China's seed industry flourishing amid tech innovation

* In recent years, technological innovations in Nanfan have been revolutionizing China's seed industry at an unparalleled pace.

* The Hainan Seed Industry Laboratory has partnered with enterprises to develop technologies that directly address their needs.

* Taking a leading position in seed breeding, Nanfan has attracted more foreigners to learn its expertise and innovative technologies in recent years.

SANYA -- A high-tech steel framework -- resembling a colossal gantry crane -- glides over an experimental field in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, helping seed specialists develop better varieties and cultivation strategies.

Spanning 5.7 meters in height and 21 meters in width, the self-developed high-throughput phenotyping platform is equipped with modular imaging units, including 3D laser scanning and thermal infrared imaging, and can collect real-time data throughout the crops' growth cycle with the use of AI technology.

"In the past, we had to manually measure plant height, leaf shape and other traits. Now, we can remotely control this platform to collect crop information, which eases the burden on breeding experts and accelerates their research progress," said Li Yichao, a research assistant at the National Nanfan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in Sanya.

Thanks to its warm climate in winter and spring, Nanfan has been a renowned national breeding base since the 1950s. While inspecting Nanfan in 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted its role as an invaluable platform for agricultural research.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, urged building Nanfan into a "Silicon Valley" for agriculture that encompasses research, production, sales, sci-tech exchanges and research results transformation to benefit the whole nation.

In recent years, technological innovations in Nanfan have been revolutionizing China's seed industry at an unparalleled pace. A surge of advanced breeding technologies is flourishing here, continually injecting fresh dynamism into the field.

This photo taken on Feb. 21, 2024 shows a high-throughput phenotyping platform under Nanfan breeding base in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province. [Xinhua/Luo Jiang]

SMART BREEDING

Traditional breeding relies heavily on experience. Li Huihui, deputy director of the National Nanfan Research Institute of CAAS, is trying to transform this experience into a science.

The intelligent breeding platform developed by Li's team has recently managed to select 1,000 rice materials based on 341 parental samples.

If the 341 parental samples are all used to breed new varieties, their pairwise combinations could yield some 56,000 offspring with various traits, and screening them for superior ones would consume an enormous amount of labor and resources, Li Huihui said.

The intelligent platform, jointly launched by the CAAS' National Nanfan Research Institute and Crop Sciences Institute, as well as the DAMO Academy, Alibaba's scientific research arm, integrates data management, analysis and optimization with large models and computing power.

The whole-genome sequencing data of the 341 parent samples were uploaded to the platform, and its AI algorithms predicted and selected the top 1,000 offspring materials that exhibited the best possible traits.

"We design algorithms to distill the wisdom of breeders from data, which is reflected in mathematical models," Li Huihui said. "These models can be seen as a 'brain.' Once we have new materials and genetic data, we can use the brain's 'logical thinking' to predict how such genotypes will develop in the future before field trials, saving breeders a lot of time."

A technician conducts an experiment at a lab under Nanfan breeding base in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, May 17, 2024. [Xinhua/Li Duojiang]

MARKET ALIGNMENT

In recent years, the Hainan Seed Industry Laboratory has partnered with enterprises to develop technologies that directly address their needs. This collaborative approach effectively pools resources from businesses, social capital and academia.

"Enterprises understand their challenges best, so proposed research projects are based on actual needs," said Huang Hefei, an official at the laboratory. "We also invite enterprises to participate in the project management and evaluation process, allowing them to verify the outcomes for application."

Xu Miaoyun, the vice dean of the Nanfan College, Graduate School of CAAS, and her team were chosen for a project of "discovering lodging-resistant genes for corns and renovating their germplasm," a challenge raised by a seed enterprise.

The deterioration of the climate and the increase in natural disasters have made plant lodging a serious problem for corn growers in China.

Xu's team identified eight genes with resistance to lodging in just one year and blended these genes with the enterprise's breeding materials. They also collaborated with researchers from the enterprise to conduct field trials on these new materials.

The collaboration has achieved a rapid transformation of scientific research results, shortening the breeding cycle by two to three years compared to the traditional approach.

Chen Qing (L), a professor at the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, harvests cassava with a Nigerian student at an experimental field under Nanfan breeding base in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, May 15, 2024. [Xinhua/Li Duojiang]

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Taking a leading position in seed breeding, Nanfan has attracted more foreigners to learn its expertise and innovative technologies in recent years.

Chen Qing, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS), has been focusing on green and integrated pest management for cassava in Sanya for many years.

In 2023, his team welcomed a new addition, Oluwole Gregory Ijiti, who is from Nigeria, the world's largest cassava producer by harvested area.

"My student is tackling the Tetranychus Urticae, a pest that heavily impacts his nation's cassava crops," Chen said. "By merging insect and pesticide resistance studies, we aim to develop pest-resistant cassava varieties, ensuring both high yields and green approaches."

"My main goal is to enhance the resistance of cassava varieties to these pests," said Gregory.

Over the years, Chinese research institutions have developed new cassava varieties and technologies that are now being adopted in countries like Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, Uganda and Cambodia, covering over 10 million mu (about 670,000 hectares).

"Such collaboration is beneficial to both countries, and will lead to advancements beyond our national boundaries, helping to alleviate poverty and hunger," Gregory said.  

Reporting by Chen Liangjie, Zhang Dan, Quan Xiaoshu, Wang Huiyu, Wang Chenxi, Luo Jiang and Chen Kaizi; Video reporter: Li Duojiang; Video editor: Liang Saiyu.