Saving the heirloom Corn varieties of Kalinga Province
Paper Details
Saving the heirloom Corn varieties of Kalinga Province
Abstract
Heirloom corn is one of the distinctive and significant cultivars grown in Kalinga Province. Factors such as shifting to GM corn, reduction of corn area, entry of OPV varieties, and the age of farmers impact heirloom corn varieties in Kalinga. This study looked into the ex-situ characterization of heirloom corn varieties and the effect of fertilizer on the growth and yield of heirloom corn. The genetic base of heirloom corn consisted of twenty-four accessions in ex-situ characterization with eighty-four descriptors. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of white and purple heirloom corn were determined. The cultivars possess a unique qualitative character to distinguish their traits. The ex-situ characterization shows a slight variation in both quantitative and qualitative data for the cultivars tested. Field trials of heirloom corn planted in the two experiment areas showed no significant difference in the variables tested except in the plant height of heirloom corn under the Tabuk City condition. Sole ammonium phosphate (16-20-0) significantly affected the weight of the kernel and the yield of purple corn. The combined Ultimax organic and ammonium phosphate fertilizer did not yield significantly. Ammonium phosphate application is more effective in a sloped area than organic fertilizer. This phenomenon may be due to the faster release of inorganic fertilizer than organic fertilizer, which has a slow release; moreover, combining inorganic and organic fertilizers significantly improved heirloom corn. Farmers in Kalinga province must continuously cultivate and bequeath these cultivars to the young generation to preserve heirloom corn germplasm.
Bureau of Agricultural Statistics. http://countrystat. bas.gov.ph
Bureau of Agricultural Statistics2. http:// www. bas.gov.ph
FAO. 2013. Traditional High‐Andean cuisine, 1st ed. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Available from: http://www.fao.org/docrep /018/i1466e/i1466e.pdf. Accessed 2014 May 16.
Ford-Lloyd BV, Schmidt M, Armstrong SJ, Barazani OZ, Engels J, Hadas R, Hammer K, Kell SP, Kang D, Khoshbakht K, Li Y. 2011. Crop wild relatives—undervalued, underutilized and under threat?. Bioscience 61(7), 559-65.
Gerpacio RV, Labios JD, Labios RV, Diangkinay EI. 2004. Maize in the Philippines: production systems, constraints, and research priorities. CIMMYT.
Lao F, Sigurdson GT, Giusti MM. 2017. Health Benefits of Purple Corn (Zea mays L.) Phenolic Compounds. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved on July 19, 2018 at http/doi/full/10.1111/1541-4337.12249.
Logroño ML, Lopez EL, Alejandro F. 1996. Maize seed situation in the Philippines: a country report. Philippine Journal of Crop Science 21, p 61-70.
Lopes MS, El-Basyoni I, Baenziger PS, Singh S, Royo C, Ozbek K, Aktas H, Ozer E, Ozdemir F, Manickavelu A, Ban T. 2015. Exploiting genetic diversity from landraces in wheat breeding for adaptation to climate change. Journal of experimental botany 66(12), 3477-86.
Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and natural Resources Research and Development (PCCARD). 2006. Corn Industry Profile. Los Baños, Laguna.
Rice Watch and Action Network. 2007. Issues and Prospects of the Philippine Corn Industry. http:// www.r1phils.org/PDF%20Files/Phil%20Corn%20Industry.pdf
Siopongco LB, Altoveros NC, Cruz VMV, Villavicencio MLH. 1999. Morphological diversity in NPGRL’s local corn collection. Philippine Journal of Crop Science 24, 103-113.
Transon J, Defourny P. 2017. Corn crops in Bukidnon, Philippines: Synthesis from field survey and literature. February p1-18.
World Food Program. 2012. Philippine Food and Nutrition Security Atlas. http://www.wfp.org/ content/philippine-food-and-nutrition-security-atlas-march-2012
Rex Saliw-an Langngag, Santos B. Sicnawa, Irene S. Calsiyao, Jelmer Cesar P. Calagui, Jameson Lopez, Noel B. Estilong, 2023. Saving the heirloom Corn varieties of Kalinga Province. Int. J. Agron. Agric. Res., 22(5), 10-21.
Copyright © 2023 by the Authors. This article is an open access article and distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) license.