TIANJIN, 15 November (BelTA - Xinhua). - About 1,500 mu, or 100 hectares, of seawater rice developed by the late scientist Yuan Longping and his team recently saw a bumper harvest at a planting base located in Jinghai district, north China's Tianjin municipality.
The bumper harvest marks an initial success in the trial cultivation phase of the “seawater rice” project, also known in technical terms as the project for “saline-alkali soil tolerant rice,” with the breakthrough laying a solid foundation for the breeding and promotion of the strain in northern China.
The seawater rice is able to grow in water containing more than a 0.3 percent salt content while achieving a unit yield of 300 kg. “There is more than 20 million mu (one mu is equivalent to 667 square meters) of saline-alkali land situated in and around Tianjin and areas surrounding the Bohai Sea. We've carried out research on hybrid rice and studied rice breeding, and have achieved breakthroughs on some core technologies,” said Chen Yangpu, general manager of a local agricultural company.
“The salt content at the water inlet for the rice field is 6 parts per thousand; and, 12 parts per thousand at its water outlet, with a maximum pH level reaching 11.5. Based on the results achieved, we've already surpassed the 600 kg unit yield per mu threshold, which you could say is a bumper crop reaped with much glee,” he remarked.
