Highly client-oriented breeding, using local preferences and selection, produces widely adapted rice varieties

When explicit measures are taken to account for the needs of clients (farmers and consumers) it results in highly client-oriented breeding. This involves the participation of farmers to specify the design of desirable varieties and, once they are produced, their testing without delay with the target clients in the target environments. The term highly client-oriented breeding (COB) explains the purpose of farmer involvement – the deliberate achievement of a high degree of client orientation – rather than simply explaining the process of farmers participating in plant breeding (participatory plant breeding). Client-oriented breeding is sometimes based on the preferences of relatively few farmers in a small area, so a possible drawback is that it will produce varieties that are too locally adapted. We describe the testing of varieties in the High Barind Tract (HBT) of Bangladesh from a COB programme carried out in Chitwan district, Nepal. The two best lines, Judi 582 and Judi 567, yielded 19–50% more during the T. Aman season and 106% more during the Aus season than check varieties in the HBT. Research to determine farmers’ preferences and adoption consistently showed these varieties were preferred over all available alternatives. The new varieties were broadly adapted as they were superior in all the three rice-growing seasons over varying levels of inputs. This broad adaptation could be explained by the breeding method: the generations were advanced in two contrasting seasons and each generation was grown on a different farmer's field under different management and planting dates. Because the segregating generations were grown under moderate and fluctuating levels of nitrogen, it is to be expected that genotypes with good nitrogen use efficiency will be selected that can also respond to added nitrogen. Overall, the cost-effectiveness of COB was high as it produced widely adapted genotypes from a small breeding programme, and knowledge of farmers’ preferences increased the efficiency of targeting new germplasm.