Role of Participatory Varietal Selection (PVS) and Sensory Evaluation for Lowland Rice Improvement in Bihar

Study on participatory varietal selection (PVS which provided opportunities for male and female farmers' to express their preference for rice varieties at the early stages of the breeding process and Sensory evaluation which provided opportunity to taste the cooked rice and show their preferences. were conducted at ARI, Mithapur, Patna. Forty three farmers participated in the preference analysis and selected RAU 759-5-41 followed by RAU 729-12-44 for having features like semi-tall plant, good tillers, long panicle medium bold grains, shinning of grains, white kernel, stiff stem, no lodging and suitable for low land and expecting good yield and good market price etc. The correlation between male and female farmers' preference scores were strong. The result of sensory evaluation where ninety six farmers participated showed Swarna Sub-1 as rank first followed by RAU 759-5-41 and Swarna.