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Text: Jiang Yuxuan
Editor|Jiang Yuxuan
Preface
There is a vast area of land in China known as the "saline land", which was once rich and fertile due to natural disasters and human activities.
And as the world's population grows and the demand for food increases, these barren lands seem to see a glimmer of hope
Seawater rice
A miracle crop that grows on saline soil, with its distinctive red rice grains and two-meter-tall plants, it has become a "giant" in the rice family. Not only is it rich in nutritional value, such as fat, sodium, calcium, selenium and other elements, but it also offers new possibilities for solving global hunger and improving soil quality.
Despite its many advantages, its astringent and hard taste makes it far less popular in the market than ordinary rice, and the discovery of seawater rice began in 1986, when Chen Risheng accidentally discovered this special variety by the sea in Zhanjiang City.
In 2014, we joined the research on seawater rice, and developed an amazing result of a trial yield of 621 kilograms of seawater rice. However, despite the promising yields, the taste of seawater rice has become a major obstacle to its popularization. The cooked rice has an obscure and hard taste, making it difficult for many people to get used to.
Seawater rice is still strongly supported. This is because of its ability to grow on saline soil, which is strategically important for the continent. The continent has a large amount of saline land, which is difficult for ordinary crops to survive.
Seawater rice can thrive in such an environment, showing its strong vitality. If these saline-alkali lands can be fully utilized to grow seawater rice, it will greatly increase the grain production of the mainland and alleviate the food shortage.
Seawater rice is also very nutritious. It is rich in fat, sodium, calcium, selenium and other elements, and has more nutritional value than ordinary rice. These nutrients play an important role in promoting human health, such as antioxidant and protein building. However, due to taste problems, seawater rice is not widely recognized in the market.
In China, research on seawater rice has been carried out for decades. From the initial exploration in the 90s of the 20th century to the cultivation of the first batch of seawater rice seeds in Qingdao in 2014, scientists have made great efforts.
In the breeding process of seawater rice, the methods of saline-alkali tolerant rice resources, hybrid breeding and genetic engineering technology are mainly used. The application of these technologies makes seawater rice resistant to salinity and alkali and able to survive in harsh soils.
In the face of the increasingly severe global food security situation, land can be reused for continuous farming, which is of great significance for improving land utilization and promoting agricultural modernization.
Seawater rice is a crop with great potential. It can not only grow on saline land and increase food production, but also provide rich nutrition for humans. It has made important contributions to solving global food security and ecological and environmental problems.
The emergence of seawater rice
Seawater rice gets its name because it was first found in the saline areas along the coast, rather than in actual seawater. This rice is extremely tolerant to salinity and can be grown in an environment where ordinary crops are difficult to survive, which is undoubtedly a boon for those abandoned saline lands.
Not only can it take root in such a land, but it can also gradually improve the fertility of the land through its own growth, making it arable land, and by chance, this unique rice was discovered by the sea in Zhanjiang, and since then it has been studied and cultivated for decades.
Through unremitting efforts, it has become another important achievement in the field of rice research. The process of cultivating seawater rice is fraught with challenges, such as collecting seeds, setting up nurseries, and watering with fresh water.
These characteristics make seawater rice stand out among many rice varieties and become a new crop with potential, and the value of seawater rice is not only reflected in agricultural production, but also its nutritional value is also very rich.
It is rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants such as polyphenols and anthocyanins, which can effectively inhibit cytokines and prevent the formation of tumors. In addition, seawater rice also helps to control blood pressure and blood lipids, thereby preventing the occurrence of chronic diseases.
The promotion of seawater rice has not been without its challenges. Consumers' doubts about this new food, especially its color and taste, pose a challenge to the market acceptance of seawater rice.
In addition to its benefits to human health, seawater rice also plays a significant role in improving the environment. It makes it possible to use saline land, reduce the consumption of water resources, and at the same time increase farmers' income. This is a boon for those facing water stress and land degradation.
Since its discovery, the promotion and development of seawater rice in China has achieved remarkable results. Seawater rice was highly praised as another major breakthrough after hybrid rice.
The planting area of seawater rice has exceeded 1 million mu, and it is planned to achieve the goal of transforming and renovating 100 million mu of saline-alkali land in the next 8 to 10 years, turning "barren beach into fertile land", and the emergence of seawater rice not only provides us with more food sources, but also provides new ideas for the rational use of land resources and environmental protection.
As the global demand for food continues to grow, ensuring food security has become an urgent task. In China, in the face of huge food supply pressure, it is particularly important to develop saline-alkali land to grow rice. In this area, China has made remarkable achievements, especially in the research and development of new seawater rice varieties, showing a leading position in the field of rice cultivation.
Seawater rice, compared with ordinary rice, has remarkable characteristics and potential. It is able to thrive on saline land and does not require large amounts of water and does not require fresh water irrigation.
The high yield and salinity tolerance of this rice make it an ideal crop choice. In addition to this, seawater rice is also quite rich in nutritional value, it contains a higher protein and mineral content than ordinary rice, which is of great significance for improving the nutritional value of food.
In the saline-alkali land problem in China, the application prospect of seawater rice is broad. China has a large amount of saline-alkali land that could not otherwise be used for the cultivation of traditional crops, and by promoting seawater rice, this land can not only be converted into arable land, but also increase food production.
Seawater rice has a relatively poor taste and needs to be further processed to improve this problem to meet consumer demand. Finally, seawater rice can also help reduce soil salinity and improve the ecological environment, which is one of its potential application values.
Food shortages are a global problem. Food security is particularly acute in many poor countries and regions. As a crop that can be grown on saline-alkali land, seawater rice is of great value for solving food security problems around the world. By promoting seawater rice cultivation, countries facing food shortages can be helped to increase food production and ease the pressure on food supply.
Seawater rice plays an important role in ensuring food security, achieving sustainable agricultural production, and promoting socio-economic development. Scientific and technological progress and policy support are essential to address food security.
epilogue
As a crop with great potential, seawater rice not only provides a new way to solve the problem of food shortage, but also has a positive impact on ecological and environmental protection. However, in the pursuit of scientific and technological progress and food security, we should not ignore the differences in the needs of different regions for food problems.