Abstract: Based on daily meteorological data from 4 representative stations across the main early rice growing regions in Hubei province， including Wuhan， Jingmen， Jingzhou and Huangshi. The safe sowing date for early rice under different guaranteed rates during the earlier 30 years （1953-1982） and the latest 30 years （1983-2012） were detected and discussed， the optimum sowing date was comprehensively determined by comparing the potential yield simulated by using of CERESRice model with different sowing dates， as well as the corresponding risk of seedling rot indicated by a climate index. The results showed that the safe sowing dates under different guaranteed rates in 1983-2012 advanced 2-7d than that of in 1953-1982. If early rice was sowed during 24th March to 1st April in Wuhan， 26th March to 4th April in Jingmen， 25th March to 3th April in Jingzhou， 23th March to 31th March in Huangshi， which was under their 50%-80% guaranteed rates of the latest 30 years respectively， there would be a relative low risk of seed rot and seedling blight， and high yield.

Key words: Early rice, Optimum sowing date, CERES Rice model, Hubei province