Search

Many indigenous plants of the Philippines, including essential oil-bearing species, remain phytochemically and pharmacologically unexplored. In this study, the chemical composition of leaf essential oils (EOs) hydrodistilled from Litsea leytensis (Lauraceae) and Piper philippinum (Piperaceae) was determined using dual-column (HP-5MS/DB-WAX)/dual-detector gas chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis. Caryophyllene oxide (15.751/16.018%) was identified as the main compound in L. leytensis EO, followed by β-caryophyllene (11.130/11.430%) and α-copaene (9.039/9.221%). Ishwarane (25.937/25.280%), nerolidol (9.372/10.519%) and 3-ishwarone (6.916/2.588%) were the most abundant constituents of P. philippinum EO. Additionally, the in vitro growth-inhibitory activity of the EOs in the liquid and vapour phases against Staphylococcus aureus was evaluated using the broth microdilution volatilisation assay. Although the results showed no anti-staphylococcal effect, the presence of various bioactive compounds in both EOs suggests their potential future use in industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Philippines is one of the few countries in the world which was originally and thoroughly covered by rain forest. The conversion of natural forests to agricultural land uses has led to land degradation. Soil is a vital resource for human survival in that it is the medium in which most plants grow, it cleans and stores water, detoxifies pollutants, and plays a key role in the regulation of the Earth's temperature. One of the intentions of rainforestation farming (planting of native tree species) is to regenerate soil fertility. However, the effect of native forest trees on soil fertility is still poorly understood. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate the influence of native trees on the fertility status of the soil in Mailhi, Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines. Two adjacent sites were evaluated and sampled. These were the 22-year-old rainforestation farm and the nearby coconut plantation. At each site, a 20 m x 20 m plot for sampling purposes was established which was divided into four parts. In each part, four (4) composite soil surface samples were collected from a soil depth of 0-20 cm using a soil auger. Each of the four composite samples came from three (3) subsamples. The subsamples were mixed, and one-half kilogram was placed in properly labelled plastic bags and brought for processing and laboratory analysis. Results revealed that the rainforestation farm did not have an effect on water holding capacity and soil pH but significantly increased the organic matter and total N contents of the soil, when compared with the nearby coconut plantation. On the other hand, available P and exchangeable K were lower in the soil under native tree species compared to the coconut plantation. The results indicate that indeed, the native trees in the rainforestation site have caused important changes to the fertility status of the soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study delves into the development of Rainforestation into an instrument for Environmental Education. It utilizes the qualitative narrative research method to investigate the experiences of a people's organization in a rural community in Leyte, Philippines. This paper explores into the aspects of how Rainforestation has served as a tool to teach people to care for the natural environment. Moreover, this paper also looks into the challenges that the members of the people's organization met in adopting and implementing the Rainforestation program. Finally, this study inquires into the things that Environmental Education has brought to the adopters' community through the years. This study then concludes that Rainforestation has become an instrument for Environmental Education because of the learning by doing principle. It concludes further that though many challenges have confronted the adopters in the process of Rainforestation adoption, said challenges had been overcome because of adopters' resolve that it was their only hope to address the gross exploitation of the environment. Lastly, this study concludes that Rainforestation has brought educational, environmental, and economic benefits to the members of the people's organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquilaria is a genus of about 20 species distributed mainly in the Indo-Malesian region. The genus Aquilaria belongs to the Thymelacaceae family of Indo-Malayan trees known for producing the world's most expensive oils, which are naturally occurring throughout the Philippines. Aquilaria is well known for the production of agarwood which is a highly wanted forest product of substantial economic value. In the Philippines, there is limited published information on the physical condition, habitat structure, and ecological threats of Aquilaria, which is a crucial factor to determine the optimum requirements to develop Aquilaria production system. Hence, this study was conceptualized to assess the habitat structure of Aquilaria as well as its conservation and ecological threats in the wild. Assessment, surveys and interview were conducted to gather on-site atmospheric data as well as ecological threats of Aquilaria in the wild. Soil collection was also gathered to analyzed soil properties. The results revealed that there were two species of Aquilaria documented in the study site, namely: A. malaccensis and A. cumingiana. Moreover, the soil chemical properties are not significant between different topographic expositions, but it is acidic and generally have low nutrient status. Furthermore, the conservation and ecological threats documented in the study site are unsustainable harvesting, a massive collection of regenerant, and inflecting damage of Aquilaria by punching nails or drilling holes in the trunk of standing mature tree. Therefore, it is highly recommended that Aquilaria should be protected, particularly A. malaccensis, since it is rare and considered a new record of occurrence to Leyte Island as one of the major findings of the study. The establishment of Aquilaria based production system is necessary as an option to reduce the rampant illegal poaching of agarwood in the wild but should be established on private land and registered with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Philippine forest land is among the top threatened biodiversity areas in the world and one of the major causes is deforestation. In rainforestation, a reforestation approach developed by Visayas State University (VSU) where pioneer tree species are planted first to copy the natural flow of forest succession. Studies on early successional tree species are limited, especially on determining the growth performance as affected by nutrient deficiency. The study was conducted under screen house condition at the Terrestrial Ecosystems Division (TED), Institute of Tropical Ecology and Environmental Management (ITEEM), VSU, Philippines. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of nutrient omission on morphological and physiological growth of Trema orientalis L. (Blume) Ulm at seedling stage. The experimental design was randomized complete block design, with 7 treatments and 3 replications with 35 seedlings in each replication which constituted a total of 735 seedlings. The root collar increment, plant height increment, number of leaves, leaf area, dry biomass and root shoot ratio were evaluated. After six months of fertilizer application, results showed that there was an increasing influence (p≤0.01) to the root collar diameter increment, plant height increment, number of leaves and leaf area specially in –Ca treatment. The biomass production and rootshoot ratio was significantly affected (p≤0.01) in control and –N treatments. Stunted growth and reduced leaf were exhibited in seedlings planted at -N and control treatments. Furthermore, the result showed that the omission of calcium has positive effects (p≤0.01) while omitting nitrogen showed negative effects (p≤0.01) on the morphology and physiology of Trema orientalis. Therefore, the omission of macronutrients at early seedling stage of Trema orientalis growth has positively (p≤0.01) and negatively (p≤0.01) affected the growth performance of the study plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainforestation is a Visayas State University (VSU) technology designed as an alternative method to Philippine Government's thrust for massive reforestation. Rainforestation's purpose is to plant denuded lands with Philippine Native Trees together with high value crops and fruit trees. With this, ecological functions could be re-established while subsistence farmers would be provided with a stable and sustainable income. For the past twenty plus years, the first batch of individual and group adopters have toiled to succeed in their Rainforestation efforts and are, at present, already reaping the fruits of their labors. Moreover, said adopters are also inspiring new groups of adopters to also adopt Rainforestation. Yet, such things would not be possible without environmental education that has been provided by VSU, Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), and the Environment Leadership Training Initiatives (ELTI). Hence, this study aims to understand how Rainforestation has affected the adopters' lives for the past twenty years, examine how environmental education has contributed to sustainable development, and decipher how environmental education has influenced new sets of adopters to go into Rainforestation. In order to achieve the said objectives, this study makes use of hermeneutic phenomenology and focus group discussions to arrive at the adopters' points of views and sentiments towards the connection between environmental education, sustainable development, and Rainforestation. Furthermore, this study concludes that the adopters have already enjoyed economic benefits, sustainable source of water, and biodiversity restoration through Rainforestation adoption. This study also concludes that environmental education is one of the main factors why individuals and groups have adopted Rainforestation by informing them that growing native trees together with fruit trees is doable and possible. Lastly, this study further concludes that the spread of Rainforestation has been an offshoot of the greater reach of education and information dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technical possibility to manufacture fibreboards based on coconut husk and bonded with tannin adhesive formulation was shown. However, there were limited information on the husk production in different coconut producing provinces in the Philippines. Surveys and interviews were conducted to assess husk productivity and utilization by the smallholder coconut farmers. In 2014 and 2015, a total of 13 top coconut producing provinces in the Philippines were surveyed. A total of 1,200 coconut farmers were interviewed. A total of 200 nuts were sampled from the six provinces in the Philippines to characterize husk of coconut. Statistical analysis results showed that the weight of husks are significantly different (p = 0.05) between the provinces across the islands. The heaviest husks (dry weight) were in the province of Northern Samar (463 ± 11 grams). The mean density (ton ha-1 yr-1) of husk production in the 13 provinces was analyzed using the Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial analyst tool. Among the 13 provinces surveyed, Davao Oriental in Mindanao had the highest density (0.70 - 1.43), followed by Camarines Sur (0.66 - 1.29) in Luzon. In the Visayas, Northern Samar (0.55 - 1.17) has the highest density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pineapple fiber offers a promising contribution in the developing geo-textile industry in Balete, Aklan. To support this initiative, a study was conducted to assess the different agroecological production systems of Ananas comosus var. Red Spanish for fiber production and determine the biomass production, fiber yield, and fiber recovery of Red Spanish grown under different agroecological production systems. Five study sites were selected with varying socio-cultural management systems which included a) intensive pineapple monoculture; b) traditional pineapple monoculture; c) pineapple-rambutangmelina; d) pineapple-rambutan-banana and e) pineapple-indigenous trees. Results showed that the pineapple planted underneath the indigenous trees significantly (p=0.05) produced lower biomass but higher fiber yield (p=0.05) as compared to the other four production systems studied. It was found out that there was a significant correlation (r=0.93) between leaf weight, length, and fiber yield. However, no significant difference on fiber recovery was observed between study sites. On the other hand, pineapple-indigenous trees agroecological system had higher NPK contents compared to those in the other study sites. Therefore, integrating the pineapple with indigenous trees is the most sustainable production system since this will lead to better soil fertility and provide optimum fiber yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of Integrated Social Forestry (ISF) program involved huge investments from the government and donor agencies. Considering these investments, is ISF program effective enough in attaining its objectives? In view of this question, an indepth analysis of the Panian ISFP model site was conducted. The study was conceptualized to assess the policy implementation status and socio-ecological impact of ISFP to the Certificate of Steward Contract (CSC) holders after 25 years from project implementation. The results of the study showed that CSC holders considered reforestation and agroforestry activities successful due to the increase in biomass and litter production that considerably enhances soil fertility. Likewise, the CSC holders had noticed that the water yield in the community significantly improved and there is a reduction of harvest losses because of reforestation and agroforestry interventions. However, site assessment revealed that most of the CSC holders have not planted 20% of the area with trees as required in the contract. In fact, it is common to find CSC areas fully planted with coconuts. This manifests that the government recognition of forest claims further enhance the conversion of forest land into agricultural plantations. On the other hand, the result indicated that policy concerning delegation of responsibilities within ISFP devolution was unclear and confusing since LGUs' responsibilities on forest land are still under the supervision, control, and review of DENR. The LGUs pointed out that financial problems, lack of capability, deficiency in the management and cooperation, and lack of personnel were the factors that deter them to continue the support for Panian ISFP model site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]