Summary of 2023 University of California Rice Variety Trials

Every year, the University of California Cooperative Extension, in cooperation with the Rice Experiment Station (RES), conducts rice variety trials in several locations of the Sacramento Valley (fig. 1). The trials are conducted at the RES and eight farm locations across the Sacramento Valley, and one location in the San Joaquin Delta (not on the map) representing the main production areas of California. In 2023, the South Yolo trial was not conducted. Plots in the Sacramento Valley trials were 200 ft² and hand seeded while in the San Joaquin Delta trial plots were 150 ft² and drill seeded; seeding rate for all trials was of 150 lbs/a. Grower cooperators treated the trial in the same manner as the rest of the field. Parameters evaluated in the trials included seedling vigor, days to 50% heading, plant height, lodging at harvest, grain moisture at harvest, and grain yield at 14% moisture. Varieties are replicated four times. In this summary, only yields are presented. All other parameters are included in the complete report, which will be available on our website at the end of February (http://rice.ucanr.edu).