The first batch of cloned orchids in Shaoxing came out.

"these more than a dozen orchid seedlings that have already taken root are cultivated by us through cloning technology." Yesterday, laboratory researchers of the Institute of Biotechnology of Shaoxing Academy of Agricultural Sciences showed to reporters the first batch of orchids cultivated by transgenic technology.

According to Chu Jianfeng, a researcher at the institute, as early as the late 1990s, cloned orchids had already entered the market, and many orchid lovers were deceived. Cloned orchids with a few yuan per seedling were sold for dozens or even hundreds of times the price on the market.

Zheng Qi of the Institute of Biology of the Shaoxing Academy of Agricultural Sciences said that if the orchid cloning technology is applied to industrial production, it will be not difficult for precious orchid varieties worth hundreds of thousands of yuan to breed tens of thousands of seedlings a year. Now ordinary cultivation is no more than two seedlings a year, with a maximum of four seedlings.

At the same time, he said that he would not consider using the cloning technology of orchids for industrialization for the time being.

Ma Xingyuan, a member of the Chinese Orchid Association and a senior orchid researcher in Shaoxing, believes that cloning technology has not really affected the orchid market at present.

He said that cloning technology must first solve the problem of female parents, which currently uses orchid seeds, which is very difficult for precious orchid varieties to bear fruit. Secondly, the habits of cloned orchids are not completely consistent with their maternal parents. Third, it is also a problem for test-tube orchids to survive outdoors. Due to various economic interests, the cloning of orchids has aroused the opposition of many orchid farmers for a time.

"if the fertility of orchids is developed according to the traditional fertility of only one seedling of orchid every year, it will be very difficult for precious orchids to enter the families of ordinary people and be appreciated by more people." A local orchid farmer surnamed Qian believes that orchid cloning technology is developing rapidly after all, and it may not be far away to let precious orchids into ordinary families.