From space to field:


　　"Benyue" seeds are expected to assist in the problem of agricultural provenance

[Under the guidance of Xi Jinping's thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era-a new era, a new chapter, a new chapter]

　　In the National Plant Aerospace Breeding Engineering Technology Research Center of South China Agricultural University (hereinafter referred to as the "Center"), several blue seedling trays in a thin-film greenhouse and 1,500 young seedlings growing in the trays are almost affected. Chen Zhiqiang, the director of the center, is in the heart of everyone of ordinary students.

Because the seeds that cultivated these seedlings were once passengers of the world-renowned Chang'e-5 probe.

　　"They are called Hangju Xiangsi Miao, they are truly the second generation of space, and they are also the farthest rice seeds in human history. It is not an exaggeration to say that these rice seeds have expanded the research boundaries and imagination of human space breeding. "Chen Zhiqiang said.

The superposition of good genes makes the seeds better and better

　　In fact, space breeding is nothing new.

In the 1960s, the United States, the Soviet Union, Canada, Japan and other countries have begun to carry out space mutation breeding experiments one after another, and my country joined them in the 1980s.

There is no shortage of high-quality varieties cultivated in this way on people's tables today.

　　The reason for space breeding is that there is a big gap between the space environment and the ground environment.

Under the action of the universe's high vacuum, microgravity, weak magnetic field, and complex radiation, the genetic material of organisms will mutate, and new traits will be produced from this.

These traits can be preserved and used as new germplasm resources, which solves the problem that scientists are limited by ground resources and cannot collect new and diverse traits.

　　The second generation of space is called because of the seeds of this time, the father and mother are the results of previous space breeding.

The male parent "Huahang 31" is currently the dominant variety in Guangdong Province, and the female parent "Hanghui 1508" has also been introduced into more than 20 excellent genes with intellectual property rights.

To make the various traits of the seeds even better is the expectation of the scientific researchers for this piggyback experiment.

　　After being sent by the Aerospace Breeding Industry Innovation Alliance and South China Agricultural University for a 23-day, 760,000-kilometer round-the-moon trip, these seeds encountered the Van Allen radiation belt and sunspot bursts.

"On the ground, researchers use radiation, heavy ions and other radiation, or simulate the microgravity environment under the micro space to carry out seed mutagenesis. In contrast, the deep space environment is extremely unique and is expected to produce stronger genetic effects. "Guo Tao, deputy director of the center, said that these seeds contain 40,000 genes. After the genes are changed in the deep space environment, they can be tracked to find the good genes that can be used.

"Ben Yue" seeds are expected to be planted in the field at the end of March

　　This time, the Huanong National Plant Aerospace Breeding Engineering Technology Research Center, which brought the "Flying to the Moon" seeds to Guangdong for sowing, is a dominant unit in domestic rice research and a leading national scientific research platform in the field of aerospace breeding.

Since 1996, the center has bred 57 new rice varieties, which have passed the variety certification at all levels, including 4 super rice varieties recognized by the Ministry of Agriculture, and won the Ministry of Education Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award, the National Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Harvest Award, and Guangdong Science and Technology 9 provincial and ministerial awards including awards.

　　Since the seed returned to the center at the end of 2020, it has begun to adapt to life on the earth again.

"After the seeds came back, we did several things. The first is to measure their weight, and the second is to divide the seeds into 2 parts, one part is used as germplasm resources and specimens for permanent preservation, and the other part is used for seed germination, seedling growth and comparison for comparison. Experiment." Guo Tao said.

　　The seed sowing at the end of February this year is based on the on-demand method. Each on-demand disk is marked with a stroke on the four sides, and each seed is marked by positioning on the horizontal and vertical axes. The label is equivalent to the name of the seed. On this basis, establish seed files to track the growth status of each seed.

　　Guo Tao introduced that after the sowing, the seedlings are expected to be transplanted to the field at the end of March. At this time, samples will be taken of each plant, including the leaves and seeds of the mature season.

After sampling, it is analyzed with modern biological technology to help clarify genome changes, select good individuals, and locate high-quality genes.

　　"This batch of rice is expected to be harvested at the end of June, and then planted for the second generation. If it goes well, the breeding results are expected to appear initially at the end of next year." Guo Tao said, according to the general rules of space breeding, 4 to 5 After generations, the excellent characters of rice can be stabilized, and new rice varieties with high quality and high yield can be selected.

Let agricultural "chips" serve national seed security

　　"Seeds are agricultural'chips', and ensuring seed safety is a major strategy determined by the country. After careful consideration, the lunar exploration project chose the Aerospace Breeding Industry Innovation Alliance to carry out seed deep-space loading work, hoping to closely integrate major aerospace projects with modern agricultural development , To jointly improve China’s food security level.” When the seeds of “Fan to the Moon” were handed over to South China Agricultural University, Liu Tongjie, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Aerospace Engineering Center, said.

　　Chen Zhiqiang introduced that rice is the most important food crop in my country and the cornerstone of the country's long-term stability.

The scale of my country's seed industry market is close to 100 billion, but the level of independent innovation in the seed industry needs to be improved. The excellent genes and germplasm resources with independent intellectual property rights are an important link in improving the ability of my country's rice variety selection and breeding, and it is also a problem in my country's modern seed industry. one.

　　"This time the deep-space mutagenesis experiment carried out on a Chinese aircraft is 100% Chinese original and will surely produce a large number of original scientific and technological achievements." Chen Zhiqiang said that he hopes that the use of Chang'e-5 to carry out deep-space flight is expected to help Humans have a deeper understanding of the molecular and genetic mechanisms of how rice responds to the deep space environment, providing theoretical support for exploring the origin of life, species evolution, and aerospace biological safety; acquiring a batch of valuable new genes and forming complete key gene utilization technologies The system serves the selection and breeding of rice varieties; a batch of high-yield, high-quality, multi-resistant, and green new rice varieties are selected to meet the needs of diversified industries, and promoted and applied through the cooperation of industry, university and research to improve the level of food security in China.

(Our reporter Wang Zhongyao and Wu Chunyan)