In the winter, this was a slack season. Yuan Longping and his team did not stop busy.

“Each year in November, after the harvest of late rice in Hunan is completed, Academician Yuan will bring the experts and technicians of the research center to the Nanfan Experimental Field Base in Sanya, Hainan and return to the middle of May in the second year.” Ma Guohui, deputy director of the Rice Engineering Technology Research Center, said.

For the staff of the research center, this kind of working condition with the season has already become a practice, and the purpose is only one—to continue to set a new record for rice production per mu.

Last September, the weighted average yield of super rice in the 100-mu experimental plot of Leifeng Village, Yangguyi Township, Longhui County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, reached 926.6 kg, marking a major breakthrough in the third phase of super hybrid rice, with 900 kilograms of agricultural yield. At the press conference, Yuan Longping, who had surpassed 80 years, threw out his own next dream - hoping to become a "post-90s" time, capable of achieving over 1,000 kilograms of super rice.

“Assuming scientific research is like jumping high, skipping a height, and waiting for a new height, if you do not continue to jump, sooner or later will fall behind others.” Yuan Longping said.

From 700 kilograms in 2000 to 800 kilograms in 2004, and to 900 kilograms in 2011, the new height of rice yield was again and again jumped by Yuan Longping and his team. Among these, both the breakthroughs in the breeding techniques that people are familiar with and the constant innovation in the rice cultivation methods are also indispensable.

In terms of Yuan Longping’s words, the increase in the yield per unit of rice needs to be complemented by “a good seed, a good law, and a good field”.

A scene many years ago made Ma Guohui still fresh in his memory. In 2000, the first phase of the Super Rice Experimental Field was accepted in Longshan County, Hunan Province. He asked whether a local farmer would switch to super rice next year. The answer was somewhat unexpected. Because he heard that the super rice variety had a high demand for nitrogen fertilizer, farmers were worried that the cost of fertilizer would be too high to dare to change crops.

In the process of hybrid rice cultivation, high nitrogen use per unit area and low utilization rate are two major problems that restrict its development. Relevant data show that during the 40 years from 1960 to 2000, China's nitrogen fertilizer use increased by 43.8 times, which is 7 times the world average growth rate. Especially in the past 20 years, the rice area has continued to decrease, and the total nitrogen fertilizer consumption has continued to rise.

“The high nitrogen fertilizer usage has not only brought about pollution problems such as eutrophication in rivers and lakes, but also exacerbated pest and disease damage, and was not conducive to the improvement of rice quality,” said Ma Guohui.

Since 2002, the research center has been trying to cultivate high-yielding nitrogen in rice, and has improved nitrogen use efficiency from three aspects of gene tapping, application of advanced fertilization technology, and technology physics, and has achieved a breakthrough in the “high nitrogen cultivation” model. Tests have shown that the use of new technologies allows the same field to increase yields by 1% to 3% compared to conventional nitrogen fertilizers with a 30% reduction in nitrogen application.

High-yielding rice requires a tall "physical", but the "physical" tall is prone to lodging. How to achieve high yield and lodging resistance is another problem in the cultivation of super rice.

In mid-September 2004, Dr. Ai Zhiyong who had just entered the research center participated in a high-yield demonstration project, but he did not want to have all the rice in the demonstration area laid down because of a tropical storm. "I thought at the time that if this was a farmer's field, months of hard work would be wasted." Ai Zhiyong said.

Through the selection of improved varieties and application of the two techniques, the research center has initially grasped the “诀窍” that does not affect the yield of rice and can significantly reduce the lodging index. Yi Zhiyong told reporters that in 2011, these two technologies were unanimously approved by experts in the rice industry system in Hunan Province and were recommended to be demonstrated in four key regions in the province. All four points received significant nitrogen conservation. And increase production and income effects.

The difficulties in the breeding and cultivation of the two major areas have contributed to the promotion and application of super rice. In 2007, a high-yield project named “Three-Four-Four-Four-Four” was formally implemented in Hunan, using the technical achievements of super hybrid rice, using 3 mu of cultivated land, and outputting the grain of 4 mu of farmland planted using conventional techniques. According to Peng Jiming, Director of the Industry Division of the National Hybrid Rice Engineering Technology Research Center, in 2011, a total of 47 counties (cities, districts) in Hunan Province implemented the “Three Kinds of Farming” project with an area of ​​7,167,300 mu, which is more than planned. 2.66 million mu. This area has increased by 3.30 million mu compared with 2010. The area of ​​demonstration counties has reached the project plan, and the total rice production has reached 1.037 billion kg.