Two of seven field trials of the plant - also known as Bt brinjal - were halted last month, two weeks after local authorities in Davao City uprooted plants because researchers had not fully complied with public consultation requirements. Scientists had been hoping to complete the seven trials by the end of this year and commercialise Bt eggplant next year. But research has now been delayed by at least six months, according to Eufemio Rasco Jr, lead researcher at the University of the Philippines Mindanao.