Pursuant to the provisions of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of R.A. 7308, otherwise known as the Seed Industry Development Act of 1992, Article II, Section 3C, and upon approval of the National Seed Industry Council the following standards and procedures are to be adapted to ensure the quality of hybrid (F1) and parental seeds (A or CMS line):

1. The general requirements of seed certification applicable to all crops like hybrid rice (F1) and hybrid rice parental seeds (A line) as adopted by the National Seed Quality Control Services are basic together with the succeeding specific requirements.

2. The production area must have fertile soil adaptable for parental lines, with sufficient irrigation and efficient drainage system, not shaded and has no previous record of serious incidence of pests and diseases.

3. The production area must undergo at least five series of inspection to be conducted by duly trained official seed inspectors during the seed production at the following stages.

a. transplanting - to ensure that proper row orientation appropriate distance of planting and number of seedlings per hill are followed;

b. maximum tillering, before heading to flowering and before harvest - to check whether off-types and other varieties are properly removed; and

c. harvest time - to ensure that the R lines (male parent) are harvested ahead and taken out of the field before harvesting A line (seed parent).

4. Must meet the following field standards:

a. Production Area - at least five hectares of compact land;

b. Isolation - strictly isolated to ensure genetic purity of hybrid seeds and rice parental and avoid pollination from unwanted varieties. The following isolation methods shall be followed:

i. distance isolation - an isolation of 100 m is satisfactory. Within this range, no other rice varieties should be grown except for the pollen parent;

ii. time isolation - adjust planting time to separate flowering of seed parent from other rice cultivars within 100 m by at least 3 weeks. The heading stage of varieties grown within 100 m around the hybrid seed production field should be over 21 days earlier or later than that of the cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines or A line; and

iii. barrier isolation - topographic surface features or any physical obstacles, be natural or artificial, with height of at least 2.5 m or crop barrier having a height of at least 2.5 m and 3 to 4 m wide can be used as means of isolation barrier.

c. Rouging - sources of undesirable rice plants like volunteer plants and off-types should be removed from A line or R line at any time of the plant stage development and more importantly during the maximum tillering, flowering and before harvest stages; and

d. Control of weeds, diseases and insect pests - keep weeds, diseases and insect pests under control.

5. Must meet the following seed standards:

Factors



F1 Seed



A Line Seeds



Pure seeds (min)



98.00%



98.00%



Weed and other crop seed (max)



0.10%



0.10%



Inert matter (max)



1.90%



1.90%



Red Rice, grains/500 g (max)



2



2



Other varieties/500 g (max)



1.00%



0.50%



Germination (min)



85.00%



85.00%



Moisture content (max)



14.00%



14.00%



6. Tagging of seed stock that meet the standards of seed certification shall be officially done by seed inspectors with the official bright orange tags for hybrid F1 seeds and old rose tags for hybrid rice parental seeds (A or CMS line).

Non-compliance with the above requirements shall be a ground for the denial of seed certification.

This Order shall take effect immediately and supersede Memorandum Circular No. 3, Series of 2000.

Adopted: 24 October 2001