PLANT MATERIAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

 

 

OBJECTIVE

 

The objective of plant material certification is the production and distribution of high quality planting materials of superior varieties of known genetic identity and varietal purity including freedom from known systemic diseases and insect pests and with good market potential locally and globally.

 

 

THE CERTIFYING ORGANIZATION

 

The Bureau of Plant Industry through the National Seed Quality Control Services implements Plant Material Certification pursuant to the provisions of the IRR of R.A. No. 7308, known as the Seed Industry Development Act of 1992, Article II, Section C; through Administrative Order No. 44, Series of 2000, the General Guideline for Certification of Fruits and Plantation Seeds signed by then Sec. Edgardo J. Angara, Secretary of Agriculture.

 

As such:  

 

ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTIFICATION

 

Only those varieties that are duly registered and approved by the National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) and has undergone the prescriptive evaluation and indexing and are known to be free from any systemic diseases and can thrive well in the locality shall be eligible for certification .

 

 

CLASSES OF PLANT MATERIAL RECOGNIZED

 

FOR CERTIFICATION

 

A. PARENT SOURCE TREE

 

The Parent Source Tree is the tree directly controlled or owned by an orchardist / plant breeder / grower, which has been registered and approved by the Technical Working Group (TWG) on Fruits and Plantation Crops, NSIC possessing superior quality and proven to be good source of planting materials. After prescriptive evaluation of the team from the Plant Material Certification-National Seed Quality Control Services (PMC-NSQCS), this will be tagged as the PARENT SOURCE TREE. 

 

B. FOUNDATION / SCION TREE

 

The foundation / scion tree is the tree grown in the Foundation / Scion Grove which is owned / controlled by the government. The parentage of the Foundation Tree must be from the Certified Parent Source Tree. This will be tagged after prescriptive evaluation as the FOUNDATION / SCION TREE and will serve as source of scions or planting materials for multiplication in the Scion Groves.

 

C. CERTIFIED SCIONS

 

Certified scions are the bud sticks, graft sticks, etc. collected from the trees in the foundation/Scion Groves to be distributed and used by the accredited nursery owners for multiplication.

 

D. CERTIFIED SEEDLINGS

 

These are planting materials sold in the accredited nurseries whose parentage, collection and asexual propagation has been known and monitored by the certifying agency. Each seedling shall be tagged as CERTIFIED SEEDLING (sexually/asexually propagated, tissue cultured, etc.)

 

 

GENERAL PROCEDURES

 

A. Application for Inspection, Certification and Fees Charged

  1. Owners of registered trees, foundation/scion groves and nursery operators / nurserymen who wish to participate in the program must make an application to PMCU’s-NSQCS (BPI-NSQCS PMC Form AC#1). The BPI-NSQCS PMC Form #LM1 must be attached to the application form as well as the approved FPC-NSIC Form No.1. Applicants shall agree to comply with all the conditions, which apply to the Plant Material Certification Program.

  2. An application fee of P25.00 per tree shall accompany the applicants form (BPI-NSQCS PMC Form #AC 1). The said application fee shall be for the sole purpose of defrying expenses incurred in the inspection, testing as may be required, site approval and certification procedures.

  3. Application shall be acted upon in the order by which they are received.

  4. In cases where services are not rendered, fees paid shall be refunded to the applicant.

In case of the government owned foundation/scion grove:

  1. The Plant Material Certification Team will require the in-charges of the foundation grove to submit an application for certification (BPI-NSQCS PMC FORM AC #1). The BPI NSQCS PMC Form LM #1-Location Map must be attached to the application form.

  2. The in-charges will submit the requirements to the Plant Material Certification Unit, National Seed Quality Control Services.

  3. Upon completion of the requirements, the PMC Team will schedule the inspection.

  4. The established foundation grove will be evaluated, monitored and inspected for two  (2) consecutive fruiting seasons and must pass the standards for evaluation of foundation grove.

  5. Each tree that will pass the evaluation will be tagged as FOUNDATION TREE with corresponding certification tags and codes.

  6. The certified foundation tree will serve as the source of scion for commercial production and will be regularly indexed and inspected.

  7. An agreement will be signed so as to monitor the release and distribution of scions to certified nurseries only.

  8. Any deviation from the Mother Tree, occurrence of any systemic diseases, mutation and any other form of physiological and morphological changes will cancel the certification.

  9. Refusal, suspension or cancellation of registration or certification of trees or seedlings will automatically take effect upon non-conformance with the standards.

B. Release of Certified Scions

 

  1. An application form for acquisition of certified scions (BPI-NSQCS PMC Form ASP #2) must be secured from the Plant Material Certification Unit, National Seed Quality Control Services.

  2. Certified scions will only be released to certified nurseries/nursery operators for propagation upon satisfying the requirements for acquisition.

  3. The inspector must visit the nurseries and take note of the conditions of the seedling stocks ready for propagation

  4. Actual number of eligible stocks to be propagated plus an allowance of 10-15% for possible replacement will be the number of scions to be released by the foundation grove owner.

C. Production of Certified Seed/Plant Materials

  1. Plant nursery operators who have good trees and had passed the prescriptive evaluation of the NSIC can go to production of certified plant materials utilizing their own registered parent trees as source of scions.

  2. Registered nurseries, which do not own registered plants for their requirement, shall secure certified scions through application to the Plant Material Certification Unit, NSQCS.

D. Inspection of Nurseries

  1. All the plants in the foundation/scion groves, accredited nurseries and seed gardens are subject to periodic ocular inspection, evaluation and indexing to determine the possibility of field infection or contamination by destructive disease and other pests

  2. The plant material inspectors shall examine carefully all the existing plants in field/nurseries and evaluate carefully the factors affecting the eligibility for certification

  3. A plant/seedling/seed becomes ineligible for certification if they are found infected and/or showing typical symptoms of any systemic disease known to affect them.

  4. Planting materials produced commercially automatically become ineligible for certification if the source of propagative materials come from unknown source or unregistered parent plant and/or unregistered nurseries or for any reason the identity of a plant becomes uncertain or has not been properly maintained.

 

EVIDENCE OF ELIGIBILITY FOR CERTIFICATION

  1. Tags and Labels

  1. Plant Materials (Asexually and Sexually propagated)

Plants asexually and sexually propagated for commercial planting by any authorized seed producer must be carrying official certification tag properly attached to each plant with the necessary labeling information before they could finally be recognized as certified seedling. As such, the official certification tag includes the necessary labeling information such as:

 

 

 

MINIMUM STANDARD FOR FOUNDATION/SCION GROVES

 

Foundation/scion grove is the source of propagative materials for use by commercial nurseries in the production of certified plants.

 

For Foundation/Scion Groves to be eligible for certification the following standards must be satisfied:

  1. The area must be government owned.

  2. The number of plants planted per variety must depend on the flushing ability of the crop ( for mango, eight plants is required and for rambutan there should be about four plants per selection/year).

  3. There must be a ready source of irrigation water complemented with the quarterly application of fertilizer for the continuous growth of the crop.

  4. There must be good management program in the area with regular monitoring of insect pests and disease situation before any chemical spray.

  5. Record keeping of the activities in the area like cultural management practice, number of flushing, date of flushing, collection of scion must always be at hand and reported to the PMCU-NSQCS.

  6. Monthly report must be submitted to the NSQCS and any observed deviation from the Mother Tree must be noted.

  7. Inspection must be done twice in every growing season.