Abstract:

In order to meet food requirement for all Chinese people in the 21st century, a super rice breeding program was set up by Chinese Ministry ofAgriculture in 1996, in which the yield targets are: Phase I (1996-2000) 10.5 t/hm ², Phase II (2001-2005) 12 t/hm ², Phase III (2006-2015) 13.5 t/hm ², Phase Ⅳ (2016-2020) 15 t/hm ². With morphological improvement plus the use of inter-subspecific (indica/japonica) heterosis, several pioneer super hybrids were developed by 2000, which met the phaseⅠyield standard and were released for commercial production since 2001. In recent years the area under these pioneer super hybrids is around 1 million hm ² and the average yield is about 8.3 t/hm ². The breeding of phaseⅡ, super hybrids succeeded in 2004, one year ahead of schedule, and super hybrids were popularized since 2006. The planting area of these hybrids was near 1 million hm ² in 2014 and the average yield was around 9 t/hm ². The super hybrid variety, Y-U-2, yielded 13.9 t/hm ² on average at a 7.2 hm ² demonstrative location in 2011. It means the goal of phase Ⅲ super rice breeding program is attained. The breeding of PhaseⅣ super hybrid was achieved in 2014. A new super hybrid Y-U-900 yielded 15.4 t/hm ² at a 6.8 hm ² demonstrative location in Xupu County, Hunan Province. Based on the above progress, the phase Ⅴ of super hybrid rice breeding program has been proposed, its yield target suggested is 16 t/hm ².

Key words: Super Hybrid Rice, Breeding, Progress