Newly released rice varieties yield high and perform well based on the Department of Agriculture Cordillera Region (DA-CAR) study.
This was through the study conducted by Senior Science Research Specialist Veronica Fangasan, Science Research Specialist II Jeremias Modesto, Agriculturist I Sylvia Onse, together with Agricultural Technologists’ II Joel Laggui and Marlon Menor who conducted a Participatory Performance Testing and Validation trial through the NextGen Plus project, a collaboration with the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) entitled “ Participatory Performance Testing and Validation on rice in the Major Ecosystems in the Cordillera Region for 2020 ”
The NextGen project seeks to use the modern breeding tools and other attendant technologies that will help make the next generation of high-yielding varieties available.
In the study, researchers stated the trial provides a quick delivery of newly released varieties to farmers and an opportunity to select the high yielding and adaptable varieties suitable to their specific locations for dry and wet seasons.
It was found out that the NextGen’ rice varieties yield high. For inbred ecosystems specifically in the dry season, National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) Rc514 performed well in Rizal, Kalinga, NSIC Rc506 in Tabuk City, Kalinga and Luna, Apayao and FV-NSIC Rc300 in Flora, Apayao and for the wet season, FV-NSIC Rc222 performed well in Rizal, Kalinga, NSIC Rc442 in Flora, Apayao, NSIC Rc508 in Luna, Apayao and NSIC Rc222 in Tabuk City, Kalinga.
For rainfed ecosystems, varieties NSIC Rc480 performed well in Rizal, Kalinga, FV-NSIC Rc222 in Luna, Apayao, NSIC Rc416 in Buluan, Conner, Apayao and FV-PSB Rc82 in Banban, Conner, Apayao in dry season while in wet season, NSIC Rc480 performed well in Rizal, Kalinga, NSIC Rc418 in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao, Luna and Conner both in Apayao and IR 64 (check) in Flora, Apayao.
In terms of preference analysis, NSIC Rc418 was the preferred variety in Rizal, and Conner while NSIC Rc480 in Alfonso Lista and FV-NSIC Rc440 in Luna for rainfed ecosystem and for inbred ecosystem, NSIC Rc506 was the preferred variety in Rizal, and NSIC Rc506 in Flora.
Likewise, sensory evaluations were also conducted to evaluate the cooking and eating quality of the varieties.
Rice varieties such as NSIC Rc442 were the preferred rice variety in Rizal, Kalinga and NSIC Rc506 in Flora, Apayao both for inbred ecosystem while for the rainfed drought ecosystem, NSIC Rc480 was the preferred variety in Rizal (Kalinga), Alfonso Lista (Ifugao), and Conner (Apayao), NSIC Rc418 was the preferred variety in Flora (Apayao) and FV-NSIC Rc440 in Luna (Apayao).
The team seeks for the continuous implementation of the project to disseminate and evaluate the performance of the newly released rice varieties and also encourage the farmers particularly seed growers to produce the top preferred rice varieties.
