Mechanization of irrigated rice cropping regions in China

The mechanization of rice production in China has experienced a comparatively long and an undulating process. The full-scale making of mechanization of irrigated rice cropping regions was started at the mid 1960’s, later than that of upland cropping and its average level of mechanization operation also lower than the average level of the country. During this peiod, however, a series of mechines were created, which adapted to the characteristics of rice cropping regions in China, and the foundation was laid for the later paddy field machinery. For example, transplanting machine (created in 1956), boat—shaped tractors (1961), paddy field ploughing and harrowing serial (1974), and single wheel plowing machines (1979) etc.

Review and Prospects on Rice Breeding and Extension in China

A large number of new varieties, especially hybrid rice, have been developed and released in China since 1998. The yield potential and grain quality of hybrid rice have also been improved significantly both for three-line and two-line hybrid rice including indica and japonica types as well. The trends on extension of rice varieties in China since 1986 has been marked by the increasing number of new varieties, decreasing annual planting area per variety, decreasing number of varieties with a large-scale extension area, while both the renewal rate and the proportion of core varieties with cross-provincial extension have remained unchanged. This current major problems and future goals of rice breeding and extension in China were also discussed.

Effects of Straw and Biochar Returned to the Soil on Soil Physical Properties and pH Value in Cold Rice Region

[Objectives]In order to explore the feasibility of using straw and biochar returned to the soil to improve soil physical properties and pH value in cold rice regions of China.[Methods]the effects of straw directly returned to the soil and charred straw(biochar)returned to the soil on soil bulk density,porosity,temperature and pH value of cold paddy soil were studied in this paper.[Results]The results showed that compared with conventional production,straw(6 t/ha),a small amount of biochar(2 t/ha)and a large amount of biochar(40 t/ha)returned to the soil reduced paddy soil bulk density at different growth stages by 6.02%-11.86%,2.69%-6.67%and 8.58%-11.32%,respectively,increased total porosity by 7.41%-14.93%,3.19%-8.38%and 9.81%-14.27%,respectively,and increased aeration porosity by 22.28%-192.11%,17.80%-92.11%and 52.44%-157.11%,respectively.Straw and a small amount of biochar returned to the soil had no significant effect on soil temperature and pH value of paddy field,but a large amount of biochar returned to the soil could significantly increase soil temperature by 5.13%-8.79%and pH value by 3.15%-5.96%in the later stage of rice growth.[Conclusions]The straw and biochar returned to the soil could reduce soil bulk density,increase total porosity and aeration porosity,and only a large amount of biochar returned to the soil could significantly increase soil temperature and pH value.

Effect of Salt Stress on Nitrogen Assimilation of Functional Leaves and Root System of Rice in Cold Region

The aims were to investigate the effect of salt stress on key enzyme activity of nitrogen metabolism and the concentration of nitrate nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen response to salt stress.Two rice cultivars,Mudanjiang 30(sensitive cultivar)and Longdao 5(salt-tolerant cultivar),were treated with different salt concentrations(CK 0%,S10.075%,S20.15%,S30.225%and S40.3%).The results showed that the activities of nitrate reductase(NR),glutamine synthase(GS),glutamate synthase(GOGAT)and glutamate dehydrogenase(GDH)in the functional leaves and roots of rice in cold region presented a single peak curve change and the peak occurred in the heading stage;compared with those of the CK,the activities of NR,GS and GOGAT of rice in cold region decreased,but the activity of GDH increased in the heading stage under salt stress.The variation for key enzyme activity of nitrogen metabolism was the highest under S4 treatment.The activities of NR,GS and GOGAT in the functional leaves significantly decreased compared with those in roots;the concentrations of nitrate nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen in the functional leaves and roots of rice in cold region presented a single peak curve change and the peak occurred in the heading stage;compared with that of the CK,the concentration of nitrate nitrogen decreased in leaves and roots,the concentration of ammonium nitrogen decreased and the concentration of ammonium nitrogen in roots increased under salt stress.The variations for the activities of NR,GS and GOGAT in the functional leaves and roots of Longdao 5 were less than those of Mudanjiang 30 under the same concentration of salt stress.

Standardized Cultivation of Cold Region Rice in Heilongjiang Reclamation Area

The paper analyzes the characteristics of rice production in Heilongjiang Reclamation Area(HRA)and the achievements made through innovative research and practice,evaluates the standardized mode of rice cultivation and technical standards for rice production,which play a key role in guaranteeing the growth of grain total output in Heilongjiang reclamation area and make great contributions to the national grain safety.

Design and Research on Virtual Display of Whole Process Mechanization for Rice Production in Cold Region

With the development of society,the virtual reality technology and multimedia technology have been applied to modern large-scale agriculture. The paper describes the design ideas for animation display of mechanized rice production in cold region,and elaborates the design of major part of each scene. By animation display,we can know about the whole process of rice production,as well as the benefits of mechanized operation.

Natural conditions and cropping regionalization of rice area in China

The formation of rice distribution is based on certain natural ecological conditions and social economic environments. In China, rice cropping is distributed in a vast area extending across 5 tempera ture belts, the northernmost of rice growing area in the world being in China. Distribution of rice cropping is characterized by a gradual decrease from south to north, from large and concentrated regions in Southeast to small and separated areas in Northwest. Natural conditions in rice regions differ in China with a varied topography, high in the west and low in the east. Rice fields in the west are mostly distributed on flatlands on plains, valleys among mountains, tablelands in river valleys, yellow-soil plains and basins in low valleys, alluvial plains, plains in river valleys, while those in the east are mainly distributed on alluvial plains, hilly areas among low mountains, coastal plains, along rivers and lakes and in basins among mountains.

The East Asia regional meeting of International Program on rice biotechnology was held in CNRRI

Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the East Asia regional meeting of the international program on rice biotechnology was held in CNRRI Nov 5—8 1996. About 76 delegates from home and abroad attended the meeting and more than 80 papers were presented or posted. The objective of the meeting was to review the status of rice biotechnology since 1995 and to promote the international collaborative activities. The topic involved anther culture, gene isolation and characterization, transfer and expression of foreign genes, etc.