Yuan Longping appraises rice in an experimental plot of super hybrid rice in Xiangtan County, central China's Hunan Province, Oct. 9, 2003. (Xinhua Photo/Ding Wenjie)

Chinese scientist Yuan Longping, renowned for developing the first hybrid rice strain that pulled countless people out of hunger, died of illness at 91 on Saturday.

The top rice scientist in China passed away in a hospital in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, at about 1 p.m., according to the hospital and other sources.

He cultivated the world's first high-yielding hybrid rice strain in 1973, which was later grown on a large scale in China and other countries to substantially raise output.