China makes key breakthroughs in strengthening seed industry

China has made significant progress in strengthening the seed industry over the last three years, reaching important benchmarks like raising the percentage of high-quality seeds to 75 percent at national breeding bases with strong hybrid seed production capabilities in various counties and regions, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Wan Jianmin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the coverage rate of improved crop varieties is greater than 96 percent, while the area of self-selected varieties is greater than 95 percent. Rice and wheat, the two principal ration crop kinds, have reached complete self-sufficiency. The country's hybrid rice is internationally leading, and significant new crop varieties are emerging. 

China's strength in germplasm resources

"China is a big country in terms of germplasm resources, and cultivating more excellent varieties requires a solid foundation of resources," Wan said.

The term "germplasm resources" refers to the fundamental materials needed for the selection and development of new agricultural varieties. These materials include diverse artificial genetic materials as well as the reproduction materials of raised crop, animals, and rare strains that are endangered.

China will accelerate the cultivation of quality germplasm resources, promote innovations in the seed industry and nurture leading enterprises in the sector, said Zeng Yande, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Technology propels China's seed industry

Corn is a major source of animal feed, a staple meal and an industrial raw resource. When breeding experts select a variety, it is actually a process of combining the best genes together to select a good and stable gene.

In the past, the work used to rely heavily on field performance of the crops, so breeders can select the ideal ones, which had a certain level of randomness. Yet, with the advancement of science and technology, scientists can now accelerate the selection process by using a more precise and efficient method called molecular detection. In other words, molecular detection enables breeders to determine whether a crop material is desired or not from the genetic level.

In the Yangling Agricultural Hi-Tech Industrial Demonstration Zone, the high-throughput molecular diagnostic platform can generate about 400,000 data points every day, as each data point represents a specific characteristic of a particular segment of DNA in a maize seed.

"In the past, our breeding experts need to collect the desired traits in the field, which would take a long time and sometimes require a whole crop season to gather the necessary data," said Tang Xinrui, molecular detection scientist working with the Yangling Technology Center of Syngenta Group under China's Sinochem Holdings.

"But now, it may only take one to two weeks to obtain the desired traits or some of its characteristics through our molecular markers, which greatly accelerates our cultivation process and improves the speed of breeding," Tang added.