Thelma Paris,1 Amelia Cueno,1 Digna Manzanilla,1 Gerlie Tatlonghari,1 Donald Villanueva,1 Hari Nath Singh2

1 International

Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Los Baos, Laguna, Philippines 2 Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT), Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India

Main purpose of PVS

Farmers selection of released or prereleased advanced lines and local varieties tested on-station and in farmers fields. A simple way for breeders and agronomists to learn which rice varieties perform well on-station and on-farm and to obtain feedback from potential end users in the early phase of the breeding cycle. A means for social scientists and breeders to identify the specific traits that farmers look for in rice varieties suitable for their specific environments and livelihood. To provide information to rice breeders about specific rice varieties that farmers demand. How to ensure that men and women farmers opinions matter: Collect information on rice varieties, the reasons for farmer adoption/disadoption, and preferred traits of rice varieties. Involve men and women in selecting the best lines included in R-M trials and listen to their reasons for selection. Involve men and women in evaluating the eating, cooking, and postharvest qualities of two best lines. Consider men and womens feedback on the lines/ varieties that they tested in their own fields. Enhance the capacity of partners (scientists and farmers). capacity of NARES partners in PVS in various research projects, a number of training courses were given in-country and at IRRI .
To enhance the

IRRI emphasizes the importance of PVS

protocols in rice breeding programs.

~ PVS includes researcher-managed (R-M) trials or mother trials, farmer-managed (F-M) trials or baby trials, and sensory evaluation of farmer-preferred lines/varieties. At least 30% of the participants should be women farmers.

Farmers opinions through visual rating are systematically collected and used in selection decision through preference analysis (PA) in researcher-managed trials. Below is the PA protocol.

India Bangladesh Nepal

Vietnam Thailand Cambodia

Laos Indonesia Philippines

Sensory evaluation
is a useful process in evaluating the cooking and eating quality of the top two preferred lines tolerant to specific stress (i.e., submergence, salinity, sodicity, drought), tested in R-M trials plus the farmers local variety. The evaluation may be conducted one month after harvesting. This evaluation could help confirm whether the lines/varieties selected by farmers through visual rating before harvest are acceptable in terms of eating and cooking qualities and their cultural needs.

Farmer-managed trials/baby trials

Lines/varieties selected from preference analysis on researcher-managed trials are tested by farmers in their own fields using their resources and level of management. Farmers ratings, comments, and yield reports of preferred varieties are the main outputs of baby trials and are compared with their own previously grown varieties.

This mother-baby trials approach in plant breeding is found to be an effective strategy in developing and disseminating improved crop varieties in stressed environments by many international agricultural research centers (IARCs) under the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ~ Bellon and Reeves, 2002

Men and women have common and different varietal preferences based on gender roles. Therefore their opinions should be considered in varietal improvement. Data from PVS should be considered in the varietal release system to speed up delivery and acceptance of new varieties by farmers on a large scale.