What are the latest rice breeding technologies? A full analysis of the world's cutting-edge methods
Research on salt-tolerant rice breeding
The aims of this research are: 1. To enable new salt-tolerant rice to adapt to cultivation in saline-alkali land. 2. To make full use of seawater irrigation when freshwater is scarce. Abroad, there have been reports of salt-tolerant crops such as tomato, melon and barley. Salt-tolerant rice bred by the University of Sussex in the UK can grow vigorously in the field, but the complexity of regulating salt content in the field must be recognized. Research on genetic engineering of salt-tolerant rice is quite active in the UK. Researchers insert genes from salt-tolerant rice into rice to breed salt-tolerant rice, which can absorb a small amount of salt and store it in cells without affecting crop growth. It is expected that only after 8 generations of reproduction (that is, 8 harvest periods) can the seeds be used for commercial promotion and application. This "engineered rice" can, on the one hand, be used on abandoned saline-alkali land, and on the other hand, it can gradually absorb the saline-alkali components in the soil, thereby improving the soil.
Research on disaster-resistant rice breeding
Floods and wind disasters are threats to rice production. In order to prevent the harm to rice crops from floods, wind disasters and weeds, both basic research and applied research have made encouraging progress. Researchers at the International Rice Research Institute found a submergence-tolerant gene in low-yielding submergence-tolerant rice and transferred it into high-yielding tropical rice, finally breeding a submergence-tolerant rice line whose yield is even higher than that of high-yielding tropical rice. This "engineered rice" can still survive when submerged, while field weeds are drowned during this period. The institute also bred another new flood-tolerant rice variety, which in trial planting in Thailand may increase yield by 3 to 4 times compared with existing rice.
Research on improving rice quality
In the mid-1980s, the United States successfully bred transgenic high-protein maize plants, with seed protein content reaching 40% to 45%, comparable to soybean. At the same time, it also bred new rice lines with protein content 10% higher than ordinary rice and higher lysine content. In China, in order to improve rice quality, researchers at Hunan Normal University introduced wild oat DNA into rice and selected a new "wheat-rice" variety. After many years of breeding, this variety has the characteristics of high yield, excellent rice quality, appropriate maturity and moderate plant and leaf type. After expanded planting in Hunan, the new rice seeds were in short supply. In order to give rice better health-care and dietary-therapy value, an applied plant company in California, USA, for the first time used genetic engineering technology to construct a kind of rice capable of producing a human protein, that is, the rice contains a human protein that is an antitrypsin, and this enzyme protein can be used to treat bleeding caused by liver disease. The harvested "engineered rice" seeds can germinate and continue to reproduce, expanding reproduction. People call this seed derived from "engineered rice" "functional rice," which, as a staple food, opens up the most economical path for health care and dietary therapy.