Staff members weigh threshed sea rice. [Photo/Qingdao Today]

On September 28, the first batch of salt-tolerant rice was harvested for evaluation at Qingdao Sea Rice Research and Development Center's Bainidi experimental base.

The batch saw a highest yield of 620.95 kilograms per 0.07 hectare , a number experts consider a major breakthrough in China’s research of sea rice.

Salt-tolerant rice is commonly known as sea rice. It grows easily in intertidal zones and saline-alkali soil. This year, the Bainidi base grew 312 kinds of salt-tolerant sea rice. The final evaluation showed that four kinds of the 312 kinds grown had a yield of over 400 kilograms per 0.07 hectare.

According to the calculation of Yuan Longping, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and other experts, growing sea rice will only be worthwhile for farmers when the yield per 0.07 hectare reaches 300 kilograms and above.

However, growing sea rice at test fields on small scales and the evaluation of the test yields are different to a certain extent from the results from large-scale growing, so there will be ensuing research.

It takes at least three years to complete the whole process from comparing rice varieties, carrying out small-scale and large-scale pilots successively, winning government approval and finally determining a test rice as a successful variety and promoting it, said experts.

Soil was graded as mild saline-alkali soil if it has a salinity of 0.3 percent and moderate saline-alkali soil if the salinity is 0.6 percent; sea water has a salinity of 3.3-3.5 percent, according to Wang Kexiang, chief of the technology division of Qingdao Sea Rice Research and Development Center.

During its trials of growing sea rice, the center first used sea water which has been diluted to a salinity of 0.3 percent for irrigation and later increased the salinity to 0.6 percent; as research continues, the salinity is expected to increase further.

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