A water-saving, environmentally friendly hybrid rice -- the first of its kind in China -- has been cultivated and will go on the market at the end of this month, agricultural scientists in Shanghai said on Monday.

The hybrid rice is a species that needs only half the usual amount of water for irrigation, saving about 40 tones of water for each hectare planted, according to scientists from the Shanghai Agricultural Agrobiological Gene Center. Output of the species can reach 8,250 kilograms a hectare, the same as common rice, and it tastes similar to Thai rice, scientists said.

"The new species can depend solely on rain water," said Luo Lijun, chief scientist at the center. "Because no water needs to be circulated, pesticides won't flow into rivers and lakes through irrigation channels."

Farmers can sow the seeds without plowing and watering because the root system grows deep into the soil quickly, Luo said.

Farmers will be able to try out the new species at the end of this month, one month earlier than the supply of other species of rice.

(Shanghai Daily September 9, 2008)