A new glutmous upland nce vanety “Yumenohata mochi” with medium maturationtime, which was registered in Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery as “upland rice Norin mochi 60”, was released in 1996 by Plant-Biotechnology lnstitute, Ibaraki Agricultural Center. This variety was developed after two backcrossings with the improved variety `upland rice Norin mochi 4'(NG4) in a cross between NG4 and the native Indian variety `Jaypole Collection N0.81'(JC81) selected as a drought resistant parent by the investigation of root amount and thickness. The selection of drought resistant lines was conducted on the basis of rootamount and thickness as well as shoot traits. Yumenohatamochi showed high drought resistance in upland fields of Japan. The eating quality was equivalentto that of paddy glutinous rice varieties with middle level of eating quality. Among the upland rice varieties, this variety is considered to display the highest eating quality at present. Thus, Yumenohatamochi is expected to contribute to the stable production of upland rice in Japan and to the increaseof the demand for upland rice.
