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Yuqing He

a man with glasses in front of a white wall
Yuqing He, 2005 Tang Scholar; The College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University

The College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University

Summary of my work

Gene pyramiding to improve hybrid rice in China: This project seeks to improve the quality, yield, and resistance to pests and diseases. For the last 10 years, we sought to develop a pest and disease resistant hybrid rice by stacking multiple genes in transgenic rice to increase rice production in China.
Genetic mapping and map-based cloning of rice genes that control grain quality:

This project is to localize quality traits in rice, such as appearance, cooking, taste, and nutrition. Numerous major QTL (quantitative trait locus), such as grain length, width and thickiness, chalkiness rates, and protein content, have been identified.

The Tang scholarship support for my study at Cornell University was very useful for our research at Huazhong Agricultural University. My visit at Cornell enabled me to learn the molecular marker technology and helped do better research in China.

Impacts in China

My major work has been to improve hybrid rice for farmers in China. Green super-hybrid rice is our objective: rice that requires fewer chemicals (because of inherent resistance to pest and diseases), requires less fertilizer (because of highly efficient fertilizer absorption), and requires less water (because of drought tolerance), has good quality, and is more productive. When our hybrid rice is released for field production in China, it will benefit farmers and have a very positive effect on the environment.

Publications

For details on publications and projects see the scholar's website.