Deng Qiyun is determined to breed new varieties that are more popular with farmers
"I want to breed new varieties that are more popular with farmers"
--Witnessing the period before and after yield measurement of a new combination bred by Deng Qiyun, a super rice breeding expert in China
Reporter Zhang Zhenzhong
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????Deng Qiyun explaining to students in the field the selection and trial planting of a new variety for the fifth-phase super rice research project. Photo by Zhang Zhenzhong
"Come on, take a look at my seed processing workshop. Whether the seeds are good or not is not for me to say. Only when you farmer brothers say they are good are they truly good." On December 12, Deng Qiyun took Jiang Rongbing, a major grain grower from Longhui County, Hunan Province, to the workshop for a visit.
"Teacher Deng, this year I planted 9.5 mu of 957. After harvesting at the end of September, it yielded 20 more gunny sacks of grain than last year (each bag 100 jin), and the milling rate was high, and the rice tasted good. Next year, give me more seeds to try planting."
As a famous super rice breeding expert in China and chief scientist of the State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Deng Qiyun has another identity: he is Yuan Longping's prized disciple, having studied and worked under Academician Yuan Longping for more than 30 years in hybrid rice teaching and research.
The Y Liangyou 957 that Jiang Rongbing mentioned is a new super-high-yield rice combination bred by Deng Qiyun's team in 2014. Deng Qiyun introduced that the Y Liangyou 957 combination was developed on the basis of fourth-phase super rice research by modifying the lodging resistance mechanism and improving disease resistance and stress resistance. It is a new type of widely adaptable, high-quality, super-high-yield hybrid medium rice combination, and together with the Y Liangyou 900 variety and Chaoyou 1000, it has become part of the "star team" for the fifth-phase super rice research project.
From successful breeding to continuous trial planting, Deng Qiyun poured his heart and sweat into Y Liangyou 957, experiencing different hardships at different stages. Among these, what he remembers most vividly is the stage from trial planting to yield measurement this year.
Although Y Liangyou 957 had been trial planted in different regions before, all were small-scale trials. After Y Liangyou 957 participated in production trials in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, large-scale trial planting was launched this year in Niuxingzui Village, Yangguao Township, Longhui County.
After the medium rice was planted, Deng Qiyun was always "in Changsha in body, but in Longhui at heart," thinking about the growth performance of Y Liangyou 957.
Good news kept coming. Xiao Limin, head of the comprehensive agricultural service station of Yangguao Township, kept calling and sending WeChat messages to tell Deng Qiyun: under extremely complex climate conditions this year and with the fields planted being very ordinary, Y Liangyou 957 still performed very well, with especially strong early tillering, a high ear-bearing rate, and a seed-setting rate as high as more than 97%, and it was resistant to insects, diseases, and lodging. Zhang Yuzhu, deputy director of the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, made a special trip to inspect the cultivation and growth of Y Liangyou 957 on site. He returned and excitedly told Deng Qiyun: "Y Liangyou 957 is currently growing robustly, heading neatly, and has a high seed-setting rate. It is expected to achieve super high yield."
Although good news kept arriving, Deng Qiyun still could not rest easy and always wanted to invite his teacher Yuan Longping to visit the Niuxingzui Village demonstration base in person to "check the pulse" of Y Liangyou 957. On September 6, taking advantage of the on-site meeting in Longhui for the super hybrid rice "plant three to produce four" high-yield project for medium rice, Deng Qiyun invited Yuan Longping to Niuxingzui Village. At the demonstration base, Academician Yuan Longping walked into the fields, bent down to check the grain setting on the rice ears, and after looking, Yuan Longping said happily: "Y Liangyou 957 is growing very well. There should be no problem for yield measurement to exceed 1,000 kg per mu this year."
After hearing Academician Yuan's evaluation on site, the reporter turned to find Deng Qiyun for an interview. "Teacher Deng took his students and walked through every field, going to count the rice ears." Beside a field planted with Y Liangyou 957, the reporter finally found Deng Qiyun. He picked up a rice ear and said joyfully to the reporter: "It performs well in two aspects: on the one hand, the ripening appearance is very good, with yellow rice ears and bright stems, the field a stretch of golden yellow, and very good color fading; on the other hand, the yield should be relatively high. We carefully counted and calculated, and one mu of field has more than 200,000 rice ears, which is on average 50,000 more ears than the star variety Y Liangyou 900, and each rice ear has more than 280 grains, exceeding it by more than 50 grains."
On September 9, good news came again. The Hunan Provincial Department of Science and Technology organized experts to conduct on-site yield measurement of the 113.2 mu "Y Liangyou 957" demonstration field in Niuxingzui Village. The measured average yield reached 1,000.5 kg per mu, setting a national record for high yield in trial planting of this variety.
Yield measurement experts said: "Large ears, many ears, and high lodging resistance -- the combination of these three is concentrated in Y Liangyou 957. Such a new combination is rare and is a new success in super rice breeding."
Y Liangyou 957 indeed achieved a new breakthrough. Among the seven major breakthroughs in super hybrid rice super-high-yield research announced by the Hunan Provincial Government on November 24, Y Liangyou 957 was listed as the first major breakthrough. Deng Qiyun's team, which undertook the "Y Liangyou 957" 100-mu research plot, won the "Ninth Yuan Longping Agricultural Science and Technology Award."
Having happily received the award from his teacher Yuan Longping, Deng Qiyun said: "I want to breed new varieties with higher yield, better quality, better market appearance, higher selling price, and greater popularity among farmer brothers. This is both the best repayment to my teacher and the best proof for a breeder."