China to Spread Use of Improved Wheat StrainsChina is developing an improved wheat strain that can produce 9,000 kg per hectare, and plans to plant the strain on a large scale in the next five years.Xiao Shihe, associate research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that in the next five years China will develop three to five improved wheat species, and increase the acreage planted to these strains to 200,000 hectares. Experts describe the wheat strain that can produce 9,000 kg per hectare as "super-wheat." The new strain will be planted in pilot regions including Shandong Province, Henan Province, Hebei Province and the Guanzhong area in Shaanxi Province as trial planting areas. According to officials with the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, China began to do research into this wheat strain five or six years ago. China has decided to reduce the acreage planted to inferior wheat strains to meet the needs of adjusting the agricultural product mix. Spreading the high-yield wheat strain serves as a major measure in this regard. New Strain of WheatA new strain of wheat with a 40-kilogram output per hectare, now under research, is expected to be put into production within the next five years.The country plans to plant 200,000 hectares of the new strain of wheat by 2005 as an experimental step, said Xiao Shihe, an expert with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. |
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