Hybrid wheat leads to a good harvest in medium and low yield fields.

With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, full ears of wheat swayed in the wind in the wheat fields of Shunyi on the outskirts of Beijing after showers, and a bumper harvest was just around the corner. These are not conventional wheat planted in the 10,000 mu demonstration area of modern agriculture in Zhaoquanying Town, Shunyi District, Beijing, but the two-line hybrid wheat displayed by China Hybrid Wheat seed Industry (Beijing) Co., Ltd.

Large panicle, multi-grain and strong adaptability-- has the potential to become a large variety.

Jingmai 9, planted in the 10,000 mu demonstration area of modern agriculture in Zhaoquanying, Shunyi, was approved by Beijing last year, and was introduced and tested in Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin and other places.

"'Jingmai 9' is the second generation of hybrid wheat, and the yield increase is about 10% higher than that of the previous generation." Zhao Changping, breeder of "Jingmai 9" and director of the Hybrid Wheat Engineering and Technology Research Center of the Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, told reporters at the edge of the demonstration field, "for a long time, the problem of large ears of wheat has been a difficult problem that breeders want to overcome. One of the biggest characteristics of 'Jingmai 9' is that it breaks through the contradiction between large spike and maturity. In some demonstration sites, the maturity of 'Jingmai 9' is even earlier than that of local varieties. "

In addition to the field performance, the extension area is also the most intuitive standard to measure the quality of varieties. Putting aside the demonstration, promotion, sales and operation of seed enterprises, the varieties popularized in a large area often have their common characteristics.

"according to statistics, wheat varieties with an area of more than 10 million mu are often not the ones with the highest yield, but the ones with the best adaptability and stability." Zhao Changping said, "adaptability and yield stability are the most important factors in whether a variety can become a large variety." Hybrid wheat can be planted from Karachi, Pakistan, at 25 degrees north latitude, to Beijing, China, at 40 degrees north latitude, and the planting area spans nearly 2,000 kilometers, and its adaptability can be imagined. "

It is about to reach the critical season of wheat harvest, but on the night of June 6, it rained heavily and blew strong winds in Shunyi District, Beijing. once there is a large area lodging in the wheat fields to be harvested, it will seriously affect grain production. The next morning, however, hybrid wheat farmers in Shunyi, Beijing, unanimously reported that there was no lodging in the fields.

Thin sowing and wide harvest-sowing 15 jin per mu can yield more than 1000 jin per mu.

What is the biggest difference between growing hybrid wheat and conventional wheat? "the first thing that comes to mind may be the problem of not being able to keep seeds, but what is more important is the average amount of seeds used per mu." Chen Zhaobo, general manager of China Hybrid Wheat (Beijing) Co., Ltd., told reporters, "the seed consumption of hybrid wheat is only half that of conventional wheat."

"if there is less sowing, what if the harvest can't go up?" This is a question that almost every hybrid wheat farmer asks.

"the use of less seeds is a major feature of hybrid wheat varieties. In the demonstration field of Zhao Quanying, the sowing rate is half that of conventional wheat." Zhao Changping said, "because it is a hybrid variety, its characteristics such as water saving and stress resistance are also self-evident."

The agricultural machinery business of the Beijing Shuofenglei Professional Cooperative, located in Shunyi District, Beijing, has radiated tens of thousands of mu of farmland around it. Xue Xinxin, chairman of the cooperative and a major grower, together with his father, set aside 500 mu of land to try to plant hybrid wheat "Jingmai 6" and "Jingmai 8" in 2015.

Xue Xinxin's father has been planting land all his life, but he has never planted hybrid wheat, and this time he tried to grow hybrid wheat with the mentality of trying. "when I planted hybrid wheat for the first time, I was very uncertain." Xue Xin told reporters, "due to the postponement of sowing date, poor soil moisture, poor soil quality and other problems, the sowing effect is not ideal, the basic seedlings are only 150000, the early growth did not meet psychological expectations." After watching the emergence of seedlings in the field, old man Xue shook his head and said, "this hybrid wheat doesn't seem to be easy to grow. It won't be planted next year."

But in the early spring of 2016, the scene in the field lit up the old man Xue's eyes. "after turning green, hybrid wheat showed a strong ability of self-regulation, and the characteristics of fast turning green, strong tillering ability and high panicle rate were very obvious." Xue Xin said, "at present, our wheat field is growing very well. Compared with the conventional wheat sown by the Autumn Equinox last year, we have larger ears, more grains per ear and stout stems." As the advantages of hybrid wheat become more and more obvious, old man Xue more and more recognizes hybrid wheat. "the wheat is flat and looks like a lawn. I wish I could keep a seed!" You don't even have to go to the groceries! "

Liang Yibao, a senior agronomist in Hancheng Town, Lubei District, Tangshan City, Hebei Province, has been planting hybrid wheat for two years since the fall of 2014. "at the beginning of sowing, the amount of seed used per mu is much less than that of conventional wheat, which also makes us very worried about whether we can grow well or not." Liang Yibao muttered to himself as Mr. Xue did when he sowed seeds. By the time he returned green in 2015, Liang Yibao found something unusual about hybrid wheat: "strong tillers, strong seedlings, many secondary roots, wheat seedlings look thick and strong, and everyone says that the wheat grows well."

"the promotion of hybrid wheat will change farmers' wheat planting habits and concepts, and a good harvest can be achieved by reducing the amount of sowing." Chen Zhaobo said.

Tolerance to drought, salinity and barren-- A good helper to get rich in medium-and low-yield fields

A large part of cultivated land in China belongs to medium-and low-yield fields. The transformation and development of medium-and low-yield fields is not only one of the important guarantees of food security, but also one of the important ways to improve food quality. Chen Zhaobo told reporters: "the low-and medium-yield fields are the main battlefield of hybrid wheat at this stage."

Last year, Zhou Ruxiang, chairman of the Shuntian Agricultural Cooperative in Qingxian County, Hebei Province, also planted hybrid wheat "Jingmai 6" with the mentality of giving it a try. "the land in our county has three characteristics: alkali, poverty and drought. What is pumped up from shallow wells is salt water, and the state controls drilling deep wells, so we can only rely on heaven for food. " Zhou Ruxiang looked embarrassed when he talked about the land in Qingxian County.