China has collected 124,000 new agricultural germplasm resources during the country's third census since 2015, said a conference on seed industry held in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province.

Many of these resources are unique not only in terms of their significance in scientific research but also in the study of local culture and special functions in food and healthcare, Liu Xu, an academic of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said during the ongoing 2023 China Seed Congress and Nanfan Agricultural Silicon Valley Forum.

"We'll write and publish the work report of the census work for the next step, analyzing the current situation and development trend of agricultural germplasm resources in China and providing scientific suggestions for strengthening the protection and utilization of germplasm resources," said Liu.

China has accelerated the cataloging and storage of germplasm resources in recent years. World-class national crop and marine fishery biological germplasm resource banks have been built in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.