After planting in front of Tomb-Sweeping Day, Wang Tousheng, a farmer from Bizhou Town, suichuan county City, Jiangxi Province, came to the paddy field every three to five times to check the growth of "space lotus". "Look, all the leaves have grown now, and the harvest can’t be wrong if they are well managed in the later period."
"Lotus seeds that have been in space are different. The yield per mu doubles and the taste is fresh and sweet." Wang Tousheng opened the chatterbox. "The yield per mu is 1,000 Jin, and the gross income is 6,000 yuan. It is really a rich lotus."
The "lotus seeds that have been in space" mentioned by Wang Tousheng is the result of space breeding "Space Lotus 36", and now the promotion area exceeds 20 million mu, accounting for more than 80% of the national white lotus planting area.
"Space breeding, also known as space breeding, is to let seeds enter space on a recoverable spacecraft and use special environments such as cosmic rays, microgravity and high vacuum to induce genetic variation of seeds. After the seeds return to the ground, the excellent heritable variation is selected to cultivate new varieties of high quality, high yield and multi-resistance plants. " Liu Luxiang, secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Crop Science of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and chief scientist of the National Aerospace Breeding Project, introduced.
In August 1987, China’s ninth recoverable satellite carried rice, pepper and other seeds for the first time, which started the space journey of China’s crop seeds. According to reports, at present, China has carried out more than 3,000 experiments in space breeding, bred more than 260 varieties of staple food, and hundreds of new varieties of vegetables, fruits, forests, grasses and flowers, increasing grain production by more than 2 billion kilograms annually, creating direct economic benefits of more than 100 billion yuan.
A large number of new varieties of aerospace breeding have entered the market, stepped onto the table and entered daily life.
In Shouguang City, the hometown of vegetables, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and other vegetables grow well in the aviation breeding exhibition area of Hall 10 of China International Vegetable Science and Technology Expo. "There are 13 new varieties displayed here, all of which are representatives of aerospace breeding achievements, with the advantages of high yield, high quality, early maturity and strong disease resistance." Ma Zunjuan, head of the venue, introduced.
In the early years, 47 grams of Qingfeng No.1 wheat seeds, 20 grams of Majiagou celery seeds, 21 grams of Dahuangbu watermelon seeds and 10 grams of cherry tomato seeds from pingdu city flew into space with China’s Shenzhou VII manned spacecraft. After the seeds returned to the ground, breeding and hybridization techniques were used to enrich the breeding genetic resources and provide sufficient technical reference and support for cultivating new varieties with higher yield, stronger resistance and better quality.
"Space tomatoes have been bred for five generations now, and citizens can try them early this summer." These tomatoes are dark in color and relatively large in size. Wu Renjie, secretary of the Party branch of Dahuangtun Village, Mingcun Town, pingdu city, said that this year, 5 mu of space tomatoes were planted in the village, which are good in growth, big in size, high in yield and very sweet. "According to expert testing, the lycopene contained in it is 4 to 6 times higher than that of ordinary tomatoes."
Cranberry, which originated in North America, has now become a specialty of Heilongjiang. In order to cultivate a new variety of cranberries with independent intellectual property rights, cranberry seeds from Fuyuan City, Heilongjiang Province have taken the shenzhou spaceship twice. Colored peppers bigger than fists, big and sweet strawberries … Space seeds germinate on the ground, adorning people’s dining tables and enriching people’s taste buds.
"From food crops, vegetables and fruits to flowers and grasses, a large number of new varieties of aerospace breeding have entered the market, stepped onto the table and entered daily life." Liu Luxiang introduced that China has used various spacecraft to carry plant seeds, strains, test-tube seedlings, etc., and cultivated and applied a series of new varieties from major grain, cotton and oil crops such as wheat, rice, corn, soybeans, rapeseed, peanuts and cotton, as well as horticultural crops such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, which have also been popularized and applied in pasture, trees and flowers.
After "space travel", there is still a long way to go to become a real space seed.
Not all seeds will change wonderfully after days. Some seeds fly in space for a week, and the longest one travels in space for 27 days, and the probability of being able to change may be only one thousandth or even a few ten thousandths. "Whether it is aerospace breeding or other breeding methods, in the final analysis, it is a process of creating mutation, selecting mutation, and then using mutation. Breeding experts cultivate space seeds, not only pursuing yield, but also paying attention to excellent traits such as quality improvement and nutrition improvement. " Liu Luxiang introduced.
Seed screening is the first step in space breeding. "Every gram of load resources of spacecraft is precious, and the seeds of heaven are carefully selected." Liu Luxiang said that there are many kinds of aerospace breeding materials, including seeds of major crops and cash crops, seeds of different local characteristics and rare species, and microbial strains. In recent years, with the promotion of the National Aerospace Breeding Cooperation Group and the Aerospace Breeding Industry Innovation Alliance, batches of "seeds of hope" have been launched by the shenzhou spaceship and followed by the Chang ‘e spacecraft around the moon, thus realizing batch aerospace breeding.
"Space travel" is the second step. After that, there is still a long way to go to become a real space seed. According to reports, it will take at least 8-10 years to cultivate more mature varieties. In the long process of breeding, every item such as yield, resistance, quality and market value must pass. If there is a problem in any link, it may lead to the abandonment of all previous efforts. "A large number of strains were eliminated during the test, and only those that passed the variety approval (or identification) of professional institutions were called space seeds, and the proportion was very small." Liu Luxiang said.
Today, the planting area of wheat through aerial breeding in and around Hulunbeier, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has reached more than 2 million mu. "Space breeding is just a mutation method. The breeding method after returning to the ground is not much different from conventional breeding." Yang Guangwei, a technician of Hulunbeier Agricultural Reclamation Labudanlin Farm Ranch Co., Ltd., introduced that after the seeds come back, they should be planted for the first time on the ground, and then select the single plant with good variation for the second generation planting, and then plant the good mutant offspring for the third generation, and finally obtain a stable new variety after multiple generations of breeding.
On March 8, Beidahuang Potato Industry Group signed a cooperation agreement with Guangmei Aerospace Breeding R&D Center of Aerospace Biological Group for a three-year cooperation period. During the experiment, the potato industry in Beidahuang will provide potato granules (three varieties) and potato seedlings (three combinations) for carrying experiments. "Seed potato is the key to the healthy development of potato industry. At present, space breeding has become an important way to create new germplasm resources. " Ma Li, the relevant person in charge of Beidahuang Potato Industry Group, said.
China Space Station was officially completed, and a new space breeding system based on the space station was established.
In the hall of the Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, all kinds of space seeds are packed in rows of transparent jars with variety labels. It has been 30 years since the Institute of Crop Science of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences started the research of space breeding in 1994.
"Luyuan 502" is a high-yield and high-quality wheat variety selected by the Institute of Crop Science of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Institute of Atomic Energy Agricultural Application of Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and it is also the largest crop variety in China’s space breeding at present. "’Luyuan 502′ has solved the problem that wheat varieties with large ears are prone to lodging, and has become the leading variety in China, with a cumulative promotion of 100 million mu." Liu Luxiang said.
Rice, wheat, cotton, vegetables … Using aerial breeding technology, China has cultivated a series of new crop varieties with high yield and high quality. The national super rice variety Ⅱ Youhang No.1 has achieved the synergistic improvement of high yield and high quality, and created and maintained the world record of ratooning rice yield per 100 mu. Hangmai 802, a high-yield and high-quality noodle wheat variety approved by Hebei Province in 2021, has outstanding salt tolerance and comprehensive disease resistance and strong adaptability. Hangmai 106, a high-yield and high-quality wheat variety approved by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 2022, has strong resistance to powdery mildew, leaf rust and stripe rust and high dietary fiber content.
One of the keys of space breeding is the space carrying of seed materials. In 2006, the national space breeding cooperation group was established, and the space breeding project was launched in conjunction with relevant parties, and the first breeding satellite "Practice 8" was launched. According to the plan, in 2024, China Academy of Space Technology will jointly promote the reusable recoverable satellite project and launch the second special satellite for space breeding. At the same time, good progress has been made in the research on the mechanism of space mutation by simulating cosmic particles with high-energy accelerators on the ground.
"It is worth mentioning that now we have our own space station and started space breeding in the space station era." Liu Luxiang said that breeding experts can carry out real space mutation breeding by developing extravehicular exposure equipment and technology of space radiation biology, and build a new space breeding system based on the space station. On the one hand, they can accurately design and deeply analyze the space mutation mechanism, on the other hand, they can carry out key technologies of space breeding and major gene mutation excavation and character integration, and develop diversified new varieties. Next, we will combine major projects such as promoting the revitalization of seed industry, give full play to the advantages of space breeding in the creation of new provenances, and carry out collaborative research.
Layout design: Cai Huawei
People’s Daily (April 12, 2024, 07 edition)
