The rice variety Dourado Precoce has been studied at the Instituto Agronômico, Campinas, since 1959. Its vegetative cycle is of about 110 to 120 days, the mean height 1.22 m, 9 cm less than Dourado Agulha. The isolated plants tiller more, have a greater number of panicles which, however, are smaller. The relationahip length-breadth is 2.85, which means that it is included in the long grain group. The grain is of high commercial value. Results of 12 trials on yield, obtained in a three-year period in several localities, have shown that in spite of the fact that it yields less than Dourado Agulha and Pratão - the standard varieties for dry land cultivation - the early variety under study deserves special attention. Because of its earliness, in comparison with the standard varieties, the planting season can be stretched by one month. Due to its earliness, greater than black rice and red rice, weeds infesting paddy fields, Dourado Precoce can be used in the deweeding of lowland rice plantations, as it will ripen before the weeds are fully mature and therefore harvested with practically no interference of these weeds.