The media said that the failure of yield reduction was not due to the epidemic of rice blast in super rice.

[special articles on Finance and Economics] Super rice is not to blame for the reduction of output and the failure of harvest.

The yield reduction and failure of ten thousand mu of super rice occurred in Anhui Province half a year ago, which aroused the strong concern of public opinion on super rice. However, according to a reporter from Caijing, in this incident, the local epidemic of rice blast was the inducement, and the reduction of production and harvest was directly related to the mismanagement of farmers.

Wen | he Tao, a reporter from Caijing

The yield reduction and failure of ten thousand mu of super rice occurred in Anhui Province half a year ago, which aroused the strong concern of public opinion on super rice. In October 2014, a reduction or even no harvest of rice occurred in some areas of Anhui Province, with a disaster area of more than 10,000 mu. The rice species involved was Super Rice "Liangyou 0293", from Yuan Longping Agricultural Hi-Tech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Longping Hi-Tech).

After the incident, the seed Management Station under the Anhui Provincial Agricultural Commission submitted a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture, hoping that the planting area of "Liangyou 0293" would no longer include the province. As a result, public opinion began to extend to the skepticism of super rice.

However, according to a reporter from Caijing, in this incident, the local epidemic of rice blast is the cause, but even if the rice blast strikes, "there is no problem if we strengthen pest control in all aspects." Luo Xuefu, deputy director of the agricultural technology promotion station in Yulin, Guangxi, told Caijing that Guangxi is an area with a high incidence of rice blast, and according to experience, the reduction of production and loss of harvest is directly related to poor management of farmers.

"Rice blast" is the "cancer" of rice, which often occurs after rice heading, withering the neck of the panicle, blocking the transport of nutrients, and withering if it is not sprayed in time. Rice blast occurs to varying degrees every year in the north and south rice regions of China. Catch up with the epidemic years, seriously ill areas generally reduce production by 10% Murray 20%, heavy up to 40% Murray 50%, some fields or even grain harvest.

The variety "Liangyou 0293" really can't bear the blast. The biggest advantage of this variety is lodging resistance, but "moderately susceptible to bacterial blight and highly susceptible to rice blast". Anhui is not an area with high incidence of rice blast, so it is listed as a suitable planting area for "Liangyou 0293". Jiangsu, which is also a suitable planting area, also lost a large number of crops due to rice blast in 2012.

In fact, due to biological adaptability, the advantage of a hybrid variety can only be maintained for a few years to decades. Therefore, the hybrid rice varieties on the market need to be constantly updated. The "Liangyou 0293" rice produced by Longping Hi-Tech passed the national examination in 2006 and has been planted in Anhui for 8 years. And usually a new variety will only be popular for two or three years, if it is popular for 10 years, it is a very good variety. At present, the goal of 1000 kg of the fourth phase of super rice has been achieved in China, and the renewal of super rice varieties has also entered the "fourth generation". "Liangyou 0293" is an old variety cultivated in the second stage of super rice.

"Liangyou 0293" is not the only variety with reduced yield. According to the Agricultural Materials Guide, many rice varieties were reduced in 2014 due to climate problems, not only in Anhui, but also in Hubei, Henan, Jiangsu and other places.

In addition, the single variety factor of "Liangyou 0293" can not represent all the super rice variety populations, and it is even more nonsense to question the whole super rice. However, it is reasonable to reflect on the appeal of "emphasizing yield over quality" of super rice, that is, the direction of research and development of super rice does attach too much importance to high yield, rather than paying enough attention to indicators such as stable yield and stress resistance.

The concept of "super rice" was put forward by the International Rice Research Institute, where breeders began to select new super-high-yield plant-type rice in 1989, which is mainly characterized by few components, large panicles, dark leaves and sturdy stems and lodging resistance. It can be said that from the beginning of the formation of the concept, super rice is aimed at super high yield. In 1994, the International Rice Research Institute bred the first "super rice", whose yield could reach 833 kg / mu in the tropical dry season. However, this kind of super rice also showed some disadvantages, such as low seed setting rate, poor plumpness and weak resistance to diseases and insect pests.

In spite of this, this amazing yield has stimulated China's ambition to develop super-high-yield rice breeding. In 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture formally established a project to start a 10-year "Chinese Super Rice" breeding program. Since then, the scientific research team represented by Yuan Longping has constantly refreshed the super-high-yield breeding yield of rice. In October 2014, "Y Liangyou 900" super rice set a record of an average yield of 1026.7 kg per mu in Huaihua, Hunan Province.

From the point of view of agricultural science, it is difficult to popularize and replicate this record on a large scale. Behind the super-high-yield figures of super rice, researchers plant excellent varieties into excellent fields, combined with scientific methods of farming and management, all of which are indispensable. The newly bred super rice varieties will show high yield in the experimental and demonstration fields, but the yield-increasing effect will shrink at the large-scale planting level. However, this does not affect the significance of super rice in increasing grain production in China. According to the per unit yield theory, the average per mu yield of rice in China reached 447.8 kg in 2013, thanks to super rice.

It should also be noted that the growth momentum of hybrid rice production has greatly slowed down. The average yield per mu of hybrid rice increased by 127 kg in 12 years from 1976 to 1988. But in the following 20 years, it only increased by about 110 kg, and so far the average yield per mu is 550 kg.

Obviously, the cost-effectiveness of research and development to simply increase rice yield is decreasing. Wan Xiangyuan, general manager of Beijing Jinguanfeng Biotechnology Co., Ltd., analyzed to Caijing, "We should not simply pursue absolute high production, but relatively stable production in the case of high yield." Multinational seed companies are smart in this respect, that is, they attach importance to enhancing the stress resistance of seeds, so that seeds can grow under different environmental conditions, such as drought resistance, pest resistance, wide adaptability, and so on.

In the national variety approval, resistance has only been paid attention to in recent years, before only attention was paid to yield. In the future, a dominant variety must be based on appropriate stress resistance and wide adaptability, and be able to show the characteristics of stable yield under the changes of climatic environment in different years and in different geographical environment.