Organic Farming Practices among the Upland Rice Farmers in Sarangani Province, Southern Philippines

In 2016, we conducted a study among 211 upland farmer respondents to discover their organic farming practices and who among them are beneficiaries of an organic agriculture program in the country. Since there was no list of upland rice farmers at the office of the Department of Agriculture (DA), the respondents were selected through convenience, snowball, and cluster samplings. Data were gathered through personal interview. The data were analyzed through descriptive analysis and costs and returns analysis for profitability. Results revealed that upland farmers were not beneficiaries of an organic agriculture program implemented by the government. Out of the 211 respondents, 147 farmers (69.67%) are practicing organic farming. Their practice is considered traditional, and they are now called organic producers by default. Though they produce organic rice, their farm management practices are not consistent with the recommended practice. However, their traditional practice is sustainable. In terms of profitability, it is still profitable though their yield per hectare is way below the potential yield. All the accounts are under noncash since they only produce for consumption and they also practice bayanihan; hence, their expenses are also noncash. Hence, DA must include upland farmers as beneficiaries for development programs since organic agriculture is not contrary to their beliefs and culture and provide them with technical assistance to achieve the potential yield from organic farming, thereby improving their productivity and socioeconomic conditio

Upland Rice Farming

The study was conducted in Sarangani Province to evaluate the upland rice farming in Sarangani Province. There are 275 respondents who came from the eight municipalities of the province. Descriptive statistics, costs and returns analysis, and the Cobb-Douglas production function were used in analyzing the data. In the performance of the cultural management practices of upland rice production, the whole family is involved; for planting and harvesting, both female and male members; for fertilization and pest management, only male members; and lastly, for postharvest activities, only female members. In terms of resource productivity, land is the most significant, followed by labor, in increasing the yield. Pesticide and fertilizer also significantly affected yields. Moreover, the farms have increasing returns to scale, which means that increased input will result in increased output. Since labor, land, fertilizer, and pesticides significantly affected yield, these will become constraints when not properly used. With these findings, it is recommended that research institutions must give more attention to upland rice farming to develop technologies to increase yield. Moreover, a gene bank must be provided to preserve all the upland rice cultivars. The government must also reach out to the farmers to provide credit as well as extension services so that their productivity will be enhanced. Another important factor is providing a good market to them so that they can take advantage of a higher price. Hence, government institutions must work hand in hand for the betterment of the upland rice farmers

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Maternal Antibodies to Pneumolysin but Not to Pneumococcal Surface Protein A Delay Early Pneumococcal Carriage in High-Risk Papua New Guinean Infants▿

Immunization of pregnant women can be an efficient strategy to induce early protection in infants in developing countries. Pneumococcal protein-based vaccines may have the capacity to induce pneumococcal serotype-independent protection. To understand the potential of maternal pneumococcal protein-specific antibodies in infants in high-risk areas, we studied the placental transfer of naturally acquired antibodies to pneumolysin (Ply) and pneumococcal surface protein A family 1 and 2 (PspA1 and PspA2) in relation to onset of pneumococcal nasopharyngeal carriage in infants in Papua New Guinea (PNG). In this study, 76% of the infants carried Streptococcus pneumoniae in the upper respiratory tract within the first month of life, at a median age of 19 days. Maternal and cord blood antibody titers to Ply (ρ = 0.824, P < 0.001), PspA1 (ρ = 0.746, P < 0.001), and PspA2 (ρ = 0.631, P < 0.001) were strongly correlated. Maternal pneumococcal carriage (hazard ratio [HR], 2.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25 to 5.39) and younger maternal age (HR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.54 to 1.00) were independent risk factors for early carriage, while higher cord Ply-specific antibody titers predicted a significantly delayed onset (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.52 to 1.00) and cord PspA1-specific antibodies a significantly younger onset of carriage in PNG infants (HR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.03 to 2.40). Maternal vaccination with a pneumococcal protein-based vaccine should be considered as a strategy to protect high-risk infants against pneumococcal disease by reducing carriage risks in both mothers and infants