Changes in Rice Yield Stability in Southern China from 1949 to 2015

Abstract

Core Ideas Improving crop yield stability has become even more important with climate change. Rice yield stability was significantly increased in most provinces in southern China. Continuous efforts are needed to maintain rice yield stability in southern China. Improving yield stability is an important objective of agricultural progress. This study was conducted to evaluate the trends of rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield stability in southern China. Rice yield data during a 67‐yr period for 12 provinces in southern China (Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang) were collected from the World Rice Statistics database (from 1949 to 2013) and the database of the National Bureau of Statistics of China (for 2014 and 2015). Relative yield residuals for each province were calculated and indicated that rice yield stability significantly increased in 10 of the 12 provinces, with only Guangdong and Guizhou not showing an increase during this 67‐yr period. We believe that a stable increase in rice production is achievable in southern China with the continuous efforts to develop new cultivars, improve crop management practices, and strengthen public services such as releasing disaster information and using technical experts.

Decreasing hill density combined with increasing nitrogen rate led to yield decline in hybrid rice under low-light conditions

“…The above contradiction indicates that adopting the practice of increasing hill density combined with decreasing N rate in rice production has the potential benefit of avoiding large variation in grain yield across diverse environments, i.e ., high yield stability. This is a key goal of agricultural progress and has become even more important as our climate is changing and the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events may increase in the future 17 . Moreover, this practice has been recommended by several studies 11,12 because the use of large amounts of N in crop production in China has led to diminishing returns 13 and substantial environmental costs 14–16 .…”

Hybrid breeding and cultivar diversity in rice production in China

“…In this regard, one important technical breakthrough is hybrid rice technology, which can increase rice yields by approximately 20% and has allowed China to feed 70 million more people each year (Yuan, 2014). Another important aspect of hybrid rice technology is that it has greatly accelerated the development of new cultivars (Yin et al., 2018). This alone should be conductive to increasing cultivar diversity in rice production.…”

Contrasting change in biomass translocation with environment in two rice hybrids

“…Although increasing yield has been, and probably will remain, the chief objective in rice production, improving yield stability (i.e., the ability of a crop to maintain yield performance across diverse environments) is also a primary objective [6, 7, 8]. This objective has become more and more important because of climate change, which may result in increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events in the future [9, 10, 11].…”