The issue of dressing is equally important as the issue of eating. In recent years, “cotton seeds”, which mainly solve people’s clothing problems, have repeatedly brought surprises.
In June last year, “China Cotton 113” began its space journey aboard the Shenzhou-12 manned spacecraft, kicking off my country’s independent space station space breeding; Previously, in January 2019, “China Cotton Institute 41” planted the “first green” on the moon aboard Chang’e 4, attracting the attention of the world… Many people may not know that from “China Cotton Institute 41” to “China Cotton 113”, the cotton seeds that went into space were all produced by the Cotton Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Anyang.
Why is this small seed so often chosen by the aerospace industry? Cotton is known as a “pioneer crop” on land. It is salt-alkali tolerant and resistant to drought and floods. “Under extraordinary adversity conditions, they still stand out and fully demonstrate their characteristics.” On March 18, Ma Xiongfeng, deputy director of the China Cotton Research Institute, said in an interview with reporters, “Seeds that have been tested in space have better germination rates, Characteristics such as resistance to diseases and insect pests may change, and new varieties bred may be more productive and of higher quality.”
Brought by China Cotton The surprise is far more than just “God”. In the early 1990s, cotton bollworm outbreaks occurred year after year, and my country’s cotton production was on the verge of extinction. China Cotton Research Institute has successfully cultivated two important varieties, “China Cotton Research Institute 29” and “China Cotton Research Institute 41”, through joint research with advantageous units. Among them, “China Cotton Research Institute 41” is my country’s first bivalent transgenic insect-resistant cotton variety with independent intellectual property rights. Driven by these two varieties, the market share of domestic insect-resistant cotton rose rapidly from 5% in 1999 to 98% in 2012, completely defeating the monopoly of foreign varieties.
Nowadays, with the adjustment of my country’s cotton regional pattern and the transformation of planting methods, how to grow good cotton can make China’s cotton surpass “U.S. cotton” and catch up with “U.S. cotton”. “Australian cotton” has become a new topic of the China Cotton Institute. “Just as we were able to develop our own genetically modified insect-resistant cotton varieties back then, we must now use domestically produced high-quality cotton to withstand the impact of imported cotton,” Ma Xiongfeng said.
What is high-quality cotton? At the Cotton Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs located at the China Cotton Research Institute, senior laboratory engineer Meng Junting took out a ball of cotton, sorted it out into a neat bundle by pulling lengths with her hands, and then pulled it apart with force, “Look, the fiber The length is a full 31 mm, the strength is 32 cN/tex, and the length and strength reach double 30, which are important indicators for measuring high-quality cotton.”
What Meng Junting is holding is “China Cotton 113”, a high-quality cotton variety that has just been approved in 2019. “‘Zhongmian 113’ has successfully broken through the technical bottleneck of early maturity, high yield, and high quality that are difficult to improve collaboratively, achieved a double improvement in yield and fiber quality, filled the vacancy in cotton planting varieties in low accumulated temperature and cool areas, and has become the key to ensuring high-quality cotton in northern Xinjiang. Stable supply of ‘chip varieties’ that exceed ‘Australian cotton’ quality standards.” Ma Xiongfeng said.
According to statistics, in 2021, the planting area of ”Zhongmian 113″ in northern Xinjiang will reach 1.406 million acres, and it is expected that a total of 10 million acres will be promoted in the next three years above. At the same time, “China Cotton 113” has also entered countries along the “Belt and Road” and conducted regional trials in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries.
Cotton is an important economic crop and a national strategic material. Currently, Xinjiang is the main cotton-producing area in my country, with cotton output accounting for nearly 90% of the total domestic output. . The No. 1 Central Document of 2022 proposed that cultivated land is mainly used for the production of grain, cotton, oil, sugar, vegetables and other agricultural products, as well as forage and feed. Industry insiders believe that ranking cotton behind food and taking priority over other agricultural products shows the important position of cotton production in domestic agriculture. The “14th Five-Year Plan” National Planting Industry Development Plan also clearly states that cotton areas in the Yellow River Basin and Yangtze River Basin should be moderately restored, and efforts should be made to restore the area to more than 11 million acres during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period.
“A moderate restoration of the cotton industry in the mainland will be conducive to the long-term and stable development of my country’s textile and cotton industries.” Ma Xiongfeng said, “For us breeders , this is both an opportunity and a challenge. We must keep cotton technology firmly in our own hands at all times. The Chinese can solve their own feeding problems and clothing problems!”
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“Zhongmian 113” has successfully broken through the technical bottleneck of early maturity, high yield, and high quality that are difficult to improve collaboratively, and achieved a yield of Both growth and quality have filled the vacancies in cotton varieties in cold and low-temperature areas, becoming a “chip variety” that exceeds the quality standards of “Australian cotton”. </p
