A ceremony summarizing and celebrating Hunan’s achievements made last year in the “Planting Three to Produce Four” high-yielding project of super hybrid rice was held on December 21, where Academician Yuan Longping, known as father of hybrid rice, elaborated his new technology roadmap for developing super hybrid rice. This project refers to the plan to produce rice from three mu (0.2 hectare) of land as the same amount of that yielded from four mu (about 0.27 hectare) in the previous year.
Hunan has basically fulfilled its third-phase goals for super hybrid rice planting and has started to go for an average yield of 1,000 kg per mu in the fourth phase.
“Theoretically speaking, i.e. judging from its photosynthetic efficiency for solar energy utilization, rice still boasts a huge potential in yield increase. Changsha can get a rice yield of 1,500 kg per mu by means of developing seeds of high harvest index, high biological yield, high straw, and high lodging-resistant capability”, said Yuan Longping at the ceremony.