Ding Zhaotang: "Dr. Tea" with Strong Science and Technology

"people follow their heart and do what they like. If you don't have it yet, keep looking and don't give up!" This is the motto of Professor Ding Zhaotang of the Tea Research Institute of the College of Horticulture, and it is also a sentence that he often teaches his students.

Love breeding, only to promote northern tea

Qingdao Laoshan tea was introduced from the south to the north in the 1950s, but due to the limitation of producing area, the yield and quality have always been the bottleneck restricting its industrialization for more than half a century. The biggest problem facing the diversion of tea from the south to the north is "cold". There are only two ways to solve this problem-to keep tea trees warm for the winter in field management, or to directly select high cold-resistant varieties. But breeding is a time-consuming task, and it is possible that it will not bear fruit for more than a decade or decades. Therefore, although there are many tea factories in Qingdao, no one is willing to make efforts to breed. The planting area of tea trees in Qingdao is about 101000 mu. In 2010 alone, the yield was reduced by about 40% because of the severe cold. "if Qingdao tea wants to be bigger and stronger, variety is the key." Zhang Yuanfu, former vice mayor of Qingdao, said to Ding Zhaotang many times.

"if the government wants to do it, but the enterprises don't, I'll do it. Variety matters greatly, affecting not only the 'tea cups' of tea drinkers, but also the 'money bags' of farmers. Be sure to select good varieties that are suitable for the climate in Qingdao. " Ding Zhaotang spent his spare time collecting tea trees in tea-producing areas around the province. On the basis of his original research, and after several winters of systematic breeding, Ding Zhaotang finally bred a new high-quality cold-resistant variety, "Jixiang Xue", whose extreme cold-resistant temperature can reach-13 ℃! In a normal year, with a little protection, you can survive the winter smoothly in the field. The cultivation of "auspicious Snow" means that northern tea farmers can finally no longer have to worry about the economic losses caused by frost injury. The Qingdao Evening News reported on the variety bred by Professor Ding Zhaotang in its front page, and the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Science and Technology also posted the news on its official website.

Work hard to protect the seed and expand production

New varieties have been bred, and germplasm conservation is another difficult problem. Over the years, in order to develop clonal tea gardens, tea enterprises in our province have mostly introduced tea seedlings from the south, which not only has poor adaptability and low survival rate, but also has a high cost of long-distance transportation, which has caused a great burden to enterprises and tea growers. Professor Ding Zhaotang saw it in his eyes and was anxious in his heart. He was determined to lead everyone to explore a breeding technology system of clone tea varieties suitable for application in northern tea areas. A large number of high-quality and cold-resistant clonal tea varieties were bred. For this reason, in five years, according to the requirements of Qingdao Municipal Committee of Agriculture and Qingdao Science and Technology Bureau, he designed a "double shed and one net tea tree cold resistant breeding device" and applied for a utility model patent. The largest tea variety breeding base in Shandong Province was established in Qingdao Ruicaoyuan Tea Industry Science and Technology Co., Ltd., and 5 varieties were selected from more than 30 introduced varieties for seedling breeding. How many times come and go, these new varieties selected and introduced are constantly expanding the promotion area in Shandong, and through "orders", it has also benefited the majority of tea farmers and tea enterprises.

In terms of tea cultivation technology, Ding Zhaotang led the team to innovate and study continuously and launched the integrated technology suitable for the use of water and fertilizer in the north. This technology not only solves the problems of low rainfall, dry climate, low utilization rate of water and fertilizer and large labor input in Shandong tea garden, but also greatly improves the yield and quality of tea according to the formula of water-soluble fertilizer prepared by different varieties, different seasons and different growth periods. It has become one of the main technologies to be popularized in tea gardens in Shandong Province in recent years. In terms of tea production technology, Ding Zhaotang promoted the tea cleaning, continuous and automatic processing technology in Qingdao Ruicao Garden, which realized the non-landing production of tea and reduced the cost of tea production and the possibility of "secondary pollution" of tea.

"at present, there is a great demand for clonal tea seedlings in Qingdao, and the promotion of these new varieties will greatly improve the quality of Qingdao tea." When I saw these precious tea seedlings at Ding Zhaotang's seedling base, Zhao Zebin, then director of the Qingdao Municipal Committee of Agriculture, said happily. The spot meeting of Qingdao one million mu fruit and tea flower project "Ruicaoyuan Fine Tea Garden" was held here, and the people's Congress of Jimo City and the CPPCC repeatedly organized deputies to the National people's Congress and CPPCC members to inspect and study in the Ruicaoyuan tea base. The Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang University, Anhui Agricultural University, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yunnan Agricultural University and scientific research institutions of universities in the province have also organized relevant experts and professors to inspect and study in Ruicaoyuan tea base. The relevant leaders of the Qingdao Science and Technology Bureau also went to the base for inspection and guidance many times.

Today, Ding Zhaotang has selected 2 new tea varieties with strong cold resistance, developed 2 kinds of environment-friendly fertilizers, put forward 2 formulations of special tea fertilizer, applied for 19 national invention patents, and 6 patents have been authorized. The largest tea germplasm resource nursery in Shandong Province and the largest tea variety breeding base in Shandong Province were established, and the "double greenhouse and double film heat preservation and moisturizing" tea tree rapid breeding technology system suitable for northern tea area was established. Five cold-resistant clone varieties suitable for large-scale popularization in Shandong Province were selected, and more than 2 million clones were popularized. Guided the industrial chain enterprises to create 2 famous and high-quality teas and won 2 awards for scientific and technological progress in Jimo and Qingdao. An integrated system of water and fertilizer for the production of tea gardens in northern China was developed to realize the optimal management of water, fertilizer and nutrients. From the aspects of improving quality and increasing yield, it will bring greater benefits to the tea production in the north, and has important popularizing value. At present, these technological achievements have created huge economic and social benefits.

Devote oneself to education and work tirelessly

As a university professor, Ding Zhaotang is not only busy with scientific research, but also dutifully educating his students. Behind him, a large number of tea majors and graduate students are thriving. In the eyes of tea majors, he is a humorous and passionate teacher.

Professor Ding has his own way of educating students. In the eyes of graduate students, he is a master, a coach and a loving father. Professor Ding loves reading. For decades, reading every morning and evening has become an unshakable habit of his life. His passion comes from these books. "Nine steps to success", "Seven shortcuts ahead of time", "extraordinary ideas", "Jobs' Magic speech" and "thinking to get Rich", these five books have been listed by him as required reading materials for tea graduate students. He also holds various activities, such as "elevator lobbying" and speech competitions, so that graduate students can apply what they have learned. Ding Zhaotang said that every book he chooses has a clear purpose, which is to provide motivation for graduate study and scientific research. It is boring to do experiments all the time. What to do when students encounter difficulties and there is no end? They may think of Jobs' successful persistence and perseverance in Jobs' Magic speech; when they lack confidence, they think of Napoleon? Hill's N steps to develop confidence. Under the guidance of Professor Ding, "looking for differences" has become the core value concept of teachers and students in his laboratory, such as "the whole principle of time", "the most important thing always comes first", "number 3 principle", "20amp 80 principle" and so on. Students have also been familiar with the application. Shi Hui, a graduate student at Ding Zhaotang, said that her biggest achievement during her postgraduate period was the change in her way of thinking.

In Professor Ding's view, to be successful, the most important thing is to change the way of thinking, not only to learn the way of thinking of successful people, but also to implement and implement it in daily behavior. As his graduate student, he signs in at eight o'clock every morning from Monday to Saturday, and has a regular meeting every Monday morning to discuss the progress or design of the experiment. Some teachers and classmates said that he was too strict with his students. "on the one hand, signing in can urge students to study, they are still children and need guidance; on the other hand, I need to make sure every day whether they are at school and what to do," he said. I'm relieved to see them. " His graduate students signed up for CET-4 and CET-6 invigilating exams. He knew that it was a pity because the whole day had been wasted. It would be more meaningful to spend this day reading literature, designing experiments and learning English. To this end, he wrote a special essay and communicated with graduate students at the regular meeting on Monday. He said, "it is easy to lead a horse to the river, but it is difficult to force a horse to drink water. It is not difficult to let nature take its course, and there are many people driven by inertia. It is very difficult to always adhere to what you think is right, but it is definitely worth doing. " Like a father, Mr. Ding hopes that his graduate students have lofty ambitions and a bright future. At the same time, he is also a role model and benchmark for graduate students, infecting them with their own actions.