The legacies of the “Father of Hybrid Rice” and the seven representative achievements of Chinese rice research: A pioneering perspective towards sustainable development

Abstract

The “Father of Hybrid Rice”, Yuan Longping, created high-yield hybrid rice that can feed tens of millions of people annually. The research achievements of Yuan and his team on low cadmium-accumulating rice and sea rice, in addition to hybrid rice, as well as those of a large number of Chinese scientists engaged in rice research in other six areas, including the rice genome, purple endosperm rice, de novo domestication of tetraploid rice, perennial rice, rice blast disease, and key genes for high nitrogen use efficiency, play an important role in promoting the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 12. The purpose of this review is not to elaborate on the details of each research, but to innovatively summarize the significance and inspiration of these achievements to ensure global food security and achieve sustainable agriculture. In the future, cultivating new rice varieties through modern biotechnology, such as genome editing, will not only reduce hunger, but potentially reduce human-land conflicts, improve the environment, and mitigate climate change.

Impact of Sea Rice Planting on Enzymatic Activity and Microbial Community of Coastal Soils: Focus on Proteinase

“…Currently, sea rice as a pioneer crop has been extensively cultivated in China's coastal agricultural fields, particularly in Jiaozhou Bay. In this region, a sea rice research and breeding center covering an area of 30 acres has been established and developed by "Father of Chinese Hybrid Rice" Longping Yuan's research team [3]. The cultivation of sea rice has the potential to enhance total grain output and aid in the saline-alkali land improvement.…”

“…The inhibition ratio of bacterial extracellular proteinase (%) was the difference value between the relative residual activity and the negative control. Each data is representative of at least three repeats [2][3][4][5]. The final concentration was 1.0 mM of PMSF and OP, and 0.1 mM of Pepstatin A and E64.…”