Recently, Institute of Subtrophical Agricultural, the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed agreement in research on drought- and salt-tolerance transgenic rice with Chinese University of Hong Kong. During the period, Prof. Lin Hanming Group, Department of Biology in Chinese University of Hong Kong will provide seven drought-resistant and salt-tolerant genes cloned from soybeans for the group of rice-resistant molecular ecology and breeding, ISA to carry out the transformation and breeding of rice. The cooperation is expected to be 3 years to obtain a group of genetically modified drought- and salt-resistant new parents of hybrid rice. It would provide new and outstanding germplas for adversity-tolerant ecological breeding of hybrid rice.

For rice production, seasonal arid and salinity is one of the major abiotic stress in subtropical areas and in the northeastern region, respectively. It is practical significant to carry out research on rice drought-tolerance and salt-resistance to improve the production of low-yield paddy fields. (March 11, 2009)