Hybrid rice can be grown using less chemicals

Hybrid rice was developed by China several decades ago to feed its burgeoning population which by then had gone past one billion. It was also China that developed nitrogen-fixing organic fertilizer and soil conditioner called Exquisite BD that helped it save billions of dollars that would have otherwise been spent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides in propagating hybrid rice.

Hybrid rice is being aggressively pushed by the Department of Agriculture, since Luis Lorenzo Jr.’s time, in a bid to make the country less import-dependent on rice and generate much-needed jobs in the countryside. Hybrid rice in the Philippines has yet to catch up with the use of organic fertilizers and organic pest control technologies.

Exquisite BD bio fertilizer and soil conditioner, two products brought in the country by Chong Ken Foo, Exquisite Focus Philippines sole distributor of these products, has been tested by two colleges of agriculture in the country aside from some small farmers from varying fields like rice, vegetables, mangoes and bananas, prawn, poultry and aquarium fish industries.

The Tarlac College of Agriculture (TCA) did field studies on hybrid rice (Bigante) using Exquisite BD soil conditioners and bio fertilizers on one side and another, with the usual chemical fertilizers and pesticides last September 2004 to January 2005 in two sites: in the farm of farmer/student Joel Sereno in Mangatarem, Pangasinan and inside the compound of TCA in Camiling.

Their studies focused on plant growth, yield and insect pest incidence on Bigante hybrid rice using Exquisite BD soil conditioner and BD bio fertilizer and another field using inorganic fertilizer (90-45-20). The findings revealed outstanding results on Exquisite bio fertilizer and Exquisite soil conditioner.

"Bigante hybrid rice responded best to mixed application of soil conditioner and bio fertilizer with 25 percent of the recommended inorganic fertilizer (90-45-20 kg. NPK per hectare), posting a 219 percent return on investment," according to the report submitted by the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry of TCA.

This translates to 125 cavans per hectare as against the 65 to 80 cavans per hectare realized from the adjacent untreated fields (those not applied with Exquisite), the TCA report said.

Increasing the dosage of Exquisite soil conditioner and bio fertilizer, it added, resulted in increased plant height and number of productive tillers. Cutting by half the mixture of chemical fertilizers and replacing it with Exquisite meant abrupt improvements in net income of farmers because of reduced chemical inputs, TCA said.

"Think of the reduction and elimination of perilous effects of chemicals in the soil and its residues to human health as well," the report added.

Exquisite BD soil conditioner and bio fertilizer promotes growth of beneficial microorganisms in the soil, thereby increasing nitrogen fixing activity responsible for making the plants robust throughout their growth, TCA said.

Treating the plants with Exquisite even at only 10 grams (of powder) per 16 liters of water at seedling and vegetative stages also reduced the incidence of insect pest which results in reduced leaf and stem damages, thereby reducing the need for harmful chemical pesticides, the report stated.

"For a long time, farmers used chemical pesticides with no one questioning its safety until the detrimental effects became alarming–insect pests and diseases have developed resistance due to their continuous use not to mention their toxic effects on humans," the TCA said.

Soil treated with Exquisite also showed increased levels of phosphorus and extractable potassium and increased percentage of organic matter which aided plant growth and development.

Exquisite soil conditioner also did wonderfully in separate experiments on two rice varieties (IMS and IR 65) also in TCA. The study used completely randomized design (CRD) and yielded the following results: significant differences were noted on the percentage germination (between treated and untreated), height, root length, shoot length and number of productive tillers. The two varieties were taller with Exquisite, a higher germination was observed. Longer roots, longer shoots and more tillers developed with Exquisite, the study noted.

The TCA thus recommends the use of soil conditioner on IR 65 and IMS and the conduct of further commercial field studies for validation is being pushed.