Inside the breeding center, Xiang Hua introduced to Lin Li:

"Academician Lin, you might not be very familiar with this, but domestically, rice is divided into three types: heavy panicle, multi-panicle, and large panicle.

Among them, the heavy panicle type is suitable for hybrid breeding, while the large panicle rice, though supported by relevant technical reserves, is mostly applied to corn and wheat.

As for the multi-panicle type, due to its poor lodging resistance, it has somehow fallen out of favor both in the market and in research.

There are certainly still people cultivating this variety, but its retention rate in the industry is not very high anymore."

Seeing Lin Li nod to indicate his understanding, Xiang Hua broke off a piece of rice panicle and handed it to him, continuing:

"Currently, there are twenty-three known rice varieties in the Damo Realm, almost all of which are multi-panicle types.

The one in my hand, for example, is an unhybridized 'Number Four' rice, with low yield, shriveled grains, and poor lodging and disease resistance.

The only advantage is its early maturity; even without the aid of spiritual butterflies, its maturation period can still reach around 75 days."

Lin Li accepted the rice panicle and pinched it with his fingers.

As soon as he applied a bit of pressure, the grains fell off the panicle, lightly landing on his Erke sneakers.

Lin Li immediately frowned.

Despite being a top domestic authority in biology with standard academician treatment, a dedicated assistant, and a laboratory, with an annual legitimate income reaching millions even without any underhanded dealings,

Lin Li had been a genuine rural kid in his childhood.

He was born in the 1970s on the Gan-Po Land, and during his childhood, he had climbed mountains, crossed waters, carried firewood, and planted rice.

There were certainly moments of joy, but the bitterness of life was more prevalent.

Nowadays, you can hardly see any trace of that rural kid on Lin Li's face, and the accent that might have evolved into "biǎo gūo wǒ chū lái le" was corrected during his university years in the north.

Yet, some basic agricultural knowledge remains indelibly etched in his memory.

It's like riding a bicycle; even if you haven't touched the handlebars for over a decade, you can jump on and ride swiftly as ever.

It has become an instinct.

Thus, the instant he touched the rice panicle, Lin Li instinctively came to a judgment:

This panicle must have a low yield and be very prone to lodging.

Lodging refers to the phenomenon of upright crops being knocked down or tilted by natural forces like wind and hail, or external forces, often resulting in them lying flat on the ground.

Lodging can decrease crop yield and quality and complicate the harvesting process.

When crops like wheat and rice lodge severely, it greatly impacts yields and may even lead to total crop failure.

From any perspective, this 'Number Four' rice is garbage among garbage.

Yet this virtually worthless rice is one of the most common crops in the Damo Realm.

This suggests just how severe the food scarcity is in the Damo Realm.

Noticing Lin Li's complex expression, Xiang Hua continued:

"Academician Lin, the lowest yield of 'Number Four' rice is over twenty kilograms per mu, with the highest being around a hundred kilograms, averaging between forty and fifty kilograms.

Moreover, even rice varieties with a maturation period of 120-140 days, abandoned by Damo Realm farmers, yield at most around one hundred and fifty kilograms, averaging a little more than eighty kilograms."

Those more familiar with the concept of land should know.

Land is generally divided into high-yielding and low-yielding fields, a distinction that is self-explanatory from their names.

Even the high-yielding fields Xiang Hua mentioned are completely underwhelming compared to local yields.

This underperformance doesn't just refer to modern times but includes ancient times as well.

Let's first discuss the situation in ancient local times.

The "Guanzi·Light and Heavy Sections" recorded the rice yield during the Spring and Autumn Era:

"A hundred mu cultivated throughout the year would yield less than twenty zhong."

This meant that a household cultivating 100 mu annually wouldn't harvest more than 20 zhong.

Mu during the Spring and Autumn Era was small; three and a half mu then equaled one mu now. The hundred mu mentioned by Guanzi was actually only 30 mu.

"Zhong" is a unit of volume that can hold 130 liters, which translates to 80 kilograms of rice; hence, 20 zhong equals 1600 kilograms.

30 mu of cultivated land would yield a total of 1600 kilograms, averaging 53 kilograms per mu.

This was about the average yield during the Warring States period.

Aside from Guanzi, Ji Kang's "A Discourse on Nourishing Life" recorded yields during the Wei and Jin periods:

"One mu yielding ten hu is considered a good field, and this is universally recognized."

In the Wei and Jin periods, the mu was larger than during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, about one and a half mu equaled one current mu.

At that time, one mu yielding ten hu equated to one modern mu yielding fifteen hu.

Back then, how much was fifteen hu? It was equivalent to 150 liters today, which could hold 90 kilograms of rice.

In other words, the high-yielding fields in the Wei and Jin periods could achieve a yield of 90 kilograms per mu.

Subsequently, without detailed elaboration, I will directly refer to the paper "A Study on Rice Yield Per Mu in the Taihu Area during the Song, Ming, and Qing Dynasties" by Mr. Min Zong Hall from the Agricultural Heritage Research Institute, which recorded the average yields per mu in the Taihu region across the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties:

Tang Dynasty yield per mu: 138 kilograms;

Song Dynasty yield per mu: 225 kilograms;

Ming Dynasty yield per mu: 333 kilograms;

The Qing Dynasty's yield per mu was 278 kilograms.

Of course.

The main grain of each dynasty wasn't necessarily rice, so there will definitely be some discrepancies when it comes to the yield of specific rice varieties.

However, this comparison doesn't aim to get down to single-digit comparisons; comparing directly to the hundreds level is sufficient.

If we say that the basic livelihood of the Damo Realm corresponds to the Qin and Han periods, then its grain levels might only reach the standards of the Spring and Autumn Era.

As for the current local grain production, it's even more fearsome.

The kind of super hybrid rice that serves as reserve grain can be set aside for now, even regular high-yield edible rice can easily reach yields of 800-1000 kilograms per mu.

This means that the local yield per mu can achieve the planting effect of 40 mu of land in the Damo Realm.

With this comparison, one can see how barren and lagging behind the agriculture of the Damo Realm is.

In stark contrast to grain yields is the population number of the Damo Realm.

The Damo Realm actually has a substantial population base; although the scale of a city is limited, let's not forget, the territory of the Damo Realm is truly vast.

For example, the area covered by Ziqiong City has a radius of approximately a thousand kilometers.

Back home, that would be drawing a circle using the straight-line distance from Modu to Tianfu City as the diameter.

And this territory is only one-sixth of the southern region.

The Damo Realm is not a centralized country, so if a comparison is needed, it should be compared to "Earth" on this level.

Thus, it's not surprising that the Damo Realm has a vast area and a large population.

And under such circumstances of extremely underdeveloped agriculture, one can imagine the difficulty of basic livelihoods in the whole world.

Subsequently, Xiang Hua led Lin Li to another area, separated by just one wall from the fourth rice variety.

However, unlike the neighboring area, the wheat ears in this region were much more robust—it wouldn't take a blind referee with a strong will like those from Neon to easily make this distinction.

Upon arriving here, Lin Li looked at Xiang Hua with some enlightenment:

"Researcher Xiang, could this be..."

Xiang Hua nodded towards him, confirming Lin Li's guess:

"That's right, this is the first generation of hybrid rice that we cultivated in the Damo Realm, Houji No.1.

The current per mu yield of Houji No.1 has already reached more than 200 kilograms. Although there's still a significant gap compared to local yields, it has somewhat caught up to the standards of ancient peak dynasties."

Lin Li nodded approvingly, then showed a trace of curiosity on his face, asking:

"Researcher Xiang, how did you cultivate such a rice variety?"

Xiang Hua chuckled, having prepared related draft notes before coming, and introduced:

"Due to the fact that day-night rotations in the Damo Realm occur once every 168 hours, many crops in the Damo Realm have adapted to these conditions as a matter of natural selection.

Because of this, they cannot be hybridized with local high-quality varieties, and local crops cannot thrive in the Damo Realm in the short term.

Therefore, our entire project involves hybridizing crops native to the Damo Realm."

Xiang Hua paused, seemingly recollecting something, and said with some sentiment:

"Rice is a peculiar thing. It is a hermaphroditic crop, and if not interfered with, it self-pollinates, making it impossible to crossbreed with other rice.

Back home, in the earlier years when technology was not advanced, my teacher initially sought natural male-sterile plants, that is, daughter rice, for hybridization.

It took him a full five years to obtain only six natural daughter rice plants.

Then he spent another six years finding suitable male plants for these sterile plants.

In the blink of an eye, it was a full eleven years... How many eleven years does one have in a lifetime?"

Hearing this, Lin Li's expression became somewhat solemn:

"Researcher Xiang, did you use the same method in the Damo Realm?"

Xiang Hua shook his head in response, smiling:

"It's much simpler now than before. The technology for artificial removal of stamen has become very advanced locally and can handle most situations.

And here in the Damo Realm, with the assistance of divine sense, it's very easy to find sterile plants.

For example, Houji No.1 is a result of this.

After my teacher used divine sense to locate suitable unique samples, we performed cross-pollination with different species, then assisted their growth with spirit butterflies, ultimately resulting in the first-generation crops you see.

We will be focusing on these first-generation crops next, further optimizing to produce more suitable rice varieties."

Lin Li nodded approvingly and was about to say something when suddenly he realized:

"Wait, are you saying... Elder Yuan's divine sense?"

Xiang Hua smiled at him and nodded:

"That's right, my teacher has already broken through to the Fourth-Layer Qi Cultivation, his health has improved significantly.

Oh, and he mentioned before.

If you haven't met him in person, it means he's either resting or taking Xiaomo out to have fun, and he asked me to let you know that everything's fine."

...

Note:

Last day of the month, asking for monthly tickets, double points ahhhhh!!!

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