Chinese scientists develop rice that can grow in seawater, potentially creating enough food for 200 million people 中国科学家开发出可以在海水中生长的水稻，可为2亿人提供足够的食物

Chinese scientists develop rice that can grow in seawater, potentially creating enough food for 200 million people
中国科学家开发出可以在海水中生长的水稻，可为2亿人提供足够的食物

Grains being grown in salty water produced almost treble the expected amount of rice

这种在咸水中生长的谷物将使水稻的预期产量提高两倍

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/rice-seawater-chinese-scientists-food-200-million-a8017971.html

Scientists in China have developed several types of rice that can be grown in seawater, potentially creating enough food for 200 million people.

中国科学家已经开发出多种可以在海水中生长的水稻，可为2亿人提供足够的食物。

Researchers have been trying to grow the grain in salty water for decades but have only now developed varieties that could be commercially viable.

研究人员数十年来曾努力在咸水中种植这种谷物，但直到现在才开发出具有商业价值的品种。

The rice was grown in a field near the Yellow Sea coastal city of Qingdao in China’s eastern Shandong province. 200 different types of the grain were planted to investigate which would grow best in salty conditions.

这种水稻种植在中国东部省份山东的黄海沿海城市青岛附近的一块地里。为了研究哪种谷物在高盐环境下生长的最好，田地里种植着200种不同的谷物。

Sea water was pumped into the fields, diluted and then channelled into the rice paddies.

海水被泵入这块地，经稀释之后通过沟渠流入稻田。

The scientists expected to produce 4.5 tonnes of rice per hectare but the crops exceeded expectations, in one case delivering up to 9.3 tonnes per hectare.

科学家期望每公顷土地生产4.5吨的大米，但产量超出预期，其中一个样本每公顷最多可以生产9.3吨。

"The test results greatly exceeded our expectations," Liu Shiping, a professor of agriculture at Yangzhou University who is involved in the project, told Xinhua.

“试验结果大大超出了我们的预期，”曾参与过该项目的扬州大学农业教授刘世平告诉新华社。

There are one million square kilometres of land in China where crops do not grow because of high salinity. Scientists hope the development of the new rice will allow some of these areas to be used for agriculture.

中国有一百万平方千米的土地因为盐分过高而不能生长作物。科学家希望开发这种新型水稻能够使那些土地中的一部分能够用于农业生产。

If even a tenth of these areas were planted with rice, they could produce 50 million tonnes of food – enough to feed 200 million people and boost China’s rice production by 20 per cent.

即使那些土地只有10%能够种植水稻，他们就能生产5000万吨的食物，足够养活2亿人，并使中国的大米产量提高20%。

The new type of rice was developed by a team led by 87-year-old Yuan Longping, who has spent decades trying to breed rice to grow in different conditions. The Chinese government has been investigating how to grow rice in salty waters since the 1970s.

这种新型水稻是由87岁的袁隆平率领的团队开发出来的，袁曾经花费数十年，努力在不同条件下培育水稻品种。中国政府从1970年代就开始研究如何在咸水中种植水稻。

Mr Yuan said: "If a farmer tries to grow some types of saline-tolerant rice now, they most likely will get 1,500 kilogrammes per hectare. That is just not profitable and not even worth the effort.

袁先生说：“如果农民现在尝试种植某些品种的耐盐水稻，很可能每公顷只有1.5吨的产量。这就太无利可图了，甚至不值得下功夫。”

"Farmers will have an incentive to grow the rice if we can double the yield.”

“如果我们能使产量翻倍，农民将会有积极性种植这种水稻。”

The saltwater rice is currently on sale for around 50 yuan (￡6) per kilogramme – around eight times more than ordinary rice. Despite the cost, six tons of the grain have already been sold, with consumers praising its flavour and texture.

咸水稻现在的出售价格大约是50元（6英镑）每千克，大约是普通水稻的八倍。尽管它的成本很高，已经有六吨这种水稻被售出，销售者称赞它的味道和质地。

The rice is also thought to have several health benefits, including being high in calcium.

这种稻米也被认为拥有多种健康价值，包括含钙高。