Seed council releases 2 new hybrid varieties

The National Seed Industry Council (NSIC) has released two hybrid rice varieties bred by private seed companies but developed with the national Rice Varietal Improvement Group (RVIG) led by PhilRice (Philippine Rice Research Institute).

The new varieties are PSD 3 of Syngenta Phils. and BCS 064 of Bayer Crop Science, which now carry the names NSIC Rc166H (Mestizo 10) and NSIC Rc168H (Mestizo 11), respectively. In the national cooperative tests (NCT) in four cropping seasons from the 2005 dry season to 2007 wet season, both varieties produced an average yield of 130 bags a hectare (ha).

Both are recommended for transplanting culture in irrigated lowland areas throughout the year, hut preferably during the dry season.

NSIC Rc166H (Mestizo 10) is recommended for planting in Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija and Davao provinces. In general, its yield performance in the NCT (6,547 kg/ha) was 5.9 percent higher than the popular inbred variety PSB Rc82 (6,194 kg/ha) across seasons. Its dry season yield (6,398 kg/ha) was even higher than PSB Rc82 (5,755 kg/ha) by 11.2 percent.

Compared with the public hybrid PSB Rc72H or Mestizo 1, the yield of NSIC Rc166H was higher by 1.4 percent across seasons and 8.4 percent during the dry season.

Farmers are advised, however, to go slow with NSIC Rc166H during the wet season as its yield (6,831 kg/ha) was lower than PSB Rc82’s 6,946 kg/ha by 1.7 percent and PSB Rc72’s 7,441 kg/ha by 8.2 percent. In Isabela, its wet season yield (5,951 kg/ha) was even much lower than PSB Rc82 (7,222 kg/ha) and PSB Rc72H (7,011 kg/ha) by 17.8 and 15.1 percent, respectively. Even with that, its average wet season yield was higher than its dry season yield.

This variety has moderate field resistance to blast, a major disease, and insect pests like white stemborer, yellow stemborer, and green leafhopper. However, it is susceptible to bacterial leaf blight, sheath blight, rice tungro virus disease, and brown planthopper. Thus, it should not be planted in hot spot areas for tungro and brown planthopper. At the same time, heavy nitrogen fertilization must be avoided because of its susceptible reaction to bacterial leaf blight.

It has a high milling recovery (68.7 percent, Grade 1) and a head rice recovery of 47 percent (Grade 2). Moreover, its grain quality is better than the still very popular inbred variety IR64.

On the other hand, NSIC Rc168H or Mestizo 11 is recommended for transplanting culture in both dry and wet seasons in Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Davao provinces, Bohol and Bukidnon, as well as in areas where IR64 is adapted. Again, farmers must be cautious during the wet season as this variety has moderate to susceptible reactions to the major diseases bacterial leaf blight and sheath blight.

Its average yield (6,547 kg/ha) across locations in four testing seasons was a little higher than the public hybrid PSB Rc72H (6,471 kg/ha) by 1.2 percent. Compared with the popular inbred variety PSB Rc82’s 6,247 kg/ha, its yield was 4.8 percent higher.

It has moderate to intermediate resistance to the major insect pests like white stemborer, green leafhopper, yellow stemborer and brown planthopper.