From Bulletin No. 1 of Department of Agriculture of Guangdong Province in 2011 issued recently, "ZhiYou 523", a new hybrid rice combination, bred by Prof. ZHANG Mingyong and his colleagues from South China Botanical Garden (SCBG) passed the audit of the thirty-fifth crop breed evaluation of Guangdong Province on December 30, 2010.

"ZhiYou 523" was derived the combination of CMS(cytoplasmic male sterile) line "Zhi A" and restorer line "R523", which were bred by SCBG. It had a yield increase of 5.22 percent and 10.23 percent, respectively, compared to the control variety "Yuexiangzhan" in the regional trials of new rice variety of Guangdong Province in 2008 and 2010. Its yield in the production test of 2010 reached 6.81 tons/ha, 10.73 percent more than the control variety "Yuexiangzhan" with a significant level.

This variety has a moderate resistance to rice blast and bacterial blight, two major diseases of rice in Guangdong Province. According to the committee of breed evaluation, this variety has a relatively high yield and is suitable for growing in the plain area of the south and southwest rice growing area in Guangdong Province.

"ZhiYou 523"