A Review on the Protection and Utilization of Germplasm Resources in China

Since its implementation in 2000, the seed Law of the people's Republic of China has played an important role in improving the level of variety selection, cultivating multiple subjects of seed production and management, and standardizing the order of the seed market. However, with the development of socialist market economy, many new situations have emerged in seed production and management in China, and some provisions of the seed Law have not been adapted to it. To this end, in April 2015, the seed Law of the people's Republic of China (revised draft), submitted for consideration by the standing Committee of the National people's Congress, was open to the public for advice. among them, the protection and utilization of germplasm resources, which is the basis of breeding, has also aroused widespread concern because of its "foundation", "strategy" and other characteristics.

Germplasm resources are the genetic material passed from parents to offspring. It is not only the material basis for the cultivation of new varieties, but also the strategic resources for human survival and development. There are about 300000 species of plants on the earth, which are rich in germplasm resources. as long as a small part of them are excavated and utilized, it is enough to open up a broad world for crop breeding. So far, more than 1400 germplasm banks have been built in the world, and more than 7 million germplasm resources have been collected (including repeated preservation in various countries). Among them, the total number of germplasm resources preserved for a long time in China has reached 450000, ranking second in the world.

How important is "Wild Foundation"?

What is the effect of protecting the "wild foundation" on the development of agriculture and forestry?

Liu Xu, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, took "the first Green Revolution" as an example: in the 1960s and 1980s, dwarf genes from rice and wheat germplasm resources were introduced into other varieties by cross breeding technology, thus setting off a wave of "the first green revolution". The revolution has reduced the height of the world's major crops, but improved disease resistance, lodging resistance and yields. Up to now, the dwarf type is still dominant among the major crops in the world, in which the germplasm resources with dwarfing genes play an important role.

Yuan Longping, a famous hybrid rice expert and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the key to making great achievements in the field of hybrid rice is the discovery and application of wild rice male sterile lines.

In the 1950s, wheat stripe rust was prevalent in China. This epidemic disease, known as "wheat cancer", has the characteristics of wide area, high epidemic frequency and heavy damage, which will cause a huge loss of wheat yield.

Li Zhensheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and founder of Chinese wheat distant cross breeding, found that Thinopyrum elongatum had good resistance to stripe rust. After 20 years of efforts, he led the research team to successfully transfer the disease-resistant and stress-resistant genes of Thinopyrum into wheat and bred Xiaoyan 4, 5, 6, 54, 81 and other Xiaoyan series wheat varieties, of which Xiaoyan 6 alone promoted 150 million mu and increased grain production by 4 billion kg.

This is called "the mating of forage grass and wheat" in the history of agricultural breeding in China.

Hong Deyuan, a famous botanist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been devoted to the study of peonies. "Wild peonies have only purple, white and yellow," he said. "the pink, red, green, blue, black and complex colors of the nine major colors of peony did not exist before."

Once plain facing the sky, today colorful, peony has experienced what kind of changes, become the "king of flowers"? Through the genomic study of dozens of traditional peony varieties, Hong Deyuan found that most of them originated from the hybridization of several wild varieties in Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu and other regions.

Therefore, germplasm resources are not only related to the breeding of new varieties of agriculture and forestry, but also related to the sustainable development of agriculture and forestry and food security in China. At present, it is still an important guarantee basis for winning the initiative in the era of biological economy.

What is the "family background" of germplasm resources in China?

According to Academician Liu Xu, China is one of the eight centers of crop origin in the world, of which the most famous crops include rice, soybeans, tea trees and so on.

Since the implementation of the seed Law, China has made great efforts to promote the construction of agricultural germplasm resources. 450000 crop germplasm resources have been preserved for a long time, ranking second in the world. More than 50, 000 wild plant germplasm resources have been collected, more than 23000 germplasm resources have been introduced from abroad, and 59 endangered species have been protected. 100 national crop improvement centers, 46 state key laboratories and 59 national engineering and technological research centers for 26 crops have been established, and a special project for molecular breeding and the establishment of a technical system for 36 crop industries have been launched. more than 10,000 breeding materials with application value have been created.

According to statistics, relevant scientific research institutions have made use of these excellent germplasm resources to cultivate more than 350 new varieties such as grain, cotton, oil, tea, vegetables and fruits, covering an area of 198 million mu, resulting in huge social and economic benefits, with a direct output value of more than 10 billion yuan.

Forestry has established 2126 nature reserves, covering an area of 1.84 billion mu, accounting for 12.8% of the total land area; establishing 2583 forest parks, covering an area of 252 million mu, and listing and protecting 2.85 million rare, ancient and famous trees; and establishing 13 national special protection banks and 22 comprehensive protection banks for forest germplasm resources, preserving more than 2000 tree species and more than 50, 000 forest germplasm resources.