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Rice varieties differ greatly in the time required from sowing until harvest. These periode often are strongly influenced by planting date and maturation in five months or more after seeding is common in the tropics. Obviously, a short duration crop would have several advantages over a long duration crop, even with equal total grain yields. A short duration crop would require less water per crop; would be less exposed to hazards such as insects, pathogenic organisms, drouths and typhoons; and would increase the time the land would be available for subsequent plantings of rice or other crops.

High grain yields in rice have been correlated with high dry matter (DM) production after flowering (1). This high DM production is the result of the balance between the environment and plant growth before flowering.