Is seawater rice genetically modified rice? An analysis of its advantages compared with ordinary rice

It is currently the harvest season, and recently, news about “Yuan Longping's team achieving a desert seawater rice yield of over a thousand jin per mu” won praise from people across the country. So, is seawater rice genetically modified rice? What advantages does it have compared with ordinary rice?

1. Is seawater rice genetically modified rice?

Seawater rice is not genetically modified rice. Seawater rice is actually a salt-alkali tolerant rice variety, a very ancient Oryza species that lies between wild rice and cultivated rice and generally grows in coastal tidal flat areas.

In recent years, the Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center led by Academician Yuan Longping has been devoted to the research and development of “seawater rice.” Through gene sequencing technology, it screens out natural salt-tolerant, alkali-tolerant and disease-resistant genes, and through conventional breeding, hybridization and molecular marker-assisted breeding technology, it plans to breed salt-tolerant rice varieties that can be promoted for industrialization and have a yield of more than 300kg/667m2 within 3 years.

2. What advantages does seawater rice have compared with ordinary rice?

Compared with other ordinary rice, it has stronger survival and competitive ability, and has resistance to waterlogging, salt and alkali, lodging, diseases and insects. In addition, with the development of the modern social economy and the further improvement of people's living standards and changes in dietary structure, people's consumer demand for rice has already tended toward pursuing the nutritional value and health benefits of rice. Sea rice is also called sea red rice; its grains are reddish in color, contain natural soluble red pigment, and are rich in nutrients. Sea red rice is not only rich in starch, dietary fiber, amino acids, high protein and calcium, but also contains trace elements such as selenium, zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, molybdenum and manganese, and their content is higher than that in ordinary rice. Moreover, sea red rice is rich in the unique active organic compound IP6, which has the effect of preventing and treating many diseases, with its anti-cancer effect being particularly significant. Regular consumption of sea red rice has effects such as inhibiting carcinogenic substances, preventing colon cancer, scavenging free radicals, delaying aging, enriching blood and preventing anemia, resisting stress responses, and immune regulation.

3. What are the values of seawater rice?

1. Use saline-alkali land and tidal flats to solve the population's food problem

China has a large scale of saline-alkali land, most of which is severely salinized soil, and grain plants such as rice and wheat find it difficult to grow in these saline-alkali lands. In addition, tidal flats are largely covered and submerged by seawater, and apart from growing some mangroves, most are in a abandoned state. Developing seawater rice can make full use of saline-alkali land and marine tidal flats to solve the food problem. Seawater rice has salt-alkali resistance and waterlogging resistance, and can withstand the damage of saline-alkali land and tidal flats, growing and fruiting normally. Seawater rice can grow to two meters high and has lodging resistance. In tidal flats, even if seawater completely submerges the rice, leaving only faintly visible leaf tips, it still grows neatly after the tide recedes.

2. Improve the environment and produce organic green food

The planting of seawater rice not only uses tidal flats to produce food, but can also windproof and dissipate waves, promote siltation and protect beaches, stabilize shores and protect embankments, and purify seawater and air, possessing ecological and social value similar to that of mangroves. The root system of seawater rice is 30-40 cm deep, effectively retaining land-derived sand, reducing the sediment content of nearshore waters, and increasing soil organic matter. In addition, during the production of seawater rice, it can grow excellently without using chemical fertilizers or spraying pesticides, producing organic green food.

3. Scientific research value

Seawater rice has resistance to waterlogging, salt and alkali, lodging, diseases and insects. In order to obtain better varieties, seawater rice can be crossed with ordinary high-yield rice to obtain better varieties that can both achieve high yield and grow in saline-alkali land and other places. This is not only high-yielding, but also makes better use of abandoned land. Similarly, some genes with specific functions can also be cloned and introduced into different species.

In summary, seawater rice is not genetically modified rice, and it has stronger stress resistance than other ordinary rice.