Developing Super Hybrid Rice to ensure National Food Security

China now has a population of more than 1.3 billion, which will soon reach 1.4 billion. At the same time, the cultivated land in our country is decreasing year by year. In the face of the grim situation of increasing and decreasing the number of people, only through scientific and technological progress can we greatly increase the output per unit area of food crops. In order to solve the problem of the people of the whole country having enough to eat. To this end, we are implementing three grain production projects.

First, breeding super high-yielding hybrid rice varieties with a yield of 16 tons per hectare.

The pursuit of high yield and higher yield is an eternal theme. Rice is the largest food crop in China and the world. In order to greatly increase the yield of rice, Japan first carried out super-high-yield breeding of rice in 1981. It is planned to increase the per unit yield of rice to 12 tons per hectare within 15 years, but up to now, 34 years have passed and it has not yet been realized. In 1989, the International Rice Research Institute officially launched the breeding of super rice (su? Perrice) later changed to new plant type rice, and it is planned to produce super rice with a yield of 1212.5 tons per hectare by the year 2000. similarly, it has not been successful so far. Thus it can be seen that it is extremely difficult to develop super rice with a yield of 12 tons per hectare.

In order to meet the food needs of the people of the whole country in the 21st century, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Science and Technology established and launched China's super rice breeding program in 1996 and 1997 respectively. The yield targets (average of 100 mu) in four periods are as follows:

Phase I: 10.5t / ha in 1996-2000, Phase II: 12t / ha in 2001-2005, Phase III: 13.5t / ha in 2006-2015, Phase IV: 15t / ha in 2016-2020

Through the technical route of morphological improvement and utilization of intersubspecific heterosis, coupled with our team's painstaking research on key problems, the above yield indexes were realized one by one on schedule and ahead of schedule. The representative variety of the first stage is Liangyou Peijiu, which was selected in cooperation with Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In the early years of the 21st century, it was applied in large-scale production, with the highest annual extension area of nearly 10 million mu, with an average yield of about 550kg per mu. The representative variety of the second stage is Y Liangyou 1, which has a planting area of 8 million mu and an average yield of about 600kg per mu in 2014. The representative variety of the third stage, Y Liangyou 2, produced 926.6 kg (13.9 tons / ha) per mu in 2012 in Longhui County, Hunan Province. It was popularized in 2013. In 2014, the planting area was more than 1 million mu, and the yield went up to another level. The yield per mu is about 650kg. The fourth stage representative variety Y Liangyou 900 has a yield of more than 1000 kg per mu in Hunan in 2014, of which Xupu County has a yield of 1026.7 kg per mu (15.4t / kg), which is far ahead of the world. It is expected that the per unit yield can be raised to a higher level after large-scale promotion. The production practice shows that the height of this step is 50 kg / mu.

In theory, rice has great yield potential. At present, we are tackling the key problem of 16 tons per hectare, and the representative variety is Chaoyouqian, and the situation is very good. An on-site observation meeting was held in Sanya, Hainan on April 9, and more than 300 experts and people in the industry witnessed the excellent performance of the variety, all of whom were pleasantly surprised. Dr. IshKumar, a famous Indian breeder, lingered at the scene and asked him how he felt. The answer was "Morethanexcited". At present, the variety is in the yellow ripening stage. People who are interested and skeptical about super rice are welcome to visit, inspect and guide Sanya. "it is better to hear than to see."

Second, the "planting three yields and four" high-yield project, that is, planting three mu of super hybrid rice to produce four mu of grain at the original level (average in the previous five years).

The project is mainly implemented in low-and medium-production areas, and was first launched in Hunan Province in 2007. 20 demonstration counties participated in the implementation of the project, of which 18 counties reached the standard, that is, an increase of 33% over the average per unit yield in the five-year period 2002-2006.

In 2014, it was expanded to 52 counties (cities and districts) with a total of 11.46 million mu. Over the past 8 years, the project has a total planting area of 43.353 million mu and an increase of 4.733 billion kg of rice. The plan aims to develop to 15 million mu in 2017. the average yield of grain per unit area in the first five years of the project (2002-2006) is 20 million mu, which is equivalent to an increase of 5 million mu of arable land and an annual increase of 2 billion kg of grain (the average per unit yield in the five years from 2002 to 2006 is about 400kg / mu). Sichuan, Guizhou, Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Henan and other provinces (regions) are also required to participate in the project, of which Guangdong, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan and Anhui have been implemented with good results. It is suggested that this project should be incorporated into the national plan to develop the country to 60 million mu within 5 years, with the output of 80 million mu of grain at the current level, which is equivalent to an increase of 20 million mu of rice fields. Calculated according to the yield of 400kg per mu, the annual increase of grain can be 8 billion kg, which can provide food rations for the population of Beijing or Shanghai megalopolis for the whole year.

Third, the high-yield grain production project to feed one person in one-third of the land is referred to as the "Trinity Project", that is, the annual output of grain in one-third of the land is 360kg (1200 kg per mu), which is enough for a person's annual food rations.

The project has been implemented in high-yield areas in 16 counties of Hunan Province since 2014. there are three models: first, double-cropping super rice with a yield of 550kg per mu of early rice and 650kg of late rice per mu; second, "one-season super rice + potato", rice yield 700kg per mu, potato yield 2000 kg per mu (equivalent to 500kg rice); third, "spring corn + one-cropping super rice", corn yield 500kg per mu, rice yield 700kg per mu. In 2014, the yield of Xiangtan County and Liling County, which adopted the double-cropping rice model, reached the design target, such as Xiangtan County Yuhu District, 310mu demonstration field, the average yield per mu of early rice was 584.5 kg and that of late rice was 662.5 kg per mu. In Shimen County, Longshan County and Yongshun County, which adopt the model of "super hybrid rice + potato", the annual yield of raw grain per mu is more than 1200 kg. This project, with the support and cooperation of relevant departments, will strive to develop 11 million mu by 2020, accounting for 19 percent of Hunan's arable land, and producing grain that can meet the needs of half of the province's population. It is suggested that provinces (cities and autonomous regions) whose ecological conditions are similar to or better than Hunan can learn from the experience of Hunan and implement this project in accordance with local conditions so as to make greater contributions to the protection of national food security.

The development of science and technology is endless, and super hybrid rice with an estimated yield of 16 tons per hectare is expected to be successfully realized next year. But I am not satisfied with this, and the spirit of the old horse in the stable motivates me to tackle the problem of higher yield and to develop a higher-yielding super hybrid rice by the age of 90.