The legendary journey of the seeds
It is reported that more than 700 agricultural research institutions and thousands of scientific researchers across 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities "migrate" to Hainan every year. The maize breeding method was initiated by researchers from Hunan province when academician Yuan Longping started his research on hybrid rice in 1968.
In November 1970, Li Bihu, one of Yuan's assistants, discovered a wild sterile plant near a ditch in Nanhong farm in Sanya (Yuanya county formerly), which laid the foundation for the success of hybrid rice research.
At 7:30 on April 7, rice experts wearing straw hats and carrying bags went to the fields for the testing at the Sanya Maize Breeding Experimental Base of Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center.
"Now it is the heading period for the rice. The short flowering period is critical for hybridization and breeding of new varieties. Thousands of hybrid rice combinations must be made within a few days. Head cutting, detasseling, selection, pollination, bagging ... the artificial selection of hybrid rice works in exactly the same way as a surgery," says Li Jianwu, an expert in rice cultivation. "A mature rice variety has to undergo a breeding selection experiment that takes at least eight to nine months, and the planting is promoted after 10 generations of reproduction. Each breed is cultivated as if raising a child."
