Technology on rice planting suggested
THE Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) has encouraged farmers to use technology to ensure rice get enough nutrients and attain good yields and income.
In a statement, PhilRice nutrients specialist Wilfredo Collado said that it is important to implement proper intervention in rice farming such as ensuring the element, amount and proper timing of providing nutrients to the crop to avoid duplication of costs.
He noted that among the nutrients that the crop needs are nitrogen, which helps it grow quickly; and potassium, which improves root development.
Collado said during the dry cropping season, palay (unmilled rice) needs more nutrients because of the sunlight it gets and those coming from the soil, irrigation water and microorganisms.
“Nutrients are sufficient if crop growth and panicle development are uniform leading to the attainment of the crop yield potential,” he added.
Rice plant lacks nutrients when it has slow growth, fewer tillers, panicles, and seeds and low grain weight while excess nutrients in plants often cause easy attacks by pests and soil pollution.
PhilRice then advised farmers to take steps in knowing the nutrient adequacy of crops, including making sure there are no symptoms of nutrient deficiency or excess from tillering to early panicle initiation and flowering.
As for the technology, PhilRice said farmers must familiarize themselves with the nutrients needed by crops based on the physical appearance and results of diagnostic tools such as minusone element technique (MOET), leaf color chart (LCC), nutrientomission-plot technique (NOPT) and rice crop manager (RCM).
MOET is a soil nutrient diagnostic technology that uses a pot experiment complemented by a mobile app to determine nutrients lacking in the soil and the amount of fertilizer needed in the field.
LCC, on the other hand, can be used to check the nitrogen status of rice plants using a four-color ruler for leaf color comparison or a mobile app that takes digital photos of leaves.
Meanwhile, NOPT can be used to assess nutrient supply and serve as a basis for fertilizer recommendations while RCM is management commonly used by extension workers and rice specialists who assist farmers in determining recommendations for the use of nutrients and technology in rice farming management.
“By ensuring adequate plant nutrition, high yields and profits can be ensured, as well as damage or pollution to the environment can be reduced,” Collado said.