Ratoon rice development trends and prospects

Years of practice have shown that ratoon rice cultivation is a resource-saving, eco-friendly and highly efficient rice farming system, which helps raise the multiple cropping index and the comprehensive production capacity of paddy fields. As a light cultivation method, it has the advantages of a short growth period, high daily yield, good grain quality, saved seed, saved labor and water conservation.

Since 2000, the main crop of 100,000 mu of ratoon rice in Youxi County, Fujian Province, has averaged 605.9 kg per mu, and the ratoon crop has averaged 297.8 kg per mu, with an annual yield of 903.7 kg per mu. According to estimates, the southern rice region of China has 200 million mu of single-cropping paddy fields, of which 50 million mu (where light and temperature resources are more than sufficient for one season but insufficient for two) are suitable for ratoon rice; if the yield level of Youxi County, Fujian Province, could be reached, rice output could increase by 20 million tons per year. Combining conventional breeding techniques with molecular breeding techniques to develop new rice varieties with high yield, good quality, multiple resistance, strong ratooning ability and suitability for mechanized operations, and through multidisciplinary crossover and collaborative research, will help further promote the application of ratoon rice in production, contribute to safeguarding national food security and ensuring increased grain output, and developing ratoon rice is a major technical reserve for ensuring China's future food security.