Xieyou 57 is an elite indica hybrid developed and
released in the beginning of the twenty-first century.
It is grown in the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze
river featuring high yield and wide eco-adaptability.
However, its poor cooking and eating quality and low
seed setting rate in seed production has undermined
its acceptance by consumers and the seed industry.
The high-amylose content of its parents (27.3% in the
restorer line 057 and 25.2% in the male sterile line
Xieqingzao A) has been identified as the main cause
of the poor quality of Xieyou 57, which makes the
cooked rice fluffy, granular, and with unsatisfactory
taste. The low yield performance and the associated
high production costs in reproduction of the male
sterile parent line and in production of hybrid seeds is
resulted from the small panicle and low grain number
per panicle of the female parent Xieqingzao A. All
these obstacles became the major limitations for large
scale plantation and adoption of this hybrid (Zhang
et al. 2005).