Seed Health and Logistics Unit

Unit Head: Dr Martina Castellion
Office Location: HQ, KJLampe building, 1st floor

Our work

The Seed Health and Logistics Unit (SHU) provides its customers with compliant, safe, efficient, and timely exchange of biological materials for research and development while preserving the environment and safeguarding human health. SHU ensures that the competent and skillful staff and IRRI collaborators will be able to deliver high-quality services to meet customer satisfaction.

SHU’s Quality Management System covers activities related to the exchange of biological materials at the headquarters in Los Banos, Philippines and conforms to ISO 9001:2015. SHU activities include all internal and external requirements for incoming and outgoing movements of biological materials including, but not limited to: seeds, grains, plants, seedlings, plant parts, microorganisms, animals, soil, water samples, DNA –including plasmids-, proteins, enzymes or other biological materials or by-products that require a permit for their movement.

SHU ensures full compliance with the plant quarantine regulations of the importing and exporting countries by following national and international sanitary and phytosanitary regulations and standards mandated by the Philippines Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and safe movement of modern biotechnology products including living modified organisms (LMOs) as mandated by the Department of Science and Technology - Biosafety Committee (DOST-BC) and the Department of Agriculture - Biosafety Committee (DA-BC).

SHU has a dedicated area for inspection and short-term storage of incoming materials. SHU laboratory processes samples for blotter test for detection of seedborne fungi; macro test for detection of Tilletia barclayana (kernel smut) contamination; PCR, ELISA and classic seed wash method for detection of seedborne bacteria; Baermann funnel and dehull-sieve extraction methods for detection of nematodes.

SHU treatment facility is dedicated to processing of consignments for dispatch including seed treatment, packing, inspection and fumigation. SHU maintains a post-entry quarantine area including 12.77 ha area field plots and 92 m2 area greenhouse dedicated to the initial planting of imported seed.

SHU verifies full conformance to applicable international agreements comprising access and use of genetic resources and intellectual property rights by ensuring all genetic resources exchanges are supported by their corresponding material transfer agreement.

All SHU processes are standardized in documented procedures for quality and transparency, thus maintaining tracking and traceability of all genetic resources movements. SHU is an ISTA member laboratory and operates under a memorandum of agreement with the National Plant Protection Organization in the Philippines.

Mission

Provide logistics solutions and innovations in seed health that add value to IRRI projects, globally, contributing to CGIAR impact, to transform food, land and water systems in a climate crisis.

Vision

A reliable partner, passionate about building bridges for impactful research and breeding for food and agriculture.

Quality Policy

The Seed Health Unit strives to facilitate biological materials exchange within IRRI and with IRRI partners and relevant stakeholders globally, continuously improving towards the most efficient processes while ensuring compliance with national and international regulations.

Current research projects

Development of an Innovation System for Climate Smart Pest Management in Rice

(DA-BAR, Philrice, BPI, IRRI. This is an across-platform collaboration RBI-SIRS)
Project lead: Nancy Castilla.

This project will expand the scope of crop health surveillance by characterizing the population structure of pathogens. This is a four-year project to develop and promote climate smart pest management that will reduce crop losses caused by pests, increase the income of Filipino farmers and improve environmental resilience in rice-farming communities of climate change vulnerable areas

Genebanks initiative Work package 2, outputs 2.6 and 2.7

WP lead is Lava Kumar (IITA)

The priorities of the Genebanks Initiative are framed by the Plant Treaty and Global Plan of Action, which are the results of years of highly participatory engagement between members of the international community and other stakeholders including farmers, seed industry, research organizations and civil society organizations.

Impacts of genetic innovations materialize when improved varieties are adopted by smallholder farmers, including women. All Initiatives in the GI Science Action Area jointly contribute to more efficient and faster development, release, dissemination, and adoption of improved, in-demand varieties through common impact pathways. Besides producing and delivering better quality seed to target beneficiaries in priority market segments, the proposed work aims at modernizing and transforming the genetic innovation system. Selected examples across all five impact areas show the aggregated projected benefits of all GI Initiatives working in collaboration and contributing at different stages along the impact pathways.

Plant Health Initiative Work package 1

WP lead is Monica Carvajal (CIAT)

The Plant Health and Rapid Response to Protect Food Security and Livelihoods Initiative purpose is to protect agriculture-based economies of low and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America from devastating pest incursions and disease outbreaks, by leveraging and building viable networks across an array of national, regional and global institutions. The aim for these networks include the establishment of regional diagnostic networks after identifying the regional diagnostic and surveillance specific needs, and the development, implementation, and scaling of tools for diagnostics and surveillance.

Our team

Skilled and proficient personnel are the major resources at SHU. Besides a thorough job description, the responsibilities and authorities for relevant roles/functions are clearly defined for every process. Likewise, SHU staff specific competence assessment for conducting each of these processes is recorded and monitored.

Subunits

1.1 Phytosanitary Actions Performance and Crop Health

Assigned to the timely and compliant performance and reporting of phytosanitary actions as deputized by the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Philippines in their memorandum of Agreement with IRRI. Phytosanitary actions encompass: seed health testing, seed treatment, dry seed inspection and surveillance and crop health monitoring for pests and diseases. Aforementioned activities are a requirement as defined in phytosanitary measures for transboundary movement of seed, grain and other biological materials. Along with engaging with the BPI plant quarantine service in regards to technical matters related to pest risk and plant quarantine, this subunit fulfills its role by monitoring overall crop health at the IRRI campus and coordinating actions to mitigate the spread of pests and diseases.

1.2 Database Management

The Database Management subunit ensures compliance with appropriate Intellectual Property (IP) requirements, quarantine clearance and germplasm exchange procedures and reporting. It coordinates with concerned IRRI units on protocols to be followed, prepares and validates accuracy and completeness of necessary documentation to secure IPRs including material transfer agreement and shipment delivery, and ensures that all SHU related data are properly recorded and stored for access, retrieval and reporting.

1.3 Quality Assurance

The Quality Assurance subunit ensures that the final products and services consistently observe quality standards for excellence. This subunit is responsible for the development and implementation of inspection activities and monitoring of critical control points, the detection and resolution of problems, the delivery of satisfactory outcomes and the management of complaints from customers including researchers and unit heads and department directors. The quality assurance specialist also fulfills their function by conducting site reviews, internal audits, drafting quality standards and advising management on ways to improve operations.

The Research Manager, Associate Manager Phytosanitary actions performance and Crop Health, Assistant Manager Material transfer Agreement, Jr Specialist Coordination Documentation and Compliance and Specialist Quality Assurance integrate the SHU leadership team.

Photos (2022)

Year End activity

Workshop

From our breeding ground

Plant quarantine - All activities designed to prevent the introduction or spread of quarantine pests or to ensure their official control

Phytosanitary Actions - operations undertaken, such as inspection, seed health testing, seed treatment, and surveillance & crop monitoring to prevent the introduction or spread of quarantine pests, or to limit the economic impact of regulated non-quarantine pests.

Seed Health Testing / Routine Seed Health Testing - includes:

Visual examination of seeds for presence of Tilletia barclayana (rice kernel smut) using low power magnification
Detection of seedborne fungi
Detection of seedborne nematode Aphelenchoides besseyi (causal organism of white tip or rice)
Detection of regulated bacteria

Material Transfer Agreement - is a contract between the provider of material and the recipient. It grants the recipient a license to use (freedom to operate) the proprietary material and ensures that both parties understand how the materials can be used (purpose of use).

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