Hubei Provincial Seed Group recently won an auction for the production and business operation rights for a new species of rape plant.

The auction took place at the Wuhan Rural Comprehensive Equity Exchange. The winning bid cost 10 million yuan for a 10-year contract.

The new species of rape plant, called Zhongyou 519, was selected and bred by Li Yunchang, a research fellow at the Oil Crops Research Institute (OCRI) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).

The new species of rape plant is suitable for planting in downstream regions of the Yangtze River, and the projected planting area is expected to exceed 2 million hectares.

(China Daily 07/06/2009 page9)