530,000 new genetic materials collected
Growing push for food security drives largest survey of nation’s germplasm resources
The largest-ever national survey of germplasm resources, carried out over the past three years amid Beijing’s heightened focus on the seed industry’s pivotal role in ensuring food security, has collected more than 530,000 new types of genetic material.
The survey for the first time added aquatic resources to its original scope of crops and livestock, the People’s Daily said.
The findings expanded the variety of crop germplasm resources in the national repository by 21.4 per cent, pinpointed 51 livestock and poultry germplasm resources with potential use value and identified the biological characteristics of 312 pivotal aquaculture species.
“These newly collected resources have significant potential for industrial development, with some harbouring excellent genes and some exhibiting distinct regional characteristics,” said Li Lihui, deputy director at the office of the Third National Agricultural Germplasm Resources Census.
Germplasm resources are seeds, plant or animal tissues that are kept for the genetic material they contain and are used in breeding programmes.
Agricultural experts highlighted the survey’s significance in attaining technological self-reliance in the seed industry, as well as keeping germplasm resources “independent and controllable”.
During the survey, China also built a relatively comprehensive protection system for germplasm resources which could meet its strategic needs for the next 50 years.
The developments came amid Beijing’s escalating efforts towards self-reliance in the seed industry, which is positioned as “strategic and fundamental” to agriculture despite being acknowledged as a vulnerable aspect of China’s push for food security.
China’s Seed Law came into effect in March 2022, aimed at addressing an over-reliance on imports from major exporters, including the United States, and a lack of innovative breeding technologies.
“The collection in the survey is the first step in conserving and leveraging germplasm resources, with the ultimate goal being their utilisations,” added Li, who is also a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. “It is imperative to speed up the conversion of resource strengths into innovative and industrial advantage.”
Sun Haoqin, an inspector from the Department of Seed Industry at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the focus would pivot to the precise identification and shared use of germplasm resources to support China’s food security, as well as encouraging local use of the resources to develop speciality industries.
“Many newly discovered germplasm resources are in a precarious state and require simultaneous and effective protection to prevent loss after discovery,” he added.