Rice resistant to saline-alkaline land achieves record yield in Xinjiang

The average yield of rice resistant to saline-alkaline land planted at a demonstration land in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has reached a new record of 573.8 kg per mu (about 0.067 hectares), experts said on Friday.

The demonstration land, in the Alar city, covers an area of more than 10,000 mu (667 hectares). It only had few plants before rice was planted earlier this year, as it is a land with high saline and alkaline concentration, which makes it unfit for rice planting.

According to Changsha seed research center at the national saline-alkaline resistant rice technology innovation center, experts from Hunan and Xinjiang tried to reduce the saline and alkaline rate of the land and selected suitable rice varieties resistant to such land.