MAJOR PRACTICE IN ORGANIC RICE (NSIC Rc 160)

PRODUCTION (2019, WET SEASON)

KIMBERLIE ROSE IÑIGO PEREZ2

An undergraduate major practice outline presented to the faculty of the department of

Crop Science, College of Agriculture, Central Luzon State University,
Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree

3
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN AGRICULTURE
(Crop Science – Organic farming)

OCTOBER 2019
 INTRODUCTION

Importance of the Major Practice

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a member of the family Poaceae which is considered as

one of the most important crop of the Philippines. Filipino farmers produced 19.28

million metric tons (MT) of rice in 2017 and Central Luzon ranks as the number one rice

producer in the country (Philippine Statistic Authority, 2018). Rice is the most important

grain with regards to human nutrition and caloric intake and also provides more than 20%

of calories consumed worldwide by humans. This crop can also be used in making

snacks, desserts, alcoholic beverages, and special foods in religious courses. However,

most of the rice produced conventionally uses synthetic chemicals that poses hazard to

human health and to the environment. An alternative production system that is safe is

needed to address such problem.

Organic agriculture as defined in the Republic Act (RA) 10068, includes all

agricultural systems that is promoting ecologically sound, socially acceptable,

economically viable and technically feasible production of food and fibers and other

cultural practices that are consistent with the principles and policies (Aquino et al., 2013).

Among all countries in Asia, Philippines were ranked number four in the title of largest

organic area having 2.4 million organic producers worldwide (Manigbas et al., 2018).

The demand for organic products is increasing, largely due to the health benefits,

avoidance of chemical usage, and ongoing changing patterns of lifestyle and food

consumption patterns. In the past few years, the terms natural and organic have been used
a lot and are now quite famous among millennials because of the increasing thought of

being healthy. Smarter consumers prefer to eat healthy food than to spend on medical

treatments (ANI, 2018).

In observational studies, consumers who regularly buy organic food take more

vegetables, fruit, wholegrain products and less meat, and tend to have overall healthier

dietary patterns. Each of these dietary characteristics is associated with a decreased risk

for mortality from or incidence of certain chronic diseases (Mie et al., 2017).
 Cultural Management Practices for Organic Rice Production

The cultural management practice for organic rice production are based on the

technology developed by the RM-CARES

Pre-germination

The seeds were soaked in clean water for 24 hours. After 24 hours, the seeds were

drained and incubated for 24 – 36 hours by covering them with rice straw.

Land preparation

The field was irrigated three weeks before transplanting. Plowing was done once

and it was harrowed three times with at least five intervals. This was done to avoid

germination of weeds and to incorporate the rice straw to the soil properly.

Organic Fertilizer Application

Organic fertilizer was applied during the last harrowing at the rate of 4 t ha¯¹.

OLS was sprayed weekly to the crop at the rate of 2 knapsack sprayer loads during the

first 30 days 5 sprayer loads at 31-55 days spraying was stopped at panicle initiation at 55

DAT.

Irrigation management.

Water depth of 2-3 cm was maintained in the field 2 days after transplanting or

during early vegetative stage. Water level was raised to 5cm during the late vegetative

stage or 35 DAT until reproductive stage and was drained one week before harvest.

Pulling and Transplanting of seedlings

The seeds were transplanted at the age of 21 days after sowing (DAS). A day

before pulling, the seedbed was flooded to soften the soil and to uproot the seedling
easily. The seedlings were pulled carefully to avoid unnecessary root damage. Two to

three healthy seedlings per hill were transplanted at a distance of 20 cm x 20 cm.

Replanting of missing hills was done not later that two days after transplanting (DAT).

Disease and Pest Management

To control insect pest of rice, Oriental Herbal Nutrient (OHN) was sprayed

weekly starting at 10 DAS until 50 DAS at the range of 30 ml of the stock per liter of

water.

Golden Apple Snail (GAS) was controlled by manual picking. Egg clusters was

collected and crushed as soon as possible.

Breeding sites of rodents were destroyed, an embankment was kept clean.

Weeding

Weeds are manually removed as soon as the weeds occur. To control weeds

effectively, proper land preparation was performed and maintained a water level with a

depth of 2 - 3 cm.

Harvesting and Post Production Operation

The field was drained one week before harvesting. The rice was harvested when

whole field shows 80% of the grains are ripe or mature. The MP student harvested the

palay using mechanical harvester and then threshed for easier collection of the rice straw

because the RM CARES use this as inputs in other organic practices such as composting,

or as a cover to the crop after sowing to prevent damage from birds. This was subjected

to drying for two to three days or until the moisture content is brought down to 14% for

safe storage, better milling recovery and grain quality.

Data Gathered

OBSERVED
PARAMETER DATA (Conventional)
(Organic)
Plant height at maturity (cm) 96 95-97
Length of panicle (cm) 24 23-27
Number of productive tillers 13 13-15
Number of spikelet per panicle (filled) 84 110-113
% filled grain per spikelet 83.04 100-112
Weight of 1000 seeds (g) 29.59 29.82
Yield 2,500 m2 (kg) 1,000 1,725
Yield t ha¯¹ 4,000 5,600-8,200 t ha-1

The agronomical traits and yield of NSIC Rc 160 during the major practice was

observed that the average plant height at maturity period for organic rice was 96 cm

while the length of panicle was 24 cm. The number of productive tillers produced was 13

with 84 number of spikelet per panicle, resulted to 83.04% filled grain per spikelet (g).

The yield obtained for 2,500 m2 was 1,000 kg or 4,000 kg ha-1 which was higher with the

target yield of the MP student with 862.5 kg or 3,450 kg ha-1. It can be noticed that the

agronomic traits like plant height, length of panicle and number of productive tillers of

the organic rice were within the range of conventional characteristics but for the most

parameters, conventional way of producing rice were found to be higher.