March 1, 2005

China cultivates high-yield "Super Corn"

Chinese agronomists have cultivated new species of "super corn" with average per-hectare yield approximating 15,000 kilograms, according to a source from the city's grain wholesale market.

The Chinese agro-scientists have developed the new "super corn" strain through repeated experiments throughout the years. The high-yield, high-quality new "super corn" strain will be of great significance in boosting China's food grain production, and is regarded as another major breakthrough in agro-scientific research, following the development of "super rice".

According to Zhao Jiuran, director of the Corn Research Center under the Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forest, the center sorted out and cultivated four new species of hybrid maize with per hectare yield up to 13,500 kg in 2004, which boasted indexes much close to the "super corn" and was only a tiny step from the per hectare yield target of 15,000 kg set by the "super corn" standards.

The experts forecast that China will turn out additional 6 billion kg of corn annually if the "super corn" species is cultivated on 2.66 million hectares of farmland annually.