Researchers breeding 'sea rice' to feed millions

CHINA DAILY | Updated: 2021-07-12 09:48
Share
Share - WeChat
Researchers cover their experimental paddy field with a protective net to prevent wild birds from feeding on grains at the Sanya Nanfan Scientific and Research Breeding Base in Sanya, Hainan province, on April 4. [Photo by Zhang Mao/for China Daily]

Hainan crop breeding base a mecca for scientists and agriculturalists

May is harvest season at the Qingdao Sea Rice Research and Development Center's experimental fields in Hainan province.

Zhang Shuyin, a researcher with the center, which is based in Qingdao in Shandong province, puts on his sun hat and goes to the paddy fields with a notebook and a big bag of water. He stays there the whole morning.

The center has several hectares of experimental fields at the Sanya Nanfan Scientific and Research Breeding Base, where about 2,000 samples of different rice varieties are being cultivated.

"Every day we grow rice, and we think about rice," Zhang said. "The seedlings have become like our children, and we can't leave them for a single day."

Sea rice is not actually grown in the sea, it's rice that is salt-tolerant. This means rice that can still grow in soils with salt densities greater than 0.3 percent.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next   >>|
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US