The new seeds which travelled aboard the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft in outer space for three months are exhibited. [Photo/Changjiang Daily]

At a seminar on space breeding and rural revitalization on Dec 10, seeds which travelled aboard the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft in outer space for three months were officially transferred to Wuhan.

Why were they brought to outer space? At the highly vacant and clean environment in space, gravity, radiation, ultra-high speeds, temperature changes, and unusual magnetic induction lines trigger genetic mutations in ordinary seeds, allowing new breeds to come into being.

The seeds transferred to Wuhan will be further selected at the National Aerospace Breeding Technology Transfer Center (Wuhan) Scientific Research Demonstration Base, located in Zhangwan village, East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC).

The seed industry has become a strategic sector in China, and is crucial to both China's crop security and agricultural modernization.

The country's space mutation breeding has become a major avenue to improving the quality of seed varieties, as China's aerospace and aviation industries are taking off.

New breeds are not restricted to crops, vegetables, fruit, and oil crops, but also include flowers, trees, herbs and bacteria.