Beer brewing and feed production are inseparable from barley. In my country’s plateau areas, barley is still an important ration. However, my country has always been highly dependent on foreign imports of barley. In terms of breeding, a problem has always troubled scientific researchers: if barley matures early to avoid the high temperature and rainy season in early summer, it is often easy to reduce production; if barley pursues stable and high yields, it will face the risk of late maturation.
近日， Chinese scientists spent 10 years successfully drawing a barley “breeding selection map”, unearthed key genetic loci that coordinately regulate early maturation and stable yield of barley, opening up a new path for the breeding of new barley varieties, which is of great significance to stabilizing regional food security.
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences:
10 years of research to decipher the genetic code for early maturation and stable yield of barley
The Institute of Crop Science of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, in collaboration with the National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Resources and Breeding and other institutions, spent 10 years resequencing the whole genome of 532 representative barley varieties from China and abroad. A pleiotropic genetic locus was identified that simultaneously controls heading period, maturity period, plant height and yield traits., contains two key genes, which can not only ensure sufficient vegetative growth time, but also enable barley to mature in time before the onset of high temperatures in early summer and the rainy season. It can exquisitely regulate the plant growth process. Combined with years of multi-point field phenotypic identification, a “breeding selection map” of barley in my country has been drawn. Finally, a germplasm population was formed that took into account high yield potential and adaptability to the local environment.。
At present, researchers have carried out breeding experiments in Henan, Southwest and other places, providing feasible solutions for cultivating new barley varieties with early maturity and stable yield in the future. This study solved the problem of coordinated regulation of early maturity and stable yield of barley, and explored the application potential of related mechanisms in wheat genetic improvement. It is of great practical significance to improve the resilience of the two-crop-a-year agricultural system and stabilize regional food security.。
National Crop Germplasm Bank:
Long-term preservation of 620,000 copies of various crop germplasm resources
Behind the breakthrough in barley breeding, Inseparable from massive germplasm resources as the basis. As of October 2026, the protection system with the National Crop Germplasm Bank as the core has long-term preserved 620,000 copies of various crop germplasm resources, providing three types of key support for crop breeding: There are options for breeding, there are options for replacement when in danger, and there are options for digging in the future.。
A scientific research team led by the Institute of Crop Science of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences based on the national germplasm bank, with strong support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and others, carried out precise identification of germplasm resources. Currently, it has completed the genotype identification of 428,000 crop germplasm resources and the precise phenotypic identification of 63,000 core resources, and discovered excellent germplasm such as high-quality stem rot-resistant wheat and disease-resistant and high-yield corn. Further through the improvement and utilization of excellent germplasm, A new wheat variety “Pu Bingzi 300” and a new corn variety “Zhongyu 303” were developed.. Therefore, every additional resource saved in the national crop germplasm bank provides one more choice for future breeding.
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs:
A batch of breakthrough new grain and oil varieties enable increased grain production
Relying on the mining of rich germplasm resources, A large number of new high-quality grain and oil varieties have been put into field production. On October 30, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs released the “Breakthrough Varieties for Major Agricultural Science and Technology Projects”, including high-yield wheat that is resistant to scab, high-yield wheat with high nutritional efficiency, high-yielding rice that is resistant to rice planthoppers, high-yielding corn that is resistant to dense planting and mechanical harvesting, high-oil and high-yielding soybeans, high-temperature and salt-alkali tolerant cotton, and high-yielding, high-oil and disease-resistant rapeseed. 10 breakthrough new varieties。
其中， Zhongdan 1130 new corn varietyIt has a variety of excellent genes such as excellent plant type, rust resistance, drought resistance, salt and alkali resistance, etc. It has the characteristics of density resistance, lodging resistance, strong disease resistance, high quality and high yield. This year’s field machine collection in Hebi, Henan The measured yield per mu reached 1140.62 kilograms, successfully breaking through the level of tons of grain., has promotion and application value and development potential.
New wheat variety “Yangmai 53” resistant to scabDuring this year’s summer harvest, under the severe climate test of continuous rain and high incidence of scab, not only was the production stable and high, but the actual yield of many demonstration fields exceeded 1,200 kilograms per mu, which can increase farmers’ income and save about 200 yuan per mu.
In terms of rice, the most troublesome pest and disease is rice planthoppers. Relying on spraying can easily produce pesticide residues and other problems. New rice varieties Weiliangyou 2268 and Juliangyou 6 both show good insect resistance effects. This year, our country has stepped up its efforts to promote a new round of grain production capacity improvement of 100 billion kilograms. A number of high-yield, high-quality, disease-resistant and stress-resistant excellent varieties have been promoted. Summer grain output reached 301.49 billion jins, exceeding 300 billion jins for the first time, setting a record high. The autumn grain area is expected to increase steadily and slightly, with more than 90% harvested at present, and a bumper harvest is a foregone conclusion. The annual grain output is expected to remain above 1.4 trillion catties for three consecutive years.
Laying out the future:
The “15th Five-Year Plan” deeply implements the seed industry revitalization action
In accordance with the arrangements of the “15th Five-Year Plan for Accelerating Agricultural and Rural Modernization”, my country continues to implement in-depth actions to revitalize the seed industry. Strengthen the precise identification, gene mining, improvement and creation of germplasm resources, improve the commercial breeding system, cultivate national seed industry formation enterprises in an echelon, and accelerate the selection and breeding of breakthrough varieties. By 2030, the core agricultural seed supply rate will reach 85%, the contribution rate of agricultural science and technology progress has increased to 67%, and the comprehensive grain production capacity has stabilized at around 1.45 trillion catties.
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