Hybrid rice delivers a record yield

Exacting standards applied to fields in hopes of boosting food supply

A new world record for a single crop of rice was set in North China's Hebei province this year by a hybrid strain that delivered an annual yield of 17.2 metric tons of rice per hectare of farmland.

The high-yield hybrid rice, called Xiangliangyou 900, was developed by a team led by Yuan Longping, who developed the world's first hybrid strain in the 1970s.