Selection - Eriho

...Improvements have been made to all aspects of rice cultivation, including seed selection, seedling production, cultivation methods, improved fertilization, and dry-field cultivation, but the selection of high-yielding varieties and varieties suited to the land can be seen in the account books of many farmers. High-yielding varieties are usually discovered through a method called ear selection, in which the best-growing ears of rice from the same field are selected, and new varieties are selected through trial cultivation of those seeds. These efforts have resulted in the development of many superior varieties in each region.

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "selection of heads" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…改良は種子の選択，苗作り，耕作法，施肥の改良，乾田化など稲作の全過程に及んでいるが，多収稲や土地に合った種類の選択は，多くの農民の帳簿からもうかがわれる。多収品種の発見は，ふつう選穂（えりほ）といって，同じ田の稲穂中の生育のよいものを選び，その種の試作を通じて新品種を選び出す方法によっている。その努力が各地域に多数の優良品種を成立させている。…

※「選穂」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報