How to solve the "stuck neck" problem in the seed industry
——Interview with Wan Jianmin, Vice President of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering
Author: reporter Li Hui
[Authoritative interview]
Seed industry is the "chip" of agriculture and the cornerstone of ensuring that "Chinese people's rice bowl is mainly filled with Chinese food."
In 2020, the Central Economic Work Conference listed "solving the problems of seed and arable land" as one of the eight major economic tasks, and proposed "to carry out the technical research of seed source "stuck neck", determined to fight a turnaround in the seed industry".
Since the "13th Five-Year Plan", what achievements have been made in my country's seed industry, especially in the breeding of staple crops?
What other "stuck neck" problems still exist?
How to fight a turnaround in the seed industry?
The reporter interviewed Wan Jianmin, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, on these hot issues.
The safety of seeds used in agricultural production in my country is generally guaranteed
Reporter: The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to solve the seed problem. At present, what is the overall situation of seed safety in agricultural production in my country? What are the risks?
Wan Jianmin:
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has promoted the development of the seed industry at a high level. With the support of a series of policies and projects to promote the development of the modern seed industry, the innovation of the seed industry has achieved remarkable results.
At present, the coverage rate of improved crop varieties in my country is over 96%, and the area of self-selected varieties accounts for more than 95%. Among them, the two major ration crop varieties of rice and wheat have achieved complete self-sufficiency, and the contribution rate of improved varieties to grain production has exceeded 45%. Year after year bumper grain harvests and stable production and supply of important agricultural products have provided key support.
At present, foreign-funded seed companies account for about 3% of my country's total seed market sales.
The annual import volume of crop seeds accounts for about 0.1% of the total domestic seeds.
In general, the safety of seeds used in agricultural production in my country is guaranteed and the risks are controllable.
At the same time, we must also realize that there is still a big gap between the independent innovation of my country's seed industry and developed countries. There is still room for improvement in the yield of some varieties. The lack of original core technology and the incomplete commercial breeding system all restrict the development of the seed industry. Some "stuck neck" problems.
The dominant position of rice breeding enterprises is more prominent
Reporter: In terms of major food crops, China's rice breeding ranks among the top in the world. What are the characteristics of China's rice seed industry during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period?
Wan Jianmin: During the
"Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the number of approved rice varieties in China has increased rapidly, variety types have been continuously enriched, the number of new varieties protected has increased significantly, the level of seed production has steadily improved, and the structure of seed production has been continuously optimized.
In the past five years, national and provincial rice variety regional trials, green channel trials, and consortium trials have been developed in parallel. The participating channels are diversified and the types of varieties are diversified. The number of certified varieties has increased rapidly.
In 2020, the number of rice varieties approved by the state is 574, an increase of 521 from 2015.
Rice is one of the first plant genera to be included in the protected list of new plant varieties.
In 2019, the number of applications for protection of new rice varieties and the number of authorizations were 1,312 and 425, respectively, which were 2.7 times and 1.1 times that of 2015. Especially in 2018 and 2019, the number of applications for protection of new varieties increased exponentially.
From the perspective of authorization types, in 2019, the number of authorizations from enterprises and scientific research institutions was 212 and 192 respectively. The number of applications for enterprises increased by 20.8% compared with 2015, and the status of enterprise breeding subjects became more prominent.
Reporter: What are the bottlenecks in rice breeding?
Wan Jianmin:
China’s rice breeding has achieved a number of world-leading results in the research fields of functional genomics and hybrid rice, but it has advanced internationally in terms of the mining and utilization of germplasm resources, the application of modern breeding techniques, and the increase in the selection and promotion of high-quality varieties. There is still distance in level.
At the same time, my country's domestic rice seed industry has a high market value, but its competitiveness in the international market is not strong.
At present, all rice varieties used in my country's production are domestic self-breeding.
If calculated at 70 yuan per kilogram of hybrid rice seeds and 12 yuan for conventional rice, the rice seed industry market can reach 30 billion yuan.
The development potential of hybrid rice in the world is great, and the export potential of hybrid rice seeds is great.
However, the level of mechanized rice seed production in my country is still low, the cost of seed production is high, and the scale of seed export is not large; the promotion of hybrid rice abroad is slow and generally requires localization.
Rice breeding supports double improvement of "yield" and "quality"
Reporter: What is the significance of the breeding work that you are pushing forward in solving the problem of "stuck neck" of provenance?
Wan Jianmin:
In the past 40 years, I have been engaged in rice excellent gene mining and molecular breeding research, mainly focusing on the problems of poor fertility, low seed setting rate, high plant height, and streaks in the utilization of heterosis of indica-japonica hybrids in rice. For leaf blight and rice brown planthopper pests, we started with extensive screening of resources, discovered new genes, developed molecular markers, and carried out molecular breeding. Some important results and progress have been made. More than 50 important new genes of rice have been cloned and more than 20 new varieties have been cultivated. Among them, 4 varieties have been confirmed as super rice varieties. The yield of "Xieyou 107" per mu in Yongsheng County, Yunnan Province reached 1287 kg.
In recent years, we have been paying special attention to nutrition and health while continuously improving the yield potential.
Our new high-quality soft rice variety "Ningxiangjing No. 9" has good quality, good palatability and rich aroma. It won the gold prize of high-quality japonica rice in the third national high-quality rice variety appraisal activity. The rice made from protein rice varieties not only can significantly reduce the absorption of protein, but also has a low glycemic index after being eaten, which is especially suitable for people with chronic kidney disease and diabetes.
During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, with the strong support of the Seed Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, I was responsible for the work of the National Rice Seed Joint Research Group and made a series of important progress, which further strengthened the scientific and technological foundation of rice seeds in my country.
Entering a new stage, in order to continue to promote the high-quality development of the seed industry and continue to meet the needs of the people for a better life, it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of the new nationwide system, pool resources, concentrate forces, jointly tackle key problems, and master the development initiative, in order to protect the agricultural sector. The strategic backyard builds the foundation of the seed industry.
Focus on solving the "stuck neck" problem
Reporter: How to solve the "stuck neck" problem of the seed industry and improve the competitiveness of my country's seed industry?
Wan Jianmin: To
solve the problem of "stuck neck" in the seed industry, the key is to solve the problems of resource protection and utilization, independent innovation, perfecting the system, and improving the environment.
First, we must protect and make good use of germplasm resources.
This is the foundation and source of seeds.
It is necessary to speed up resource census and salvage collection, promote resource registration and exchange and sharing, strengthen large-scale and accurate identification and evaluation, and innovate development and utilization mechanisms to ensure that all necessary protections are guaranteed and orderly development.
Second, we must strengthen independent innovation.
This is the key to achieving self-reliance in the seed industry.
It is necessary to carry out research on seed source "stuck neck" technology, excavate truly useful genes, create breakthrough germplasm, make breakthroughs in the research and development of key breeding technologies and major variety cultivation, and realize the scientific and technological self-reliance of my country's seed industry.
Third, we must support enterprises to become bigger, stronger and better.
This is the basis for enhancing the competitiveness of the seed industry.
It is necessary to highlight the dominant position of enterprises in technological innovation, support enterprises to establish large-scale commercial R&D platforms and innovation consortia, promote the gathering of resources, talents and capital to enterprises, support the development of advantageous enterprises, and promote the improvement of resource utilization, gene mining, variety research and development, and product development. , The modernization level of the entire chain organization system of industrial application, to achieve the continuous output of good varieties and good seeds.
Fourth, we must strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights.
This is the guarantee to promote the sustainable and healthy development of the seed industry.
It is necessary to improve the legal environment for the protection of intellectual property rights in the seed industry, severely crack down on infringements, and create a good environment for innovation.
Reporter: In order to win the turnaround in the seed industry, which aspects should be used for seed industry innovation?
Wan Jianmin: To
win the battle of the seed industry, ensure that the Chinese bowl is mainly filled with Chinese grains, and the Chinese grains mainly use Chinese seeds. The focus is on the construction of germplasm resources and seed industry bases. To accelerate technological innovation, the focus is on strong advantages. Make up for shortcomings, break cards, and grasp the leading enterprises and business environment.
It is necessary to focus on innovation in the seed industry, insist on putting scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance in the prominent position of agricultural and rural modernization, concentrate resources, concentrate strength, concentrate research and breakthroughs, and focus on four aspects: the implementation of the seed source card should be launched as soon as possible. "Neck" technical research, focus on breaking the bottleneck, and form a batch of breakthrough achievements with independent intellectual property rights; accelerate the implementation of major agricultural biological breeding projects, carry out joint research on major food crops, specialty crops, livestock and aquatic breeding, and accelerate cultivation High-yield and high-efficiency, green and high-quality, water-saving and food-saving, suitable for machinery and feeding, and new varieties for special purposes; to improve the commercial breeding system, promote cooperation between science and technology enterprises, promote the in-depth integration of production, education, research and use, and make the main industry stronger and better; Strengthen the genetic basis of breeding, molecular breeding technology and other cutting-edge public welfare research, adhere to respect for science, strict supervision, and orderly promote the industrial application of biological breeding.
(Our reporter Li Hui)