Chinese agricultural scientists are intensifying efforts to breed high-quality soybean varieties after identifying several high-oil and high-yield varieties of the crop. This is part of a broader push in breeding technology aimed at ensuring food security.
Nearly 10,000 soybean resources were collected during China’s largest-ever agricultural germplasm census, which involved 1.5 million grassroots workers and covered “every corner of the nation,” the Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday.
Completed earlier this year after three years of comprehensive work, the census catalogued China’s agricultural germplasm resources, including crop varieties, livestock, and aquaculture species. This initiative is in line with Beijing’s high priority on agricultural security amid supply chain uncertainties and climate challenges.
The census collected over 63,000 germplasm samples for grain crops, with soybeans emerging as a key focus due to China’s status as the crop’s country of origin. However, enormous demand from the world’s biggest food consumer has driven China to import most of the crop, which is used for food, cooking oil, and animal feed, over the past few decades.
The survey, the third of its kind conducted in China since 1949, “has laid a robust resource foundation for ensuring national food security,” said Liu Xu, an academic with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, which led the project.
China, with a population of 1.4 billion, launched a national campaign in 2021 to clean up its seed market, which was once filled with pirated and counterfeit crop seeds. It also sought to boost independent research and development of new varieties after President Xi Jinping called for the “revitalization of the seed industry.”
Researchers are focused on developing superior varieties that are “usable, practical, and desirable.” The three-year census facilitated innovation, according to the ministry.
From the resources collected, scientists have uncovered exceptional traits, such as high-oil, high-yield soybeans, drought-resistant corn suitable for mechanized harvesting, and short-growth-cycle oilseed rape.
Scientists have already initiated a germplasm improvement program, focusing first on corn due to its pressing demand in feed and biofuel production, Liu said. He added that innovation will extend to other critical crops, such as soybeans and rapeseed.
Soybean and corn breeding efforts are aligned with China’s broader goals of improving agricultural self-reliance. Per-unit yields of both crops grown in China are roughly just 60% of those planted in the United States, according to figures frequently cited by agricultural officials.
After decades of public debate, the world’s biggest buyer of these crops gave the green light last year to the large-scale commercial planting of genetically modified corn and soybeans as part of its strategy to bolster domestic production.
China has transformed from a net soybean exporter to a net soybean importer since it liberalized its soybean market in 1996. The US was previously the biggest source of soybean imports, but it has recently been replaced by Brazil as Beijing sought to diversify supplies.
In 2023, China’s soybean imports totaled 99.41 million tonnes, with 70.4% coming from Brazil and 24.3% from the US, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.
Source: My News
