PhilRice bares new developments in rice research

By Danny O. Calleja

LEGAZPI CITY, JulY 13 (PNA)-– The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) is now advancing the use of newly-developed varieties that could survive adverse environments resulting from climate change.

PhilRice which is under the Department of Agriculture (DA) is a government-owned-and–controlled corporation that aims at developing high-yielding and cost-reducing technologies so farmers can produce enough rice for all Filipinos.

“Adverse environments like sea level increases, intense temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns that could be frequently experienced due to climate change directly affect rice production reason why PhilRice and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) developed varieties adaptable to these situations,” according to PhilRice Plant Breeding and Biotechnology head Thelma Padolina.

In an article recently published on line by AgribusinessWeek, Padolina said that for rainfed lowland drought-prone areas, PhilRice recommends NSIC Rc192 or the Sahod Ulan 1, a newly IRRI-bred variety that has a maximum yield potential of 5.5 tons per hectare and matures in 106 days.

It said, the variety could be planted using the dry seeding, wet dry-seeding and transplanting methods.

For submergence-prone areas, PhilRice promotes the cultivation of NSIC Rc194 which is popularly called Submarino 1 which is a crossbred of the ordinary variety IR64 and an Indian variety with Sub1 gene. Submarino 1 can tolerate to days of complete submergence.

For irrigated lowland farms that are reached by swollen sea level, newly developed saline-resistant varieties such as NSIC Rc182 (Salinas 1), Rc184 (Salinas 2), Rc186 (Salinas 3), Rc188 (Salinas 4) and Rcl90 (Salinas 5) are recommended.

Padolina said, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) developed Salinas 1 while Phil-Rice bred the other four varieties that show good milling recovery and rice quality.

To achieve maximum yield ranging from 3.8 to 6.3 tons per hectare, she advised proper cultural management but warned that these varieties are susceptible to tungro.

Speaking of tungro that is one of major rice diseases that could cause 60 to 90 percent yield losses, Padolina said the Matatag varieties that are resistant to this disease are available.

Matatag varieties became popular in Mindanao even before the first variety was approved by the Philippine Seed Board in 2000, a few years before that serious tungro outbreaks occurred in North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Davao del Norte, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur, she said.

At that time, PhilRice-Midsayap was conducting field trials of IRRI’s first rice tungro disease line, IR 71031-4-5-5-1. Trials in farmers’ fields in 1998 yielded at least 3.5 tons a hectare.

PhilRice-Midsayap also started to produce seeds of the two lines as a stopgap measure in solving the serious outbreaks of the disease in Mindanao.

The Matatag seed production and distribution activities resulted in a dramatic decrease in tungro incidence starting in year 2000.

“The tungro-affected areas were significantly reduced as a result of the seed distribution under the leadership of Phil Rice-Midsayap,” Padolina said.

Lately, PhilRice has also produced its own Matatag variety, Matatag 6, which was released for commercial planting as NSIC Rc 120.

It should be noted, however, that although PhilRice has bred only one Matatag variety, it was the Institute that tested IRRI’s rice tungro disease resistant lines in the field and led in their nationwide testing before these were released as commercial varieties, she added.

At present, there are 16 Matatag lines and from year 2000 to 2007, more than 400 tons of seeds have been sold to major tungro hotspot areas in the country. Most of these areas are in Mindanao regions, Padolina added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Josie Valdez, president of Bulacan Agricultural State College, encouraged farmers to try the aerobic rice technology, which involves cultural management practices to produce more rice with less water.

According to Valdez, the aerobic rice technology can yield five tons per hectare during the dry season and four tons per hectare during the wet season.

He said the technology reduces water use for the cropping seasons by 30 to 50 percent, without reducing yield.

Encouraging farmers to be more progressive, Padolina urged farmers to consider varieties that respond to specific environment conditions.

“Certified seeds of a recommended variety contribute to 10 percent increase in yield. As such, farmers should try other varieties that could be better than the varieties that they are using now,” she said. (PNA)
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