By Staff Reporters

In northern China, corn has a short growth period, which often includes adverse conditions such as drought, floods, high temperatures, insufficient light and diseases. Sowing and harvesting methods are also diverse — so faced with so many uncertainties, how can farmers ensure high and stable yields, along with high-quality products?

To solve this conundrum, a smart maize variety "Jingke 501" has been developed, Zhao Jiuran, researcher at the Maize Research Institute, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (BAAFS), told Science and Technology Daily.

The breeding of this new corn variety is a microcosm of the innovation in BAAFS' efforts to develop the seed industry. Over the years, it has made breakthroughs in breeding staple grains, vegetables, fruits and aquatic products. Today, many of its achievements are leading global seed breeding standards, enriching people's diets and safeguarding food security.

Intelligent breeding

With AI-driven tools, the accuracy and efficiency of seed breeding have been greatly enhanced, said Wang Yuandong, a researcher at BAAFS.

At the 32nd China Beijing Seed Industry Conference held recently, Zhao's team released the Maize6H-60K chip. This high-density-high-quality SNP chip, utilizing whole-genome resequencing data from 388 representative maize inbred lines, was developed both at home and abroad. Based on this, the team successfully perfected a new molecular identification technology for corn that is compatible with solid-liquid chip platforms.

Along with the Maize6H-60K chip, BAAFS unveiled the QeeG large model. As a service platform, it has gathered 1,165 datasets including grains, oil plants, fruits and vegetables, as well as 170 million cross-domain knowledge rules, and can provide full-chain services such as variety screening, pest and disease identification, and intelligent Q&A.

In fact, as early as eight years ago, BAAFS launched China's first large-scale breeding data management platform with independent intellectual property rights, known as the Golden Seed Breeding Cloud Platform. Currently, this platform has served 268 breeding enterprises and achieved full-process information management.

BAAFS has made breakthroughs in multiple key breeding technologies and has obtained over 100 international or national patents. In conjunction with the QeeG large model and service platforms, an intelligent breeding ecosystem integrating data, algorithms and technology has been established.

Innovative ecology

With funding from the Beijing municipality, BAAFS has been continuously and steadily promoting research on breeding, including the protection of germplasm resources, making breakthroughs in basic research, building technology platforms, and upgrading modern breeding technologies.

To date, BAAFS has established 29 various national and Beijing-level agricultural and seed industry innovation platforms. The total number of large-scale instruments and equipment shared by all these platforms amounts to 1,040 units.

Meanwhile, the innovation system established by BAAFS covers the entire seed industry chain, including the collection of germplasm resources, theoretical research, variety breeding quality control, promotion and application.

"Breeding technology has been upgraded into a precise design that integrates multiple disciplines. We will further optimize our expert team to integrate technology innovation and talent cultivation with the industrial chain, and continuously inject impetus into the seed industry," Yang Guohang, the vice president of the BAAFS, said.

International contribution

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), BAAFS has achieved impressive results, cultivating over 500 new varieties of fruits and vegetables with independent intellectual property rights, covering more than 1,800 counties and cities across the country.

Furthermore, BAAFS was first to complete the de novo sequencing and genome analysis of an important core germplasm of corn, "Huangzao Si," and constructed the first high-throughput molecular breeding technology platform for vegetables, providing a foundation for the cultivation of major varieties.

Internationally, the academy also took the lead in constructing the complete genome maps and variation maps of fruit and vegetables such as watermelon, pumpkin, Chinese cabbage and cauliflower, and identified over 60 key genes for important traits.

BAAFS's high-quality fruit and vegetable varieties have been exported to over 20 countries, including the United States, Japan, and Vietnam. The "Jingkenuo 2000" variety of fresh corn has become the main cultivated variety in countries along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) route, such as Vietnam. Through technology transfer, China's new seed varieties are helping the agricultural development of the countries participating in the BRI, said Zou Guoyuan, Director of the Transformation and Promotion Department of BAAFS.