KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — The Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) has found a method to control the ‘padi angin’ or weedy rice which has become a threat to the national padi industry.
Mardi director-general Datuk Mohamad Roff Mohd Noor said the weed was an inevitable threat due to its dispersal through seed contamination.
“Weedy rice can also reduce crop yields by up to 70 per cent if it is not controlled in the early stage.
“It has also become resistant to herbicides such as imidazolinone and the latest, there are also species that are difficult to distinguish from the crop,” he said at the launch of the Mardi 2020 Crop Protection Colloquium and the Weedy Rice Control Technology Manual (2020 Edition) at Mardi headquarters today.
Mohamad Roff said the manual provides guidelines on the standard operating procedures (SOP) that should be adopted by farmers to ensure that their padi fields are free from weedy rice and help them increase their yield as well as income.
The 17-page manual published by Mardi contains, among others, the latest status of weedy rice in Malaysia and its control strategy as well as the new SOP for the wet direct seeding method known as ClearWR.
The new method can help reduce the weedy rice population by 30 to 45 per cent in the first season and by 70 to 85 per cent in the second season of practicing it.
Through the method, spraying of premix herbicides pretilachlor or oxadiazon should be done seven days before seeding. — Bernama
