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Source: Global Times

[Global Times Comprehensive Report] According to the Interesting Engineering website on the 15th, scientists are using global wheat samples collected a hundred years ago to carry out selective breeding. Some of the selected wheat varieties being developed can grow in saline-alkali land, some have stronger disease resistance, and others can reduce the need for chemical fertilizers.

After the end of World War I, British botanist Watkins started the global wheat sample collection work, which was stored in the John Innes Center in the UK. A research report published in the journal Nature last month pointed out that in the process of modern agricultural development, more than 67% of the genetic diversity of modern wheat varieties has been lost. Scientists call the global wheat samples retained by the Innes Center a "genetic gold mine" for optimal breeding, and the new optimal breeding work is based on this "gold mine".

It is worth mentioning that the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences team cooperated with international experts to carry out research and made key contributions to the sequencing of the wheat genome. Experts from the Innas Center said that the wheat genome is very complex, and sequencing is costly and difficult. The center handed over wheat samples to the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences team for sequencing, and received the crucial wheat genome data three months later. (Zhen Xiang)