Santosh: a high-yielding variety for the rainfed lowland of Bihar, India, developed through participatory breeding

Abstract

The rainfed lowland is a predominant rice ecology in Bihar (2.7 million ha). As it is monsoon based, sowing and transplanting of rice are invariably delayed. The crop also faces flood and drought, singly or in combination, at any growth stage. Because of these constraints, the high-yielding varieties developed for this ecology through on-station efforts are not widely adopted. Traditionally, to develop varieties adapted to this ecology, photoperiod-sensitive cultivars are grown.