Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 October 2008
Data recently published in this journal on grain yields of new rice varieties, grown under rainfed conditions on-farm in two villages in Uttar Pradesh, were analysed. The new varieties were spectacularly better than the landraces with which they were compared and showed a high regression slope (>2) against the landraces. If supported by further studies, such experiments could provide an appropriate, but hitherto unexplored, approach to plant breeding for poor, small farmers operating with low inputs.