Ensuring household food security through enhanced production of pechay (Brassica rapa L.) as influenced by different levels of carbonized rice hull integration

Abstract

Household gardens have been a staple of many rural areas in the region. However, due to limited space, a need to intensify productivity while maintaining our natural resources has risen to the forefront of research innovativeness. The productivity and economic efficiency of pechay applied with varying rates of carbonized rice hull (CRH) were evaluated from February 2021 to April 2021. The study was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with five (5) growing media as treatments (T1 - garden soil with the recommended rate of NPK; T2 - growing media (GM) consisting of mixtures of garden soil, chicken dung, and coco peat; T3 - GM + 5% CRH; T4 - GM + 10% CRH; and T5 - GM + 15% CRH) with three (3) replications. Results revealed that the integration of 5% CRH with specialized mixed growing media (T3) significantly increased yield attaining 102.13 kg per 100 m2. Utilization of specialized growing media (T2, T3, T4, and T5) either with or without integration of CRH has higher dry matter yield which was significantly higher than plants harvested from plots grown with purely garden soil. Cost and return analysis revealed that pechay production utilizing the specialized growing media with the integration of 10% CRH obtained the highest return of expenses of Php 2.57 which was significantly higher than the rest of the treatments. The study concludes that the addition of 10% CRH to specialized mixed media is promising based on its yield performance and return on cost invested, thus, it is highly recommended.