PhilRice’s top accomplishments: Improved rice varieties and seeds

PhilRice has surely achieved a lot during its first 20 years of existence, and two of its senior consultants look at the number of improved varieties released by the NSIC (National Seed Industry Council) and availability of seeds as its most important accomplishments.

The national rice agency will celebrate its 20th anniversary tomorrow having been created on Nov. 7, 1985 by Executive Order 1061, which was amended by EO 60 on Nov. 7, 1986 and EO 76 on March 4, 2002.

Dr. Cezar P. Mamaril, soil scientist who has been with PhilRice since 1997, said that even if many of the improved varieties released during the period were bred by other institutions like IRRI and UPLB, it was PhilRice that led the RVIG (Rice Varietal Improvement Group) in the testing, selection and evaluation of those varieties nationwide. Composed of research institutions involved in the national cooperative tests, the RVIG has already been conferred the Pag-asa Award for its significant accomplishments.

Mamaril, 73, said the whole gamut of testing, selection and evaluation of promising lines before these were released as varieties is a very important aspect of varietal improvement. From 1987 to the present, some 79 improved varieties have been released by the NSIC.

"You can just imagine the cost incurred in their development," said Dr. Tomas M. Masajo, 65, rice breeder who has been with PhilRice since 1998.

To him, PhilRice has also continuously played a catalytic role in the production of high quality seeds, as it has established a national seed network that produces the foundation and registered seeds needed by the rice seed industry sector. PhilRice now produces the breeder seeds for the production of foundation seeds. "If a farmer is looking for registered or certified seeds, he can easily get it without any problem," he said.

Both Mamaril and Masajo were with IRRI before they joined PhilRice as senior consultants. Earlier, they were members of the UPLB College of Agriculture faculty.

Next, they consider the Institute’s technology promotion approach and information dissemination as very important accomplishments.

Mamaril said the technology promotion approach taken by PhilRice "is better than the previous approaches like Masagana 99, which we can be very proud of."

"I think we’re doing a good job in training extension workers, seed producers, and farmers," Masajo added.

Moreover, Masajo said PhilRice is "doing a good job" in the publication of technology bulletins and posters as well as research publications for the dissemination of the new rice technology.

In addition, "PhilRice should be credited for the promotion of hybrid rice in the Philippines," Mamaril said.

He also said the MOET (Minus-One Element Technique), which he developed with Josue Descalsota, a former IRRI researcher who is now a PhilRice senior researcher, is a significant contribution. He revealed that he first used the MOET in Indonesia while working at IRRI, but did not reveal it then, as he considered it "very low tech" compared with what the other IRRI scientists were doing.

"But once you correct a deficient nutrient with the MOET, you will always get increased yields," Mamaril stressed.

Compared with other nutrient status assessment techniques, Masajo added, the MOET can be done before the season and, hence, the results can be used during the season. The farmers do not need to wait for one season to pass before they can use the results.

Furthermore, he said that although he still has to see widespread adoption of the machinery developed at PhilRice, "the accomplishments on machinery fabrication and promotion in terms of efforts are significant."

Mamaril suggested, however, that PhilRice could cut down the number of techno demo sites and come up with a better way of characterizing them so that results in a particular site could be used in other sites with similar characteristics.

"With proper site characterization, including the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, we can say with great confidence this kind of technology will work under similar conditions," he said.

The two consultants agree that one of the challenges ahead for PhilRice lies in the continuing development of new varieties, both hybrid and inbred, with resistance to insect pests and diseases.

"It would not be good for varietal improvement efforts if inbred varieties are lost," Masajo quipped. "The Institute must have a good inbred program to maximize our capacity to produce parental materials for the hybrid program."

Other challenges ahead are in water and fertility management, as Mamaril said some of the generated water management technologies are "recycled from the results of the late Prof. Andres Aglibut."