China's new hybrid rice varieties occupy overseas market

In recent years, because of its high yield, high quality and wide adaptability, red lotus hybrid rice has rapidly occupied the market overseas, and its planting area has been expanding continuously, and it has become the "star" of Chinese hybrid rice varieties.

China's new hybrid rice varieties occupy overseas market

Farook Mehdi, an official of the Agricultural Advisory Council of Pakistan, recently found Zhu Ying, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and "father of red lotus hybrid rice" in Wuhan. He said excitedly: "Red lotus hybrid rice is growing more and more in Pakistan, but I just met the scientist who cultivated it today."

Farook, who is mainly engaged in cooperation in agricultural projects between China and Pakistan, expressed his wish to Zhu that China will cooperate more with Pakistan on red lotus hybrid rice varieties and work together to make greater contributions to world food security.

Honglian hybrid rice is a new type of hybrid rice in China, which is still in its infancy in application and popularization. Since it was popularized in 2003, a total of 100 million mu has been planted in the Yangtze River Basin and its southern areas in China.

However, in recent years, because of its high yield, high quality and wide adaptability, red lotus hybrid rice has rapidly occupied the overseas market, expanded its planting area, and become the "star" of Chinese hybrid rice varieties.

Data from the State key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice of Wuhan University show that red lotus hybrid rice is more adapted to tropical climate, land and other growth conditions than other hybrid rice in China. At present, it has been successfully registered and promoted in Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries.

Farook said: "Pakistan imports about 10,000 tons of hybrid rice varieties from China every year, and the red lotus type already accounts for more than 40%, which is the # 39; number one seed."

In addition to Southeast Asia and other countries, red lotus hybrid rice is also very popular in Africa.

This year, Shaanxi overseas Investment and Development Co., Ltd. experimented with three varieties of red lotus hybrid rice in its agricultural cooperation project in Cameroon. Judging from this year's harvest, the per unit yield of the three varieties has reached about 600 kg, which is much higher than the local performance of other hybrid rice varieties.

Cheng Shihua, director of the China Rice Research Institute, said that the advantage of red lotus hybrid rice is very obvious, with high yield, good rice quality, wide adaptability, high resistance, and low consumption, and requires less fertilizer than other hybrid rice types, so it belongs to environment-friendly varieties. In 2009, it was confirmed as the third batch of "super hybrid rice varieties" by the Ministry of Agriculture of China.

Zhu Ying said: since the beginning of this year, the agricultural departments of Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and other countries have expressed their desire to further deepen cooperation, and they hope to cooperate in scientific research, application and promotion, personnel training, and other fields.

Experts believe that the "going out" of red lotus hybrid rice varieties will bring "win-win" effects: help Southeast Asia, Africa and other countries improve grain output and quality, ensure food supply, and contribute to the overseas promotion of China's hybrid rice technology. Enhance China's influence and voice on world food security issues The popularization and application of red lotus type hybrid rice can obtain broader biological genetic resources, which is helpful to select better red lotus type hybrid rice varieties.

Cheng Shihua said that the average yield of red lotus rice varieties is 20 to 50 percent higher than that of local rice varieties, greatly improving the yield and quality of local rice, and the potential planting area of red lotus hybrid rice in these countries has reached 37.7 million hectares. its contribution to world food security is self-evident.

"for more than 40 years, we have done very full and solid basic research, and now we need more universities, scientific research institutions, enterprises and so on to join in the application." Zhu Ying said that in terms of scientific research cooperation, it is hoped that the national level will work together to tackle key problems again.