Busan Gijang-gun Offers Free Rice Seed Disinfection Service for Bountiful Harvest Prayers

Busan Gijang-gun supports seed disinfection and prays for a bountiful harvest as the farming season begins.

On the 13th, Gijang-gun announced that it will start a project to prevent bakanae disease, which can determine the success or failure of rice farming. It will provide farmers with practical measures such as seed disinfection and conduct on-site guidance for seedbed installation and management.

Rice seed disinfection is the first step in labor-saving cultivation that prevents diseases caused by seed transmission such as rice blast, bakanae disease, and rice spike nematode, thereby reducing the incidence of diseases and pests in the main field and saving costs and labor for pesticide application.

The Agricultural Technology Center plans to operate free hot water disinfection sessions three times in total for rice farmers at the Janganssal Farming Group joint workspace on April 13, 14, and 18, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Gijang-gun Agricultural Technology Center.

The hot water disinfection method involves soaking rice seeds in 60℃ hot water for 10 minutes and then immediately cooling them in cold water. This method is known to be highly effective against seed-borne diseases and has over 97% effectiveness in controlling bakanae disease.

Park Mijin, director of the Gijang-gun Agricultural Technology Center, said, “Since all rice certified seeds have been supplied as non-disinfected seeds since 2022, we will strengthen continuous education and on-site technical support to raise awareness of the importance of seed disinfection.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.