Yuan Longping to plant 'super rice' in Xinjiang  

袁隆平擬用滴灌技術在新疆試種“超級稻”

(ECNS) -- China's "father of hybrid rice" Yuan Longping is preparing to plant hybrid rice in southern Xinjiang using a water-saving drip irrigation system, Xinhua has reported.

Yuan explained his new plan in a telephone interview on Sunday, after his team had achieved a record production for hybrid rice. Dubbed "super rice", it has an average yield of 1,026.7 kilograms per mu (one mu is 0.0667 hectare).

Drip irrigation allows water to drip slowly to the roots of plants through small holes in plastic pipes, and is commonly used where water is scarce.

"I am quite interested in the technology," Yuan said. "The yield is estimated to increase by 15 to 20 percent" if "super rice" is successfully planted in southern Xinjiang.

Yuan added that he had already selected two test fields in the area, each covering 100 mu.

Yuan's new record was reached at a farm in Xupu County of central China's Hunan Province and confirmed on Friday by a team of experts organized by the Ministry of Agriculture. It beats the record average yield of 1,004.5 kilograms per mu set earlier this month in the province's Longshan County.

Yuan, an academic from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, developed the world's first hybrid rice in 1974.