A research paper of an engineer of the Philippine Rice Research Institute that showed rice harvest can be predicted accurately has received an award during a gathering of agricultural engineers.
The study, titled "Development of a GIS (geographic information system)-based model for predicting rice yield," won second place during the 61st annual national convention of the Philippine Society of Agricultural Engineers held recently in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte.
The study, authored by Juanito Maloom, showed that rice yield could be predicted at early reproductive stage, allowing farmers to adjust nutrient, and water and pest management to achieve the desired yield.
Maloom's study placed second to "Regulated deficit irrigation for rice-based watermelon under Ilocos condition" of PhilRice researchers Noel Ganotisi, Romel Batuac, and Reynaldo Castro, which was adjudged best paper in irrigation, soil, water, and GIS category.
Among the four methods they tested, full irrigation attained the crop's highest marketable yield while conventional-furrow irrigation gained the lowest water productivity.
Another team, also led by Ganotisi, landed third with their work on "Design and development of a Low-cost Drip Irrigation System (LDIS)" for rice-based high value crop production. Results revealed that gravity-type LDIS could save up to a 131-percent, which could not be generated from the conventional-furrow irrigation method.
Another PhilRice team of Arnold S. Juliano and Ricardo F. Orge won second and third place, respectively in the renewable energy category.
The paper, "Development of a mobile ricehull gasifier engine-pump system" of Arnold Juliano, Joel Ramos, Leo Molinawe, and Eulito Bautista reported that a lightweight, compact, and rice-hull powered gasifier could save 45 percent more on fuel costs than the existing pumps that have gasoline and diesel engines.
The continuous-type rice hull carbonizer developed by Ricardo Orge and Edwin Quiros uses the heat from the production of rice hull biochar for pumping water and recovers the heat from carbonization to be used for crop drying, steam generation, and cooking. The machine is further being developed to save energy and achieve food security while mitigating pollution derived from farm activities.
Written by Makisig Bayani
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