Ilocos Region scion develops cheap soil analysis method

By Dr. Sosimo Ma. Pablico

LITTLE IS KNOWN that the Ilocos Region has produced a nationally known agriculture scientist who has developed an easy, fast, and cheap method of assessing soil fertility in irrigated rice farms that small rice farmers themselves can use.

Known as the MOET or the minus one element technique, this method enables irrigated rice farmers to conduct a simple experiment that could tell them whether the amount of one or more of six soil nutrients in their farm is adequate or not. Unlike in the past, irrigated rice farmers no longer need to bring soil samples to a soils laboratory for nutrient analysis. They can do it right in their farm. The MOET, however, can not be used for upland soils because their chemistry differs from irrigated soils.

This soil scientist is Dr. Cezar P. Mamaril, 76, who is still active in the science community as a senior consultant of the Philippine Rice Research Institute. He was born in San Carlos, Pangasinan where his father and mother came from. Because his father was an agriculture school principal, he was raised wherever his parents were assigned. He was raised in Batac, Ilocos Norte for a number of years when his late father was the principal of the Batac Rural High School. From there his family moved to Upi, Cotabato and then to Bohol where his father retired.

Dr. Mamaril finished the BS in Agriculture, major in soil science, at the UP College of Agriculture (now UP Los Banos) in 1955 and was immediately retained as assistant instructor at the Department of Soils. He further honed his expertise as a soil chemist through a Master of Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1957-1958 and a Doctor of Philosophy from the Kansas State University from 1960 to 1963. After serving as department chairman in 1965-1967, he also pursued post-doctoral studies at the University of Guelph in Canada.

It was in South Sulawesi, Indonesia where he initially developed the MOET technique in 1972-1980. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) assigned him there to establish the International Network on Soil Fertility and Fertilizer Efficiency for Rice (INSFER). The absence of a laboratory with sophisticated equipments forced him to conduct pot experiments using four soil elements – nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and sulfur (S).

In one pot, he applied all the four elements. In each of the other four pots, he did not apply one of the four elements – minus N, minus P, minus K or minus S. Each pot was planted with two seedlings and one of these was grown until maturity because most of the soil nutrients are important until maturity. The plants would show whether the four elements are sufficient or not.

Dr. Mamaril eventually gave the name MOET to the technique when he joined PhilRice in 1997. He further refined it, adding zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) to the original four elements. The MOET now determines the availability of N, P, K, S, Zn, and Cu in flooded soils.

The success or failure of a rice crop, barring unfavorable weather conditions, could be spelled by the availability or deficiency of any of these elements. “If zinc and sulfur are deficient during the early vegetative stage, the plants produce less tillers and even if the plants recover later, the damage has been done already,” says Dr. Mamaril.

He confides, however, that he did not report much on the new technique when he was still at IRRI, thinking that it was “low-tech” compared to what his fellow scientists were doing. The world-renowned Filipino sociologist, Dr. Gelia T. Castillo, a member of the PhilRice Board of Trustees, reportedly asked him why he did not talk much about the MOET when he was still at IRRI. His reply was that there was no pressure to release it.

He says, however, that the concept of the MOET is not new. “This concept has been known in soil science for a long time already, but nobody worked further on it,” he adds. He was reminded of the concept when he started his work in Indonesia. Using chemicals from pharmaceutical stores, he set up pot experiments due to lack of a sophisticated soils laboratory.

When he retired from IRRI in 1996 and joined PhilRice as a senior consultant in 1997, he thought of further developing the concept for small Filipino farmers. With the use of the MOET, small farmers would be able to diagnose nutrient deficiencies, thereby saving them from the trouble of locating the nearest soils laboratory and from paying high cost.

He points out, however, that it was Josue Descalsota who extensively tested the MOET kit in the field when he joined PhilRice as a research fellow. Nationwide, the MOET kit is now being used in so many places and is included in the government’s national master plan for rice self-sufficiency.

At the bottom line, this “low-tech” innovation may not be as sophisticated as other discoveries, but lowland rice farmers can use it easily without much coaching. Together with the LCC [leaf color chart], the two innovations would go a long way in the national effort of attaining rice self-sufficiency.

(Readers may reach columnist at spablico@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/harvest-time/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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