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

This question is about the country of origin of commercial hybrid rice technology.

1. India: India developed and released its own hybrid rice varieties, but only starting in the early 1990s, after the technology already existed elsewhere.
2. China: China is where Yuan Longping developed the cytoplasmic male sterility based three line hybrid system in the early 1970s, and China released the world's first commercial hybrid rice varieties in 1976.
3. Japan: Japanese researchers had earlier worked on male sterility in rice in the 1950s and 1960s, but they did not carry this through to commercial scale hybrid rice production.
4. USA: The USA developed hybrid rice for its own market much later and is not the country of origin of the technology.

Since commercial scale hybrid rice cultivation started in China in the 1970s, before any other country, China is the correct answer.

Let's summarize:

• Yuan Longping's three line CMS system made hybrid rice practical to produce.
• China commercialised it first, in 1976, ahead of India, Japan and the USA.

So hybrid rice for commercial production was first evolved in China.