Tambayan ng Kaalaman Tungkol sa Pilipinas
How to collect soil sample
Soil contains nutrient elements in varying amounts. These elements usually become insufficient when the soil is continuously farmed. Nutrient supplements in the form of fertilizer are, therefore, required. The kind and amount of fertilizers to be applied to the soil can be determined through chemical nalysis of the soil.
Have your soil analyzed by regional or provincial soil laboratory nearest to your area for effective fertilizer use and increased crop production.
Hermaphrodite fruits are generally pear-shaped while female fruits are more or less round. The fruits weigh about 450 grams and are produced about eight to 10 months after outplantng. The plants are one to 1.5 meters tall.
Varietal name is usually derived from the place of origin. Examples are Makapunong Isabela, Los Banos Pinakwan, Legaspi no. 1 znd Cagayan red stem.
Temperature and soil requirements. A tropical plant that originated from South America, papaya was introduced into the Philippines via Mexico. It prefers warm areas with temperatures ranging from 21 to 33 degrees Celsius.
A minimum annual rainfall of 1,200 millimeters is sufficient, well-distributed over the growing season. The plants cannot withstand strong winds. Lodging and stalk breakage are common during the typhoon season.
Continue reading “Papaya production in the Philippines- part 2”
Papaya production in the Philippines
By:Onofre Ballesteros
Papaya is a versatile crop that is grown year round. It produces fruits almost continuously as long as there is adequate soil moisture. Temporary cessation of fruiting usually occurs during the dry months. Moisture stress causes sex reversal towards maleness of flowers, thus resulting in the failure of plants to bear fruits. That’s why there are vacant spaces or escapes on nodes of the tree trunks.
Ripe fruits are usually eaten as breakfast dessert, while green fruits are used as a vegetable for such dishes as “tinolang manok.” The green fruits are also picked or processed into papain.
Ripe fruits are excellent sources of vitamin C. It also contains vitamin A and B, thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. It contains seven to nine percent fructose sugar but has very little starch.
Papain – an enzyme derived from green papaya fruits – is used in the preparation of food, beverages, medicines, in softening wool, in silk degumming, as a meat tenderizer, and as a stabilizer in beef processing.
Continue reading “Papaya production in the Philippines- part 1”
Apahap production in floating net cages
Efforts to raise the seabass or apahap are starting to bear fruit,
A study by Nestor D. Demenden, senior agriculturist of DA-Region 1, concentrated on culturing apahap.
The trial as conducted in Sto. Tomas, La Union. Water depth ranged from 1.5 to 2.5 meters during low and high tides, respectively.
Temperature and salinity ranged from 24.2 to 34.8 degrees centigrade and 32 to 36 percent respectively.
Bamboo was used to construct the platform where the net cages were suspended. Three bamboos (bayog) were arranged to form the raft-like structures needed to complete the platform. Four bamboo poles were arranged parallel with each other at two meters distances. They were fixed perpendicularly above it, forming six square holes for the net cages. Styrofoam floaters were fixed on the corners and inner joining of the platform. Anchors prevented it from drifting.
The net cages are square net walls (inverted mosquito netlike0 measuring 1.5 meters x 1.5 meters x 1.5 meters. A fine meashed net 9B net) was used for the juvenile cages where the fish was raised from two months.
The seabass were later transferred to the production cages, which was made of polyethylene net measuring 400/12 x k 12.
The fish were fed with cropped trash fish at 10 percent of biomass for the first two months. This was gradually reduced o seven percent on the third and fourth months, and five percent on the fifth month onwards. Feed was broadcast to the fish in the morning and afternoon daily.
Results showed that from an initial weight of 20.5 to 21.56 grams, the fish reached 282.3 to 302.4 grams in 180 days – or had a production of 10.73 kilograms per cubic meter mean net bodyweight gain. The project had an ROI of 67 percent from a food conversion ratio (FCR) of 6.93. The survival rate of the fish was 70 percent.
The trial also indicates that municipal waters can be used as both fishing ground and aquaculture area. – Wilhelmina Puyaban (Mariano Marcos State University)
Soruce: Greenfields, 1993