Research Details

Evaluation of the Agronomic Performance of Traditional Upland Rice Under Lower Elevation Upland Areas of Batac, Ilocos Norte

Araceli Badar, Menisa Antonio

Category: Study

Status: Completed

Duration: May 1, 2014 - December 31, 2015

Additional Information

Project: Germplasm Conservation and Selection of Promising Traditional Upland Rice Varieties in Ilocos Norte

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Brief Description

Of the 146 traditional upland rice collected in mountainous areas of the Province, these will be evaluated in three batches, each batch will cover 2 years of evaluation. Along with such evaluation, purification is also undertaken through rouging/elimination of off-types. Discarding of obvious duplications of the collected accessions will also be done. The first batch of evaluation consisting of 50 accessions had been completed in (2010 and 2011 WS).

Site Selection. An on-station trial will be established in an upland and rainfed areas of Batac. The area is a contoured hilly bounded with trees, shrubs and grasses.

Crop Establishment and Maintenance

Land Preparation. The chosen area will be cleared from previous crop stubbles, herbicide spraying will be done and zero tillage will be employed.

Experimental Design. The experiment will be laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Each batch of accessions will be established in plots. There will be five 6-meter rows for each plot spaced at 30 cm between rows and 20 cm between hills. Distance between plots will be 50 cm.

Seed Sowing. Seeds will be dibbled at the rate of 3 to 5 seeds per hill, spaced at 20 cm between hills and 30 cm between rows.

Fertilizer Management. Basal fertilizer of 14-14-14 will be applied at the rate of 30 kg ha-1. Urea (30 kg ha-1) will be topdressed in two splits; at 30 to 50 days after seedling emergence (ASE).

Care and Maintenance. Hand-weeding will be employed and kept weed-free up to harvesting. Scarecrows will be installed to protect the crop from bird damage.

Harvesting and Threshing of Samples. A 25-hill samples will be harvested in inner rows from each plot representing a 1.5 m2 harvest area. Samples will be dried for few days, threshed and cleaned/winnowed.

Data Gathering Procedures and Analysis. Yield data will be compared with farmers' yield which will be gathered randomly from a 20-hill harvest area in Bucarot, Adams, Ilocos Norte; and will serve as basis in assessing the adaptability of upland rice under Batac rainfed upland areas. The adaptability trial will be done for at least two years.

Data will be analyzed statistically, and classified descriptively adopting standards, i.e. Khush et al 1979 for grain characters, and NCT Manual for Rice.

Expected Output

Promising varieties (high-yielding, with good eating qualities and pigmented)

  • ready supplies and materials
  • prepared area
  • laid out experiment
  • established set-up
  • well-maintained experiment
  • well gathered data
  • pictures of different accessions
  • cleaned and well labelled samples
  • collated data
  • technical report

Abstract

The role of traditional upland rice in meeting household rice sufficiency in many upland communities is indispensable. These varieties likewise possess good eating qualities and high nutritional values. However, growing them using the traditional production system which is Swidden faming is restricted by the government due to its destructive effects on the environment. Hence evaluation of the growth and yield performance of traditional upland rice varieties was done in less risk-prone area such as the rainfed lowland. The study specifically aimed to identify high-yielding accessions/varieties for rainfed lowland cultivation. Two-year field trial using 49 accessions was done in 2013 and 2014 WS in Batac rainfed lowland area following farmers’ practice coupled with fertilizer application (90-60-60 NPK/ha). The accessions evaluated showed differences in the different agronomic parameters observed. Combined analysis across years on two yield parameters showed that varietal differences account for the differences observed on grain yield and spikelet fertility. No significant effect, however, was noted in neither year, and variety- year interaction. TUR 53, 72, 74 and 77 produced high yield ranging from 3.3 to 4.17 tha-1, a yield range comparable to the yield obtained from promising accessions identified earlier in Batch 1. High spikelet fertility, big seed size, many tillers and long panicles contribute in part to the observed high yield of these accessions. The four accessions are therefore recommended for cultivation in rainfed lowland areas.