Tambayan ng Kaalaman Tungkol sa Pilipinas
Coco wallboard
The coconut is called the tree of life because of its usefulness . Almost all part of the coconut tree can be utilized for different purpose. The trunk could be used as a cocolumber, leaves as walis tingting, fruit as food etc. The coconut husk could be use as panggatong, coconet and etc. Continue reading “Coco wallboard”
Dyeing using different plants has been a traditional practice. However, with the invention of
artificial dyes and modern dyeing practices, such use of dyes from plants was soon
abandoned.
There are many Philippine plants which are good source of dyes — either bark or wood.
There are plants which are naturally rich in tannic acid or tannin which is used in dyeing
leather, wood or textile, such as: kamachili, bakauan, red white lauan, tangal, ipil-ipil, coconut
husk and others. The common procedure of extracting dyes is as follows:
1. Boil the ground or chopped bark in uncovered cooking pot with just enough water to cover
the barks.
2. Boil to 60° C-80° C with with continuous stirring.
3. After an hour, strain in wire screen and replace water in the cooking pot.
Repeat 1-3 until water becomes pale in color.
4. The water used in second or third boiling could be used for the next fresh barks.
5. Mix all the water used for boiling and boil them altogether until you get a dark colored dye.
Source:Selected R&D Projects (Completed) NSDB
Tukno Tulong
Plants grow faster in pots made of coconut husk with coconut dust than in soil. For example,
nursery plants like:
1. Asparagus springerie – grown in coconut husk with equal amounts of dust and swine
marine had more cuttings than those planted in rice field with swine manure.
2. Anthurium – more flowers per plant.
3. Dracaena fragrans (leafy plant) – increased roots
4. Mussaendes – longer roots (with spagnum moss and coconut) during marcotting.
5. Amherstia nobilis – faster marcotting even without the use of growth hormones.
PCARRD
Balitang Pambukid
May 1987
Tekno Tulong
Eliminating the pesky fruit flies
by Junelyn S. de la Rosa
Native to the Philippines, the oriental fruitfly (Bactrocera Philippinensis) is a very destructive pest to edible fruits like mango, guava, breadfruit and papaya.
Eradicating the fruit fly using bait control could be done in two stages using the Male Annihilation Technique (MAT) and the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). First, the researchers reduced the population of male oriental fruit flies to a minimum so that mating would not occur. Male oriental fruit flies were trapped using methyl eugenol- a powerful male attractant, with an insecticide such as Naled (Dibrom) or Fipronil.
Cordelitos (lengths of 6-ply cotton string about 30-45 cm) or caneite (compressed fibreboard) blocks (50 mm x 50 mm x 12.7 mm), or coconut husk blocks (50 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm) were soaked in the bait material and distributed in the field at 400 pieces per square kilometer. This treatment was repeated every eight weeks. The baits were placed on top of tree trunks or wooden poles, well out of the reach of children or animals. This technique is called the Male Annihilation Technique (MAT).
Then the residual fruitflies were eradicated using the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) or the sterile male technique. Sterilizing insects is a new technique where insects are either treated chemically, genetically, or with radiation to be infertile. In the case of male fruit flies, they are subjected to radiation to make them sterile. The method aims to wipe out the fly population by introducing sterile males that cannot produce any offspring when they mate with the female fruit flies.
Sterile flies have been used in many countries. In the past, both male and female flies were released. Sterile female flies’ eggs did not develop, however, some skin damage to the fruit did result. To counter this problem, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) developed a genetic technique that separates males from females in several fly species. Flies released in Hawaii were only male sterile flies. Continue reading “Eliminating the pesky fruit flies”