A person works at the Jingjiang Xiangsha taro propagation base. [Photo/zhjjwx.jsjjw.cn]
The cultivation experience of Xiangsha taro from Jingjiang, a county-level city in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, has received national recognition and promotion in recent years.
The Jingjiang Xiangsha taro is often called the "chestnut of taro", with its improved new variety Jingjiang Taro One having a richer chestnut flavor and higher average yield.
However, the developing Jingjiang's taro industry hasn't been without its challenges.
Zhang Peitong, an expert from the Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that the degeneration of taro varieties is a widespread issue across all production areas. This problem can result in lower yields, shorter storage times, and a decline in taste.
From 2011 to 2014, the city's agricultural department tasked the JAAS with propagating healthy Xiangsha taro seedlings. However, the effort proved unsuccessful.
The experiments' conclusions indicated that the traditional method of virus-free seedling propagation, which involves the "bud-to-bud" technique conducted in a laboratory setting, is prone to causing significant variation in taros.
The following research and development involved directly cultivating virus-free taro buds into healthy seedlings, blocking the propagation of variations, and finally yielding genuine Xiangsha taro.
Subsequently, the agricultural department, in collaboration with the JAAS, selected nearly 140 local taro varieties from throughout the city. Through this process, they cultivated healthy seedlings using the best taro varieties, leading to Jingjiang Taro One's successful debut in 2020.
In recent years, Jingjiang has established the province's largest taro seedling base, specializing in the propagation of Jingjiang Taro One and supplying seedlings to local farmers.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has taken the experience of Jingjiang's taro cultivation as the only typical case of taro production, and promoted it across the country.