If Our Cotton Seeds Can Also Go Into Space

"How wonderful it would be if our cotton seeds could also go into space!" On June 17, in Kashtogarak Village, Hongqi Town, Shaya County, a major cotton planting county, Ouyang Deming, chairman of the Demin Professional Cooperation Association for Planting Farmers in Shaya County, looked at the boundless cotton fields and said his wish.

From northern Xinjiang to southern Xinjiang, from ordinary growers to leading the establishment of large-scale planting cooperatives, Ouyang Deming has grown many cotton varieties for more than 20 years. Last year, he selected Xinluzhong 80 and Xinluzhong 84 fine cotton varieties provided by Xinjiang Tianyu Seed Industry Co., Ltd., with a maximum yield of 549 kg per mu. He said that with the continuous development of China's space breeding cause, perhaps these varieties he planted will also be able to "go to heaven" someday.

Ouyang Deming's idea is not impossible. The reporter learned from the Economic Crops Research Institute of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Economic Crops Research Institute of the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences) that in the field of space breeding, there have been many seeds carried into the sky by recoverable spacecraft or space capsule in Xinjiang, and only in the field of cotton space breeding, since 1988, more than 30 cotton varieties have traveled in space. These cotton varieties come from different scientific research institutes or teaching units. Some of them are "groups" of similar cotton varieties, and some of them are "groups" of other crop varieties. They travel in space for a long distance, ranging from days to months.

Wang Junduo, a researcher from the Economic and Social Work Institute of Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that Xinjiang is the largest cotton production base in China, and space cotton breeding is indispensable for Xinjiang to cultivate cotton seeds. From the end of the 1980s to the end of the 1990s, Xinluzao 6 and 8931 cotton seeds were selected by the Agricultural Science Institute of the Seventh Division of the Corps as cotton seeds in the northern Xinjiang subregion of the northwest inland cotton region; Dai 80, 748 and 238 cotton seeds selected by Turpan Institute of Agricultural Sciences are used as cotton seeds in the northwest inland cotton region and the eastern Xinjiang subregion; The cotton seeds 91-4, Xinhai 13, 430 and 3287 bred by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences of the First Division of the Corps, as the cotton seeds in the southern Xinjiang subregion of the northwest inland cotton region, are all "selected by nature".

"In 2000, seven cotton seeds, including Xinluzao 1, 6, 4, Xinluzhong 5, and Xinhai 12, selected by our research institute as the cotton seeds of the northern and southern Xinjiang sub regions of the northwest inland cotton region, were selected to go to heaven by satellite. Among them, Xinhai 12 is sea island cotton (long staple cotton)." Wang Junduo said that later, with the development of manned spaceflight, Both the 6th Division of the Corps and Yuli County have cotton seeds to carry Shenzhou spaceship to heaven.

Recalling the process when cotton seeds were carried to the sky by satellite, Tai Hongzhong, director of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences of the First Division of the Corps, still vividly remembered. At that time, as a young technician, he participated in screening the best cotton seeds and sent them to an aviation breeding enterprise in Beijing. At that time, because the amount of seeds carried by the satellite was very limited, and the cost of seeds in space was expensive, the Institute of Agricultural Sciences sent more than 10g of 100 seeds. The seeds were carried to an altitude of 460 kilometers from the earth, and returned to the ground after 7 days in orbit.

Together with other national cotton science and technology personnel, cotton breeding experts in Xinjiang conducted a comprehensive study of "naturally selected seeds". After the seeds that have traveled in space return to the ground, the researchers studied the changes in seed germination, growth and development, isozymes, and major agronomic and economic traits. Wang Junduo said that the research objects were mainly the population carrying cotton seed and the individual plant carrying cotton seed variation. The research results are different due to the different research methods, the representativeness of the test, the genotype of the varieties, and the differences in the space and time environment of different carrying.

According to the research of scientific researchers, space mutation can make some characters of cotton varieties produce heritable variation. The variation direction has significantly increased, and there are also significantly reduced, and there are beneficial and non beneficial variations. Among them, the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences carried out a systematic study on seven cotton varieties, and found that the precocity of the population carrying cotton seeds was 3-15 days earlier, the lint percentage increased by 2-7%, and the specific strength increased by 1-1.5g/tex. The boll weight, seed index, boll number and other traits were mainly reduced.

"Cotton seeds have large individuals, complex genes, and extremely low mutation probability. Space breeding has become a new path of scientific and technological innovation in the seed industry. Through the unremitting research of breeding researchers, cotton space breeding will inject new vitality into Xinjiang's cotton industry." Tai Hongzhong said.

(Source: Xinjiang Daily)