Development of Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) Testing Technology of Phalaenopsis and International Cooperation in Taiwan - 農業知識入口網

Phalaenopsis is a predominant crop among flowers in Taiwan. According to statistics of the Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance, Taiwan’s phalaenopsis  exports reached US$145,630,000 in 2018, indicating the flourishing development of Taiwan’s phalaenopsis industry. Taiwan boasts a rich diversity of phalaenopsis varieties, laying the cornerstone for Taiwan’s phalaenopsis industry. In order to build a protective environment for high-quality phalaenopsis orchid varieties, Taiwan amended “The Plant Seed Act” into “The Plant Variety and Plant Seed Act” in 2005 in reference to the norms and methodologies of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and “The Plant Variety Protection and Seed Act” of Japan, thereby ensuring more comprehensive domestic regulations on domestic plant variety protection. The Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station (TSIPS) was commissioned by the Council of Agriculture (COA) to set up test guidelines of Phalaenopsis and was appointed as phalaenopsis variety testing agency responsible for performing tests on new varieties. In order to meet the international trend of phalaenopsis industry, the TSIPS revised phalaenopsis variety characters table in 2018, adding and modified 108 variety characters, of which 39 items were required investigation items. To strengthen cooperation on protection of plant variety rights, Taiwan and the European Union Plant Variety Protection Bureau (CPVO) signed the “Administrative Arrangement on the mutual recognition of examination results for plant variety protection for Phalaenopsis and Doritaenopsis varieties” in April 2019 for achieving a consensus on mutually accepting the DUS (distinctness, uniformity and stability) technical reports made by both side. As regards cooperation with Japan, the National Center for Seeds and Seedlings (NCSS) signed a cooperation agreement on plant variety protection in December, 2014 with Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station (TSIPS), COA, within DUS testing to promote the quality of DUS testing. Therefore, international cooperation will enable the excellent varieties of Phalaenopsis of Taiwan to be protected internationally and marketed around the world.