IPB News: Saved Hundreds of Hectares, Bioimmunization of IPB University's Innovation Seeds Successfully Overcome Rice Stem Borer

IPB University's innovation seed bio-immunization technology applied in Subang, West Java has produced results by saving hundreds of hectares of farmer's land. This technology is able to overcome the rice stem borer which has become a chronic problem for farmers in Ciasem Baru Village and Ciasem Girang Village, Ciasem District, Subang Regency, West Java.

Technology assistance was carried out by IPB University students who were guided by Prof. Suryo Wiyono and Prof. Widodo. Both are IPB University plant protection experts. Prof. Suryo said there were two principles of stem borer management, namely bio-immunization and collecting egg clusters in the nursery.

“Collecting clusters of eggs in nurseries to reduce the initial population of pests. Meanwhile, bio-immunization increases rice resistance to pests and diseases. Both are IPB University's well-established technologies and are ready to be applied massively to stem borer and blast disease endemic areas," explained Prof. Suryo.

Bio-immunization is a seed treatment technology with endophytic microbes and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). This technology makes plants resistant to pests and diseases.

Through the Kedai Reka Patriot Pangan IPB University 2022 program entitled Appropriate Technology Application Program to Support National Food Security through One Village One CEO (OVOC). The program involved eight IPB University students and was implemented last December 2022. This activity also involved four farmer groups with 51 people and 200 ha of rice fields.

In mid-March 2023, when the plants were approaching panicle, this program showed its success. Almost all farmers participating in this program said that this technology was effective in controlling rice stem borers.

"The seed bio-immunization technology has had a good effect on the growth of rice plants, starting from the nursery where the germination rate has almost reached 100 percent. Seedling growth is also evenly distributed, roots grow thicker," said Vector, who is a farmer participating in the program

In addition, he continued, paddy fields treated with seed bio-immunization were more resistant to attack by rice stem borer than rice fields without treatment.

Damis, a farmer who uses bio-immunization technology, also compares the performance of his rice cultivation. He suspects that nurseries treated with seed bio-immunization are not favored by stem borer moths for laying eggs. In fact, his and other farmer's (Tono) seed nurseries are located close to each other.

“There are far fewer stem borer attacks on my land than Pak Tono's. In fact, our land is only separated by rice field bunds. This incident was obtained after I applied bio-immunization technology, while Pak Tono's rice fields did not apply this technology," said Damis, another farmer.

On the other hand, the sneak attack between Damis and Tono's land also looks different. On Damis' land, sundeep attacks tend to be few and can be counted. Meanwhile, Tono's land tends to be evenly distributed in each clump. Sundep attack on plots with seed bio-immunization treatment was much smaller than on conventional fields.

Tillers attacked by sundep in plots without treatment reached 67.30 percent. Meanwhile, in the bio-immunization treatment it was only 21.59 percent. The other paddy field, belonging to the bio-immunized Casmudi, is located at the border of the village, safe from borers, while one next door is heavily infested.

"The IPB University program is very good and generally successful. The stem borer in the rice fields where the activity was located was proven to be under control compared to the others. In the future, the technology assistance program from universities for farmers needs to be expanded and intensified. The reason is that now the challenges faced by rice farmers are getting more severe, the climate is increasingly erratic, pests and diseases are getting more severe," said H Mad Anwar, SP, MP, Head of the Ciasem District Agriculture Service Technical Implementation Unit (UPTD). IPB News