Hybrid Rice: Memorial Issue Dedicated to YUAN LONGPING

Prof. Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice, is a pioneer in studying and utilizing rice heterosis around the world. He established keystone breeding strategy of hybrid rice, led the way of rice research and industrialization, brought hybrid rice from bench to field, and made outstanding contributions to fundamentally solving the food security problem of more than 1 billion people in China and even the world. Professor Yuan Longping passed away peacefully on May 22, 2021 at the age of 91. His academic contribution to hybrid rice breeding is invaluable and has left an extraordinary mark on the field, and the special issue “Hybrid Rice” provides a timely opportunity to pay tribute to him.

Submissions of original Research articles reporting new findings/methods and forward-looking Review papers on the following topics (but not limited to these) are welcome:

Mechanism of Heterosis in Rice

Innovation of rice germplasm resources

Functional characterization of rice important genes

Study on physiology and ecology of Hybrid Rice

New methods and tools for hybrid rice molecular breeding

Solutions to key technical problems in hybrid rice industry

Plant protection and cultivation strategy in high yield production of hybrid rice

Professor Deyong Zhang
Professor Rodomiro Ortiz

Guest Editors

	Professor Deyong Zhang State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, Changsha 410125, China
	Professor Rodomiro Ortiz Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden