New cultivation technology boosts rice harvest in Wuchang

Trial plantings of Daohuaxiang Rice by application of Ultrasonic breeding technology in Wuchang, Heilongjiang province have shown promising results.

A total of 40-mu (2.67 hectares) trial Daohuaxiang Rice in Yingchengzi Town of Wuchang was harvested on Oct 2.

The trial rice has yielded an average of 575.17 kilograms per mu, gaining another 77.58 kilograms of rice when compared to the cultivation in conventional methods. The growth rate of the rice yield reached 15.59 percent.

“Although this year’s accumulated temperature was not enough for rice planting, the yield of my paddy fields that plant trial rice still hit a new record.” said Zhu Yanhui, a farmer in Wuchang participated in trial Daochuangxiang Rice planting project.

Daohuaxiang 2, the trial rice variety, has bigger rice ears and much stronger roots than the rice variety that was not cultivated by using of Ultrasonic, said Xu Rongquan, working as an agricultural technician in Guangzhou-based Golden Rice Agricultural Technology Co.

A programme aiming to improve rice yield by Ultrasonic breeding technology was jointly established by Golden Rice Agricultural Technology Co and South China Agricultural University in 2013. The two institutes have conducted experiments nationwide, with the average rice yield-increasing rate of 13.16 percent.

In 2017, Ultrasonic breeding technology was applied in Wuchang, Suihua, Jiansanjiang and Boaqunling in Heilongjiang province. The average rice yield-increasing rate ranges from 10 percent to 20 percent.

Heilongjiang province has a rice planting area of 60 million mu, the province could produce an extra 45 billion tons to 60 billion tons of rice if it applies Ultrasonic breeding technology, Wang Runlong, manager of Heilongjiang Feichang Agricultural Development Co said in an interview with Harbin Daily.