20 years since the advent of super rice, doubts arise frequently: high water and fertilizer use is not environmentally friendly, and increased yield does not mean increased income

On September 15, Deng Qiyun, chief scientist of the State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, at the planting base of the fourth-phase super rice variety “Y Liangyou 900”, which set a record yield of 1000 kg per mu.

After the “ten thousand mu total crop failure” storm, super rice faces new challenges

Will the term “super rice” be abolished?

China Economic Weekly reporters Cao Chang, Li Yonghua | Changsha report

“Super rice varieties” suffered total crop failure across ten thousand mu, blindly pursuing the goal of super high yield, high water and fertilizer use is not environmentally friendly, increased yield without increased production, poor grain quality and taste…… Since the Ministry of Agriculture established the “China Super Rice” breeding program in 1996, super rice led by Academician Yuan Longping, the “father of hybrid rice”, has advanced triumphantly all the way, continuously breaking the world record for super high rice yield. Why then, after 20 years, has it suddenly “harvested” so much doubt?

“I call for unwavering adherence to the direction of super high yield breeding.” said Deng Qiyun, chief scientist of the State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice. Yet this was once an unquestionable “axiom”.

“Liangyou 0293”, which caused total crop failure across ten thousand mu, has been discontinued

“The total crop failure of ‘Liangyou 0293’ is a serious misreading of super rice by outsiders; ‘Liangyou 0293’ does not represent super rice.” On September 15, at an academic science popularization salon held by the State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, the laboratory's chief scientist Deng Qiyun, Hunan Rice Research Institute deputy director Zhang Yuzhu and other experts comprehensively responded to outside doubts about super rice.

In October 2014, Longping High-Tech's “Liangyou 0293” variety, labeled as “super rice”, suffered reduced yield and total crop failure across ten thousand mu in the Bengbu area of Anhui, triggering sustained public attention. Afterwards, Longping High-Tech repeatedly issued announcements and explained through the media, Academician Yuan Longping publicly stated that the entire super rice program should not be denied because of one incident, and the Ministry of Agriculture also stated that the yield reduction incident would not affect subsequent research on super rice.

On September 2 this year, the Ministry of Agriculture issued an announcement requiring 41 crop varieties, including “Liangyou 0293”, to cease production immediately and stop promotion one year later. Perhaps to hedge against this news, Longping High-Tech announced that its two new hybrid rice varieties passed national approval on the same day.

However, doubts about super rice have not stopped, including issues such as super rice having high yield but low quality, and high fertilizer and water use not being green. But what exactly is “super rice”? Neither industry experts nor ordinary people can explain it clearly.

In 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture established the China Super Rice breeding program, in which super rice was the “patent” of hybrid rice. The “Measures for the Confirmation of Super Rice Varieties” promulgated and implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2008 did not restrict whether the variety was hybrid, nor did it clearly indicate how many kilograms per mu yield would qualify as a super rice variety.

As of April 2015, a total of 118 varieties had been recognized as super rice by the Ministry of Agriculture nationwide, including both conventional rice varieties such as “Wuyunjing 27” and indica two-line hybrid rice varieties represented by “Y Liangyou 2”, rather than all super rice being hybrid rice as claimed in many public materials. “Relatively high yield may qualify it as super rice; it has nothing to do with the variety type, and this should be based on the Ministry of Agriculture's statements.” Zhang Yuzhu believes.

After the ten thousand mu yield reduction and total crop failure incident in Anhui, the Ministry of Agriculture clearly pointed out that “Liangyou 0293”, which had always been sold under the name of super rice, was not a super rice variety. In the seed market, varieties like “Liangyou 0293” that pass off inferior goods as superior are not uncommon. For this reason, researcher Tong Pingya of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences proposed that the term “super rice” should be prohibited and the super rice approval system abolished.

Why is there such a huge gap between experimental yield and average yield

In 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture implemented the “China Super Rice” breeding program, with the first goal being increased yield. In 2000, the variety “Liangyou Peijiu” achieved the first-phase goal of 700 kg per mu for super rice, and thereafter successively broke through the 800 kg and 900 kg per mu thresholds; in 2014, the new super rice combination “Y Liangyou 900” reached an average yield of 1026.7 kg per mu, setting a new world record.

While records were repeatedly broken, outsiders pointed out the huge gap between experimental yield and average yield. For example, the super rice variety “Yongyou 12”, which achieved an experimental average yield of 963.65 kg per mu in 2012, had a two-year average yield of 565.4 kg per mu in Jiangsu Province.

In response, Zhang Yuzhu frankly stated that the average yield of super rice in recent years has not exceeded 600 kg/mu, but it has increased substantially compared with previous yields. According to figures published by the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2013, the average yield of 101 super rice varieties recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture reached 578.9 kg per mu, an increase of 63.1 kg per mu.

Deng Qiyun explained, “Scientific research yields are meant to explore the potential of varieties and achieve breakthroughs, but scientific research data should not be exaggerated in interpretation.”

Zhang Yuzhu pointed out that under general ecological conditions, from the first-phase super rice representative combination “Liangyou Peijiu” to the fourth-phase super rice representative combination “Y Liangyou 900”, although the discount rate relative to their respective high-yield research yield potential has continuously decreased, this shows that super rice combinations have greater yield-increasing potential, and it is still necessary to further research and promote their high-yield and efficient production technologies.

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture show that as of the end of 2012, over 16 years, central government funding for super rice research and promotion had reached 340 million yuan. From 2010 to 2014, China's super rice planting area increased from 101 million mu to 136 million mu, an expansion of 35 million mu, accounting for about 30% of the national rice planting area.

Nevertheless, Deng Qiyun still emphasized that after the scientific research yield breakthrough of 1000 kg per mu, what is more important is to do a good job in promoting super rice and further increase the national rice yield. “The government's support for super rice promotion still needs to be increased.”

Zhang Yuzhu believes that another key factor in increasing super rice yield lies in changing cultivation methods and promoting new technologies suitable for super rice. “The cultivation level of most farmers in our country is still stuck in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, as long as better cultivation techniques are adopted, it is very easy to achieve a yield of more than 700 kg per mu without increasing input.” Zhang Yuzhu gave an example: for instance, adding ear fertilizer can greatly increase yield, while traditional methods rarely apply ear fertilizer.

How great is the effect of expanding super rice area on the growth of national rice yield? During the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, the cumulative promotion area of super rice nationwide was 643.84 million mu, accounting for 21% of the rice planting area in the same period, with a cumulative increase in rice output of 41.5 billion kg. Since 2010, the Ministry of Agriculture has implemented the “National Super Rice 'Double Increase One Hundred' Work Plan” for 5 consecutive years, requiring the promotion of super rice on more than 100 million mu, striving to achieve the goals of increasing yield by 100 jin per mu and saving costs and increasing efficiency by 100 yuan. In October 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture said that the “Double Increase One Hundred” target had been achieved.