DOST tests new technology to increase farmers’ rice yield
FARMERS in Pangasinan are awaiting the results of an experiment and test being conducted by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that seeks to improve resistance of rice crops to pests.
The DOST had selected 1,326 farmers from five towns and one city in Pangasinan to join the experiment that will measure the impact of a new technology, called the Carrageenan Plant Growth Regulator (CPGR), that will promote growth and induce resistance to pests and diseases in rice plants.
The CPGR is a joint project of DOST, Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) that aims to help farmers increase their rice yields, explained Jennifer Fernandez, science research specialist at DOST-Pangasinan.
Funded by PCAARRD, the CPGR is an output from a research of the group of Dr. Gil Magsino of National Crop Protection Center (NCPC) in the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB), Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) and Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) that is composed of red edible seaweed called ‘guso or gulamang dagat’.
Fernandez said the red edible seaweed, which will be extracted and treated to break its particle down into very small pieces, contains essential nutrient that will be readily absorbed by plants.
“The extracted liquid from ‘guso’ can be consumed by plants as food supplement when sprayed during the early vegetative stage, maximum tillering to panicle initiation and before flowering stages of rice plants,” Fernandez said.
Prior to the scheduled experiment, a mass application of CPGR trials in multi-location was conducted that increased rice yields by 15-30 percent.
“During the briefing conducted last week, Pangasinan farmers as well as agricultural officers responded positively to the project and they are willing to add the CPGR liquid products to their current practices to increase rice yield,” said Fernandez.
She said each farmer participant will be given nine liters of carrageenan liquid products for every hectare of rice field in each planting season this year which starts in the May-June period.
Farmers from Balungao, Binalonan, Mangatarem, Sison, Sta Barbara and Urdaneta City will participate in the field trial that will cover 1,344 hectares of rice fields in the province. (PIA-1, Pangasinan/EMBS)
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