecules like amino acids and sugars, secondary plant metabolites such as alkaloids, anthocyanin, flavonoids, phenols, saponins, steroids, tannins, and terpenoids are studied for medicinal plant herbal purposes, among other possible commercial uses.
Former DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu ordered in November 2020 the extensive propagation of bamboo in Cagayan Valley to prevent massive flooding that plagued the province arising from Typhoon Ulysses.
Among other ecosystems the bamboo species will be studied in coastal areas, residential areas, grasslands, agroecosystems, near bodies of water (rivers, creeks, waterfalls, dams, lakes, freshwater, and hot springs), caves, the volcano, rainforests/forests, islands, protected areas, and others.
Executive Order 879 also mandated that 25% of the annual school desks of the Department of Education should be made of bamboo. EO 879 creates the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC).
DENR’s own reforestation areas should be planted with bamboo in its directive to DENR-attached Forest Management Bureau, Laguna Lake Development Authority, and Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
Aside from preventing the flooding effects of typhoons, DENR also aims to use bamboo as a tool for climate change mitigation. Bamboo is known to sequester five metric tons of carbon dioxide per hectare of plantation.
Bamboo is also being planted in the rivers of Marikina and Bicol, which areas usually flooded during typhoons.
DENR is also promoting its use as a lumber substitute using engineered bamboo.
While it has extensive use as raw material in many industries, the Philippines’ bamboo export slowed from a high of 106,000 kilos in 2011 to 35,000 in 2015 and even further lower to 8,00 kilos in 2018, according to Statista.com. Exports just picked up to 66,000 in 2020.
The DENR bamboo project is seen over the long term to help boost bamboo exports.