China's hybrid double-cropping rice yields over 1.6 tons, hitting new record

A hybrid double-cropping rice paddy field yielded over 1.6 tons per mu (about 0.067 hectares) in two growing seasons in one year, hitting a new record, according to CMG on Sunday.

China National Hybrid Rice R&D Center, aka the Hunan Rice Research Center, has released the assessment results from a test field, showing the late-season rice yields 936.1 kilogram per mu. The total yield of the paddy field this year reached 1603.9 kilogram per mu, a combination of the early-season yield of 667.8 kilogram and the late-season yield.

The yield has broken its last year record of 1,530.7 kilogram, becoming the highest-yielding hybrid rice in the world.

The hybrid double-cropping rice is developed by the late Chinese renowned agronomist Yuan Longping's team in Hunan Province. It can be planted twice and harvest twice in the paddy field in a year.

The cycles of planting double-cropping rice includes one from late May to late July and the other one starts from late July and harvests in November. Single cropping rice seedlings are transplanted in late June and harvested in late October.

Usually single cropping rice has higher production per mu, but its total annual yield is way lower than the double cropping rice.

(CGTN）