The research of the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) on the development of pen-side Caprine Arthritis Encephalitis Virus (CAEV) test kit for goats bagged the “Gold Award” during the 30th National Research Symposium (NRS) of the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) last November 8 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

The research paper, titled “Development of Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) Assay-Based Test Kit for the Detection/Screening of CAEV”, was conducted by a team composed of Dr. Claro N. Mingala, Dr. Michelle M. Balbin, Dr. Daryl G. Dela Cruz, and Dr. Joram J. Gautane.

Dr. Mingala presented the paper during the symposium.

It won the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA) Best R&D Paper Gold Award under the category “Applied Research (Technology Generation/Information Generation) – Agriculture Animal Science”.

The paper also clinched the “Bronze Award” for the AFMA Best R&D Poster category.

The test kit referred to was CAEV dry – LAMP. It is a rapid and cost-effective molecular-based test kit which detects CAEV in goats even at the farm level.

Thirty-one of the 176 research papers submitted made it to the symposium proper of the 30th NRS.

“The 31 research paper entries scored 85 percent and above during the initial evaluation that qualified them for the final presentation and deliberation at the symposium proper,” the BAR said in a statement.

From the 31, 8 were selected for the gold award, 10 for silver, and 13 for bronze.

They were selected from eight categories, namely: (1) Applied Research (TG/IG/ TA/TV) – Fisheries, (2) Applied Research (TG/IG/TA/TV) – Agriculture Crop Science and Crop Protection, (3) Applied Research (TG/IG) Agriculture Animal Science, (4) Applied Research (TG/IG/TA/TV) – Agriculture Engineering and Postharvest, (5) Applied Research (TG/IG/TA/TV) – Soil and Water Science, (6) Socio-economics Research, (7) Basic Research, and (8) Development-Agriculture Research.

The AFMA Best R&D Paper Gold award received a cash prize amounting to Php100,000 and a research grant worth Php2M. The silver award received Php75,000 and Php1M worth of research grant while the bronze award took home Php50,000 and Php500,000 worth of research grant.

Meanwhile, the AFMA Best R&D Poster winners, received Php50,000; Php35,000; and Php25,000 for the gold, silver and bronze awards, respectively.

“My team at the PCC’s Biosafety and Environment Section will do its best to come up with a good proposal for the Php2M research grant,” Dr. Mingala said.

The NRS is a major annual event of the BAR that recognizes the works of the country’s scientists and researchers contributing to agriculture and fisheries R&D. It also serves as a venue for sharing and expounding the results of scientific researches leading to significant technologies and breakthroughs in the sectors of agriculture and fisheries.

This year’s NRS event carried the theme “Generating and Integrating Best Practices in Agriculture and Fisheries through Participatory R&D [research and development].”