How domestic soybeans can turn from passive to proactive

When the reporter interviewed Han Tianfu, chief scientist of the National Soybean Industry Technology Research and Development Center, he received a message from a South American seed company; the other party hoped to hold cooperation talks with China's soybean research institutes. This shows that China's basic research work on soybean breeding has already reached a very high level. "It is time to 'go global' and carry out variety export, technology export and resource export," Han Tianfu said.

Industry situation

The turning point has arrived, and domestic soybeans are "seeing a change in fortune"

According to the 2014 annual soybean industry technology development report of the National Soybean Industry Technology System, in 2014 China's soybean production continued to decline across the board. It is preliminarily estimated that the soybean planting area was about 100 million mu, a decrease of 7.1%-8.6% from the previous year. This was the sixth consecutive year of decline in soybean planting area since 2009. The current situation of the soybean industry seems a bit "grim."

However, not long ago, the Ministry of Agriculture made clear that next year the 4 northeastern provinces (regions) should strive to achieve the goal of reducing the corn area by more than 10 million mu, which is absolutely good news for the soybean industry.

As for these 10 million mu, they will not necessarily all be given to soybeans, but compared with a demand that has increased dozens of times, and thinking of last year's import volume of 71.14 million tons, even if all these 10 million mu were converted to soybean planting, what harm would there be.

According to Han Tianfu's analysis, changes in domestic soybean production mainly depend on the production situation in the 4 provinces (regions) of Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Anhui and Henan. Before 2014, changes in the soybean planting area in Northeast China accounted for more than 80% of changes in the national soybean area. After 6 consecutive years of decline in soybean planting area, the role of pure price factors or planting benefit factors began to weaken, while the role of technical factors gradually strengthened, such as crop rotation and stubble change, planting habits, labor and drying constraints of the competing crop corn, and the operational risks of excessive corn planting, all of which are conducive to maintaining and further expanding the soybean area.

In recent years, the increasingly severe problem of black soil degradation has attracted constant attention. At present, many Heilongjiang farmers have reached a general consensus, that is, grain-soybean rotation can both increase production and income and improve soil fertility.

It is understood that in order to improve the comprehensive benefits of agricultural production and the cultivation quality of the land, the Ministry of Agriculture has carried out a "grain-soybean rotation" project in Northeast China, and Bei'an City is one of the pilot sites. "This year we implemented a rotation area of 27,000 mu, with a subsidy of 150 yuan per mu, and the farmers all welcome it," said Wang Deyou, deputy director of the Bei'an City Agriculture Bureau.

Grain-soybean rotation is thus accepted and welcomed by farmers. Can the spring of soybeans be far away?

Variety structure

Tofu, soy milk ... are all domestic non-GMO soybeans

At present, imported genetically modified soybeans have already occupied 80% of the domestic market share, which cannot but leave consumers wondering: the soybean oil sold in supermarkets is mostly genetically modified, so are tofu, soy milk and other soybean products also genetically modified? In fact, the genetically modified soybeans imported from abroad are all used for oil extraction, while the soybean products directly eaten by ordinary people are all domestic non-GMO soybean varieties, and most of them are of the high-protein type.

Han Tianfu told the reporter that the breeding directions of American soybeans and Chinese soybeans are different. Compared with foreign soybeans with high oil yield, the advantages of Chinese soybeans are high protein content, natural genes and suitability for food use. "To gain the initiative in competition, one must focus efforts on comparative advantages," Han Tianfu hit the nail on the head. "When importing soybeans, we also set rules on the type. At present, we only import varieties used for processing." So the tofu and soy milk we eat are all not genetically modified.

"As the saying goes, a hundred li for soybeans and a thousand li for wheat, soybeans have very obvious regional characteristics, and each region has suitable main planting varieties. Due to the influence of external factors such as temperature differences between day and night and light, the Huang-Huai-Hai region and areas to the south are more suitable for planting high-protein varieties, while soybeans planted in Northeast China have relatively higher oil content." Sun Shi, associate researcher at the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told the reporter that through breeding selection, soybean varieties with high protein, high oil, high isoflavones, low beany flavor, low anti-nutritional factors and good soy milk flavor quality can be cultivated. Breeders will focus on different aspects according to demand when selecting and breeding varieties.

Breeding research and development

The traditional path has strength, new technologies are in reserve, and diversified needs are met

Soybeans are convenient to plant and manage and can also improve soil fertility, but the income per mu is less than half that of corn. If farmers cannot make money, they are naturally unwilling to plant them.

Under the premise of a limited planting area, increasing yield per unit area is the key.

In the view of Wu Cunxiang, host of the National Soybean Huang-Huai-Hai Regional Trial and researcher at the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, variety, environment and cultivation are the 3 key factors determining the level of soybean yield per unit area. "Among them, variety is fundamental," Wu Cunxiang said. "A good variety can contribute 40% to high soybean yield, therefore cultivating high-yield varieties is an urgent need before us."

It is understood that as of the end of last year, China had bred a total of 2,062 approved soybean varieties, covering all soybean production areas nationwide. "At present, the yield per unit area of the varieties is still acceptable. The yield per unit area of lines participating in regional trials can reach 180 kg-200 kg per mu." Wu Cunxiang told the reporter, that is to say, China's soybean breeding level on the traditional path has strength and can meet diversified needs. "'Zhonghuang 35' bred by the Institute of Crop Sciences is a typical high-yield variety. In Xinjiang, using drip irrigation combined with synchronized water and fertilizer technology, it has set a record of more than 400 kg per mu for 4 consecutive years, among which in 2012 it set a national soybean high-yield record of 421.37 kg per mu on a small area."

China is not only the country with the most soybean germplasm resources, but also the country richest in soybean genetic resources, and one of the earliest countries to use modern breeding methods to cultivate soybeans. It has always attached great importance to soybean breeding. Wu Cunxiang revealed that in recent years, China's research on soybean molecular breeding technology has been striving to catch up with the world's advanced level. After years of accumulation, research on key trait gene cloning, molecular marker-assisted breeding and molecular design breeding has achieved comprehensive development. In terms of basic research on soybean molecular breeding technology, through de novo sequencing and independent assembly of 7 representative wild soybeans, a harvested wild soybean pan-genome was constructed, clarifying at the whole-genome level the characteristics of structural variation within soybean species (populations). Excellent genes unique to wild soybeans were discovered, providing important clues for clarifying gene variation in soybean bred varieties during the process of artificial selection.