The Rice Research Institute of Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GXAAS) was founded in 1981, with its predecessor established in 1957 as the Guangxi Agricultural Science Institute of Grain Crops. The institute is one of China’s pioneers in hybrid rice quality breeding, being the first to implement the seedling-type quality breeding strategy and addressing the challenge of balancing high yield with high quality in hybrid rice. There are currently 83 employees.
The institute has 21 scientific research platforms at the provincial and ministerial levels or above, including the Nanning Branch of the National Rice Improvement Center, the National Germplasm Nanning Wild Rice Nursery, the National Crop Germplasm Resources Reproduction and Renewal Base, the Crop Genetic Resources and Germplasm Creation Scientific Observatory and Experiment Station under MARA, the Guangxi Breeding Engineering Research Center for Rice Premium Breeding, the Guangxi Agricultural Good Seed Breeding Center, the Guangxi Rice Germplasm Resource Nursery, the Guangxi Genetically Engineered Rice Breeding Base, the Guangxi Rice Genetic Breeding Key Laboratory, and the Guangxi Rice High-Quality Breeding Research Talent Small Highland, among other important platforms.
Guangxi is one of the regions in China with the richest rice seed resources and variety types. The institute currently preserves 15,000 cultivated rice resources and 11,000 wild rice resources, making it one of the leading centers in the world in terms of preservation and genetic diversity. This genetic diversity provides critical material support for China’s rice breeding efforts and plays a vital role in ensuring the sustainable development of food security.
More information (in Chinese): http://www.gxaas.net/front/128.
