Yuan Longping: From an agricultural school teacher to the father of hybrid riceIn 2019, Yuan Longping won the highest honor of China's National Science and Technology Award, a moment witnessed by nearly 1,000 scholars, representatives and people. For thousands of years, the Chinese have not been confident, especially when it comes to eating. Farmers facing the loess with their backs to the sky always look forward to good weather and hope for a good harvest on the statue of the rotten wood god. It was not until Yuan Longping developed hybrid rice that this problem was solved. It is a historic human miracle that we feed 22% of the world's population while we occupy only 7% of the world's land. At first, Yuan Longping was just an ordinary lecturer in the College of Agriculture. He traveled more than 1,000 miles in Hunan and searched more than 10,000 acres of farmland, and finally found a few male sterile plants. Due to the lack of study abroad background and network support, Yuan Longping's technical ideas were once ridiculed by the outside world.
An ordinary farmer teacher, how much ability can he have?But 46 years ago, Comrade ** keenly discovered Yuan Longping. With his strong support, Yuan Longping was able to continue to devote himself to research, and finally the miracle of hybrid rice was shown to the world. Years later, Yuan Longping recalled the help provided by *** and said gratefully: "Without his help, I would not have become famous." In August 1953, 23-year-old Yuan Longping graduated from Southwest Agricultural College (now Southwest University). At this time, New China has just completed the three major transformations, and all industries are in urgent need of talents. Because of the organization's assignment, Yuan Longping was sent to Huaihua, Hunan, and later to teach at the remote Anjiang Agricultural School. Yuan Longping is introverted and does not like to talk, and the leader did not remember his name for a long time. At that time, people with a university degree were able to be promoted quickly. After coming to the agricultural school, Yuan Longping took root here.
He teaches during the day and experiments at night, but he doesn't feel tired. Due to the shortage of teachers in agricultural schools, he was responsible for teaching several courses by himself. In remote rural areas, it is difficult for Yuan Longping to obtain adequate nutrition. In the midst of his busy work, he became thin and had a yellowish complexion. However, these difficult conditions did not discourage Yuan Longping, on the contrary, he went better and better on the road of scientific research. Yuan Longping has a natural interest in agriculture. One night, he dreamed that he was sitting under a broom-sized ear of rice, each of which was the size of a peanut. This dream became the driving force behind his pursuit of agricultural science. In the fields of Hunan, he searched for male sterile plants that could be used for hybridization. In order to achieve his goal, he rummaged through 10,000 acres of farmland. After years of hard work, he finally found such a strain. Subsequently, he began to study how to make hybrid rice.
It was a challenging task, but Yuan was undeterred. He firmly believes that if successful, it will have a revolutionary impact on the country's agricultural production. After a long period of hard work and experiments, Yuan Longping finally developed hybrid rice, which made great contributions to China's agricultural production. Yuan Longping's story tells us that as long as there is pursuit, there is the motivation to move forward. Even in the face of difficulties and setbacks, as long as you persevere and work hard, you will eventually succeed. He is a young man full of passion and courage to dream, destined to achieve the extraordinary. Later, Yuan Longping told the story to the students in class. For the first time, his usual serious face bloomed with a proud smile, like a child. While others saw this as a fantasy, Yuan Longping began to put it into practice. Every weekend, he would go out looking for it.
Under the scorching sun, he fearlessly shuttled through thousands of acres of farmland. He carefully observes each plant to find a suitable specimen. The outside world believes that Yuan Longping is an "eccentric" person. In the field of agriculture, not many people can find out, so how can he find a way to increase production?But the emergence of hybrid rice is indeed surprising. Since 2000, Chinese civilization has been born in the field of agriculture. That generation turned their backs to the loess and faced the sky, not relying on God to solve the problem of food and clothing. It is simply wishful thinking to want to achieve "man wins the day". In fact, Yuan Longping himself is not sure about his research future. However, after going through a special period, he knows the pain of starvation. Therefore, even if he struggles all his life, he has to give it a try. The struggle will not be in vain, Yuan Longping really found the ideal specimen plant.
In July 1960, Yuan Longping planted this naturally male sterile plant in the experimental field. In the second year, a special batch of rice really grew in the experimental fields of the agricultural school. Not only is the rice resistant to wind falls, but the ears of wheat are large and the yield increases a lot, which shocked many colleagues. After his achievements, Yuan Longping was not complacent. He and the principal took a leave of absence to concentrate on the principle of rice sterility. In order to clarify this issue, Yuan Longping read a large number of Chinese and foreign materials. At that time, he secretly learned Xi English and bought international agricultural breeding journals and newspapers from Hong Kong. Most rice is self-pollinated and relatively stable in shape. If there is a single dominant natural strain, it must be the result of crossbreeding. Therefore, Yuan Longping deeply studied the field of rice hybridization. At that time, Japanese scientists had already achieved some research results. But how do you do cross-breeding?How to systematically increase yields?
These secrets are not made public. Even though the road is very bumpy, Yuan Longping is still full of confidence. Time flies, five years have passed. In 1965, through artificial pollination, Yuan Longping successfully cultivated the world's first "artificially hybridized natural sterile strain". Hundreds of seeds were then sown on the ground, and the following year the test plot was fully harvested. Yuan Longping spent 12 years in the experimental field to develop high-yield rice, although it has not been popularized on a large scale, but this invention is of great significance. He knows all about natural male sterile strains and has recorded a lot of data over the years of observation. On February 28, 1966, Yuan Longping published the famous ** entitled "Sterility of Rice Males", which was published in the "Science Bulletin".
This article overturns the traditional classical theory of "asexual hybridization" theory of Michurin and Lysenko, and proves that rice also has a hybrid advantage. However, during that particular period, people were full of doubts about Yuan's research. Experts and professors with scientific knowledge do not dare to speak out in public, while some laymen slander them aggressively. In the process of promoting hybrid rice, Yuan Longping suffered a lot of grievances, but he adhered to the principle of seeking truth from facts and was unwilling to compromise. In his dealings with the relevant authorities, he encountered many setbacks and was even treated as a closed door. In addition, his test field was damaged several times. Despite this, Yuan Longping was not discouraged, he continued to devote himself to research and actively spoke out. In the spring of 1971, the Hunan Provincial Association for Science and Technology took note of Yuan Longping's achievements and reported to the vice premier.
The Deputy Prime Minister was very appreciative of the results of the study and said at the meeting: "I am very concerned about the hybrid rice project and hope that it can continue and succeed as soon as possible." In 1974, Yuan Longping harvested high yields in more than 100 acres of experimental fields in Hunan, with a yield of up to 650 kilograms per mu. This means that hybrid rice has achieved a big victory in the stage. But problems also followed, because hybrid rice needs more seeds to promote. In the difficult moment, the vice premier gave strong support, and in less than a week, 1.5 million yuan was allocated to the account of the Hunan Provincial Association for Science and Technology. With the encouragement of the first, Yuan Longping and the Hunan Association for Science and Technology once again achieved brilliance. Subsequently, hybrid rice set off a nationwide planting boom, China's grain production increase target was achieved year by year, Yuan Longping is also known as the "Shennong's" in the hearts of the people.
Many years later, Yuan Lao revealed to the reporter: "If it were not for the strong support of the leaders, it may be difficult to achieve the promotion of hybrid rice in the country. "Yuan Longping and *** have struggled for China's agriculture for decades, and the two great men have made great contributions to China's agricultural cause, and their achievements will forever be recorded in the annals of history and remembered by the people.