Assessment of Farmer’s Practices on the Rubber Nursery Management Using Growing Medium and Varietal Selection in Mon State

Rubber is an economically important perennial crop in Myanmar for latex production. As the rubber plantation area increases yearly, the requirement of vigorous rubber seedlings for its establishment plays a central role. The success of rubber plantations depends on some farming practices such as using different compost or other materials in the potting soil-medium, varietal selection for stock and scion in the budding process, and fertilizer application methods. The objective of this study was to assess the farmer’s practices in the establishment of rubber nurseries in mostly rubber planted areas in Myanmar. The survey interviewed 60 respondents from three townships in Mon State, namely Mudon, Kyaikmaraw, and Thanbyuzayat. The response data were analyzed through the descriptive method. This survey exposed the potentially active operators (middle age of 30 60 years) in rubber nursery production. Local experienced farmers usually raised the budded seedlings with 15 cm × 23 cm polyethylene bag in all study regions. Most farmers selected multi-clonal seed for stock and BPM 24 for scion according to the local market demand and high latex yield. All survey areas used both organic and inorganic fertilizers for nutrient management. Compost is a chief component of growing medium in their nursery production. However, making compost and high demand of the compost were local constraints. Therefore, this survey suggested improving the proper composting method for rubber nursery establishment.


Introduction
Nowadays, ASEAN is leading to the top of the world's rubber production. Myanmar, which belongs to ASEAN countries and also bounders with the southern part of Thailand, emphasizes extending rubber plantations for latex production.
Historically, rubber plantations had introduced into Myanmar in 1876. However, the commercial production of rubber started in 1909 with a plantation area of 4000 hectares [1]. Currently, rubber production is still expanding and the total cultivated area is standing about 660,000 ha with 269,000 MT production [2].
Thus, rubber production in Myanmar is economically essential, and it recognizes as the second most agricultural export crop after beans and pulses [3].
Mon State lies in the South-Eastern region of Myanmar, including two districts with ten townships. Rubber is mainly grown in this state, and local people from Mudon, Kyaikmaraw, and Thanbyuzayat townships earn a lot of money from its production, including nursery sales [4]. Those people (42% of the rubber growers) are smallholders to participate in the developing rubber production industry [5]. Hence, the study about nursery production provides the main econo-  [1]). In the rubber nursery, seedlings are usually raised with three methods namely, field budded seedling, budded stump seedling, and polybag budded seedling. As polybag budded seedlings with two to three whorls of fully expanded leaves give the best growth in field plantation, this method is widely used in areas of rubber establishment [6]. In budding, the selection of scions and stocks characterizes successful rubber productions. Moreover, wellcompost in the potting media of polybag budded seedling modifies the plant growth and determines its nutrient availability. Using the improper growing media attributes to the poor performance of rubber seedlings and contributes to the inferior growth and yield of rubber due to roots & shoots' damage and dying plants [7]. Under soil fertility management, proper amendments of soil provide vigorous seedlings and increase latex production in field plantations. Thus, appropriate soil fertility management in the nursery is critical [8].
As the rubber plantation area in Myanmar is yearly increases, it is necessary to supply vigorous rubber seedlings for the plantation. According to the statistics [9], Mon state produced 1,080,000 rubber seedlings and distributed them to local and other regions. Nationally, for the success of rubber plantations, it is still necessary to assess the rubber nursery management practices and economic constraints [5]. However, some indicators to predict farming practices and nutrient management in detail, such as the use of compost or other materials in the potting media, selection of rubber varieties concerned with stock, and scion, bud-  (Table 1). This number is maximum among the rubber growing regions. As rubber is the second most important crop after paddy in Mon state, rubber production is not negligible. Table 2 shows the rubber plantation area of Mon state in 2020-2021. Although Ye planted the largest areas among townships, Mudon, Kyaikmaraw, and Thanbyuzayat townships are the main rubber seedlings producers ( Table 3).
The climate of Mon State is tropical humid because its location is in the low altitude area zone and near the sea. Temperature fluctuation is narrow there.
The rainy season sets at Mid-May, and it ends in September. Based on ten-year data, the average annual precipitation is 5580.9 mm, and this amount covers 153 rainy days.
In 2020, the maximum temperature (40.4˚C) occurred in May, and the minimum temperature (13.6˚C) in January [9]. We conducted this strategic survey in three townships of Mon state, namely Mudon, Kyaikmaraw (KMR), and Thanbyuzayat (TBZ). These regions locate in latitude 15˚27'N to 16˚7'N and longitude 97˚34'E to 97˚9'E ( Figure 1). The outlines of the study areas were shown in

Data Collection and Sampling Method
The survey was conducted in January 2019 by using a simple random sampling method. Firstly, we prepared a well-structured questionnaire to collect the primary data. Then, a total of 60 respondents, including 20 each from three townships, namely Mudon, Kyaikmaraw, and Thanbyuzayat, were personally interviewed. We selected these regions as study areas because of the main production of rubber seedlings. The primary information contained the data of the nursery practice of rubber, use of growing media in the potting soil of rubber nursery, use of rubber variety for stock and scion, the farmer's knowledge of composting concern about the use of raw materials for composting, their composting methods, fertilizer usage for nursery and budding practices. Moreover, we collected demographic data such as age, educational status, family size, and farming experience of the growers. Lastly, we also gathered the secondary data from pub-

Data Analysis Methods
All collected data were analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS 16.0) and Microsoft Excel programs. We characterized the demographic data, selection of the variety, use of compost, and rubber nursery management by the descriptive method.

Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Sample Respondents in the Study Areas
The socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents in the studied area were shown in (Table 5). In the study area, the mean age of the sample respondents was 44.7 years. The youngest age of a farmer was 16, and the oldest was 74.
According to the demographic data of the survey, 60% of the sample respondents were male, and 40% were female. In KMR township, 85% of farmers are male, and only 15% are female. These females are the farm leaders in rubber nursery management. More than half of the respondents from Mudon were male (60%), and the rest were female (40%). The opposite proportions were in TBZ.
The majority (65%) were female, and they also participated as the headed women in nursery operations. This study indicated that women could manage well in

(2 -7)
Parentheses show minimum and maximum. most rubber nurseries like men.
The average nursery experience was 9.37 years. Grower's experience (25 years) was maximum, and one year was the minimum. According to the survey data, most farmers (75%) from KMR had nursery experience from 1 -8 years. The rest (25%) of respondents had a farming experience of 9 -15 years. The nursery experience of farmers from Mudon, in the range of (9 -15 years) was 40% after the range of 1 -8 years of 45%. Nursery experience of 16 -25 years showed the smallest percent (15%). In TBZ, 40% of the respondents had 9 -15 years of nursery experience. Then, the range of 1 -8 years followed as 35%. 25% showed the minimum nursery experience of 16 -25 years. This result indicated that most respondents from Mudon and TBZ had a well-experience in nursery production compared with the respondents from KMR township. The majority of the respondents (65%) from TBZ got a bachelor's degree, the respondents who completed high school education were 6%, and only 15% of respondents finished their primary education. In KMR and Mudon, 15% of the respondents from each area showed as graduated people. A higher 40% each of these two townships completed middle school education. In the study areas, most respondents from TBZ were educated.  (Table 6) showed farmer's practices on production of rubber seedlings in the study areas (N = 60). The farmers in the study area produced an average of 12,700 seedlings on 0.26 ha. The maximum production of the seedlings was 60,000, whereas the minimum was 3000 seedlings. In KMR township, most farmers possessed 0.2 ha to 0.4 ha of landholding, on which up to 20,000 seedlings could produce. 15% of the growers had more than 0.4 ha of landholding (over 20,000 seedlings). In Mudon township, 55% of respondents grew under 10,000 seedlings, 35% by 10,000 -20,000 seedlings, and 10% by more than 20,000 seedlings, respectively. Most of the respondents (50%) from TBZ produced under 10,000 seedlings. In the case of nursery production, 100% of the respondents from KMR, 65% from Mudon, and 80% from TBZ produced polybag seedlings. Concern with seedling types, production of polybag and budded-stump seedlings were from 35% of growers from Mudon. From TBZ township, each of 5% of respondents produced budded-stump, polybag and budded stump, polybag and seedlings, and polybag, budded-stump and seedling respectively. The majority of the respondents (80%) from KMR and (90%) from Mudon and (94.7%) from TBZ used the polybag size of 15 cm × 23 cm.

Farmers' Practice Using Compost in Growing Media
Farmers' practice using compost in the growing medium for raising seedlings was shown in (Table 7). In the case of raising seedlings, most farmers in three areas (40%, 50%, 55%) used soil and compost in growing media. Some growers (25%) applied only soil in the growing medium, and the rest applied other materials such as burnt soil or animal manure mixed with soil for preparing growing media. Generally, most nursery producers use a mixture of sand and other materials as a growing medium. This survey also pointed out that most farmers in the study sites used compost as the main component for preparing the growing medium. Only a few farmers prepared the medium with biochar and burnt soil. (Table 8) shows some characteristics of farmers' practice on rubber nursery management. In the case of selecting the varieties, 80% of respondents used multi clone for stock. A few farmers (16.7%) used BPM 24, and the other (3.3%) used both multi-clones and BPM 24. For a seed source, 93.3% of the seeds were from brokers. The others (3.3%) were self-producing seeds, and the rest (3.3%) received both ways. A basket of seed (including 3500 -4500) cost an average of 12,100 kyats, and this price was different from 8000 kyats (minimum) to 24,000 kyats (maximum). Most respondents (78.3%) selected BPM 24 as a scion in producing the budded seedlings.    Parentheses show minimum and maximum.

Farmers' Practice on Rubber Nursery Management
areas. The majority of the respondents from KMR used inorganic fertilizer, and the rest (30%) used organic and inorganic fertilizer. In inorganic fertilizer, 70% of the respondents used the compound type; the other (15%) used the straight. The last 15% used both compound and straight fertilizer. In contrast with KMR, most respondents (75%) from Mudon applied organic and inorganic fertilizer to their rubber nurseries. Other respondents (25%) used only inorganic fertilizer. In inorganic fertilizer, 70% of the farmers used types, compound & straight fertilizer. In particular, 25% of the respondents used compound fertilizer, and the rest (5%) used straight fertilizer. In TBZ, the majority (80%) of the respondents used both organic and inorganic fertilizer for their rubber nurseries, and only 20% used inorganic fertilizer. The respondents of 75% used compound fertilizer, 20% used both organic and inorganic fertilizer. The rest of the farmers (5%) used straight fertilizer. In the study areas, most of the farmers used both organic and inorganic fertilizers. And, organic fertilizer is as important as inorganic fertilizer in the rubber nursery.

Characterization of Some Constraints on Using Compost in Growing Media
Respondents from KMR township, 40% used compost as a component of growing media. Among them, 62.5% of farmers purchase compost for their potting soil, and 37.5% made compost themselves by using the pile method. All respondents used yard waste (a mixture of grasses and various dry leaves). The respondents of 33.3% used cow dung manure in composting 66.7% composted only yard wastes (Table 10). The mean value of compost application rate from the studied areas was 197.3 g per seedling. The minimum amount of compost was 10 g per seedling, and the maximum amount of compost used by farmers was 750 g per seedling. In KMR, most farmers (87.5%) used compost of less than 100 g per seedling. The remainder of 12.5% used 150 g per seedling. The minimum amount of compost used in the respondents from Mudon was 100 g per seedling, and the maximum amount was 750 g per seedling. The mean value was 355 g per seedling. The farmers who used the compost at the rate of less than 100 g per seedling were 63.7%.
The other 18.2% used 100 -300 g per seedling, and the rest 18.2% used >300 g per seedling. Concern with composting, most respondents (90%) from KMR faced how to prepare the compost properly, and the rest (10%) had no time for composting. In the future, 80% of farmers wanted to attend the compost training, and the rest had no desire. Similarly, most respondents from Mudon had constraints for composting method. Although they knew the benefit of compost application, 65% wanted to attend the training for composting. In TBZ, 80% of respondents also faced constraints concerning the composting method. Lesser percent (10%) of farmers did not receive the raw materials properly, and the other 5% had the problem of land availability for composting. A few (5%) did not have any constraints. In the future, 90% also desired to attend the composting training. Generally, the compost users from these three sites knew the benefits of using compost. Composting encourages plant growth, improves soil fertility, and helps to retain water.

Conclusion
This survey made a strategic plan to assess the farming practices to provide rubber nursery production in Myanmar. As the results of respondents from all three-survey areas, most producers were middle age group of (36 -60) years. This indicator showed that farmers were potentially active operators in rubber nursery production. Based on field experience, nursery management was locally different. Almost all farmers used the polybag with 15 cm × 23 cm size for raising the budded seedlings. In selecting rubber varieties, most growers used multi-clonal seeds for stocks and BPM 24 for scions due to the local market demand and latex yield. To raise budded seedlings, half of the respondents used compost as a component of growing media. For composting, most local farmers prepared themselves, and some purchased. Thus, almost all farmers had some constraints with the proper composting method and high demand for compost. Moreover, they wanted to receive the pieces of training for composting. All survey areas used organic and inorganic fertilizers for nutrient management in nursery productions. In sum, this study exposed some local constraints and suggested improving the proper composting method for rubber nursery establishment.