Golden Rice battles blindness

Friday, October 21st, 2011

AS someone who spends long, unpredictable hours in developing Golden Rice, scientist Dr. Antonio Alfonso has been described by his colleagues at the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) as “Mr. Patient.” Alfonso was tapped as early as 2004 to lead a research team that will develop the world’s first vitamin A-fortified, genetically modified (GM) rice [...]

IRRI Scientists Discover Genes for Rice “CHALKINESS”

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Rice Research Institute (IRRI) recently made a major genetics breakthrough, having discovered the genes responsible for “chalkiness” —an undesirable trait that can devalue rice by as much as 25 percent. The high presence of “chalk” —the white, opaque portion of rice grains— increases the possibility of breakage during milling, thereby downgrading the quality assessment rating [...]

PhilRice to Pinoys: Eat less rice, more camote

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

SCIENCE City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija — The Philippine Rice Research Institute has this piece of advice to Filipinos: Eat less rice and instead feast more on sweet potato, cassava, banana and other crops to help contribute in attaining national food security and rice self-sufficiency within three years. Dr. Flordeliza Bordey, a PhilRice economist and [...]

Ratooning rice is advantageous

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Following a large scale rice ratooning project in Ormoc City where some 500 hectares of irrigated rice farms last March to May, the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani (GMA) program is bent on pushing the adoption of the technology up to the year 2013. Dr. Frisco Malabanan, GMA rice program director, said that the ratooning project pushed [...]