Adaptability trials of Adlai in Region 2 in progress

The Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) visited the province of Isabela in order to document the latest updates in the project that aims to promote adlai as traditional staple food. The two revisited sites are located in Isabela State University (ISU) and the DA’s Cagayan Valley Integrated Agricultural Research Center (CVIARC).

In Cabagan, Isabela, Dr. Edwin Macaballug, a professor of the Agriculture College and the one spearheading the adlai project at ISU, met with the BAR representatives during a project visit. Troubled by problems he has personally encountered in his province during times when rice actually became scarce for him and his people, he was most interested in looking for any alternative that could help alleviate this concern. He believes he has found this alternative in adlai.

Dr. Macaballug allotted 400 sq. m for the project, planting the three varieties proposed by the indigenous people (IP): tapul, ginampay and gullian. Keeping to the practice defined in the program for a planting distance of 60 × 90 cm and two seeds per hill, he initiated planting on January 10 of this year. On the same week of the BAR team’s visit, Dr. Macaballug reported their plans of carrying out the first harvesting, adding that maturity among the grains do not occur at the same time. He noted that the adlai crop is ready for harvesting once at least 80% of the grains are of a certain brownish color.

Not without problems of course, the professor enumerated the difficulties they met along the way that include leaf blight and the coccinellid beetle, and the occurrence of rosetting that is rampant regardless of the variety. He also indicated that he remains optimistic on adlai and does have future plans for the crop, having already offered another 14 hectares intended for planting adlai in order to help out CVIARC with the objective of producing 37 tons’ worth of the said crop for Region II alone. At 10–12 kilos of harvest per hectare, they can produce 140–168 kilos in total from the 14-hectare land.

Initiating an exploration of adlai’s potential beyond that of the IP’s, Dr. Macaballug reserved another separate 1,500 sq. m of land, and discovered that he did not need to conduct seed preparation involving soaking the seeds in water prior to planting. With a planting distance of 60 × 60 cm and one seed per hill, he further observed that this separate set of adlai took the same number of days to germinate as compared with that of the original plot. In this experimental plot, Dr. Macaballug claims that germination reached approximately 90%, needing no replanting. He noted that as long as the soil’s moisture is satisfactory, relatively wet, the results are promising. Sharing his findings, Dr. Macaballug is enthusiastic about adlai’s potential.

In Ilagan, Isabela, Mr. Roynic Aquino, one of the focal persons of adlai in CVIARC, briefed the team on the latest efforts they’ve expended on said crop, including the latest developments since BAR’s last visit back in May. Mr. Aquino reported that the first harvest did not fare so well. Setting aside the previously reported difficulty with the Asiatic corn borer, another issue that has risen—a prominent one that any other crop might encounter—has to do with temperature. In one hill, nearly 50% of the grains were unfilled, leaving Mr. Aquino’s team to theorize that temperature may be an imposing factor. Unlike corn, adlai’s silk is very much exposed to the sun. It dries easily when the day is hot and windy, thus temperature affects fertilization, resulting in unfilled grains. Proof of this dismal result is the sight of numerous unfilled grains littering the pathway, as the team observed the site.

Mr. Aquino does add his observation that once watered by rain, adlai seems to recover quickly enough.

Similar to Dr. Macaballug’s observations, Mr. Aquino found that maturity does not occur at the same time as some grains remain green while others are already brown in color—the color change he takes to indicate that a grain has matured. In a similar effort of exploring what measures can be taken with the problems with adlai, Mr. Aquino shared their threshing attempts with said crop. In one instance, they attempted to feed the whole harvested plant—stalks, leaves, and all—into a corn thresher and ended up with a lot of impurities. Discarding the stalks proved more promising, with much lesser impurities, although this particular attempt proved more time consuming. Suffice to say, they are hoping for a thresher to be developed that is more suited to handling adlai.

Similar to the enthusiasm and persistence that the two focal persons share as they relate their respective findings and observations, adlai appears to be thriving just as well in spite the trials and the difficulties encountered. Maria Anna M. Gumapac, DA-BAR