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Newkerala, Aug 30, 2006)- Beijing: China has bred a new strain of disease-resistant rapeseed with high oil content which could boost the nation's fledging bio-diesel industry, the Ministry of Agriculture claimed.
The new rapeseed named 'Zhongyou-0361' has an oil content of 54.72 per cent, nearly two percentage points higher than the previously reported highest oil content, according to a test report from the ministry.
The seed was developed to meet the market demand for renewable sources of energy, the ministry said.
If grown in high altitude regions, such as West China's Qinghai Province, the seed becomes two to three percentage points higher in oil content, Xinhua news agency reported.
The new strain was bred by the Institute of Oil Crops Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The seed was disease-resistant and genetically unmodified, leader of the development team and research fellow of the institute, Wang Hanzhong said.
The Yangtze River valley, which was the world's largest rape production base and with nearly one-third of the world's rape yield, had the potential to produce 40 million tonnes of bio-diesel per year, Wang said.
Rape is the most widely planted oil-bearing crop in China which has the world's highest output. With oil prices surging and demands soaring, "bio-energy" is gaining popularity as a renewable and environmental friendly energy resource.
The European Union has been vigorously promoting bio-diesel produced from rapeseed, which pushed international rape oil prices up to the present 822 US dollars per tonne from 711 US dollars at the end of last year, Wang said.
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