PhilRice Executive Director Sailila E. Abdula was recently recognized as Outstanding Rice Scientist of the Philippines by the ASEAN Rice Science and Technology Ambassadors Award Search Committee. “As a government employee, this means that the we are doing what is expected from us to help the people and having this award is more than just an achievement, it is also a challenge for me to continue doing researches to help […]

Over 500 farmers, students, and local stakeholders learned about hybrid rice and combine harvester during PhilRice Midsayap’s Lakbay Palay, July 20. “Our ambition is to be rice-secure and competitive. With hybrid rice and mechanization, we hope to attain this goal in the next few years,” PhilRice Acting Executive Director Sailila E. Abdula emphasized.  Hybrid rice is a type of rice that has been bred from two very different parents. The […]

Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija – The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) conducted a mindsetting exercise towards agripreneurship among the farmers of the Pinagbuklod na Adhika Credit Cooperative of Macarse, Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija as part of its RiceBIS Community Program, July 20. According to Dr. Ronan G. Zagado, PhilRice development communication specialist and the program campaign coordinator, RiceBIS stands for Rice Business Innovations System. It is a new development program launched by […]

Mabini, Pangasinan ― Beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in this town trained on agriculture to build self-reliant farm households and communities. “We wanted to motivate the participants to engage in entrepreneurial activities by presenting some livelihood opportunities in agriculture,” says Dr. Ofelia Malonzo, PhilRice’s supervising science research specialist and project lead. This initiative was created through the partnership between the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), […]

Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija – PhilRice engineers developed a local riding-type rice transplanter  that can double efficiency while reducing farmers’ cost in rice production. “The team started with the existing technology from Japan. The only problem is the availability of its spare parts since it is imported. If it’s locally manufactured, spare parts would be available here,”  Engr. Arnold S. Juliano, head of PhilRice’s Rice Engineering and Mechanization […]

Artificial pollination provides possible solution for efficient and synchronized pollination of male and female flowers of Mestiso 19 (M19), according to PhilRice Study. In the research titled Pollen banking for synchronized pollination: Strategy to increase seed yield of Mestiso 19, artificial pollination was conducted by storing sufficient amounts of viable pollen from the male parent in a container and loading it into the stigma of the female parent. M19 is […]

A PhilRice-led study titled Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for high-temperature tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa L.) won the Outstanding Scientific Paper Award during the 39th National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST Phils) Annual Scientific Meeting held at Manila Hotel, July 12-13. Researchers of the study Dr. Norvie L. Manigbas and Jupiter L. Grospe from PhilRice, and Evaristo A. Abella of the Central Luzon State University identified nine QTLs containing […]

A PhilRice study found that unpolished pigmented rice (red or black rice) has high phytochemical contents and health-promoting properties making it a healthier alternative to white rice. In the study titled Healthier red and black rice: Not your ordinary staple food, 45 red rice and 25 black rice varieties collected from various provinces in the country were compared with white rice (Enolayan variety). They were characterized in terms of proximate […]

PhilRice’s food scientists found that lees, a residue from tapuy (Philippine rice wine), is an alternative nutrient-rich ingredient to baked food products. In a study by Rosaly Manaois and Amelia Morales, results showed that rice wine lees significantly improves the protein and dietary fiber content of brownies, a popular Filipino snack food. This finding comes from the paper, Nutritional and sensory quality of brownies supplemented with Tapuy (Philippine Rice Wine) […]

Muñoz, Nueva Ecija – Twenty senior agriculture students from Jose Rizal Memorial State University (JRMU) in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte completed a week-long training program on the science of rice production at the PhilRice Central Experiment Station, June 19-23. According to Richard D. Romanillos, senior science research specialist of PhilRice’s Technology Management and Services Division, the training will help the younger generation realize the importance of understanding the science of […]