The third-generation hybrid rice developed by Yuan Longping, the
"father of hybrid rice," and his team achieved a yield of 911.7 kg per
mu (about 667 square meters) in an experiment in central China's Hunan
Province. "I would be very happy if it exceeds 880 kg. Now it exceeded 900 kg, I
am extremely happy," Yuan said after the yield was announced Monday. Plus an early season rice yield of 619.06 kg, the same plot in
Qingzhu Village, Hengnan County, has produced a yield of 1,530.76 kg per
mu in a year. The output is equivalent to 22.96 tonnes per hectare. Last year, the same late hybrid rice variety, "sanyou No.1", made a single-cropping yield of 1,046.3 kg per mu on the same plot. Hunan is a major rice producer in China, where farmers plant double-cropping rice. "High yield and resistance to disease, cold and lodging are the
advantages of the third generation hybrid rice, compared with the
previous two generations," said Li Xinqi, a researcher at Hunan Hybrid
Rice Research Center and host of the third-generation hybrid rice
project. This year's high yield of the double-cropping rice has been made
under unfavorable conditions of low temperature and shorter durations of
sunlight, Li said. Li Qiusheng, an agronomist with the agriculture and rural affairs
bureau in Hengnan County, said that according to meteorological data
during the critical period of rice growth, 43.85 effective sunshine
hours were recorded this year, compared to 187.8 last year. "The village was not particularly chosen for the test of the new
generation hybrid rice. Besides, the rice did not receive any special
care, which is not much different from normal farming by ordinary
farmers," Li said. Under similar conditions, yields of local double-cropping rice
averaged between 700 kg and 800 kg per mu, while the new hybrid rice
exceeded 1,500 kg per mu. Li Jianwu, an expert with the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, said
the expert team had visited the experimental fields only twice from
sowing to harvesting, in contrast to the long-term guidance rendered to
rice farmers in the past. "The most prominent feature of the third-generation hybrid rice is
that it gives a full play to the advantages of hybridization. Its own
vitality can help save farmers' cost and labor," he said. China now feeds around 20 percent of the world's population, with less than 9 percent of the world's arable land. Yuan, who developed the world's first hybrid rice in the 1970s, has
set multiple world records in hybrid rice yields in previous years,
making great contributions to the food security of China and the world. Yuan's team is still working on the third-generation hybrid rice
combinations and conducting studies for the simplified cultivation of
the rice, aiming at high yields with less use of fertilizers. Yuan said he wants to ensure the third-generation hybrid rice variety
boasts "the comprehensive strength to promote a greener and more
sustainable development of China's rice production with higher quality
and yield." Enditem
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