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Dahil sa research: Here's how a Pinoy scientist saved the world's corn industry

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/news/10/10/20191010-ricardo-lantican.jpg"/><figcaption><em>Photo from National Academy of Science and Technology</em></figcaption></figure></div><p><br/>MANILA - A Filipino scientist&#x27;s research back in 1961 saved the world&#x27;s corn industry a decade later.</p><p>National Scientist Dr. Ricardo M. Lantican, in 1961, co-authored a study on the disease called Southern corn leaf blight, which affected a number of crops in the cornfields of University of the Philippines Los Baños, according to an article published by science news website <a href="https://www.flipscience.ph/news/features-news/features/national-scientist-ricardo-lantican">FlipScience.</a></p><p>According to Lantican and his team&#x27;s research, corn crops with the T-cytoplasm trait are more susceptible to the disease.</p><p>Unfortunately, Lantican&#x27;s team&#x27;s research went unnoticed until 1970, when corn crops in the US were infected with the same disease caused by the Helminthospcrium maydis fungus.</p><p>The said disease decimated the US&#x27; corn yield that year, and it was only that time when they realized the value of Lantican&#x27;s study, published almost a decade earlier.</p><div><script src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v2.5" async="" type="text/javascript"></script></div><div class="fb-post" data-href=" https://www.facebook.com/FlipScience/photos/a.466183523911708/627930584403667/?type=3&amp;theater" data-width="auto"> </div><p>It was only at that time when people realized that Lantican and his team have already studied the problem way before the disease caused a problem in the US.</p><p>Aside from research on corn, Lantican also developed over 20 enhanced varieties of mungbean, soybean and peanuts.</p><p>It was because of his contributions to research and agriculture that Lantican received the National Scientist title in 2005.</p><p>FlipScience first published its article on Lantican in January 2019.</p><p>On Wednesday, Senator Cynthia Villar chastised the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday over what she said was its bloated budget on research on corn. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/10/09/19/puro-research-villar-hits-agriculture-budget-on-corn-program">&#x27;Puro research&#x27;: Villar hits agriculture budget on corn program</a></li></ul><p>During a Senate hearing on the agriculture budget, Villar said the DA&#x27;s National Corn Program was allocating too much on personnel services and research, and not enough on delivering actual services to farmers. </p>

<p>A Filipino scientist's research back in 1961 saved the world's corn industry a decade later.<br /> </p>

A Filipino scientist's research back in 1961 saved the world's corn industry a decade later.