Rice experts bring rice that drinks seawater
A few days ago, the roar of harvesters broke the silence at the experimental base of Binzhou Red Sea Farm in the Shandong Beihai Economic Development Zone. After more than 160 days of cultivation, more than 300 seawater rice varieties under adaptive planting trials have reached harvest time. "This year's seawater rice has fully adapted to irrigation with seawater at 5‰ salinity, among which the per-mu yield of 'Haidao 86' increased from 20 jin last year to 200 jin, and the panicle-setting rate rose 35-fold compared with last year." These trial planting results delighted farm general manager Zhang Haibo beyond expectations.
????Either find freshwater, or let the rice "drink" seawater
The Beihai Economic Development Zone is located at the mouth of the Yellow River. Within the area there are only two freshwater systems, Xiaokai River and Haojia River. Relying solely on regional freshwater makes it very difficult to solve the problem of rice irrigation. "Although the Beihai area has abundant water sources, they are all seawater with relatively high salinity and cannot be used for irrigation. Either find abundant freshwater sources, or find rice that can 'drink' seawater." Zhang Haibo faced only two solutions to the problem.
The opportunity came. On February 7, 2015, the Beihai Economic Development Zone connected with the International Rice Capital Research Institute of Yuan Longping, the "father of hybrid rice," and established the International Rice Capital Beihai Research Institute to carry out seawater rice planting trials and devote itself to the introduction and development of seawater rice seeds. The research institute's experimental base was chosen at Zhang Haibo's Red Sea Farm.
Good news followed one after another. Three months later, experts from the provincial rice research institute also arrived with more than ten salt-alkali-tolerant seawater rice trial varieties. Soon after, Chen Risheng, the "father of seawater rice," also came with his new variety "Haidao 86"... With rice experts and big names gathering, Red Sea Farm suddenly became lively, and more than 300 seawater rice varieties from more than 10 rice research institutions settled here one after another. The goals of these research institutions were basically the same: to conduct adaptive planting trials here for salt-alkali tolerance, yield improvement, variety hybridization, and environmental adaptation, and to breed new seawater rice varieties.
The salinity of the irrigation water used for the trial rice
can reach up to 7‰
"Based on observations and sampling tests conducted some time ago, this year's trial results are satisfactory, with both yield and salt-alkali tolerance greatly improved." Zhang Haibo introduced that the farm is also gradually increasing the salinity of the irrigation water source. Experts from the Shandong Provincial Rice Research Institute were also satisfied with this year's trial results: "The salinity of normal rice irrigation water is zero. The salinity of the irrigation water for our adaptive planting trial rice can reach up to 7‰. This is a very valuable trial result."
According to Chen Risheng, the main factor restricting rice growth in the soil of Beihai is excessive sodium chloride content. This area is alluvial soil from the Yellow River basin, and the soil is rich in nutrients and contains a large number of trace elements. It is only because seawater intrusion in earlier years and artificial aquaculture diverting seawater caused the sodium chloride content in the surface soil to be too high. In other words, the land in Beihai is saline soil, not the traditionally understood saline-alkali land. This problem can be completely solved through traditional freshwater leaching methods, bringing it within the range that seawater rice can tolerate for growth.
A new variety formed by natural hybridization was discovered during the trial planting
In this year's seawater rice planting trials, there was another new discovery that surprised Zhang Haibo and the experts even more. In the adaptive planting trial field of "Haidao 86," a cluster of seawater rice with slightly shorter height, thick and sturdy growth, a high rate of tillering and panicle setting, and plump grains caught Zhang Haibo's attention, and they specially marked it. Ordinary seawater rice varieties have a high tillering rate but a low panicle-setting rate. But this cluster was obviously different. After observation, experts confirmed that it was a new variety formed by natural hybridization during routine seawater rice planting. This can be said to be a major harvest from adaptive planting trials in recent years, and they plan to name it "Beihai Rice No. 1."
The Beihai Economic Development Zone will take the seawater rice planting base developed by Red Sea Farm as the center and, with the support of the International Rice Capital (Beihai) Research Institute, integrate various rice resources such as Beihai rice, seawater rice, super rice, and international rice, and make every effort to build a complete rice research base. After successful breeding, the new varieties will be sown in more than 10,000 mu of seawater rice fields in the Beihai Economic Development Zone and promoted in the coastal areas of the "Bohai Granary" and the "Yellow River Delta." Finally, new seawater rice varieties with stronger adaptability to China's coastal growing environments will be bred, comprehensively advancing the innovation and upgrading of the rice industry chain. (According to Science and Technology Daily)