Abstract:

The breeding and large-scale application of hybrid rice contribute significantly to the food supply world
wide. Currently, hybrid seed production uses cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) lines or photoperiod/
therrno-sensitive genic male sterile (PTGMS) lines as female parent. Despite huge successes, both systems
have intrinsic problems. CMS systems are mainly restricted by the narrow restorer resources that make it
difficult to breed superior hybrids, while PTGMS systems are limited by conditional sterility of the male
sterile lines that makes the propagation of both PTGMS seeds and hybrid seeds vulnerable to unpre
dictable climate changes. Recessive nuclear male sterile (NMS) lines insensitive to environmental condi
tions are widely distributed and are ideal for hybrid rice breeding and production, but the lack of effective
ways to propagate the pure NMS lines in a large scale renders it impossible to use them for hybrid rice
production. The development of "the third-generation hybrid rice technology" enables efficient propaga
tion of the pure NMS lines in commercial scale. This paper discusses the establishment of "the third
generation hybrid rice technology" and further innovations. This new technology breaks the limitations
of CMS and PTGMS systems and will bring a big leap forward in hybrid rice production.
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Elsevier By. on behalf of KeAi Communications