Question

Hybrid rice for commercial production was first evolved in:

• A. India
• B. China
• C. Japan
• D. USA

Hint:

Think of the scientist Yuan Longping and the country that first commercialised the three line hybrid system.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Hybrid rice uses heterosis, or hybrid vigour, seen when two genetically different rice lines are crossed, giving higher yield than either parent alone. Producing hybrid seed commercially needs a cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) line, a maintainer line and a restorer line, a system called the three line method.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach:
The country credited with developing this three line hybrid rice technology and scaling it up for farmer level commercial cultivation is the one we need to identify.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Chinese scientist Yuan Longping developed the first practical CMS based hybrid rice system in the early 1970s, and China released the first commercial hybrid rice varieties for farmers in 1976, making it the pioneer of hybrid rice at a commercial scale.
India began its own hybrid rice research and released its first commercial hybrids only in the early 1990s, well after China. Japan worked on rice breeding but not on commercial hybrid rice technology at this scale, and the USA is not associated with the origin of hybrid rice technology at all.

Step 4: Final Answer:
Hybrid rice for commercial production was first evolved in China.