The new high-quality conventional rice variety Yexianzhan No. 8 was bred by the Huizhou Municipal Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Guangdong.

Yexianzhan No. 8 was bred by the Huizhou Municipal Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Guangdong through the cross of Guiyizhan No. 2 / Texianzhan 13 // IR24. In 2002 and 2003, it took part in the late-season regional trial of the high-quality group in Guangdong Province, with average yields of 405.91 kg and 454.47 kg per mu, increasing yield by 10.64% and 9.25% respectively compared with the control variety Jingxian 89, and both yield increases were extremely significant. In 2003, it took part in the provincial production trial in the late season with an average yield of 446.7 kg per mu, an increase of 7.48% over the control. The rice quality was tested and identified by the Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture as National Standard High Quality Grade 3; tested by the Guangdong Provincial Grain and Oil Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Station, its appearance quality was rated as late-season Grade 1; disease resistance was identified as moderately resistant to rice blast, moderately susceptible to bacterial blight, and cold tolerance was identified as medium.

I. Main characteristics and traits:

This variety has vigorous growth, a good plant type, moderately clustered stems, thick and dark green leaves, narrow and straight flag leaves, good uniform ripening color, strong lodging resistance, outstanding high yield, and relatively good grain quality. Main agronomic traits: in the late season, the average whole growth period is 110-117 days, plant height 98.5-102.6 cm, panicle length 19.8 cm, effective panicles per mu 212,000, average total grains per panicle 127-133, seed setting rate 78%-87.2%, 1000-grain weight 20.2 g, but cold tolerance is medium and it is relatively sensitive to high temperature; except for the rice-growing area of northern Guangdong, it is suitable for planting in both early and late seasons in all rice-growing areas of Guangdong Province.

II. Cultivation key points:

1. Sow at the right time and plant at a reasonable density. For the early season, sowing should be done from late February to early March, with transplanting around Qingming, seedling age 30 days; for the late season, sow in mid-July and transplant before the Start of Autumn, seedling age 18-20 days. For transplanting, sow 15-20 kg per mu of seedling bed, use 2.0 kg of seed per mu of field, 4-5 seedlings per hill, with a transplanting spacing of 20 x 17 cm. For throwing transplanting, use 1.5 kg of seed per mu of field, throw-transplant at the 3-4 leaf stage, and throw 17,000-18,000 hills per mu.

2. Water and fertilizer management. Before transplanting, plow and harrow the field thoroughly and apply sufficient base fertilizer, with 25 kg of calcium superphosphate and 15 kg of ternary compound fertilizer per mu. About 4 days after planting, apply a topdressing of 5 kg of urea and 100 mL of butachlor per mu to promote early and rapid seedling growth and prevent weed damage; 8-10 days after throwing transplanting, apply tillering-promoting fertilizer with about 8 kg of urea and 10 kg of ternary compound fertilizer per mu; about 15 days after planting, apply seedling-strengthening fertilizer with about 3 kg of urea and 5 kg of potassium chloride per mu; at the early stage of young panicle differentiation (that is, the period of returning water after field drying), apply panicle-promoting fertilizer with about 5 kg of urea and 5 kg of potassium chloride per mu; before heading, according to the growth of the seedlings, apply a tail-strengthening fertilizer once to promote large panicles and increase the seed setting rate and 1000-grain weight. In terms of water management, use muddy water for transplanting in the field, shallow water for tillering, and after enough tillers are reached, expose the field more and dry it lightly; at the young panicle differentiation stage, irrigate once with running water, then use shallow water for heading and flowering, and keep the field soil moist in the later stage so as to nourish the roots with air and plump the grains.

3. Timely control of diseases, insect pests, snails and rodents. According to local forecasts of diseases and insect pests, do a good job in disease and insect control as well as snail and rodent eradication to ensure a bumper harvest.