As the second call for technology verification experiment and application projects is made, a new batch of seeds are expected to be bred in China's space station.
In the space seed breeding demonstration base in Tongzhou District, Beijing, various kinds of seeds bred through space seed breeding technology can be seen growing in the greenhouse and surrounding fields.
The seeds were returned from space and have been selected and cultivated into new series and species that are expected to enrich people's food types after being grown in modern agricultural facilities with advanced techniques.
Improving agriculture production value
With completion of the construction of China's space station, the regular return flights of the Tianzhou cargo ship and the Shenzhou manned spacecraft have become an important way to carry goods for space seed breeding experiments.
According to announcements by the China Manned Space Engineering Office, the Shenzhou XIV and Shenzhou XV manned spacecraft carried a total of more than 1,300 crop seeds, microbial strains and other space breeding materials from 112 institutes, which will be selected and bred by breeders for production of new varieties.
Zhao Hui, secretary-general of the Space Breeding Industry Innovation Alliance, said that "more than 40,000 copies of space-based mutation seed materials have been created through the manned space program, breeding more than 460 new varieties of rice, wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, oilseeds and vegetables. The breeding has significantly improved crop yield and quality as well as created economic benefits of more than 360 billion yuan ($52.26 billion)."
Seed breeding has been an indispensable part of each space flight since launch of the Shenzhou-1 spacecraft.
Crews of the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft carried out cultivation experiments of Arabidopsis thaliana and rice seeds, realizing the first cultivation of rice throughout its life cycle in space.
China is a big country in terms of population and agriculture. The country has been conducting space-based mutation experiments and space-based breeding via return flights since 1987.
Space researchers and agricultural scientists use the space environments to induce genetic mutations of seed genes and then select and cultivate high yield, early maturing, disease resistant and high-quality seeds for reproduction, thus improving crop yield and quality.
Promoting exploration of modern agriculture
In the planting base of Shenzhou Lypeng Agricultural Science & Technology Co, Ltd, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, flowers are seen flourishing and red tomatoes are healthily growing.
A technical worker at the base said that "Fruits grown from the space-based cultivated tomato seeds can grow indefinitely, and the plants can keep flowering and fruiting, making the comprehensive yield far more than that of traditional varieties." With sensors that can help realize real-time monitoring of the greenhouse planting environment there is no more waiting for suitable days or relying on the weather.
With the rapid development of China's space-based technology, smart sensors and control systems, satellite remote sensing and other space technology has been used in the farming field, providing technological support for the digital development of agriculture.
At present, demonstration projects such as infinite growth tomato greenhouses and vegetable growth boxes have been launched in such areas as the South China Sea, Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region and Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, boosting modern agricultural development.
Boosting development of space-based agriculture
It was a major breakthrough when China's Chang'e 5 probe brought the soil samples from the Moon. Returned with them were more than 30 kinds of seeds of crops, forage plants and flowers, which was a breakthrough in deep-space seed mutation.
The seeds returned to the Earth were either cultivated into new varieties or became valuable materials for future study.
Experts said that space-based breeding experiments can help researchers learn about the molecular and genetic mechanisms of the organisms responding to the deep-space environment, and explore theoretical support for the origin of life, species evolution and space biosafety. It is also a way to obtain a number of outstanding new genes and form a complete key gene utilization technology system, which will contribute to germplasm selection and breeding.
Next, China will carry out construction of lunar research stations and deep-space exploration activities, calling for higher requirements for astronauts' food and energy supply in long-duration interplanetary travel. The space researchers and agricultural workers need to work together to cultivate plant varieties suitable for the space environment to create a life support system in line with the food chain cycle.
(Executive editor: Xie Yunxiao)
