Objective   A high-quality, disease-and-pest-resistant hybrid rice variety was bred to meet the market demand for green and quality food.

  Method   The disease- and pest-resistant Zhongzu 14 as the female parent and the quality restorer Minghui 863 line as the male parent were used for the hybridization. The time required for the continuous self-crossing process was shortened by conducting part of the experiment in winter in warmer southern province of Hainan, instead of Fujian. To ensure a stable blast resistance, only the progenies confirmed to meet the quality requirement were selected for the proceeding test. A strong on heterosis, uniform in population, and disease-resistant restorer line, Minghui 164, was thus obtained in 2011. It was crossed with Bph68S, a planthoppers-resistant two-line genic male sterile line, to arrive at a new two-line hybrid indica rice named B Liangyou 164 in the summer of 2014. Subsequently, the new hybrid rice was submitted for evaluation at the Provincial Late Variety Comprehensive Trial in 2015-2016, the Regional Test and Production Trial in 2017-2018, and the Regional and Production Trial of Middle and Lower Yangtze River in 2018-2019.

  Result   The average yield of B Liangyou 164 in the regional test in Fujian reached 8 312.18 kg·hm⁻², which was 8.94% higher than that of the reference variety, Yiyou 673, and in the Yangtze River 9 867.15 kg·hm⁻², which was 5.68% higher than that of the reference variety, Fengliangyou No.4. The newly bred variety was certified by the Fujian Province Crop Variety Approval Committee as well as the National Crop Variety Approval Committee in 2020.

  Conclusion   B Liangyou 164 was a stable high-yield hybrid rice variety with moderate resistance to rice blast and brown planthopper. It met the Grade-3 international standard for high quality rice as stipulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and, consequently, considered appropriate for cultivation as mid-season rice in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and as late-season variety in Fujian.