Council for Partnership on Rice Research in Asia (CORRA) Member-Country Biennial Report

Country:

CHINA

1. (a) Brief summary of country and rice situation

Year 2007 Country population (m) Population growth rate (%) Rural population (%) Number of rice farmers Total crop area (000 ha) Total rice area (000 ha) Average rice yield (t/ha) Rice Production (mt) Rice Imports (000 t) Rice Exports (000 t) Number of government researchers working on rice Number of government extension workers *2006 1328 0.508 54.3 N.A. 121800* 28919 6.433 186.03 490 1340 N.A. N.A.

(b) Rice ecosystem information

Rice ecosystem Irrigated Rainfed Flood prone Upland % of area 93 5 0 2 Area (000 ha) 26,375 1,418 0 567

2. Problem, needs, and research & development priorities ( i.e., primary problems to be overcome or issues to address in relation to rice production and profitability and farmer incomes )
Farm level 1. Rice varieties with high yield, good quality, multi-resistance 2. Low-cost and labor-saving rice cultivation technology 3. Management of nature resource and use chemicals efficiently

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4. Information of rice marketing and technology 5. Small cultivation scale with low efficiency National level 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. High productivity of rice to ensure nations food security Increase rice farmers income Water shortage and environment protection Balanced policy to protect rice farmers interesting Technology transfer to narrow the gap between actual and potential yield

3. Research/ impact highlights (include policy initiatives ) Rice Breeding In 2008, with efforts of rice breeders in China, more than 350 rice varieties were released at provincial level and 45 varieties released at national level. Among the 45 new national varieties, there were 15 inbred japonicas, 11 three-line indica, 10 japonica hybrid, 8 two-line indica hybrid, and 1 indica inbred. Encouraged by favorable policy, more and more seed company were invested in rice breeding, in 2008 there were 29 national varieties released by public institutes, 9 national varieties released by seed companies, 6 national varieties released by cooperation of public research institutes and seed companies. It indicated that the private section will invest more in rice breeding in future.

Henan Shanghai Shangxi Jiangsu Anhui Sichuan Yunnan Heilongjian Hubei Chongqin Zhejiang Guanxi Jilin Guandong Jiangxi Fujiang Hunan National

8 8 8

15 16 16 16

19 19 21 22

28 28

33 34

38 45

55

Chart 1. Rice Varieties released at national and provincial level

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Super Rice Breeding

To meet the future demand for rice production, a national program on super rice breeding was initiated in China in 1996. The program mainly focuses on the breeding of super hybrid rice. The strategy of super rice breeding is to integrate utilization of heterosis and construction of ideal plant type. To increase the genetic diversity of parents, researchers in China applies parents with intermediate subspecies differentiation in increasing F1 yield, selects DNA marker for subspecies differentiation, and develops of medium type restore lines in subspecies differentiation . It is very important to utilize germplasm and gene by gene introgression of indica and japonica, pyramid and use yield QTLs in cultivated rice, explore and use genes related with high yielding, resistance to pests, plant and root architectures in super hybrid breeding program. Up to 2009, there are 69 varieties identified by the Ministry of Agriculture as Super Rice, planted in 5.56 million ha with average yield reached 8.75 ton /ha, among them 45 varieties are hybrid. Two line hybrid rice breeding In recent years more and more two-line hybrid rice are released, in 2007 there was 10 and 57 two-line hybrid combinations released at national and provincial level respectively. In 2007, the planting area of two-line hybrid rice reached 3.1 million ha, about 11% of total rice cultivation area and 18% of hybrid rice planting area. The cultivation area of two-line hybrid rice will expend with the progress of research on seed production.

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2000

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2007

Provincial two-line

National two-line

Grain Quality Improvement

Grain quality of hybrid is poorer than inbred rice though hybrid has yield advantage. With development of economy, people demand better grain quality for hybrid rice. Rice breeders pay more attention to grain quality improvement of hybrid rice in recently years. The general grain quality of hybrid rice especially in terms of head rice rate, chalkiness and the amylase content

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has been dramatically improved. The percentage of meeting fine quality standards of head rice recovery and amylase content are higher in hybrid rice combinations than inbred rice varieties, but those of chalky rice rate and chalkiness are higher in hybrid rice combinations than in inbred rice varieties. According to research of Min Jie, japonica hybrid rice had almost the same average values in all ten indexes of grain quality except for chalky grain percentage (CGP), which was 7% higher than inbred rice. More attention should to be paid to grain quality improvement in the future breeding program, with emphasis on improving the quality traits of chalky rice rate and chalkiness. During year 2007 and 2008, some genes and QTLs are discovered by Chinese researchers such as gene control rice fragrance.

Research on Functional Genomics

Gene mapping, gene transformation are priority research areas of rice biotechnology in China. Several functional genes controlling important agronomic traits had been cloned by Chinese scientists. Those genes will be very helpful to battle with bio-stress and abio-stress in rice cultivation, quality improvement, as well as increase of yield. Gene related to rice yield Ghd7, GIF1, GW5, and Gene controlling plant architecture were cloned and studied by Chinese researchers. Some important QTLs such as yield QTLs qTGWT1-1, quality QTLs Badh2,qLYS6-1, qLYS6-2, genes control rice development such as S5, Sa, S-d, RID1, Nal1, Phr1,Nal1, Sdd(t) also explored by Chinese rice scientist in past two years.

Development of cost-saving and environment friendly cultivation technologies

Development cost-saving and environment friendly cultivation technologies are main challenge for agronomists to count with increased labor cost and heavy pollution caused by application of chemical in rice cultivation. Technologies such as rice-duck cultivation technology, water-saving cultivation technology, and direct-seedling are applied in rice production and welcomed by rice farmer. In recent years, rice pests and diseases damaged rice seriously, for example, rice stem borer, planthoppers including brown planthopper and white backed planthoppers, rice leaffolder still be major pest in China recently years. Some major diseases such as rice sheath blight, rice blast, and rice false smut also are caused yield damage in China. To control pest and disease, Chinese scientist carried some researches on integrated pest management, exploration of resistance genes from wild rice to new varieties with resistance to pest and disease. At the same time, variation of pests virulent gene was monitored and change of rice varieties resistance to pest also been investigated. Some progress was made on development of bio-chemical and controlling pest by natural biodiversity.

Technology and information dissemination China Rice Knowledge Bank (China-RKB) is developed to facilitate extension workers/intermediaries to disseminate new cultivation technologies/information to rice farmers. The development of China-RKB is proposed to narrow the information gap between technology development agencies and its end user. In

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2007-2008, thousands rice farmer are training in the research institute, villages and farmers field, and hundreds demonstration plot has been set up to demonstrate latest varieties and new cultivation technologies. Research capacity building and networking

In the past years, in order to improve national innovative capacity, the Chinese government initiated several programs to encourage cooperation between rice research institutes, and encourage networking of Chinese rice research society. Among those programs there are two very important programs: Chinese National Center for Rice Improvement and National Modern Technology System for Rice Industry (INMTSRI). The Ministry of Agriculture introduced a new operation mechanism to the National Modern Technology System for Rice Industry, including integration of stable investment of research funds and competitive funds; close relation between rice research and industry, and cooperation mechanism. There are three levels in the INMTSRI: Innovative Center, Functional Research Lab, and Integrated Experiment Research Station. The Innovative Center of INMTSRI is affiliated to China National Rice Research Institute and Dr. Cheng Shihua, the Director General of CNRRI is the Principle Scientist of INMTSRI. 4. Priorities for rice research collaboration with IRRI and/or other partners
Breeding programs especially on super rice breeding and grain quality improvement Exchange, evaluation and utilization of rice genetic resources. Biotechnology application especially in functional genomic, transgenic rice and molecular breeding. Development and utilization of China-RKB Co-organize international training course and conference, workshops

5. Collaborative research and delivery opportunities not yet captured ( i.e., perceived gaps in the research and delivery collaboration agenda )
More efforts and collaborative activities should be employed for development of China-IRRI Joint Rice Quality and Nutrition Research Center which was set up in 2005

6. Major management issues ( e.g., factors affecting effectiveness or implementation of IRRI collaborative program in country )
More communication/scientific visiting between scientists from both side is need for better cooperation.

(NOTE: Please add below any plans or local preparations your country has to celebrate IRRIs 50th Anniversary) Donation of Items of Chinese Rice Culture to IRRI. Co-organizing international workshop, meeting or training course

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