China News Service, Kunming, January 3rd (Reporter Hu Yuanhang) The reporter learned from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences on the 3rd that the Institute summarized the exchange of economic plants along the land Silk Road, showing that mustard, lettuce, buckwheat, chickpea 14 crops including beans were introduced to China along the overland Silk Road.

　　According to researchers, about 10,000 years ago, humans domesticated crops such as wheat, potatoes, rice, and corn, which caused huge changes in human production and lifestyle.

Two of the world's earliest centers of crop domestication arose on the east and west sides of Eurasia. Barley and wheat were domesticated in the fertile crescent (Fertile Crescent) of West Asia, while rice and millet were domesticated in the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers of China, respectively. Watershed domestication.

In the 2nd century BC, the ancient Silk Road became the most important land route for cultural exchanges between the East and the West.

Among them, crops are an important part of the exchanges between China and the West along the Silk Road, and have had an important impact on the production and life of people along the Silk Road.

However, the dispersal routes of some crops are still controversial.

　　Recently, based on archaeological, genetic and genomic evidence, the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences integrated the propagation routes of 207 crops along the land Silk Road, focusing on the analysis of 19 crops (highland barley, mustard, lettuce) with genomic evidence. , buckwheat, chickpeas, barley, wheat, dates, pistachios, alfalfa, walnuts, broccoli, grapes, spinach, apples, cucumbers, mulberries, peas).

The genomic evidence of five crops, barley, mustard, lettuce, buckwheat, and chickpea, is in significant conflict with archaeological and genetic evidence, and the data and data are incomplete (uncertain wild species, incomplete ancient cultural sites and unearthed cultural relics records, complex phenotypic variation, limited population size), discrepancies in records from different periods, and differences in data analysis techniques may be the main reasons for the conflict.

The genomic evidence of 14 crops including barley, wheat, jujube, pistachio, turmeric, alfalfa, walnut, broccoli, grape, spinach, apple, cucumber, mulberry, and pea was consistent with archaeological and genetic evidence.

　　The researchers also further analyzed the relationship between the transmission routes of 19 crops and the Silk Road on land. Among them, the four crops of highland barley, barley, wheat, and jujube spread to China earlier than the Silk Road, and mustard greens, lettuce, buckwheat, The 14 crops of chickpeas, turnips, alfalfa, walnuts, broccoli, grapes, spinach, apples, cucumbers, mulberry trees, and peas were introduced to China along the overland Silk Road. The relationship between the transmission route of pistachios and the Silk Road still not clear.

　　The research results were published online on BMC Plant Biology under the title of Exchanges of economic plants along the land silk road.

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