Professor Zhu Youyong, who won the International Year of Rice Global Scientific Contest, has returned to China and received an ovation at southwest China's Kunming city, China Radio International reported Sunday.

Dr. Zhu is the president of south China's Yunnan Agricultural University. His paper won first prize in the contest for his contribution to rice research.

In his paper, titled "Genetic diversity and disease control in rice," Dr. Zhu and his research team found that using genetic heterogeneity can effectively reduce the severity of rice blast, a widely distributed and destructive disease.

Another first prize winner announced by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Rice Research Institute is a Japanese scientist.