By Neil Jerome C. Morales
The National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) has approved for propagation the first flood-tolerant rice variety in the country, state-run Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) said yesterday on its Web site.
Philrice said the new rice variety was approved for widescale production during the 27th NSIC Secretariat Meeting early last month.
The bNSIC Rc194 variety, also known as Submarino 1, has been infused with the flood-tolerant Sub1 gene. The Sub1 gene was discovered by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the University of California in Indian rice variety FR13A.
"Submarino 1 is a non-genetically engineered rice plant that can survive, grow and develop even after 10 days of complete submergence in water at vegetative stage," the statement quoted Philrice plant breeded Nenita V. Desamero as saying.
Under favorable conditions, Submarino 1 produces as much as 4.5 metric tons of palay per hectare, higher than the national average of 3.8 MT per hectare, and equaling the performance of IR64.
Submarino 1 survives complete submergence, unlike IR64, the most widely grown rice in South and Southeast Asia.
"The [flood-tolerant] seeds will be distributed through the NSIC," Philrice Executive Director Ronilo A. Beronio said yesterday in a phone interview.
In July 2007, Philrice conducted the pilot-testing of the new rice variety in the municipality of San Antonio in Nueva Ecija. During the rainy season, San Antonio serves as a catch basin of the neighboring municipalities.
The second on-station testing started in October that same year.
Ready for propagation
To increase the Submarino 1 seeds and make them available to farmers, the state-run agency has allotted in flood-prone areas nationwide 0.3 hectare for the production of breeder seeds and 0.5 hectare to produce foundation seeds in the wet cropping season of July to November this year.
Seed production will expand in the 2010 dry season that will start late this year and end in April next year.
Breeder seeds are the source of recurring seeds, or the foundation seeds. Foundation seeds, which will be propagated by seed growers, are the source for certified seeds that will be planted by farmers.
"It would require two to three planting seasons before certified seeds are produced for the farmers," Mr. Beronio said.
The country loses an average of 250,000 metric tons of rice every year due to floods, data from the Laguna-based International Rice Research Institute show.
In June, the government’s Rice Technical Working Group said it would recommend to the NSIC the commercial use of the drought-tolerant IR74371-54-1-1 and the salt-tolerant IR63307-4B-4-3 rice varieties, which were also developed by the IRRI.
The joint project of Philrice and IRRI was funded by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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