China Makes Great Breakthrough in Hybrid Wheat Research

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 29, 2001

China Makes Great Breakthrough in Hybrid Wheat Research

China recorded a breakthrough in hybrid wheat cultivation recently, such success, following China's outstanding achievements in hybrid rice and rape studies, shows that China has caught up with the rest of the world in advanced hybrid wheat research.

The great achievement was made by Northwest University of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, the university successfully developed a hybrid wheat species with per-hectare output topping 8,422 kg during trial cultivation.

The success has also made it possible for China to promote the cultivation of hybrid wheat on a large scale.

Chinese scientists have surprised the agricultural world by successfully cultivating an improved variety of hybrid rice with its per-hectare yield up to 10.5 tons. Experts describe the achievement as having great significance for China's food security in the 21st century.

Hybrid wheat is obtained by crossing two pure varieties of different origins.

The process used to produce hybrid wheat is the same as that used to produce other hybrid plants such as maize, sunflowers, sugar beet and a number of vegetables and flowers. This technique has had a major impact on the improvement of crop performance during the 20th century.

The hybridization process brings about a biological phenomenon known as "heterosis" (hybrid vigour) which means in comparison with the two individual parent plants, the hybrid gives significantly better performance.

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