The Chinese Academy of Sciences has announced a new trial of a rice variant capable of tolerating saltwater irrigation called Yanhuangxiangjing that produced 505.1 kilograms of rice per 600 square meters.
The Academy’s Institute of Genetics and Biological Development is responsible for this rice field planted in Dongying, in Shandong province, in the east of the country, according to the Chinese portal ‘Global Times’.
A spokesman for the organization, Wang Jianlin, pointed out that China has a large expanse of saline land with agricultural potential, which would allow a significant increase in rice production, the basis of food throughout Asia.
The Yanhuangxiangjing variant is salt-tolerant, can be grown between July and September, resists disease, is water-efficient and produces quality rice.
The record for rice yield per mu (600 square meters) is held by a variant that was harvested on October 13 and achieved 691.8 kilograms per mu of land.
