Agricultural researchers have launched a research and
development project for hybrid plants they hope will yield more
crops in a shorter period of time.
The research project is aimed at revealing why hybrid crops have
advantages over other types, Sun Qixin, the project's lead
scientist and the vice-president of China Agricultural University,
said.
"If our project is successful, China's grain output could
increase by 5 billion kg a year, which is equal to 1 percent of the
country's present annual food output," Sun said yesterday.
The Science and Technology Ministry has earmarked 30 million
yuan (US$4 million) for the five-year research project.
Some hybrid crops are more fit than their parents. For example,
the hybrid rice developed in the early 1970s by Yuan Longping, an
academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, boosted the
country's rice output over the ensuing 25 years by a combined 400
million tons. That is equal to the country's entire food production
during a single average year in the 1980s.
"But why are they better? This is a world problem that has never
been tackled," Sun said. "Our research is aiming to find the
answer."
Yuan, "the father of hybrid rice", spent a dozen years carrying
out about 1,000 tests on parent crops before he found a special
high-yield hybrid.
"Our research is expected to find the gene mechanism that will
help us shorten the test period. We might need only 100 or even 10
tests to find the right one," Sun said.
Sun and his team have applied the results of their research to
trial productions of rice in Hubei and Hunan provinces and corn in Shandong and Henan provinces. They have also researched
hybrid rapeseed and wheat.
"Our study is expected to boost hybrid rice production by 20
percent," he said.
This would be a major accomplishment as the amount of arable
land in the country has been decreasing while demand for food has
been increasing.
By the end of last year, the country had 1.83 billion mu (122
million hectares) of arable land, 4.6 million mu less than a year
earlier, according to figures from the Ministry of Land and
Resources.
Most of the lost land went to construction, natural disasters
and reforestation.
"How to increase crops yields is critical, and high-tech input
will play a key role in ensuring the country's grain security,"
Science and Technology Minister Wan Gang said earlier this year.
A companion to the National High-Tech Research and Development
Program, the hybrid crops research project launched 73 programs
late last month, covering agriculture, energy, information,
resources, health, materials, inter-disciplinary studies and new
science frontiers.
(China Daily October 15, 2007)
