HungerWednesday again! We feature this article from grain about how the popularity of hybrid rice is slowly killing off public breeding in Malaysia.
Grain
GRAIN visited the Penang research station of the . We wanted to check-in with Malaysia’s rice breeders about the status of hybrid rice in the country.
One of Malaysian Agriculture and Research Development Institute’s (MARDI) few remaining rice breeders,  Mr. Guok Hup Ping, took GRAIN to see a field trial where he was growing a hybrid variety called Siraj alongside several MARDI inbred varieties. During the previous season, he had conducted trials of these same varieties with one section exposed to panicle blast and another not exposed. The hybrid variety was devastated by panicle blast and even when not exposed its yield was still considerably below that of the MARDI check variety. The best performer by far was a new inbred variety that Guok had developed which was still in the testing stage.
Guok wasn’t surprised to see the hybrids not performing so well. Earlier work on hybrid rice in the country had never delivered a success. But the potential market for hybrid rice seeds is huge, and new companies are always willing to try.
Continue reading about the Hybrid rice and the decline of public breeding in Malaysia….