Unstoppable Updates (31): The Hybrid Seeds That Fed The World

Hi,

The world population clock this morning showed a number of 7.3 billion. It was just 1.0 Bn in the year 1804, 2.0 Bn in 1927, 5.0 Bn in 1987, 6.0 Bn in 1999, and now it has already crossed 7.0 Bn mark. According to the UN estimates, very soon it will reach 8.0 Bn by 2024 and 9.0 Bn by 2037. There are more people inhabiting this planet earth by every passing day. The number of mouths that are to be fed is ever increasing and the demand for food is ever growing. How has it been possible for the humans to meet the most fundamental but highly critical need of food? What contributed most to the great success of this human race in feeding the hungry mouths and alleviating hunger around the world? It is HYBRID SEEDS that led the transformation of world food production in a big way. Let us take a glance at the crop hybrids that achieved this miracle in this unstoppable update...

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Hybrid Seeds That Fed The World 

Over the years, plant breeding has provided an enormous contribution to global agriculture in terms of increased yields. The success story India’s Green Revolution is also well established and much attributed to the introduction and adaptation of genetically improved varieties of rice and wheat. The discovery and successful transfer of dwarfing genes from Norin 10 in wheat and DGWG in rice had stimulated significant developments in plant breeding and global agriculture. 

The new varieties developed with the transfer of these genes supported by other inputs had resulted in a multi fold increase in food grain production; saved millions of lives from starvation; provided sustainability to India’s food security to a great extent. The way the improved crop varieties transformed the food production and consequently contributed to the food security of the world is indeed a miracle.

Development and use of hybrid seeds

Except for wheat, all of the major food crops like maize, rice, sorghum, pearl millet, and sunflower are produced and grown as hybrids in increasing acreages over the years. Many commercial vegetable crops are grown almost entirely as hybrids today. Plant breeders exploited what is called heterosis – the hybrid vigor in plants and developed new hybrids on a regular basis. Hybrids outperform their own best parent lines and produce much more than the traditional varieties. So, they are developed by the scientists, marketed by the commercial companies, and accepted by the farmers. Sure, why not? They are so conspicuously so useful.

The first hybrids that appeared on the global market were corn hybrids (1920s). The commercial release of other hybrid varieties started in the mid-1950s with sorghum in 1955, sugar beet in 1962, rice in 1973, rye in 1984, rapeseed mustard in 1985 and alfalfa in 1998. The first cotton and vegetable hybrids appeared on the market in the 1970s. 

The advent of crop hybrids and increased use of hybrid seeds by growers has led to a tremendous growth in food production. The world production of major food crops shows a phenomenal growth in the food production that the world achieved over the years. Though there are many factors that contributed to this rise, crop hybrids played a significant role in it. Today, the world produces about 770 MnMT of maize, 750 MnMT of rice, 60 MnMT of sorghum, 30 MnMT of pearl millet. Thanks to hybrid seeds that it became possible.

Hybrid Maize

The increased use of hybrid maize helped  make the first quantum leap in terms of productivity using hybrid vigor in 1950’s in the USA. Thereafter it spread from the US to the other countries and from maize to other crops as well. 

Indian maize production was 1.7 MnMT in 1950-51 that increased to 23 MnMT in 2013-14. Look at the growth in production. It is more than 13 times in the last 6 decades. Imagine, if we had to produce the same quantity at 1950 levels of production, how much of more land we would have required to produce the present quantity of production. With arable land shrinking, the increased production made possible by the hybrid seeds is indeed a life-saving contribution.

Hybrid Rice

Rice hybrids were first commercialised in the late 1970s in China. During the past decade, Vietnam, India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and the United States have also begun the commercial production of hybrid rice. About 50% of rice in China is cultivated with rice hybrids, producing about 103.5 Mi MT of paddy annually (an average yield of 6.9 MT/Ha). The remaining 50%, planted with inbred high-yielding varieties, produces about 81 Mi MT (5.4 MT/Ha). Thus, on an average, hybrid rices in China yield about 27% (1.5 MT/Ha) more than the inbred high-yielding varieties. 

The successful commercialisation of hybrid rice in many parts of the word is linked to the development of hybrid seed production technology. Though the area cultivated in China is less as compared to that of India, the production of rice in China is more than that of India. That could be clearly attributed to higher per Ha yield of rice in China than that of India which in turn is due to hybrid rice grown in China. Hybrids work wonders!  

Hybrid Sorghum and Pearl Millet

Grain sorghum has been grown as hybrids for about 40 years, starting in the USA. About 50% of grain sorghum plantings, worldwide, are now hybrids. The first hybrids yielded at least 40% more than the local varieties; the advantage was much higher under severe drought stress. In India too an increase in yields of these crops was evident. The per hectare yields of both sorghum and pearl millet started increasing in mid-60s, as new hybrids of sorghum and pearl millet were developed and released. With the increased adoption of improved varieties and hybrids, the national average yields of sorghum and pearl millet have more than doubled over the last four decades in India. 

The doubling of yields of pearl millet and sorghum thus allowed farmers to grow the same amount of food on half the land, often switching the rest to valuable cash crops and increasing their incomes. The improved hybrid seeds of these crops thus contributed to food security especially that of the poor farmers.

Hybrid Sunflower

Sunflower has been grown as hybrids for about 20 years starting in the USA. Sunflower hybrids are now planted in all parts of the world where sunflower is grown commercially as an oil crop. About 60% of the crop is now hybrid, worldwide. Sunflower hybrids yield about 50% more than the best of the traditional sunflower varieties. 

In India, more than 95% of sunflower crop is cultivated with hybrid seeds. Several hybrids have been developed and made available to the farmers. Besides high yield, crop hybrids helped the sunflower crop with disease and insect resistance, and lodging tolerance, and quality parameters such as high oil percentage. The success of hybrid seeds in this crop is very much evident from the large scale adoption of hybrid seeds by the farmers.

Hybrid Vegetables

Vegetable crop growers have been significantly benefited by the development and introduction of hybrids over the years. Farmers also readily accepted the hybrid seeds, though more expensive than the open pollinated varieties in view of the significantly high returns they get by growing the hybrids. 

In India, more than 85% of cabbage area is cultivated with hybrids. In case of tomato and okra, hybrids occupy more than 50% of the area. New vegetable hybrids with improved performance are seen every year prompting farmers bring additional area under vegetables and hybrid seeds. As a result, we can expect significant growth in the nation’s vegetable production in the days ahead.

----------------------------------------------------

Crop hybrids have been a gift of god that helped the world feed its people. Today, there may be people in some parts of the world who go to bed hungry. But there is sufficient food out there, thanks to the hybrid seeds that catapulted the food production in a magical manner. You only need to make it more affordable and accessible to all. 

Crop hybrids thus helped the world achieve higher crop productivity, increased food production, and fight the hunger. But, they have a lot more potential than what we could actually take advantage of so far. They offer a much greater opportunity to further increase the food production. Hybrid seeds, especially in rice, pulses, oilseeds, and vegetables, when developed and promoted for wide-spread use by the farmers would result in bountiful production and sufficient supply of food and also make it more affordable to people at large. It is time for the industry and the governments to understand the needs of the farmers and put in necessary efforts for developing and supplying quality hybrid seeds that could potentially improve the economies of the farmers furthermore on one hand and meet the food demands of growing global population on the other.

Let us also take this opportunity to congratulate all those Plant Breeders, Agronomists, and other scientists who worked hard and contributed to the development of these crop hybrids and also all those who helped in taking them to the farmers and helping them grow and gain the full benefit of them. They deserve our full appreciation. We ought to express our gratitude to them for it is the the Crop Hybrid Seeds they developed that fed the world.

To your unstoppable success,

With love,

Siva

PS: For Unstoppable Updates published earlier on this blog, please find them at the link given below:

http://value4value.blogspot.in/search/label/Unstoppable%20Updates