Ride-on implements ease land preparation

Five species of fungi are edible, while seven have medicinal values. these fungi were discovered in Mt. Malambo, Marilog, Davao City.

The edible fungi are Plerotus, commonly called "tubo-tubo," Auricularia known as "talinga sa batang," and Lentinus, Schizophylum., and Cantharellus species.  In the study conducted by Dr. Cecilia Bautista of the Central Mindanao University (CMU), the researcher determined the species richness of fungi in Mt. Malambo, including the altitudinal distribution and economic importance of the fungi. Bautista refers "richness" not only to the number of species observed, but also to the frequency of the different species in the different altitudes. The study shows that Mt. Malambo peaks 1 and 2 still have diversified species of fungi.

Fungi are living organisms, which do not have chlorophyll. They are multicellular and reproduce both sexually and asexually. Fungi can be responsible for millions of dollars worth of damage to crops and yet some of them can be used for food and medicine. Many fungi have contributed to science and industry, but many of them are still unexplored.

This information was reported during the agency in-house review of CMU wherein the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) served as one of the panel of evaluators.

Expert said the implement makes land preparation easier and efficient and prevents the farmer from hazardous and disease-carrying materials in the paddy fields.

Operating the hand tractor is tedious. A strong man must walk 20 kilometers to double-disc plow and 24 kilometers to harrow one hectare of paddy field in two days. Guiding and turning the rugged hand tractor is even more tiresome.

Aside from this, some paddy fields become sources of hazards and diseases like leptospirosis. This happens when the fields have hard objects such as crushed shells of golden apple snails, undecomposed organic materials, rat urine, and other toxic compounds. Walking in deep mud under such condition is risky to farmers.

Researchers at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) led by Engr. Bernard D. Tadeo developed ride-on implement assemblies to provide the riding operator the comfort and safety in land preparation. These implements are seat assembly, double-disc plow attachment, and harrow-leveler and control. The seat design of the Japanese 4WT was adopted.

Hiroyuki Monobe, an expert from Japan International Cooperation Agency provided technical support and consultancy in the implementation of the project. On the other hand, Roman Lugto of Val Machine Shop cooperated with PhilRice in fabricating the implements.

Reports at the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) indicate the results of the field performance and comfort assessment tests on the ride-on hand tractor implements. The prototypes were used for one week during the dry season land preparation of the PhilRice Central Experiment Station and wet season land preparation of Maragol Village cooperating farmers and operators in Nueva Ecija.

According to the researchers, the force required in pulling the ride-on plow and the operator was 145.15 kilograms. With this amount of pulling force, the hand tractor traveling at 2.95 kilometers per hour required an output power of 1.6 horsepower (hp). To power this riding system, the 8-hp engine was more than enough because its readily available output was 2.67 hp.

The riding and walking operator-hand tractor systems plowed 1.36 and 1.12 hectares per day, respectively. This means that the former had a work rate advantage of 21 percent over the latter. Depth of cut, cutting width, and field efficiency were 9 centimeters (cm), 70.8 cm, and 81 percent, respectively.

The riding operator in the harrow-leveler increased his working speed 36 percent higher than the walking operator, which suggests that the operator can increase his working capacity by one-third at a faster speed.

Moreover, the researchers measured the heart rate of the operators to determine the physiological stress caused by workload. The walking operator had an elevated heart rate of 10 pulse beats per minute. His blood pressure increased by more than 10 millimeters Hg. This means that a riding operator is less likely to develop heart complications caused by work stress. Moreover, his position was safer because hazards, while walking in deep mud, were avoided.

Val Machine Shop located in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, is currently manufacturing the ride-on implements. The owner, Roman Lugto, is the manufacturer-partner of PhilRice for this project. They call the assemblage of the implements as "riding disc plow with harrow." According to Lugto, his men performed several tests to perfect the design. He has just released the perfected design recently. As of June 2004, five units of the implement have already been sold to individual farmers in Sta. Barbara, Bani, and Manaog, Pangasinan. Also, two units have been purchased by farmers from Tarlac, Tarlac, and Licab, Nueva Ecija. PhilRice is also securing six units for field demonstrations. Lugto sells the "riding disc plow with harrow" at P7,000 to P8,000.

For more information, contact Engr. Bernard D. Tadeo at tel. no. (044) 456-0113 or Roman Lugto at tel. nos. (044) 611-3394, 611-0360. — Ofelia Floresca-Domingo