This study investigated ICT adoption (mobile phone and internet usage), access to electricity, and their impact on household agricultural productivity in Nigeria, Africa's largest economy. Utilizing Wave 4 (2018 to 2019) Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Survey on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) data covering 4,980 household heads, this study applied logit regression and Propensity Score Matching (PSM) for estimation, alongside a Cobb-Douglas production function to analyze input contributions to agricultural output. The findings revealed that the age, residential location, educational level, and access to electricity of household heads significantly determine technology adoption among farming households. Furthermore, ICT adoption exhibits a significant, positive relationship with agricultural productivity. Based on these results, the study recommends enhancing rural access to ICT tools to boost productivity and foster food and nutrition security. Utilizing ICT tools, such as mobile devices, improves access to critical information regarding best agricultural practices, weather forecasts, market prices, and input supplies. This, in turn, helps farmers make better-informed decisions, leading to increased production efficiency and higher incomes. Ultimately, scaling up digital infrastructure and technology adoption among smallholder farming households serves as a vital pathway for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger and food security (SDG-2).
Varietal improvement of the Philippine 'Carabao' mango (Mangifera indica L.) through conventional breeding is constrained by polyembryony, which makes it difficult to distinguish zygotic hybrids from nucellar seedlings at early developmental stages. This study evaluated the utility of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for early and accurate identification of hybrids in polyembryonic 'Carabao' mango crosses. Genomic DNA was isolated from 24 parental accessions and 61 putative hybrid seedlings using a modified CTAB protocol that yielded DNA suitable for PCR-based marker analysis. Eighty-one SSR markers were screened across 29 parental combinations, of which 64 markers (79.0%) were polymorphic in at least 1 cross. Using 1 to 3 polymorphic SSR markers per cross, 19 of 61 seedlings (31.1%) were confirmed as hybrids based on the presence of non-maternal alleles consistent with the paternal genotype. SSR-41, SSR-3, SSR-11, SSR-82, and MiSHRS-37 showed broad polymorphism across multiple parental combinations and are recommended as an initial screening panel for routine hybridity testing, provided that parental polymorphism is first confirmed for each cross. Additional loci, including MngSSR-18, MMCA34, SSR-30, SSR-36, LMMA6, and MMCA10, may be used when the initial panel is not informative. These findings support the practical and cost-effective use of PCR-based hybridity testing for early-stage identification of hybrids, eliminating maternal clones, managing nurseries, and optimizing resources in 'Carabao' mango breeding.
Rice production in Banjar Regency has declined in recent years due to land-limiting factors, particularly the suboptimal conditions of tidal wetlands. Therefore, improving cultivation techniques for new superior varieties such as Aromatic Basmati is essential to enhance productivity on marginal lands. This study aimed to determine the best combination of seedling number per planting hole and seedling age, as well as to evaluate the effect of each factor on the growth and yield of Aromatic Basmati rice cultivated on tidal land. The experiment was conducted for 4 mo (August to December 2020) in the experimental paddy fields of the Agricultural Extension Center, West Martapura District, using a factorial randomized block design with 2 factors (number of seedlings per hole and seedling age), resulting in 9 treatment combinations with 3 replications (27 experimental units). The results showed a significant interaction between the number of seedlings per hole and seedling age on panicle length and 1,000-grain weight. Fewer seedlings per hole combined with younger seedlings produced longer panicles and heavier 1,000-grain weight. The treatment of 1 seedling per planting hole with 10 d after seeding (10 DAS) was the best combination for improving panicle length and grain weight. One seedling per hole and 10 DAS old resulted in a higher number of productive tillers, earlier flowering and harvest age, and higher grain yield. The study achieved a peak productivity of 8.03 t ha-1 and a cultivation efficiency of 14.5% to 17.3%. Overall, the findings indicate that optimizing seedling number and age significantly improves the growth and yield performance of Aromatic Basmati rice and demonstrates its adaptability to tidal land conditions.
Sustaining soil quality on any plantation is critical to increasing productivity and responsible land use. However, spatial variation in soil quality across fruit tree plantations under existing field and management conditions remains insufficiently documented. This study aimed to assess the soil quality of monocropped plantations of banana, calamansi, coffee, and rambutan in northern Luzon, Philippines, evaluate the extent of degradation or improvement relative to a reference forest using the Soil Quality Index (SQI) approach, and identify the soil indicators that significantly influence soil quality in these plantations. The objectives were to determine which fruit tree plantations could enhance soil quality and which soil indicators most strongly influence it. The soil quality at 0 to 30 cm (upper), 30 to 60 cm (lower), and the combined data from both portions (0 to 60 cm depth) were assessed using 17 soil physical, chemical, and biological indicators, and rated from low to high. The soil quality in the upper portion of the banana plantation decreased, while the rest of the plantations improved. In contrast, the soil quality in the lower portion improved only under the banana plantation. Compared with the forest area, the coffee plantation alone showed improved soil quality across the 0 to 60 cm depth. Water holding capacity was the physical indicator that contributed most to the SQI across sites and soil depths. Among the chemical indicators, cation exchange capacity and exchangeable potassium exerted the strongest influence on the SQI, while the biological indicators that contributed most to the SQI were earthworm and bacterial counts. Overall, these plantations exhibited spatial and depth-dependent effects on soil quality relative to the forest area, with coffee showing net improvement across the 0 to 60 cm soil profile. This demonstrates that not all conversions of forest lands to fruit tree plantations result in reduced soil quality.
Increasing the performance of rice varieties in terms of yield and other economically significant traits through genetic improvement is crucial to achieving food security in the Philippines. The Department of Agriculture-Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) plays a central role in developing high-yielding rice varieties that are more adaptable to local conditions to meet national rice demand. This study determined the trend in genetic gain for yield among national test entries from 2015 through 2021 using historical data and evaluated key agronomic, grain quality, and pest-and disease-resistance traits as criteria for assembling an elite core panel. Historical yield data from National Cooperative Test Phase I (NCT I) trials for irrigated lowland rice from 2015 to 2021 were analyzed for 157 genotypes, using both phenotypic and genotypic data. Desired inbred lines have good agronomic traits, pest-and disease-resistance traits, and high grain quality. Genotype data for 87 selected genes and QTLs were collected, and genetic gain and genetic estimated breeding values (GEBVs) were calculated. The realized genetic gain was estimated at 0.30% or 17.09 kg ha-1 yr-1 in the wet and dry seasons. Of the 157 lines evaluated, 60 elite lines were selected based on their estimated GEBVs to form the core panel. The elite lines of the core panel also confer important alleles for blast resistance (Pii, Pi54, Pita, and qP33), bacterial leaf blight resistance (xa5, qXa4, and Xa21), rice tungro virus resistance (TSV1), brown planthopper resistance (BPH17), drought resistance (qDTY12.1 and qDTY3.2), salinity tolerance (Saltol), grain quality (fgr-1 and Chalk5), and yield-related traits (GS3, GFR1, and others). The assembly and characterization of this core panel are expected to accelerate genetic gains in grain yield and important traits in irrigated lowland rice.
