Lao He is one of the founders of the Rongcheng Botanical Garden. However, he is too old, nearly eighty years old, and is also a patient of Jiang Zhongzheng. He was tricked into joining the garden, so he is no stranger to rice.
The topic of hybrid rice has been publicly researched decades ago. The method is not difficult, but the process is difficult.
At this time, he explained: "Male sterile lines, maintainer lines and restorer lines are the three basis of hybrid rice. Rice is a hermaphrodite plant and reproduces by self-pollination. There is a very small probability that congenital hybrid rice will appear in rice.
, this is because the male pollen on the same rice plant is aborted, but the female flowers develop normally and self-pollination is not strong enough. At this time, if male pollen from other rice beads floats over to pollinate the aborted male flower,
Hence the emergence of hybridization. This natural hybrid rice plant grows taller, stronger, has more ears, and has full grains. From a distance, it looks like it stands out from the crowd. It was because Mr. Yuan discovered a natural hybrid rice plant that he became the first rice plant to grow.
The idea of studying hybrid rice arose, but it took nearly four years to confirm this. Then six more plants were found and two years of experiments were conducted. Only then was the term "male sterile line" proposed for the first time.
Concept! In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, many people in our country were hungry, and many people were so hungry that they ate dirt, which was called "Guanyin soil". Eating made them full, but they also ate dirt alive and killed people. Mr. Yuan was incompetent.
Partisans, they first studied rice because they saw people starving to death!"
Zhang Heng nodded. He naturally knew about eating Guanyin soil. There was also a rumor in the village that his grandfather ate bugs, grasshoppers, bamboo shoot worms, and even cockroaches in some families when he was young. The emergence of hybrid rice is absolutely
It is historic because the food crisis has been solved.
Lao He calmed down and continued, "The so-called male sterility refers to the congenital abortion of male flowers, which cannot pollinate the female flowers of the same plant. But at this time, we have to work hard to find this kind of seedlings before they bloom.
, otherwise once natural pollination is completed, the law of male sterility will be destroyed. Mr. Yuan used the six sterile rice plants he found at that time to conduct artificial pollination and obtained hundreds of precious hybrid rice seeds, but the problem arose again.
The second generation cultivated from these seeds has only a 30% probability of producing sterile seedlings. This means that only 30% of hybrid rice will appear in a field, and the remaining 70% will return to the original state.
The same plant pollinated itself, but the yield was not as good as the previous ordinary rice.
The old man and his apprentice conducted more than 3,000 hybrid breeding experiments with more than 1,000 rice varieties in two seasons every year, but they still did not develop a sterile line with 100% sterile plant rate and sterility degree.
Among the three lines required for hybrid rice, the male sterile line is the most important. It is called the "father line". Without the father line, there is no way to cultivate successful hybrid seeds, and it must be at least 90% sterile.
Only heritability can be considered a success. Only when it is popularized can it benefit all people.
Four years later, the time came to 1970. By this time, the old man had spent a full ten years on rice. During this period, he had experienced heavy losses, such as the laboratory being smashed and damaged, earthquakes and other difficulties, but hybrid rice had not yet succeeded.
This caused a lot of doubts, but at this time, the beloved Premier Zhou stood up and expressed his support for the research on hybrid rice, which finally made the old man persevere. He continued to experiment, reflect, and innovate, and finally woke up and had to think outside the box.
, looking for original wild varieties. Finally, in November of this year, a male-flowered abortion strain was discovered in the common wild rice community in Hainan Island, and they were tested with varieties such as Square Aby, Jingyin 66, etc., and found that it is suitable for
The ability to maintain wild-absorbed sterile lines opens up a breakthrough for the cultivation of rice sterile lines and subsequent "three-line" matching, and brings new opportunities to hybrid rice research.
This precious wild original rice plant was named "Baiye". It is precisely because of this unique rice seedling that hybrid rice can be tested. Theoretically, this is the same as the one that hit Newton.
Apples are almost the same and are a treasure to everyone in the world.
Baiye became the "ancestor of male sterility", and used Baiye to test the "maintainer line", that is, he experimented with a rice variety and pollinated Baiye, and the seeds he cultivated could inherit Baiye's characteristics.
It's like having an inexhaustible supply of male-fertilized lines.
Baiye itself represents "hybrid rice". At this time, it can be said that hybrid rice has been successful. These seeds have the characteristics of male sterility, and the yield of rice produced is quite shocking. The increased yield can solve the food crisis.
But another problem arises. Although a large amount of wild seeds have been obtained, the male sterile line requires artificial pollination. If this is promoted and let ordinary people pollinate each seedling, the waste of manpower and material resources will be more than the gain.
Three years later, a "restorer line variety" specifically tailored for the sterile line appeared. This restorer line rice was crossed with the sterile line, and the resulting seeds returned to the self-pollination characteristics of the same plant.
It resurrects the vitality of male pollen while maintaining the advantage of wild hybridization.
This is the first generation of hybrid rice seeds currently used. First, the male sterile strain is needed as the "father seed", and then a large number of father seeds are obtained through the "maintainer line". Then the restorer line is used as the "mother seed", and the father seed is self-pollinated.
After the ability is restored, the three lines are connected, and an epoch-making first generation of hybrid rice is obtained. Although the genetic characteristics of the second generation are messed up again, it has become simple to obtain the first generation of rice seeds. About three kilograms of the first generation of rice seeds can satisfy the needs of five people.
The rice seedlings needed for the home of the mouth.
It finally succeeded, but it took another two years to solve minor problems such as superiority. By 1975, in the winter of that year, tens of thousands of seed production troops gathered in Hainan and launched a large-scale southern breeding strategy using human sea tactics.
The area for hybrid rice seed production reaches 33,000 acres.
In 1976, hybrid rice was green all over China. 2.08 million acres of hybrid rice were promoted across the country. After the rice harvest, the yield increased significantly, and China's grain output achieved a great leap. The old man's more than ten years of hard work finally paid off."
Lao He's explanation was quite detailed and easy to understand. Zhang Heng finally understood what hybrid rice meant and said: "Lao He, you mean to use this tiger tooth rice as the parent species for hybridization. Control it.
The parent seed is equivalent to monopolizing the source, and the seeds will always be in our hands from now on. But I think it is not safe. After the tiger tooth hybrid varieties are widely promoted, there will always be a certain probability of male flowers being congenitally sterile. As long as one occurs
If the strains are obtained by knowledgeable people, and through research, the corresponding maintainer lines and restorer lines are found, isn't that equivalent to copying the tiger tooth hybrid seeds?"
"Wang, I really admire your thinking. It's true, and it doesn't have to be so troublesome." He paused and said, "The three-line hybrid I just mentioned is the most primitive. Now Master Yuan has conquered it.
Two-line hybrid, two-line hybrid rice is cultivated using photothermal sterile rice as the basic material. Photothermal sterile rice is very magical. Its fertility increases with changes in light and temperature.
The goal of dual-use. Specifically: this kind of rice will be male sterile in summer, under long sunshine and high temperature. At this time, all normal varieties can breed with it and produce hybrid seeds. This seed is the result of two-line hybrid rice.
Seeds. In autumn, under short days and low temperatures, it turns into normal rice. It reproduces itself, that is, inoculates itself. Because this kind of hybrid rice only has a sterile line (female parent) and a restorer line (male parent),
There is no need to maintain the line (intermediate), so it is called two-line hybrid rice. The biggest advantage of two-line rice is that there is free love between the male and female parents. Until you choose the one you like most, and the three
The two-line rice must go through the (maintaining line), that is, the matchmaker, and the parents make the decision before they can be combined. It does not matter whether the two parties have good varieties and whether they are a good match. Therefore, the marriage quality of a two-line rice in a free love marriage is better than that of a three-line rice in an arranged marriage.
.Better quality and higher yield. The two-series is much stronger than the three-series. It has been promoted in certain areas and has also provided a food security foundation for our country with continued population growth!
The development direction of hybrid rice is from three lines to two lines and finally to one line. At present, the highest rice yield is maintained in my country, which can reach 1,000 kilograms per mu. If it exceeds 800 kilograms, it is considered a super rice. Ordinary three-line hybrid rice can produce 1,000 kilograms per mu. The harvest per mu is about 500 kilograms, but it is also related to the regional environment, planting, management, etc. For example, the rural planting technology in Shu is backward, and the harvest per mu is only 300 to 400 kilograms.
Wang, Laowan wants to use his remaining lifespan to study rice. He hopes to use the life time extended by the divine soil to break through one-line hybridization. If one-line hybridization occurs, then all the rice harvested in the future will be seeds, and hybrid rice will return.
The origin maintains the dominant genes of all hybrid rice and evolves into asexual embryo reproduction. There is no distinction between male and female. Every grain of rice is the same copy. All the advantages of constant hybrid rice can be reused from generation to generation. This is once and for all.
way!"
What Lao He said made Zhang Heng frown, ponder for a moment, and then asked: "What is the current yield per acre of hybrid rice grown by the Jiang tribe?"
Lao He explained: "There are only about 500 kilograms per acre. This is because of the lack of chemical fertilizers, some insect pests, and the lack of insecticide pesticides. If these two points are solved, coupled with more systematic management,
It should be able to reach more than 800 kilograms, which is equivalent to using three lines of seeds to grow two lines of super rice. The environment of the divine soil is much better than that of the earth."
Of course, this yield is based on the weight of the millet, which will be reduced after shelling. However, although the shells of millet cannot be eaten, they can be used to raise livestock, so this point is automatically ignored.
"The technology of two-line hybridization is no problem for you. What's missing is just a specific lighting environment, right?" Zhang Heng asked again.
After Lao He nodded firmly, Zhang Heng thought in his mind that two-line hybrid is also super rice. However, due to the requirements of the light environment, it is impossible to promote it everywhere even on the earth. There are limitations after all, and three-line hybrid is
Mature products have been grown across the country for many years. As for the different hybrid varieties, the environment is different, and the quality of the rice is also different. This is not the point, it is just a side detail!
The point is, tiger tooth rice is just a seed now, with a total of about 500 grains. Is it too early to talk about these technical aspects? Besides, he has no intuitive understanding of tiger tooth rice. He has neither grown it nor eaten it. This is not empty talk.
?
"Mr. He, don't worry. Let's wait until the tiger tooth rice is planted. Even if you want to breed hybrid varieties, you have to find congenital tiger tooth male sterile seedlings first. There is a lot of luck involved. There will be almost no chance next year.
It is very likely to succeed, and I want to see the original yield and rice quality of tiger tooth rice." Zhang Heng said, although one grain of rice can grow several branches, there are only 500 seeds in total.
The probability of infertility is very small.
He Changqing also knew that he was too impatient, which was also because he was too excited, so he echoed: "Wang, you are right, I will go to the Jiang tribe to prepare the experimental field, and I will ask you to arrange manpower after spring."
Build more farmland."
"Now?" Zhang Heng pointed to the heavy snow outside. What kind of farmland is there in this ice and snow?
"Yes, I can't wait any longer!" Lao He insisted.
In the end, Zhang Heng couldn't resist the old man's enthusiasm, so he arranged for the Bizan chariot to take the old man back to the Jiang tribe. As for the seeds, he also took them away. The swamp is still there. Even if these seeds fail, he can still get them next year.
New tiger tooth seeds, and he plans to send people to check in the beginning of spring and find wild tiger tooth seedlings.
Rice seedlings, also known as "Yangzi" in Shu, smiled, Zhang Heng planned to spread this name to the original space, so that it would sound more friendly, Yangzi, Yangzi... I hope Huya Rice will not disappoint him.
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ps: This chapter quotes a lot of information. It took me a long time to find out, and there are already hundreds of free words! This is not intentional, but for the needs of the plot!