Chapter 114 Yuan Longping, the Father of Hybrid Rice

[As usual, before talking about Grandpa Yuan’s experience, let’s first take everyone back to his past resume.

Academician Yuan Longping is a famous agricultural scientist renowned both at home and abroad.

The pioneer and leader of China's hybrid rice industry.

Recipient of the "Medal of the Republic".

Former Vice Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Former director of the National Hybrid Rice Engineering Technology Research Center.

He is known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice".

In addition, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1995.

……

An asteroid discovered by the Schmidt CCD Asteroid Project Team of the Beijing Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1999 was named Yuan Longping Star.

In 2000, he won the National Highest Science and Technology Award.

In 2004, he won the Wolf Prize in Agriculture.

In April 2006, he was elected as a foreign academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

2007 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Chinese Who Influence the World Awards.

2008 The World is Beautiful Because of You - Chinese Who Influence the World Award.

2009 people who moved China since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 100.

In 2010, he received an honorary doctorate from the Macau University of Science and Technology.

In 2013, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the th China Poverty Alleviation Award.

The 2015th World Outstanding Chinese Award in .

In 2018, he was elected as the first fellow of the China Invention Association.

On September 2018, 9, he won the "Future Science Award" Life Science Award.

On December 2018, 12, the state awarded Yuan Longping the title of Reform Pioneer, presented him with the Reform Pioneer Medal, and recognized him as the pioneer of hybrid rice research.

On September 2019, 9, Yuan Longping was awarded the "Medal of the Republic".

On November 2020, 11, he was elected as the 28 China Economic News Person. 】

A series of resumes are followed synchronously with the sky curtain.

The series of honors is quite spectacular to see.

People from all dynasties were simply stunned.

I don't know what these awards mean though.

But it does not prevent them from knowing that Academician Yuan Longping is more powerful than people can imagine.

"Amazing."

"That's right, it's really amazing."

"I really want to see you. Even just looking at you from afar is fine."

He is so respected by later generations, has won so many honors, and has brought benefits to people all over the world. I really want to meet such a great person.

……

[On September 1930, 9, Yuan Longping was born in Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

My childhood and youth took place during the turbulent war years. War and famine were the most authentic epitome of that era.

In an interview, Yuan Longping said, "You young people have not experienced famine and do not know the importance of food. A grain of food can save a country or it can bring it down."

Yuan Longping also mentioned his original intention of studying hybrid rice. From the late 50s to the early 60s, my country experienced three years of natural disasters. At that time, there was not enough food in some places. Many people ate wild vegetables, tree bark, and leaves to fill their stomachs. Some even fell on the roadside and the edge of the field because of hunger. Academician Yuan Longping saw these scenes and remembered them in his heart. He was determined to use agricultural technology to overcome hunger. Keeping everyone away from hunger is the original intention of Academician Yuan Longping and his lifelong ideal pursuit. For such a dream that seemed out of reach at the time, he spent his whole life adhering to and practicing it. Take the initiative to go to the front line of people's livelihood and development, and realize your life value in continuing to work hard and serve the people.

From 1931 to 1936, he lived with his parents in Peking, Tianjin, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Hankou, Hubei and other places and continued to study.

From August 1949 to October 8, he studied at the Department of Agriculture of Xianghui College in Xiaba, Beibei, Chongqing.

1949.08—1953.08 Studied crops at the Department of Agronomy at Southwest Agricultural College.

From November 1950 to July 11, the colleges and departments were restructured and merged into the Department of Agronomy of the newly established Southwest Agricultural College in Chongqing, where he continued to study for three years until graduation.

In August 1953, Yuan Longping graduated from the Department of Agronomy of Southwest Agricultural College. He followed the national unified assignment and went to teach at Anjiang Agricultural School in Huaihua, Hunan Province. In the same year, he was assigned to teach at Anjiang Agricultural School in the remote and backward foothills of Xuefeng Mountain in western Hunan.

This peace lasted until 1959.

In this year, a three-year period of natural disasters arrived and many people starved to death in China.

Because of the food shortage, the same was true in school. They would add soda to the rice and steam it again to make the rice grains swell extra large.

But this doesn't actually make you feel full, it makes you hungry faster.

But there was no other way. At that time, it was really hard to get enough to eat. 】

"Yes." The people felt the same way.

That's exactly the case. Working in the fields every day, it would be difficult to support a whole family in a year.

……

In July 1960, Yuan Longping accidentally discovered a rice plant with special characteristics in the experimental field of the Agricultural School. He used this rice plant for trial planting and found that its offspring had different characteristics. Because rice is self-pollinating and there will be no separation of characteristics, Yuan Longping inferred that it was a natural hybrid rice. He then artificially removed the male flowers of the hermaphroditic rice and pollinated them with pollen from another variety in an attempt to produce a hybrid variety.

In the spring of 1961, Yuan Longping sowed the seeds of this mutant in the experimental field of his entrepreneurship, and the results proved that the "outstanding" plant discovered in 1960 was a "natural hybrid rice". Yuan Longping was a teacher at Anjiang Private School at the time, but faced with the severe famine at the time, Yuan Longping was determined to defeat the threat of hunger with agricultural science and technology and engaged in rice male sterility experiments.

On July 1964, 7, he found a "natural male sterile plant" in the experimental rice field. After artificial pollination, hundreds of first-generation male sterile plant seeds were produced.

In July 1965, Yuan Longping found six sterile plants among more than 7 rice ears, and in the following two years of sowing, a total of four plants successfully reproduced 14000 to 6 generations. His research completely overturned the traditional classical theory of "asexual hybridization" by Michurin and Lysenko, and inferred that rice also has hybrid advantages. The three-line method of breeding hybrid rice by breeding male sterile lines, male sterile maintenance lines and male sterile restoration lines can greatly increase rice yields.

From 1964 to 1965, during the two rice flowering seasons, he and his research team conducted hybrid breeding experiments in the rice fields. Later, they found six naturally male sterile plants in the rice fields. After two years of observation and experimentation, he had a richer understanding of rice male sterile materials. Based on the accumulated scientific data, he published it in the 6th issue of Volume 12 of Science Bulletin in 1966, about 17 years after graduating from university.

In July 1965, more than 7 rice ears were examined in the rice fields near Anjiang Agricultural School, including the Nantes, Zaojing 4, and Shengli Xian. Together with the sterile plants found the previous year, a total of 14000 plants were found. After two consecutive years of spring sowing and autumn tillage, a total of 6 plants reproduced 4 to 1 generations.

On February 1966, 2, the first paper "Male Sterility of Rice" was published in the 28th issue of Volume 17 of the semi-monthly "Science Bulletin" edited by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In May, Zhao Shiying, director of the Ninth Bureau of the State Science and Technology Commission, learned about Yuan Longping's article "Male Sterility of Rice" and attached great importance to it. In the name of the Ninth Bureau of the Science and Technology Commission, he sent a letter to the Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Commission and Anjiang Agricultural School to support Yuan Longping's rice male sterility research activities, pointing out that this research is of great significance and if successful, it will greatly increase rice production.

In April 1967, Yuan Longping drafted the "Anjiang Agricultural School Rice Male Sterility Breeding Plan" and submitted it to the Provincial Science and Technology Commission and the Qianyang Regional Science and Technology Commission. In June, the Qianyang Regional Agricultural School Rice Male Sterility Research Group, composed of Yuan Longping, Li Bihu and Yin Huaqi, was formally established. On April 4, 6, Yuan Longping planted more than 1968 precious sterile material seedlings in the Zhonggu Pan No. 4 field of Anjiang Agricultural School, covering an area of ​​30 square meters. On the evening of May 700, the sterile material seedlings in the Zhonggu Pan No. 7 field were all pulled out and destroyed, becoming an unsolved mystery. Yuan Longping was heartbroken. It was not until the fourth day after the incident that the remaining five seedlings were found in an abandoned well in the school, and he continued to insist on the experiment.

In the winter of 1969, Yuan Longping, Li Bihu, Yin Huaqi and others went to Yuanjiang County, Yunnan Province to accelerate the reproduction of sterile materials.

In the summer of 1970, Yuan Longping introduced wild rice from Yunnan and planned to hybridize it in Jing County, but failed because of the lack of short-light treatment. In the autumn, Yuan Longping led the research team Li Bihu and Yin Huaqi to Hainan Island's Nanjiang Farm in Ya County, Hainan, where the three-season rice experiment conditions were good, to conduct research and experiments, and to investigate the distribution of wild rice with technicians and workers at the farm.

In the spring of 1971, the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences established a hybrid rice research collaboration group, and Yuan Longping was transferred to work in the hybrid rice research collaboration group of the Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

In 1973, the collaborative team found the restoration line through test cross, overcoming the difficulty of matching the "three lines". In October, Yuan Longping published a paper titled "Progress in Breeding Three Lines Using "Wild Defeat"" at a rice research conference held in Suzhou, officially announcing that China's "three lines" of indica hybrid rice had been matched.

In 1975, Yuan Longping overcame the "seed production barrier" and successfully explored and summarized seed production technology.

In 1977, Yuan Longping published two important papers: "The Practice and Theory of Hybrid Rice Breeding" and "Key Technologies for Hybrid Rice Seed Production and High Yield".

In September 2017, at the 9 National Rice New Varieties and New Technologies Exhibition, Yuan Longping announced a new achievement in removing heavy metal cadmium from rice: "Recently, we have a breakthrough technology in rice breeding that can 'knock out' the cadmium-containing or cadmium-absorbing genes in the parents. Once the parents are clean, the seeds will naturally be clean."

The super hybrid rice variety "Xiang Liangyou 900 (Super You Qianhao)" cultivated by "Father of Hybrid Rice" Yuan Longping and his team has set a new record for per-acre yield. According to the yield measurement by third-party experts, the per-acre yield of this variety of rice in the experimental field is 1149.02 kilograms. 】

The word "envy" has been on people's minds in every dynasty.

[Here let me introduce to you what hybrid rice is.

Hybrid rice refers to the first generation of hybrid rice produced by hybridizing two rice varieties that have certain genetic differences and at the same time complement each other's excellent traits.

Generally, hybrid rice refers to the first generation of hybrid rice formed by the hybridization of two sterile lines and restorer lines with the same genetic background. The hybrid rice promoted on a large scale mainly uses the rice male sterile line as a genetic tool.

Hybrid rice has high individual heterozygosity, and the hybrid offspring have separated traits, so seeds need to be produced every year. The counterpart of hybrid rice is conventional rice.

tomorrow.

The person recording the event was wearing a mask of pain, and looked dazed.

But never mind, just write it down first.

Zhu Di also had a headache. It turned out that this matter was more suitable for people from his Ming Dynasty to do.

He has finally ascended the throne, so he should just be an emperor peacefully.

I don’t understand, I really don’t understand.

……

[Let me tell you something interesting about Yuan Longping. What exactly happened?
It turned out that in 1952, the government organized students to sign up for military service.

At that time, Yuan Longping, with his patriotic enthusiasm, signed up to join the Air Force.

And then, I was accepted!
Even so, Grandpa Yuan thought he would become a soldier.

But before long, the situation at the front improved.

As a result, all college students who joined the army were sent back, and Grandpa Yuan was no exception.

Looking at this picture, Grandpa Yuan had a strong physique when he was young, so it didn't seem unusual for him to be admitted.

But perhaps it is because his agricultural talent is too dazzling, and there are still 800 million people waiting for him to save them.

So, he was dismissed, and God told him to study agriculture.

But when he was young, Grandpa Yuan thought, I can’t be a soldier, so I’ll go swimming.

So, in the same year, Grandpa Yuan participated in the Southwest District Swimming Trials.

How valuable is this competition? As long as you are in the top three of this competition, you will have the hope of entering the national team.

Unfortunately, with his swimming level, he is more than qualified to join the national team.

However, no one expected that Grandpa Yuan, who was in school, would accidentally get a stomachache because of his craving for Chengdu snacks, and was eventually eliminated with fourth place.

This year, since he failed to become an airman or an athlete, he could only start to work diligently in agricultural research.

Finally, after graduation, I successfully became a glorious people's teacher! 】

People of all dynasties thought that Yuan Longping must be a very rigorous, serious and unsmiling person because he had been studying "hybrid rice" for more than ten years.

The result is totally irrelevant.

[Grandpa Yuan’s story ends here. In fact, there is still a lot to say later, such as the sea rice he developed, which made farming in saline-alkali land a viable business.

For example, we have successfully grown rice in the Dubai desert, with a yield of 500 kilograms per mu.

In fact, in New China, in addition to these people, there are several other very outstanding agronomists.

For example, Ding Ying, the founder of Chinese rice science.

The founder of Chinese cotton science - Feng Zefang.

The founder of Chinese soil science and plant nutritional chemistry - Li Qingkui.

The founder of Chinese agricultural entomology - Yang Weiyi.

Li Lianjie, the founder of China's soil science discipline.

Chen Fengtong, the pioneer of Chinese agricultural science and technology
The founder of Chinese wheat science - Jin Shanbao.

The pioneer of Chinese forestry——Zheng Wanjun
Jin Liping, chief scientist of the Hua Xia Agricultural Potato Industry Technology System.

Sun Benzhong, the founder of Chinese silkworm breeding
Zhang Wencai, the founder of Chinese citrus science
Melon goddess - Wu Mingzhu.

They have all left their footprints on this agricultural road that enriches the country and strengthens the people.

"Resolving the difficulties of people's livelihood and cultivating talents in the world" is the path of New China and also the path of agricultural people.

A mixture of black and white photos and color photos appeared on the sky screen, with old faces intersecting with young faces, which inexplicably made people think of inheritance.

No one expected that there would be so many agronomists in later generations, both men and women.

Suddenly I understood why Tianmu chose to explain the three major staple foods to an agronomist.

The truth is, there are only a few excellent people.

Feng Xi alone can't finish the story.

[This live broadcast ends here, see you next time]

(End of this chapter)