Target of 300 kg per mu for seawater rice: Yuan Longping to tackle high salt tolerance within three years

Xinhua News Agency, Sanya, December 20 (Reporter Luo Jiang) - "We are confident that within three years we can breed seawater rice with salt resistance above 0.8% and a yield exceeding 300 kg per mu," said Yuan Longping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Yuan Longping pointed out that China's saline-alkali land area amounts to more than one billion mu. As arable land resources become increasingly tight, if high-salt-alkali-tolerant seawater rice can be bred and promoted, turning large areas of coastal saline-alkali land and tidal flats where plants cannot grow into farmland, it would be of great significance for ensuring food security.

Yuan Longping said that promoting the planting of 100 million mu of salt-tolerant rice with a salt tolerance limit of 0.8% and a yield of over 300 kg per mu could increase production by 30 billion kg annually, equivalent to Hunan's total annual grain output.

It is understood that wild seawater rice was initially discovered at the estuaries of major rivers. It has three major characteristics: no need for fertilizer, resistance to pests and diseases, and tolerance to salt and alkali. However, its yield is relatively low, and farmers' enthusiasm for planting it is not high.

Yuan Longping introduced that the most advanced salt-alkali-tolerant rice strain in China can achieve a yield of 400 kg per mu, but it can only be planted on tidal flats with a salt content of 0.3%, which greatly limits its industrial-scale promotion.

The Qingdao Seawater Rice Research and Development Center was established in October this year, with Yuan Longping serving as chief scientist. Yuan Longping said that his research team has introduced dozens of rice germplasm resources with strong salt-alkali resistance from the International Rice Research Institute. The research team will use gene sequencing technology to screen out natural salt-resistant, alkali-resistant and disease-resistant genes from wild rice, and through domestication and cross-breeding using molecular breeding technology, select and breed rice varieties with a yield of over 300 kg per mu that can be promoted for industrial-scale cultivation.