China’s hybrid rice output reaches new high in Sanya

The Hainan Nanfan seed industry has achieved success in experimentally planting two new hybrid rice varieties in Sanya.

The two new rice varieties, hybridized with reed stalks and bamboo, were cultivated in a rice breeding base in Sanya’s Wenmen Village. Of the two new rice varieties, the one hybridized with reed stalks achieved a yield of 1,081 kilograms of rice per mu (about 0.07 hectares) of farmland, hitting a record high in terms of yield-per-unit among China’s hybrid rice varieties.

Liu Zhibin, the rice expert who developed the two new varieties, commented that Hainan is a unique “natural greenhouse” with a warm climate and sufficient sunshine. The new rice varieties planted in Hainan not only increase the yield of rice, but also improve the plant’s “lodging resistance.”

This year, about 10,000 mu of the two hybrid rice varieties will be planted across the country in regions including Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, and other places. The cultivation of the new hybrid rice varieties will help improve China’s total grain output.