China Agriculture news, info, updates

[JSCh]

Test planting of saltwater rice begins
By XIE CHUANJIAO | China Daily | Updated: 2018-05-29 08:07

Yuan Longping, China's "father of hybrid rice", checks saltwater rice seedlings before they are planted in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Monday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Renowned Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping and his research team planted saltwater-tolerant rice on six plots of saline-alkali land on Monday.

It was the first time this kind of rice has been planted simultaneously on different types of such land, a major step in exploring its commercial viability.

The planting sites are in Kashgar, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region; Daqing, Heilongjiang province; Dongying and Qingdao, Shandong province; Wenzhou, Zhejiang province; and Yan'an, Shaanxi province. The sites represent virtually every type of saline-alkali land in China.

So-called saltwater rice is designed to grow in tidal flats or other areas with heavy salt content.

"These planting practices aim to test saltwater rice's performance, yield, taste and cost when grown on different types of saline-alkali land," said Zhang Guodong, deputy director at the Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center in Shandong province.

The center, led by Yuan, China's "father of hybrid rice", was founded in 2016 to help expand the farming of salt-tolerant varieties of rice.

Zhang said researchers and planters applied several methods based on the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence, and tried to improve productivity and land use.

Besides testing saltwater rice's performance, the six saline-alkali areas have different orientations.

For example, in Kashgar, poor families from ethnic groups have been organized to plant seawater rice to help poverty alleviation.

In Dongying, saline land is expected to provide crops to support civilian-military integration.

The six plots are expected to become fertile land in two or three years, and other saline lands will be used to examine saltwater-tolerant rices species.

Zhang said the center had joined with the China National Hybrid Rice R& D Center, as well as 18 other research institutions and enterprises, to establish a working group to examine the test results.

China has 100 million hectares of saline-alkaline soil.

Yuan and his team plan to develop a type of saltwater rice that can be planted on 6.7 million hectares of saline-alkali land around the country, which they estimate can yield 30 million metric tons every year, feeding an additional 80 million mouths.

In September last year, the Qingdao demonstration center harvested four types of saline-alkali rice, with the highest yield reaching 9.3 tons per hectare, much higher than expected.

Yuan's team also estimated the results of experimental planting of saltwater rice in desert areas of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. One type is expected to yield more than 7.5 tons per hectare.

The Chinese team started planting the rice in January. The harvest is expected to take place in late June.

 

[JSCh]

High-Yield Chinese Saltwater Rice Could Help Dubai Reduce Hunger in Middle East
TANG SHIHUA
DATE: TUE, 05/29/2018 - 12:46 / SOURCE:YICAI

High-Yield Chinese Saltwater Rice Could Help Dubai Reduce Hunger in Middle East​

(Yicai Global) May 29 -- Chinese saltwater rice planted at manmade oases in Dubai deserts has yielded as much as 7,500 kilograms per hectare as the emirate turns to modern food technology to help resolve hunger in the Middle East and North Africa.

The China Qingdao Rice Research and Development Center began the small-scale experiment in January on arid land close to Dubai, China Economic Net reported. Three of the different grain varieties yielded more than 6,000 kilograms per hectare, it added, citing theoretical estimates made by an international expert group.

Anti-saline rice, also known as saltwater rice, was developed by a research team under Yuan Longping, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It can make high-saline, non-arable land suitable for farming at high yields, and has also been planted for tests at various sites throughout China. Dubai will arrange for harvesting and a full yield assessment in late June before unveiling the actual results produced by each of the rice varieties planted.

The project has complete backing from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, the report added. The Private Office of Sheikh Mohammed will team up with the Chinese center to set up a research facility covering the Middle East and North Africa, providing the Arab world with saltwater rice and related technologies to tackle hunger in poverty-stricken regions.

The two nations will also set up an experimental farm in the second half of this year, specifically for saltwater rice and spanning 100 hectares (one square kilometer) before turning it into a regular farm by 2019. From 2020, the pair will create more of the farms with larger planting areas with a view to growing rice on more than 10 percent of Dubai’s land area (3,980 square kilometers).

 

[JSCh]

'Seawater rice' rides tide of hope and hype
By Xie Chuanjiao | China Daily | Updated: 2018-08-28 07:06

Farmers harvest salt-resistant rice in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, in an example of international cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. CHINA DAILY

A test next year will determine whether new strain can be grown commercially, Xie Chuanjiao reports from Qingdao, Shandong.

Research and experimental plantings of a crop hyped by Chinese media as "seawater rice" hold out the promise of turning vast areas of wasteland green and boosting food security.

However, experts caution there is a long way to go to prove the commercial viability of what is more properly called salt-resistant rice.

Also known as saline-alkali tolerant rice, it is designed to grow in tidal flats or other areas with heavy salt content and has been developed by plant-breeding experts through crossbreeding and other technologies.

The world has 950 million hectares of land that is saline and alkaline, with Asia accounting for about a third of the total.

China has 100 million hectares of saline-alkaline soil, and growing rice in such swamps, bogs, clayish land and brackish coastal areas has typically been impossible because salt stresses the plants.

Renowned Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping said this year that based on a yield of 4.5 metric tons a hectare, his program's target, planting salt-resistant rice on 6.67 million hectares of land, would increase rice production by 30 million tons a year－enough to feed 80 million people.

Yuan, who has been dubbed China's "father of hybrid rice", is known for developing the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s. His hybrid rice development has greatly enhanced China's rice yields and contributed to ensuring the country's food security, as about 65 percent of the population depends on rice as a staple food.

The octogenarian has focused on salt-resistant rice for the past three years and led a team that established a research and development center for it in Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong province, in September 2016.

The Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center, where Yuan is chief scientist, aims to use molecular breeding technologies to develop salt-resistant rice strains that can be widely planted on saline-alkaline land in places with different climates.

When it was established, the center set itself a three-year target of developing a salt-resistant rice strain capable of yielding 4.5 tons a hectare. The average rice yield in China is 6.75 tons a hectare.

A researcher collects grains of rice. GUO XULEI/XINHUA
​

It planted the first batch of salt-resistant rice in two experimental paddies just north of Jiaozhou Bay in April last year and reaped the harvest five months later.​

Agricultural experts who monitored the harvest said the highest-yielding of the four varieties planted produced 9.3 tons a hectare, while the other three returned 8.2 tons, 7.4 tons and 6.6 tons－all above the center's three-year target.

The experts said yields from regular cultivation might reach 70 to 80 percent of those achieved in small, experimental plantings.

Zhang Guodong, deputy director of the Qingdao center, said the results showed the salt-resistant rice strain they developed could survive and return high yields in water with 0.6 percent salt content. Seawater is 3.5 percent salt.

The research team extended trial planting of salt-resistant rice to six plots of saline-alkali land across China in late May. It was the first simultaneous planting of such rice on different types of saline-alkali land and a major step in exploring its commercial viability.

The sites－in Kashgar, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region; Daqing, Heilongjiang province; Dongying and Qingdao in Shandong; Wenzhou, Zhejiang province; and Yan'an, Shaanxi province－represent virtually every type of saline-alkali land in China.

Yuan's team is not the only one in China focusing on salt-resistant rice.

Working separately, Chen Risheng, an agriculturist based in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, started to study salt-resistant rice in 1986. However, his story has attracted less media attention.

Guangming Daily reported in October 2016 that Chen's research began when he came across a species of red wild rice near a mangrove forest in Zhanjiang with his teacher Luo Wen. Inspired by Luo, Chen selected 522 seeds and embarked on breeding work.

In the following three decades, Chen selected promising strains and worked on seed purification and reproduction.

He started trial planting in several places in China in 2012, the year his "Seawater 86" was given intellectual property rights recognition by national agricultural authorities.

A report by China Youth Daily in early January recounted Chen's hard work and unremitting efforts in 30 years of research, but also mentioned that he had faced many difficulties, including a lack of funds and professional knowledge.

A technician collects rice seedlings for transfer to a salinity test field at the Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center. LI ZIHENG/XINHUA​

The efforts of Yuan and Chen to develop salt-resistant rice have attracted a lot of praise on social media, but many Chinese experts have cautioned that their work is still in its infancy.

In mid-July, Science and Technology Daily cited rice expert Ling Qihong as saying in an academic article in the periodical China Rice, which is sponsored by the China National Rice Research Institute, that it is difficult to plant rice on a wide range of wasteland and there is still a long way to go.

Media attention

Ling said China had accumulated rich experience in cultivating rice on saline and alkaline land, but the breakthroughs in salt-resistant rice strains could not deny the role fresh water from irrigation played in leaching out salt.

"It also depends on long-distance transportation of huge amounts of fresh water, which is time-consuming and a big project," Ling wrote, adding that the name "seawater rice" could cause misunderstandings. After learning that salt-resistant rice was irrigated by diluted seawater on the Qingdao experimental paddies, Ling said it was not right to call it "seawater rice".

In a more recent report in Science and Technology Daily, another plant breeding expert, Li Liqiu, echoed Ling, describing the name "seawater rice" as a stunt designed to maximize media attention.

Researchers from the Qingdao center said Ling's opinion was based on the early stage of salt-resistant rice research.

Zhang said the research team has developed a core technology called the "four-dimensional optimizing method" which tailors solutions for different soil types by taking advantage of the internet of things, soil conditioner, plant growth regulator and the rice's resistant capabilities.

Ling also cited Dai Qigen, a professor from the College of Agriculture at Yangzhou University, as saying that rice only survives in water with a salt content no higher than 0.3 percent.

Zhang said Dai's conclusion was out of date, and the Qingdao center's new salt-resistant species had lifted the tolerable salt content to 0.6 percent.

CHINA DAILY​

"Water with a salt content higher than 0.1 percent cannot be used in traditional agricultural production for irrigation," Zhang said. "That means we have more choice of water resources if planting salt-resistant species. Besides which, long-distance transportation of fresh water is not necessary and water can be acquired nearby."

Experts say salt-resistant rice has unique nutritional advantages that may bring potential health benefits.

"Salt-resistant rice grown on saline-alkaline land has more mineral content than ordinary rice because salt water contains high levels of microelements," Yang Hongyan, who worked at the Qingdao center, said in a previous interview with China Daily.

"In addition, salt-resistant rice growing in a natural environment is not contaminated by heavy metals and isn't subject to plant diseases or insect pests."

Mi Tiezhu, deputy director of the Qingdao center's technical department, said "seawater rice" could be considered a catchy folk name rather than an academic term, and confirmed that researchers working on Qingdao's experimental paddies had mixed fresh water and seawater in one field.

He said government officials and agricultural experts will test its salt-resistant rice next year to decide whether it can be grown commercially.

Mi said he was confident of the rice's commercial prospects. "Our investigations suggest that salt-resistant rice has a wide potential market," he said.

Rural Taobao, a branch of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, announced in June that it would cooperate with Yuan's team to help promote salt-resistant rice in the market.

Overseas cooperation

The Qingdao team's salt-resistant rice has also spread to desert areas of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, becoming an example of international cooperation under the China-led Belt and Road Initiative.

A researcher examines salt-resistant rice. LI ZIHENG/XINHUA​

An international expert group tested five types of harvested salt-resistant rice in Dubai in late May, with yields ranging from 4.8 to 7.8 tons a hectare. It marked the first successful experimental planting of rice in a tropical desert.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE, attached great importance to the successful trial planting. To commemorate the historic breakthrough, the harvested salt-resistant rice was named "Al Marmoom", after an area in Dubai, and will be presented to distinguished guests as a "national gift", further promoting cooperation with the Qingdao team.

The Qingdao team launched the project in Dubai in early January, and from May to July more than 80 varieties of experimental rice, including salt-resistant rice, matured in batches.

Growing rice in desert areas faces many challenges and difficulties, including extreme temperatures, highly saline water, low humidity, lack of fresh water, sandstorms, lack of proper soil and a lack of agricultural resources.

The research team introduced the "four-dimensional optimizing method" applied in planting salt-resistant rice in China to Dubai, with sensors that tell farmers when to adjust water and nutrient levels.

The two sides are taking a multistep approach to developing salt-resistant rice planting, with the goal of turning at least 10 percent of the UAE's territory into green land.

They will also build a salt-resistant rice research center for the Middle East and North Africa, with the aim of creating "artificial oases" to benefit all Arab countries by helping them eradicate poverty and hunger and make the environment more livable.

Contact the writer at xiechuanjiao@chinadaily.com.cn

 

[TaiShang]

China's super hybrid rice output sets new world record

Xinhua Published: 2018-09-04


Super hybrid rice output in test fields in southwestern Yunnan Province has set a new world record, local authorities said Monday.

Farmers harvest rice at a super hybrid rice demonstration base in Datun Township in the Gejiu City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sept. 2, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

The latest output of three plots at a super hybrid rice demonstration base located in Datun Township in the city of Gejiu reached an average of 1,152.3 kg per mu (about 0.07 hectares).

The demonstration base started to plant hybrid rice in 2009.

Farmers thresh rice stalks at a super hybrid rice demonstration base in Datun Township in the Gejiu City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sept. 2, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

A group of experts from agricultural and scientific universities and research institutions randomly selected three plots on the rice fields and supervised the harvest.

Farmers prepare to thresh rice stalks at a super hybrid rice demonstration base in Datun Township in the Gejiu City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sept. 2, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

With an average temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, the base lies at an altitude of more than 1,200 meters above sea level. Proper annual precipitation and flat terrain also contribute to the harvest of hybrid rice, according to Xie Hua'an, leader of the research team.

Super hybrid rice field is seen at a demonstration base in Datun Township in Gejiu City, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sept. 2, 2018. [Photo: Xinhua]

http://chinaplus.cri.cn/news/china/9/20180904/179224.html

 

[JSCh]

Chasing the harvest: story of Chinese migrant farm workers
New China TV
Published on Oct 8, 2018

They chase crops to make a living, being paid by how much land they harvest. From the sickle to the reaper, what they have in their hands has changed with time. But there are things that time won't change. Check out the story of a Chinese couple of migrant farm workers.

 

[JSCh]

Test planting of saltwater rice begins
By XIE CHUANJIAO | China Daily | Updated: 2018-05-29 08:07

Yuan Longping, China's "father of hybrid rice", checks saltwater rice seedlings before they are planted in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Monday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Renowned Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping and his research team planted saltwater-tolerant rice on six plots of saline-alkali land on Monday.

It was the first time this kind of rice has been planted simultaneously on different types of such land, a major step in exploring its commercial viability.

The planting sites are in Kashgar, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region; Daqing, Heilongjiang province; Dongying and Qingdao, Shandong province; Wenzhou, Zhejiang province; and Yan'an, Shaanxi province. The sites represent virtually every type of saline-alkali land in China.

So-called saltwater rice is designed to grow in tidal flats or other areas with heavy salt content.

"These planting practices aim to test saltwater rice's performance, yield, taste and cost when grown on different types of saline-alkali land," said Zhang Guodong, deputy director at the Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center in Shandong province.

The center, led by Yuan, China's "father of hybrid rice", was founded in 2016 to help expand the farming of salt-tolerant varieties of rice.

Zhang said researchers and planters applied several methods based on the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence, and tried to improve productivity and land use.

Besides testing saltwater rice's performance, the six saline-alkali areas have different orientations.

For example, in Kashgar, poor families from ethnic groups have been organized to plant seawater rice to help poverty alleviation.

In Dongying, saline land is expected to provide crops to support civilian-military integration.

The six plots are expected to become fertile land in two or three years, and other saline lands will be used to examine saltwater-tolerant rices species.

Zhang said the center had joined with the China National Hybrid Rice R& D Center, as well as 18 other research institutions and enterprises, to establish a working group to examine the test results.

China has 100 million hectares of saline-alkaline soil.

Yuan and his team plan to develop a type of saltwater rice that can be planted on 6.7 million hectares of saline-alkali land around the country, which they estimate can yield 30 million metric tons every year, feeding an additional 80 million mouths.

In September last year, the Qingdao demonstration center harvested four types of saline-alkali rice, with the highest yield reaching 9.3 tons per hectare, much higher than expected.

Yuan's team also estimated the results of experimental planting of saltwater rice in desert areas of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. One type is expected to yield more than 7.5 tons per hectare.

The Chinese team started planting the rice in January. The harvest is expected to take place in late June.

Three harvests step toward commercial use for seawater rice
By Xie Chuanjiao in Qingdao, Shandong | China Daily | Updated: 2018-10-11 09:02

Researchers put ears of rice into a thresher to calculate the yield of seawater rice in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Wednesday. [Photo/China Daily]

Three experimental fields of seawater rice were harvested in China on Wednesday, a further step toward its future commercial viability.

Also known as saline-alkali tolerant rice, seawater rice is designed to grow in tidal flats or other areas with heavy salt content and has been developed by plant-breeding experts through crossbreeding and other technologies.

One type of seawater rice growing in Qingdao's Chengyang district, Shandong province, yielded 3.9 metric tons per hectare, experts announced.

Zhang Guodong, executive deputy director of the Qingdao Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center, said the yield was from big paddies and could be improved.

"Once widely planted on a large scale, the yield could be much higher," he said.

The Qingdao center, led by renowned Chinese agricultural scientist Yuan Longping, was established three years ago.

It set itself a three-year target of developing a salt-resistant rice strain capable of yielding 4.5 tons a hectare, which guarantees growers the minimum acceptable level of profit. The average rice yield in China is 6.75 tons a hectare.

Planting in the experimental field in Chengyang district and five other plots of salinealkali land started at the end of May. The five other plots were in Dongying, Shandong province; Wenzhou, Zhejiang province; Yan'an, Shaanxi province; Kashgar, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region; and Daqing, Heilongjiang province.

The sites represent virtually every type of saline-alkali land in China and researchers aim to cultivate different strains able to cope with different climate, salinity and soil structure conditions.

The test crops in Kashgar and Daqing were also harvested on Wednesday.

In Kashgar, the yield reached more than 7.5 tons per hectare, according to experts' tests, much higher than expected.

Zhang said the harvest in Kashgar was satisfactory. "The result means it is possible to plant such salt-resistant rice in southern Xinjiang in the future," he said.

Wu Zhanyong, an official from the Qingdao center, said, "Xinjiang has about 2 million hectares of saline-alkali land that have the potential to be planted with salt-resistant rice, and if it is widely planted it will substantially improve rice production in the region."

The seawater rice strain grown in Daqing only yielded 3.1 tons per hectare. A live video clip on Shandong TV showed growers appearing a little disappointed by the result, as they hoped the experts' endeavor would boost production.

Mu Ping, a professor from Qingdao Agricultural University who has worked in Daqing for months, said the water and soil conditions at the site were not ideal, and the pH level was extremely high.

 

[TaiShang]

Salt-resistant rice crop grown successfully in northern China

Ding Xiaoxiao China Plus Published: 2018-10-11 14:17:31


Rice with a high tolerance to water salinity have been successfully grown in Qingdao in Shandong Province, according to a Xinhua report published on Wednesday.

Researchers harvest a test crop of the new strain of seawater rice in Qingdao on Thursday, September 28, 2017. [File Photo: thepaper.cn]

In May, the seawater rice research center in Qingdao planted trial fields of the new rice strain in Qingdao and five other sites around the country.

The trial field in Qingdao used to be a saline-alkaline wasteland. But thanks to the development of the new salt-resistant rice strain, scientists have been able to turn it into productive farmland.

 

[JSCh]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1051384286060851200

CGTN‏ Verified account @CGTNOfficial
A bumper harvest of saline soil rice is in sight, turning the fields into a palette with gradient colors in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu Province

4:08 PM - 14 Oct 2018

 

[JSCh]

China reaping harvest of agricultural R&D
Source: Xinhua| 2018-10-22 11:07:51|Editor: Liangyu


BEIJING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China is transforming its traditional agriculture sector, using science and technology to drive rural revitalization and modernization.

Delivering a report on the development of China's agricultural science and technology recently, Tang Huajun, president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), said remarkable progress has been made in innovation, which has played an important role in ensuring national food security and increasing farmers' incomes.

However, production costs remain high while the price of products has reached its "ceiling", resulting in reduced profits. China is also facing challenges such as limited resources and environmental pollution, and lacks core competitiveness, Tang said.

Scientific and technological innovation is urgently required to facilitate supply-side structural reform, promote environment-friendly development and support the implementation of rural revitalization, Tang said.

The academy has drawn up a five-year plan for developing key technologies in fields such as high-quality crop varieties, automated machines, agricultural products processing, modern food manufacturing, water efficiency, pollution control, agricultural waste recycling, and ecological restoration and protection.

According to the CAAS report, scientific and technological progress contributed to 57.5 percent of China's agricultural growth in 2017, in comparison with 53.5 percent in 2012.

Chinese researchers have made several breakthrough scientific and technological achievements since 2012, including cultivation and promotion of high-yield rice species and new genetically-modified cotton species that resist insects, as well as the successful development of highly efficient vaccines for the deadly H7N9 bird flu virus, the report said.

With diminishing availability of farm land, fresh water and other resources, science and technology is playing a bigger role in lifting grain yields. China's grain output has been stable at over 600 million tonnes for each of the last five years.

The wide application of biotechnology, information technology, materials technology and resource and environmental technology has boosted research in fields such as animal and plant breeding, pest control, processing, storage and transportation, and quality and safety of agricultural products, Tang said.

Chinese scientists have discovered excellent germplasm resources and genes. They have basically completed the genetic mapping and sequencing of rice, wheat, maize, cotton, soybean, millet, tomato, cucumber, cabbage and other major crops.

With the help of genome editing technology, the efficiency of animal breeding has greatly improved. Chinese scientists have accomplished genome sequencing of pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese.

Tang said the cultivation of genetically modified cotton in China has expanded to more than 450 million mu (30 million hectares).

A large number of agricultural machines and equipment are connecting with China's Beidou navigation system. China has developed plant factories with intelligent LED illumination technology. Drones are used in spraying pesticides precisely, greatly improving the operational efficiency.

China's agricultural technology is also benefiting the world.

Avian influenza vaccines produced in China are available in Asia and Africa. China has provided more than 70 hybrid rice species to countries including Indonesia, Pakistan, India and the Philippines. China has demonstrated the cultivation of 68 varieties of super high-yield rice in 18 countries in Asia and Africa, covering a total area of 1.8 million hectares, with an average yield increase of about 20 percent.

China has established an experimental station in Kyrgyzstan to promote high quality cotton varieties and technologies in central Asia.

China and Cuba have cooperated in silk-farming and animal husbandry, greatly promoting the development of Cuba's silk industry.

 

[TaiShang]

China sets new hybrid rice yield record

By Xu Hailin Source:Global Times Published: 2018/10/30

Researchers harvest super hybrid rice on Monday at a demonstration base of the Hebei Silicon Valley Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Yongnian district, Handan city, North China's Hebei Province.Photo: VCG


China has set a new world record for super hybrid rice yields at 18 tons per hectare at a test land in Handan, North China's Hebei Province.

The rice was planted in 6.8 hectares of a demonstration base at the Hebei Silicon Valley Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the only private academy of agricultural sciences in the province.

Researchers harvested 18 tons per hectare of the Xiangliangyou 900 super hybrid rice. The amount was verified by five third-party experts from Wuhan-based Huazhong Agricultural University and Hebei Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The Xiangliangyou 900 super hybrid rice was developed by China's "father of hybrid rice," Yuan Longping, and his team.

Three smaller fields with a total area of 0.23 hectares were chosen randomly and examined for yield, Xinhua reported. The yield per hectare of the Xiangliangyou 900 super hybrid rice in 2017 was 17.25 tons.

"Thirty percent more than the yield of previous varieties of super hybrid rice, the record shows that the revolutionary third-generation technology is mature enough to be adopted in fields across China," Li Xinqi, a research fellow at the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, a division of the China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"The rice could meet China's demand for food, offering powerful support to the country's grain security," Li said.

Government policy support is indispensable in promoting the rice, Li noted.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1125176.shtml

 

[TaiShang]

JD.com's fintech unit enters into agriculture and husbandry sector

By CGTN's Wang Yanyan

Updated 2018-11-21

JD Finance, the financial technology arm of China's e-commerce tycoon JD.com, unveiled the upgrade of its brand on Tuesday with JD Digits, and a move to make inroads into the agricultural and husbandry industry via AI technology.

Speaking about the rationale to focus on this specific area, Cao Peng, vice president and general manager of JD Digits, said that while many sectors in China have great value and opportunities, the pig-breeding industry is one of a few industries that have the willingness to change its status quo.

China possesses approximately half of the world's supply of pigs. However, the cost is about two times as high as its American counterpart due to lack of efficiency, said Li Defa, professor of Animal Science and Technology College of China Agriculture University.

The "pig face recognition" algorithm developed by JD Digits can correlate the abnormal behaviors of pigs with its growth profile, immune information and real-time physical conditions so that the breeder could be notified in the first place.

In addition, inspection robots, IoT and other technologies are also applied in areas such as environmental control, disease recognition, waste processing, and ingredients allocation for feed.

According to JD Digits, the solution has been introduced to the pig-breeding industry, where it can decrease costs by more than 30 percent, reducing fodder by up to 10 percent and shortening the slaughter time to around five to eight days. If the entire Chinese pig-breeding industry applies it, the solution could lower costs by up to 50 billion yuan (7.25 billion U.S. dollars).

This is not the first time that Chinese tech companies bring digital technologies to the pig farming industry. Nine years ago, William Ding, CEO of Chinese gaming company NetEase, opened a pig farm raising non-GMO black hogs under its agricultural brand Weiyang. Earlier this June, Alibaba's cloud unit rolled out its ET Agricultural Brain, providing AI solutions to leading pig farming companies in the country.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/china-agriculture-news-info-updates.459082/

 

[JSCh]

PUBLIC RELEASE: 28-NOV-2018
Soil tilling, mulching key to China's potato crop
In China's Loess Plateau, soil moisture makes a difference

AMERICAN SOCIETY OF AGRONOMY

​

IMAGE: HILLSIDES ARE TERRACED IN THE LOESS PLATEAU, DRYLAND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH STATION, DOUPO VILLAGE, CHINA.
CREDIT: XIANQING HOU.

When you think of China, do you think of potatoes? Maybe not, but in the Loess Plateau region of northwestern China, potato is the main food crop.

Even though it is such an important crop there, potato yields are lower than they could be. The area has a dry climate with uneven precipitation. Droughts are common, especially in the spring when crops are just starting to emerge. If soil moisture was more reliable, the potato crops would do better.

Rong Li and colleagues at Ningxia University in Yinchuan, China set out to discover if different tilling and mulching practices could improve soil moisture--and crop yields--in the Loess Plateau. The researchers studied three tillage options (conventional, no-till, and subsoiling) combined with three mulching options (no mulch, straw mulch, and plastic film).

Usually, the Loess Plateau fields are plowed, or tilled, after the harvest and left bare until spring planting. This is known as conventional tillage. Conservation tillage can mean not tilling the soil at all between crops (no-till). Another conservation option is subsoiling: deeply breaking the soil with a long blade, without turning it. Tillage helps water soak into the soil and improve water storage within the soil.

Li said, "We didn't know whether tillage with varied mulching practices would improve drought resistance during the potato seedling stage in these dryland farming areas."

The team studied the same field over two years--a relatively dry year followed by a wet year. For each combination of soil management options, they measured topsoil temperature, soil water content, seedling emergence rate, and marketable yield of potato tubers.

Plastic mulch warmed the soil more than the other mulching options. Straw mulch had a cooling effect compared with no mulch. However, all three options produced soil temperatures in the right range for rapid potato germination. So it seemed that topsoil temperature was not the key factor for early seedling growth.

Rather, the team concluded that drought was the main factor limiting crop production. Soil moisture during the seedling period is essential for crop success. Techniques that maintained soil moisture improved both the emergence rate and strong seedling establishment. Both are essential for good tuber formation and marketable yield.

Other findings include:

• Seedling emergence was lowest with conventional tillage and no mulch compared to other treatments.
• The highest emergence rates occurred when subsoiling was combined with plastic mulch.
• Within the same tillage option, seedlings in mulched plots were much taller than those without mulching.
• Straw mulched plots had the highest potato tuber yield, followed by plastic mulch.
• Conservation tillage (both no-till and subsoiling) with straw mulch led to higher potato yields and marketable tuber rates compared to other treatments.
• The highest marketable potato tuber yield was found in the combination of subsoiling with straw mulch. This yield was 14.9% higher compared to conventional tillage with no mulch.

Li and his team concluded that if the main goal is to increase soil moisture, straw mulch should be selected. Straw is also relatively low-cost and environmentally friendly, while plastic mulch can cause pollution problems and is a less sustainable method.

"We recommend conservation tillage combined with straw mulch as a more favorable farming practice for drought resistance in potato seedlings," Li said. "This combination has great potential for greater crop production in our region and similar semi-arid dryland farming regions of the world."

In the Loess Plateau, where the potato is king, these findings may prove to be truly royal.



Soil tilling, mulching key to China's potato crop | EurekAlert! Science News

 

[TaiShang]

Big data reshaping harvest for Chinese farmers
Xinhua, November 29, 2018

For thousands of years, Chinese farmers have relied on their experience to grow crops, but Zhang Yufeng in central China's Henan Province has recently turned to big data.

A screen in his field shows temperature, humidity, wind, rain, soil conditions, pest control and disaster warning information.

In March, the warning of a cold spell reminded him to take precautions, which prevented a loss of 133-hectares of wheat.

The data and information Zhang receives is provided by a satellite-land system at the local agricultural meteorological station in Xun County, the city of Hebi.

The system, put into operation in 2015, gets real-time data on temperature, humidity, wind direction, soil temperature and humidity, etc., with 39 sets of land-based sensors installed in the field. The data will be compared with that collected by Fengyun meteorological satellites to provide accurate data that will then be sent to farmers.

"Important data such as pest control information, and best wheat harvest time can be provided timely, which helps increase yield by about 25 kg per mu (0.067 hectare)," said Ren Liwei, an official of the local meteorological bureau.

The station has also developed a mobile app to make the latest land data accessible to farmers, anywhere and anytime.

With cameras installed in the fields, farmers are able to look at their land on the phone. If farmers find pests or any other problems, they can take photos, upload them and get help from experts via the app.

"Messages will be sent to my phone telling me the best time to sow, spray insecticide, water, and harvest. We feel much more secure with big data behind all this," Zhang said.

From experience to big data

Jiang Huizhi, a senior agronomist in Xun County, has witnessed how experience and big data matter in agriculture.

"In the past, farmers mainly relied on experience that was gained and passed on by generations. One example is the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms," he said.

The 24 solar terms are important astronomical points on the Chinese calendar, and were added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.

"One farmer's proverb says, rice will be harvested in the field when Autumnal Equinox falls, usually between Sept. 22 and 24," he said.

Now, farmers have come up with new sayings, one of which goes, "drones spray insecticides, and big data shows the right time to reap."

"We didn't have technologies or advanced equipment in the past, so we had to turn our to experience, which has played an essential role in agriculture," he said.

"Now, technologies such as big data and the Internet of Things provide farmers with accurate and scientific data in various aspects, helping us to better irrigate, manure, and spray insecticide," he added.

According to Jiang, the wheat yield per mu has been increased from 200kg to 300 kg in the 1980s to 650 kg today in the county.

"High technologies are especially helpful in forecasting disasters such as cold spells, gales and freezing weather," he said.

"It is the trend to grow crops with big data," said Guo Yujie, associate professor with North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power. "The application of big data, high technologies and the Internet of Things will be stepped up, with fewer people farming in China."

At Qixing farm, the largest paddy farm in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, a big data center has been built, which receives data collected from high-resolution Gaofen-1 satellites.

"The big data system has covered an area of 81,300 hectares at Qixing farm, providing data on land, environment, machine and other related business management," said Peng Rongjun, director of the farm.

A total of 200 monitor spots, 20 meteorological machines and 20 sets of underground water-level monitoring equipment have been installed in the fields at the year-end of 2016, creating an Internet of Things that collects production data.

Heilongjiang is China's largest grain-producing region, accounting for one-tenth of the country's grain output and one-fifth of the country's authenticated green food.

The provincial agriculture department has been developing an agriculture big data service platform in the province since 2017.

The platform consists of one data center, 16 cloud-computing platforms, and 84 sub-systems, providing data on planting and production, machine management, manuring, crop protection, green food and quality control, etc.

A number of 1,359 machine cooperatives, 6,055 family-run farms and 27,000 machines can be monitored with the machine management control center, covering an area of 6.33 million hectares.

Data on manuring can also be collected on an area of 8.67 million hectares, and on pest control over 2 million hectares.

Smart agriculture

With the help of big data, smart agriculture is also on its way.

At the 400-hectare vegetable greenhouse of Zhonghe Group in Hebi, the roller shades can be controlled to changes in light, temperature and humidity, all at the mobile phone.

"It took much time and labor to manage the roller shades by hand, and workers sometimes had to work against big winds, which was quite tough," said Wei Aihu, director of the company's information department.

"Now, with the help of the smart control system, much labor has been saved, cutting down costs of nearly 800,000 yuan (about US$115,246) each year," he added.

The company has also been equipped with automatic irrigation, ventilation and waste clearing systems.

"Big data helps us know about the environment accurately, thus reducing loss from meteorological disasters or risks. Productivity has also been lifted and costs cut down with smart equipment," he said. "Big data will be further applied in agriculture."

China released a plan on the application and development of big data in agriculture in 2015, aiming to build a national-level agriculture data platform.

So far, a number of tech companies have taken part in the development and application of big data in agriculture.

Aliyun, Alibaba's Cloud computing subsidiary, has launched a cooperation program with Shaanxi Haisheng Fresh Fruit Juice Co. Ltd. to develop an agricultural smart system, with artificial intelligence technology applied.

For example, the growth cycle of a sweet melon can be monitored by scanning a barcode. The company is able to control the whole process from sowing and growing, to harvesting and transportation, guaranteeing quality.

"Agriculture in China has entered a new era with three data collecting systems, satellites in space, drones in the sky and the Internet of Things in the fields," said Wu Wenbin, a scientist with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

A triangle-shaped robot, developed by Wu's team, is working in the corn field in Minzhu Township in Heilongjiang, planning a route for itself, and measuring the height of the crops and monitoring factors influencing their growth.

"With such robots, we will be able to collect and analyze data, and operate machines on mobile phone, which will become the mode of agriculture in the future," Wu said.

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2018-11/29/content_74223317.htm

 

[JSCh]

Xinhua Headlines: Big data reshaping harvest for Chinese farmers
Source: Xinhua| 2018-11-29 19:12:09|Editor: Li Xia

A worker gives technical instructions to a farmer at a wheat field in Xunxian County, central China's Henan Province, May 18, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)

BEIJING, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- For thousands of years, Chinese farmers have relied on their experience to grow crops, but Zhang Yufeng in central China's Henan Province has recently turned to big data.

A screen in his field shows temperature, humidity, wind, rain, soil conditions, pest control and disaster warning information.

In March, the warning of a cold spell reminded him to take precautions, which prevented a loss of 133-hectares of wheat.

The data and information Zhang receives is provided by a satellite-land system at the local agricultural meteorological station in Xun County, the city of Hebi.

The system, put into operation in 2015, gets real-time data on temperature, humidity, wind direction, soil temperature and humidity, etc., with 39 sets of land-based sensors installed in the field. The data will be compared with that collected by Fengyun meteorological satellites to provide accurate data that will then be sent to farmers.

"Important data such as pest control information, and best wheat harvest time can be provided timely, which helps increase yield by about 25 kg per mu (0.067 hectare)," said Ren Liwei, an official of the local meteorological bureau.

The station has also developed a mobile app to make the latest land data accessible to farmers, anywhere and anytime.

With cameras installed in the fields, farmers are able to look at their land on the phone. If farmers find pests or any other problems, they can take photos, upload them and get help from experts via the app.

"Messages will be sent to my phone telling me the best time to sow, spray insecticide, water, and harvest. We feel much more secure with big data behind all this," Zhang said.

FROM EXPERIENCE TO BIG DATA

Jiang Huizhi, a senior agronomist in Xun County, has witnessed how experience and big data matter in agriculture.

"In the past, farmers mainly relied on experience that was gained and passed on by generations. One example is the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms," he said.

The 24 solar terms are important astronomical points on the Chinese calendar, and were added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016.

"One farmer's proverb says, rice will be harvested in the field when Autumnal Equinox falls, usually between Sept. 22 and 24," he said.

Now, farmers have come up with new sayings, one of which goes, "drones spray insecticides, and big data shows the right time to reap."

"We didn't have technologies or advanced equipment in the past, so we had to turn our to experience, which has played an essential role in agriculture," he said.

"Now, technologies such as big data and the Internet of Things provide farmers with accurate and scientific data in various aspects, helping us to better irrigate, manure, and spray insecticide," he added.

According to Jiang, the wheat yield per mu has been increased from 200kg to 300 kg in the 1980s to 650 kg today in the county.

"High technologies are especially helpful in forecasting disasters such as cold spells, gales and freezing weather," he said.

"It is the trend to grow crops with big data," said Guo Yujie, associate professor with North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power. "The application of big data, high technologies and the Internet of Things will be stepped up, with fewer people farming in China."

At Qixing farm, the largest paddy farm in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, a big data center has been built, which receives data collected from high-resolution Gaofen-1 satellites.

"The big data system has covered an area of 81,300 hectares at Qixing farm, providing data on land, environment, machine and other related business management," said Peng Rongjun, director of the farm.

A total of 200 monitor spots, 20 meteorological machines and 20 sets of underground water-level monitoring equipment have been installed in the fields at the year-end of 2016, creating an Internet of Things that collects production data.

Heilongjiang is China's largest grain-producing region, accounting for one-tenth of the country's grain output and one-fifth of the country's authenticated green food.

The provincial agriculture department has been developing an agriculture big data service platform in the province since 2017.

The platform consists of one data center, 16 cloud-computing platforms, and 84 sub-systems, providing data on planting and production, machine management, manuring, crop protection, green food and quality control, etc.

A number of 1,359 machine cooperatives, 6,055 family-run farms and 27,000 machines can be monitored with the machine management control center, covering an area of 6.33 million hectares.

Data on manuring can also be collected on an area of 8.67 million hectares, and on pest control over 2 million hectares.

SMART AGRICULTURE

With the help of big data, smart agriculture is also on its way.

At the 400-hectare vegetable greenhouse of Zhonghe Group in Hebi, the roller shades can be controlled to changes in light, temperature and humidity, all at the mobile phone.

"It took much time and labor to manage the roller shades by hand, and workers sometimes had to work against big winds, which was quite tough," said Wei Aihu, director of the company's information department.

"Now, with the help of the smart control system, much labor has been saved, cutting down costs of nearly 800,000 yuan (about 115,246 U.S. dollars) each year," he added.

The company has also been equipped with automatic irrigation, ventilation and waste clearing systems.

"Big data helps us know about the environment accurately, thus reducing loss from meteorological disasters or risks. Productivity has also been lifted and costs cut down with smart equipment," he said. "Big data will be further applied in agriculture."

China released a plan on the application and development of big data in agriculture in 2015, aiming to build a national-level agriculture data platform.

So far, a number of tech companies have taken part in the development and application of big data in agriculture.

Aliyun, Alibaba's Cloud computing subsidiary, has launched a cooperation program with Shaanxi Haisheng Fresh Fruit Juice Co. Ltd. to develop an agricultural smart system, with artificial intelligence technology applied.

For example, the growth cycle of a sweet melon can be monitored by scanning a barcode. The company is able to control the whole process from sowing and growing, to harvesting and transportation, guaranteeing quality.

"Agriculture in China has entered a new era with three data collecting systems, satellites in space, drones in the sky and the Internet of Things in the fields," said Wu Wenbin, a scientist with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

A triangle-shaped robot, developed by Wu's team, is working in the corn field in Minzhu Township in Heilongjiang, planning a route for itself, and measuring the height of the crops and monitoring factors influencing their growth.

"With such robots, we will be able to collect and analyze data, and operate machines on mobile phone, which will become the mode of agriculture in the future," Wu said.

(Video reporters: Shang Kunlun, Jiang Liang; Editor: Zhao Xiaoqing)

 

[JSCh]

NATURE INDEX | 12 DECEMBER 2018
Yielding results to feed a people | Nature
Studies to improve the productivity, resistance and taste of rice crops are central to China’s commanding position in plant biology.

Hepeng Jia

​

Illustration by Oli Winward

Her students call her Nüshen, which translates as ‘goddess’, and no wonder.

Rice geneticist, Wang Shaokui, was promoted to full professorship on the strength of a single paper, the results of her PhD research published in Nature Genetics.

That’s close enough to a superhuman feat in China’s academic system, where intense competition for tenured positions has created a rampant ‘publish or perish’ culture among the lower ranks.

Wang’s 2012 paper identified a new, highly powerful, rice functional gene, OsSPL16, which can control the size, shape and quality of the grain, distinguishing itself from other known genes that control only one of these traits. Her promotion to a full professor in 2014 at Guangzhou-based South China Agricultural University (SCAU), two years after her doctoral graduation there, was a testament not just to her achievement, but the prominence of the plant biology field in China. Scholars in the discipline, including Wang, also hope her trajectory bodes well, by signalling willingness to value quality over quantity in fields where China has sufficient confidence in its home-grown research capacity.

Nature Index 2018 China​

“Now at least in the field of rice biology, there is more emphasis on the role of truly important breakthrough studies of high-quality than on indicators, such as the number of papers, or even the impact factors of the journals that publish these papers,” Wang says.

“China has firmly established world leadership in rice science and is steaming ahead, snatching global runner-up positions in biological studies on many other crops,” says Yan Jianbing, who specializes in corn research at Wuhan-based Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU). He cites a Chinese paper examining China’s research output in rice, wheat and corn studies, which has been accepted for publication early next year.

The bibliometric study, of which Yan’s HZAU colleague, Liu Bin, is first author, analysed worldwide publications in 31 leading plant science journals indexed by Web of Science. The authors found that between 2012 and 2016, more than half of all the studies on rice in the sampled journals came from China.

A surge in high-quality publications since 2012 by Chinese plant scientists has propelled the country to second place behind the United States in plant biology in the Nature Index, with its fractional count (FC) rising from 47 in 2012 to 90 in 2017.

Based on the growth rates, it is possible that China will overtake the US to become the world’s leader in plant biology in the Nature Index within the next six years.

Rushing in
Agricultural research is well-funded in China, reflecting the priority placed on food security. In addition to regular basic research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, there are many megaprojects in agricultural research. For example, in 2008, the Chinese government launched a major initiative on genetically modified crop research coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, which will receive 24 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) by 2020. In addition, in 2016, the Ministry of Science and Technology launched a separate key research programme for breeding seven crops, pouring 1.6 billion yuan into 19 research projects for the next five years.

Chinese universities such as Peking, Sun Yat-sen and Zhengzhou are rushing to set up or re-establish their schools of agriculture, which were spun off in the 1950s to form independent agricultural universities across the country.

All newly established agricultural schools have set out to modernize agriculture with breakthroughs in plant science research, and other areas such as low-carbon technologies, and artificial intelligence. In setting them up, many universities also seek to put themselves in the running for extra funding under the next round of World-Class Discipline rankings to be announced under the Double World-Class project in 2022, an initiative to raise the global standing of Chinese universities.

Source: Nature Index/Dimensions from Digital Science

Delicious and cheap
China leads research in rice because the crop is of crucial importance to its food security, says Yan, who is professor and dean of the College of Plant Science and Technology at HZAU. The country has a long tradition in the field, and is home to the world’s largest rice research community, with an estimated 3,000 labs and 50,000 scientists nationwide, according to Wang. Access to the latest technologies, particularly new generations of genome sequencers, and well-preserved high-quality samples of diversified rice varieties, point to further significant progress, says Wang.

Studies to examine the molecular mechanisms underlying the productivity and properties of high-yield hybrid rice, as well as its resistance to disease and environmental challenges, have been the focus of Chinese plant biology research in recent years, as set out in the annual reviews of the Chinese Bulletin of Botany.

For example, a study led by Han Bin of the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences (SIBS), published in Nature in 2016, analysed the genomes of 17 hybrid rice crosses to reveal the genetic mechanism underlying hybrid vigour.

The study, selected by leading scientists for the state-owned publication Science & Technology Daily as one of the 10 best breakthroughs nationally, was ranked in importance next to the development by Chinese scientists of hybrid rice in the 1970s. SIBS was China’s leading institution in plant biology in the index in 2015–17.

Hybrid rice developed by Chinese scientists in the 1960s and 1970s has fed millions in countries like India, Vietnam, Pakistan and the Philippines and won Yuan Longping, its main developer, the 2004 World Food Prize. Contemporary plant biologists in China, including Wang and Yan, believe their work will also benefit the world by leading the way to new high-yield, high-nutrition and pest-resistant crop varieties.

“Previously, the central policy consideration was to provide enough food, but now, improving the taste of rice and developing diversified food supplies from wheat, corn and soya have become equally important,” says Wang.

Wang, by then a professor, received a prestigious 2015 Young Changjiang Scholar award from the Chinese Ministry of Education. In the same year, she published a second study in Nature Genetics that identified a gene, GW7, that controls rice traits and texture and simultaneously improves yield and grain quality.

Susan McCouch, a rice geneticist at Cornell University in the US, in whose lab Wang had worked, was quoted in Nature saying the implications were “enormous”: “The rice-breeding community has had this problem, they have been able to improve yield or quality of rice, but almost never simultaneously.” McCouch said, according to Nature, that in a country where many people eat three rice meals a day, “it will bring pleasure to some of the world’s poorest people.”

Nature 564, S62-S63 (2018)

doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-07689-z

This article is part of Nature Index 2018 China, an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content.