China hybrid rice with an area of 7 million hectares planted abroad benefits the whole world.

　　[magnificent 70-year struggle new era]

　　There is an unusual yard beside a small road in Ma Po Ridge, east of Changsha City, Hunan Province — — Hunan hybrid rice research center. The yard is small, and it is only a few minutes’ walk from the office building to the laboratory and then to the exhibition hall. For more than 30 years, this yard has been a "holy land" for hybrid rice research in China.

　　Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, established in 1984, is the first professional research institution of hybrid rice at home and abroad. Several star varieties and breeding materials of hybrid rice were born here, reaching the highest level in the world in the research of super hybrid rice. Hybrid rice technology with completely independent intellectual property rights has made great contributions to food security in China and even the world.

　　Scientific and technological innovation is fruitful.

　　Since the research of hybrid rice was initiated in Hunan in 1964, the scientific and technological workers of rice seed industry, represented by Yuan Longping, have made unremitting efforts, and the research of hybrid rice has continuously made breakthroughs, realizing three major technological innovations from three lines to two lines and then to super hybrid rice.

　　— — In 1964, Yuan Longping discovered a "natural male sterile plant" in Dongting early indica rice field. In 1966, Yuan Longping published his first paper "Male Infertility of Rice" in the 4th issue of Volume 17 of Science Bulletin. In 1973, three lines of indica hybrid rice in China were successfully matched.

　　— — In 1987, Yuan Longping put forward in his paper "Strategic Assumption of Hybrid Rice Breeding" that hybrid rice breeding should be divided into three development stages: three-line method, two-line method and one-line method, and three development stages from the utilization of heterosis level: the utilization of heterosis among varieties, subspecies and distant heterosis, that is, the breeding program is developing from complexity to simplicity with higher efficiency, and the utilization of heterosis is developing in a stronger direction. In 1995, the research of two-line hybrid rice made a breakthrough, which can be widely popularized in production.

　　— — In 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture of China initiated the China Super Rice Breeding Program. In 2017, the average yield per mu of super rice variety "Xiangliangyou 900" in Hebei Province was 1,149.02 kg, setting a record for rice yield per unit area in the world.

　　Nowadays, the third-generation hybrid rice breeding technology has the advantages of stable fertility of "three-line method" and free combination of "two-line method", which makes China continue to maintain its leading position in the field of hybrid rice research.

　　The data show that in recent years, the planting area of hybrid rice in China is 17 million hectares, accounting for more than 50% of the total rice area in China; The average yield of rice in China is about 6.4 tons per hectare, including 7.5 tons of hybrid rice per hectare. Yuan Longping said that the yield of hybrid rice is about 20% higher than that of conventional rice, and the increased grain can feed 70 million people every year.

　　Hybrid rice "takes root and blooms" in many countries

　　"I am very happy to help other developing countries develop hybrid rice to solve the problem of food shortage. I firmly believe that through joint efforts, my dream will come true in the near future. " At the end of June this year, the first China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo was held in Changsha, Hunan Province. Academician Yuan Longping, who was nearly ninety years old, delivered a speech in English at the China-Africa Agricultural Cooperation and Development Seminar and instantly became popular on the Internet.

　　Hybrid rice went abroad in 1979. At that time, the Ministry of Agriculture presented 1.5 kilograms of hybrid rice seeds to the American Western Oil Company. After these seeds are planted in the United States, the yield is more than 33% higher than that of local improved varieties. Next, the technical cooperation of hybrid rice between China and the United States continues to this day.

　　Academician Yuan Longping, who was invited to the United States for five times to teach technology, still remembers that due to the obvious increase in hybrid rice production in the United States, the American Western Oil Company made a special trip to China in 1981 to shoot a documentary "In the Garden of People’s Republic of China (PRC) — — The Story of Hybrid Rice in China, which was not only shown in the United States, but also broadcast nationwide by Japanese TV stations, caused a sensation.

　　"The American rice technology company that cooperates with us pays the technology transfer fee to the research center every year. This year, the planting area of hybrid rice in the United States has increased again, accounting for 60% of the total planting area of rice in the United States. " Academician Yuan Longping said.

　　In the past 40 years, the teaching scope of hybrid rice technology has been expanding. Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center and Yuan Longping Agricultural High-tech Co., Ltd. have held nearly 100 international training courses on hybrid rice, and trained more than 10,000 technicians for about 80 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Hybrid rice technology has taken root and blossomed in many countries.

　　"Today, the planting area of hybrid rice abroad is 7 million hectares, and India has the largest planting area of more than 2 million hectares." Academician Yuan Longping said that hybrid rice not only solved the problem of eating in Chinese, but also benefited the whole world.

　　Meet the challenge and continue to tackle key problems

　　In recent years, Academician Yuan Longping, who calls himself "the post-90s generation", led the Chinese rice research team to start the research on salt-tolerant and alkali-tolerant rice breeding technology, and achieved initial results.

　　It is reported that more than 6% of the world’s existing land area is endangered by salinity. Among the arable land, 19.5% of paddy fields and 2.1% of dry land have been harmed by saline-alkali. In Southeast Asian countries, millions of hectares of land suitable for rice cultivation are abandoned due to salinization every year. 15% of paddy fields in China are affected by different degrees of salt damage. Affected by climate change, sea level rise, unreasonable irrigation and drainage system, and bottom rocks rich in harmful salt, the global salinized land area is still expanding.

　　"Starting the research on sea rice and popularizing rice cultivation technology in saline-alkali land is very important for realizing China’s ‘ Storing grain in the ground and storing grain in technology ’ , ensure that ‘ China’s rice bowl must be in his own hands ’ The strategic goals are of great significance. China has 1.5 billion mu of saline-alkali land, of which about 200 million mu has the conditions to grow sea rice. Taking hybrid sea rice research as one of the important directions of our future hybrid rice research will not only increase the planting area of hybrid rice in China, but also solve the problem of rice harvest loss caused by seawater intrusion in Vietnam, Bangladesh and other countries. " Bai Lianyang, secretary of the Party Committee of Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said. (Reporter Long Jun)