China's 'father of hybrid rice' sets new world records

Yuan Longping (center) checks the double-cropping rice at Longtian township in South China's Guangdong province on Nov 19, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

GUANGZHOU -- China has made a series of new world records in hybrid rice output, Central China's Hunan provincial government announced at a press conference Thursday.

The records were set by Yuan Longping, "father of hybrid rice".

Yuan's team have managed 42 hybrid rice test fields in 16 provincial regions across China, including Yunan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guangdong, Chongqing and Hunan since the beginning of the year.

A new world record in output of double-cropping rice was set in South China's Guangdong, which achieved an annual yield of 1,537.78 kilograms of rice per mu (about 0.07 hectares) of farmland.

In two other projects in Hebei and Yunan, the crops have yielded as much as 1,082.1 kilograms per mu and 1,088 kilograms of rice per mu. Both have broken previous world records for the highest yield in high-latitude areas as well as output on 100 mu of farmland.

Other projects in Shandong, Hubei and Guangxi all broke previous regional records in China.

Hybrid rice, also known as super rice in China, is produced by crossbreeding different kinds of rice. About 65 percent of Chinese depend on rice as a staple food.

Yuan, who developed the world's first hybrid rice in 1974, has also set three world records in hybrid rice yield in 1999, 2005 and 2011.

"Super rice has a bright future in raising grain production. China has solved the problem of food shortages on our own, people in other countries are also benefiting. Super rice will play a larger role in food security and world peace in the future," said Yuan, who added that his team is working on a new generation of hybrid rice, which is expected to breed rice of higher yields and better quality.