"Firmly hold the local variety in your own hands" (Deep Reading, Seed Industry Revitalization in Action)

To secure China's rice bowl, good seeds are the key. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the safety of seed sources and the revitalization of the seed industry, and urged "using Chinese seeds to ensure China's food security" and "firmly holding the local varieties in their own hands".

This year is the third year of China's implementation of the seed industry revitalization action, according to the overall arrangement of "one year to make a good start, three years to lay the foundation, five years to achieve results, ten years to achieve major breakthroughs", all parties work together, from the aspects of germplasm resources protection and utilization, innovative research, enterprise support, base upgrading, etc., to promote the continuous development of China's modern seed industry, so that more fine seeds to the fertile field.

Find out the bottom line, protect and use

This year is the end of the national agricultural germplasm resources census. From 2021 to 2023, in order to find out the background of agricultural germplasm resources in China, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs carried out the third national census and collection of crop germplasm resources.

"In the past three years, in order to find high-quality farmer seeds, we have traveled more than 3,8000 kilometers and traveled to more than 20 townships in the city." Wang Bangtai, director of the Molecular Breeding Laboratory of the Hebi Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Henan Province, said. At present, Hebi City has taken the lead in Henan Province to comprehensively complete the census and collection of crop germplasm resources, and a total of 121 germplasm resources have been collected.

Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs organized and completed three batches of national agricultural germplasm resources census and acceptance in 3 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities). In the next step, the remaining 18 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps will be surveyed and accepted to ensure that the task of resource collection is fully completed.

Germplasm resources are the basis for innovation in breeding. The long-term strategic preservation of germplasm resources in the national crop germplasm resource bank (garden) has reached more than 53,10, ranking second in the world, of which more than half have been distributed and shared. According to statistics, in recent years, the national library (garden) has distributed more than 1500,<> resources every year, serving more than <>,<> breeding innovation subjects, providing germplasm resource guarantee for supporting China's scientific research and breeding, the output of major seed industry results and food security.

Walking into the basement floor of the Heilongjiang Beidahuang Kenfeng Seed Industry R&D Building, behind the air conditioning and the heavy insulation door is a germplasm resource bank with a storage capacity of 40,18 copies. "It is a 'genetic treasure trove' for the development and breeding of new crop varieties. The temperature of the long-term reservoir is minus 50 degrees Celsius, and after <> years the seeds will still maintain their original characteristics. Cheng Huayu, head of the company's germplasm resources department, said.

More than 10 researchers are "grading" the germplasm resources under the microscope, and screening them layer by layer from the aspects of characteristic characteristics and pest resistance: those that have just entered the warehouse will be short-term preserved, those with flashing points will enter the medium-term library, and the high-quality resources will enter the long-term storage, and the preservation period will be 30 to 50 years.

Shuttling between the intelligent shelves with constant temperature and humidity, Cheng Huayu took a bag of seeds, gently scanned the electronic tag with the handheld terminal, and the germplasm resource information such as combination trait prediction and field trait collection jumped on the screen. "Each resource has its own 'family tree', 'ID card' and 'medical report'." Cheng Huayu said.

It is understood that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has taken multiple measures to solidly promote the sharing, protection and utilization of germplasm resources: publish a catalogue of agricultural germplasm resources that can be used to achieve openness and transparency; Organize and carry out accurate identification of germplasm resources, and clarify the characteristics of resources; Increase the display of excellent resources and promote good resources to the public.

With the help of science and technology, Nanfang takes root

After traveling in space aboard the Shenzhou series of manned spacecraft, the rice variety "Suijing 18" came to Sanya City, Hainan Province to germinate and tiller, and soon after, it will return to its birthplace, the experimental field of the Rice Research Institute of the Suihua Branch of the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

"Space breeding can create and accurately apply high-quality breeding materials faster, and Nanfang can achieve breeding plus generations 3 to 4 generations a year, which greatly accelerates the breeding process." Liu Zhaojun, director of the Institute of Biotechnology of the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that today, the breeding cycle that originally took 6 to 8 years has almost halved.

In recent years, under the promotion of the Aerospace Breeding Industry Innovation Alliance, batches of "seeds of hope" have taken off on the "Shenzhou" spacecraft and followed the "Chang'e" spacecraft around the moon to achieve mass space breeding.

In the laboratory of the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the crawler hums, and the transmission system sends rows of seeds into the analysis platform, and there are more than 18,<> molecular markers on each seed, which can quickly and accurately select seeds with excellent traits. "The palatability and other traits of seeds no longer need to be planted and then seen, touched, and tasted, but can be predicted in the laboratory." Liu Zhaojun said.

A good seed, coming out of the Nanfan experimental field, is inseparable from the efforts of scientific researchers. Speaking of corn breeding, researchers of the Hebi Academy of Agricultural Sciences will say a familiar name - Cheng Xiangwen.

In 60 years, the representative variety of corn cultivated by Cheng Xiangwen "Jundan 20" has brought tens of billions of yuan in economic benefits. "Research and Application of Breeding and Supporting Technology of Maize Single Seed 20" won the first prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. Today, the 8-acre experimental field in Hainan has developed into a 140-acre standardized corn breeding base, and the 87-year-old Cheng Xiangwen spends most of his days in the cornfield.

Since the implementation of the construction of the "Central Plains Agricultural Valley" in 2022, Henan Province has vigorously built a national first-class high oleic acid peanut breeding and seed production base, demonstrating and driving the development of the province's seed breeding and seed production industry. Yin Dongmei, the leader of the peanut discipline team of Henan Agricultural University, introduced that the peanut production industry is an agricultural category with international competitiveness and closed-loop dominance of the whole industrial chain in China, accounting for nearly 1% of the world's total peanut output. Henan Province has become the largest peanut producing area in China, accounting for 3/<> of the country's planting area and total output.

At present, the coverage rate of improved crop varieties in China is more than 96%, and the area of self-selected varieties accounts for more than 95%, ensuring that China's grain mainly uses Chinese seeds. At present, China's national seed industry bases have accelerated their layout, consisting of 216 crop bases, 262 livestock and poultry breeding farms, and 91 aquatic raw seed farms, and the supply guarantee capacity has increased from 70% to 75%.

Change to the right place and target the market

In recent years, China has continuously increased the intensity of breeding innovation, the number of varieties has increased significantly, the types have been continuously enriched, and a number of high-yield, stable-yield, high-quality green new varieties have been accelerated. New breakthroughs have been made in the selection and breeding of water-saving wheat and high-quality rice varieties, and the cultivation of new varieties such as high-yield and high-oil soybeans, short-growth rape, and salinity-tolerant crops has been accelerated.

More grain can also be harvested in saline-alkali soil. The wheat fields of Wan Xiaoqiang, a major grain farmer in Liuhu Town, Dongying, Shandong, are golden. "'Jimai 22' water-saving and drought-resistant varieties have increased yields by nearly 100 jin per mu." Wan Xiaoqiang raised his eyebrows, "This wheat variety is good, the yield is not reduced in dry land, the flour yield is high, and the pasta made is chewy." I planted 700 acres this year, and it is estimated that I can sell it for about 100 million yuan. ”

The 700 mu of land on which Wan Xiaoqiang grows wheat is saline-alkali land, and in the past, due to land conditions, only cotton could be grown. In recent years, with the continuous innovation of improved seed breeding, continuous improvement of saline-alkali land, and gradual optimization of planting methods, grain crops such as wheat and corn have achieved stable yield and increased yield on saline-alkali land.

It is understood that China's crop varieties have undergone 6 to 8 upgrading, especially in the past 10 years of the new era, the large-scale application of fine seeds has strongly supported the continuous improvement of grain production. Varieties such as "Jimai 22", "Dwarf 58" and "Bainong 207" have increased the average yield of wheat from 300 kg to 387.3 kg.

A box of tofu bubbles, left for a day, is still golden and full, full of tenacity, and has a fragrant taste. "This is produced with 'Dongsheng No. 7' soybeans." Li Yanhua, a researcher at the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a soybean processing company in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, conducted field research, "Different varieties of soybeans are suitable for processing different soybean products, and the product yield and quality are different between varieties. ”

Last fall, the "Dongsheng" series of soybean varieties developed by Li Yanhua's team were purchased at a price 0.5 yuan higher than that of ordinary soybeans per catty, precisely because their quality was recognized by many enterprises. When asked about breeding secrets, Li Yanhua said bluntly: "Close to the market, close to soybean farmers, only to know in my heart." What beans the enterprise likes, the old farmer likes the beans. Why? The purchase price is high. ”

For more than 30 years, Li Yanhua has spent more than 200 days in the field every year, more than 30 days in enterprises and farmers' homes to investigate, and set up more than a dozen soybean farmers' WeChat groups to exchange planting technology and market conditions at any time. More than 10 "Dongsheng" series soybean varieties cultivated by Li Yanhua have accumulated an area of hundreds of millions of mu, driving an increase in production of more than 20 billion jin and increasing farmers' income by more than 40 billion yuan.

Coordinator of this issue: Yang Shuobi

Typography design: Zhang Fangman

(People's Daily reporter Chang Qin, Yu Jingxian, Zhang Yikai)