03997nam a22001817a 4500 OSt 20250805085431.0 241209b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d MMSU ULS Sanguir, John Mychael Jr. F. Documentation of the production, utilization and yield of Teosinte/maramais (Zea spp.) as forage crop in the City of Batac, Ilocos Norte / John Mychael Jr. F. Sanguir City of Batac : MMSU, 2024. xiii, 90 leaves : 28 cm. Thesis (BS in Agriculture major in Animal Science) -- Mariano Marcos State University-College of Agriculture, Food and Sustainable Development, Batac City Bibliography : leaves 56-59 A study was conducted to document the production, utilization practices, and yield of teosinte/maramais (Zea spp) as forage crop in the City of Batac, Ilocos Norte. The study generally aimed to establish initial data on the farmers’ practices in cultivating teosinte/maramais. Specifically, the study looked into socio-demographic profile of farmers cultivating teosinte/maramais as fodder crop, document the cultural management practices employed by farmers in the production of teosinte/maramais as fodder, document the practices of farmers in the utilization of teosinte/maramais as feed for ruminants, and determine the herbage and dry matter yields of teosinte grown by farmers. A total of 100 respondents were randomly taken from the 20 different barangays of the City and were randomly chosen using a snowball sampling method. The number of respondents per barangay ranges from 1 to 13. They were interviewed using a structured interview schedule. Moreover, fresh herbage yield of their standing crop was determined, samples were collected and dry matter was analyzed using standard oven drying method. A descriptive research design was used in the study. On the socio-demographic profile, majority of the respondents were male (92%), ages 41-60 (81%) and were married and has reached high school level (51%). Majority (79%) of them, has 1-5 family members and nearly all of them (97%) are engaged in farming as source of livelihood. More than a quarter (27%) are practicing farming for 11-20 years and are raising ruminants. The farmers were planting teosinte/maramais during the months of July (37%) and August (37%) and all of them were cultivating in upland areas and planting an area ranging from 100 to 10,000 sq. m. Farmers were practicing conventional tillage (one passing) (63%) and practiced broadcast (63%) method of seed sowing with a seeding rate of 1 kg to 15 kg seeds. Likewise, those practiced dibble method of sowing, they followed a hill spacing of 20 cm- 60 cm and row spacing of 20 to 71 cm with 2 to 20 seeds per hill. Most farmers do not irrigate (79%) their crop and solely depends on rain and do not practice weed control (76%). When it rained, farmer applied inorganic fertilizer any time. On the other hand, farmers do initial harvesting at vegetative stage (64%) while the second cutting at two months after planting at a cutting height of 21 30 cm high (40%) and all practiced cut and carry type of utilization in soilage form. In terms of fresh herbage yield of the standing crop of the farmers, the recorded yield is 2.27 kg/quadrant. Teosinte/maramais planted through dibble method recorded higher yield at 2.75 kg/quadrant compared to 1.99 kg/quadrant in broadcast method. Crop planted during the months of August and September recorded a yield of 2.51 and 2.87 kg/quadrant, respectively. The average dry matter yield recorded is 21.87%. Therefore, series of studies focusing on improving the production management of the teosinte/maramais should be conducted such as enhancing planting time, seeding rate, spacing, cutting height and exploring alternative processing methods and potential supplementation strategies. lcc THEDIS 24288 24288 0 0 lcc 0 0 MMSU_MAIN MMSU_MAIN THESES 2024-12-09 7482 0 UTHESIS-7482 2024-12-09 2024-12-09 THEDIS Room Use Only