GM Cotton

GM Papaya Fruit

GM Petunia Flowers

GM Poplar Trees

GM Sweet Peppers

GM Tomatoes

GM Corn (not commercialized)

GM Rice (not commercialized)

Overview of Hybrid Rice & GM Crop Development in China

1011: Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty orders 30,000 bushels of quick-maturing drought-resistant rice (aka zhancheng, champa) seed from Fujian Province to be planted in the lower Yangtze basin. This rice variety, originally from southern Vietnam (Cham Kingdom, Mekong Delta River region), helped spur China’s population growth and its north to south population shift.

1930: Yuan Longping, “The Father of Hybrid Rice”, is born in Beijing.

1964: China begins researching rice male sterility.

1970: A member of Yuan Longping’s research team identifies a wild rice plant growing in Hainan Island with abortive pollen. The rice plant, known as wild abortive (WA) male sterile rice, would prove critical in the creation of one of the parental lines of the three-line hybrid rice system.

Why was this discovery of the WA male sterile rice so important?

Unlike corn which can cross-pollinate, rice self-pollinates (i.e. inbred and genetically fixed), with its florets containing both male and female organs. The biological quality of rice does not change from one generation to the next since heterosis or hybrid vigor (combining superior traits from separate male and female parents) does not occur. In order to combine superior biological traits on a consistent basis, a male sterile line is needed in order to prevent the rice from self-pollinating.

1972: China develops maintainer lines to act as a pollinator within the three-line system. Maintainer lines ensure male sterility from the WA plant is passed on.

1973: Researchers across China develop restorer lines, which restores fertility and produces hybrid rice seed that can be planted. As a result of the efforts of Yuan Longping and other researchers, China develops the world’s first commercially viable hybrid rice plant (15-20% yield increase).

1975: Chinese research scientists descend on Hainan Island to cultivate hybrid rice seed on approximately 4,000 hectares of land at cost of CNY 8 million.

1976: China’s Ministry of Agriculture approves the large-scale commercial production of three-line hybrid rice.

1981: Shanyou 63 (GM rice) was first developed by Fujian Provincial Institute of Agricultural Science.

1987: Yuan Longping lays out plan to develop a two-line system hybrid rice using environment-conditioned genic male sterility (EGMS). With EGMS, male sterility of the rice plant that is controlled by photoperiodism (i.e. the amount of day light or night that a plant is exposed to) and/or temperature, eliminating the need for a maintainer line.

1989: Approximately 100,000 ha of poplar hybrid plantations in China suffer from significant defoliation due to the poplar lopper (Apochemia cinerarius) and gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar). At the same time, China creates its first GM poplar by introducing the Bt insect resistance gene into Populus nigra.