China's Integrated Oilseed-Grain Rotation Technology Achieves High Yield and High Efficiency
On May 29, reporters learned from the “Rapeseed—Maize Annual Green High-Yield and High-Efficiency Technology Model Demonstration On-Site Meeting” held in Xiangyang, Hubei, that through major scientific research collaboration and major tackling of key problems, Chinese agricultural experts have created a “new model of rapeseed—maize annual green high-yield and high-efficiency technology”, successfully carrying out mechanized, simplified, integrated, large-scale and industrialized production demonstrations, and achieving the goal of both abundant oilseed and grain and green high efficiency.
According to reports, under the new normal of agricultural development in which the five major factor constraints of arable land, water resources, labor force, ecological carrying capacity and competition from foreign agricultural products are becoming increasingly severe, for agriculture to develop sustainably, it must rely on scientific and technological progress and must aim at green, high-yield and high-efficiency goals, striving to promote the mechanization, simplification, integration, scaling up and industrialization of major crop production in order to meet new challenges. Against this background, the Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, together with more than 10 units including Huazhong Agricultural University and Hunan Agricultural University, targeting the key technologies of rapeseed-maize rotation, established a demonstration base with a total area of 5000 mu and a core demonstration area of 1920 mu at the Xiangbei Farm in Xiangyang, and jointly carried out scientific research tackling of key problems.
⟦NL> “This is an optimization and innovation of the rotation system.” Wang Hanzhong, researcher and director of the Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and chief coordinator of this technology, told reporters that rapeseed and maize are respectively China's largest oilseed crop and grain crop, occupying an important position in the national food security strategy. Rapeseed is mainly produced using winter fallow fields, does not compete for land with grain crops such as rice and maize, and clearly saves more water than crops of the same season. “Compared with the traditional wheat—maize rotation model, adopting rapeseed rotation with grain crops can significantly increase soil organic matter and fumigate and kill soil-borne pathogenic microorganisms, reducing crop pest and disease damage.” Wang Hanzhong further explained that rapeseed improves cultivated land “fertility” through two characteristics: first, rapeseed leaves account for 15% of biomass and will all eventually be returned to the field, becoming natural green manure; second, its root system contains special substances that can release phosphorus elements in the soil and kill pathogenic microorganisms in the soil, thereby reducing the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
According to reports, this new oilseed-grain rotation technology model integrates and combines a total of 8 advanced technologies: oilseed-grain dual-abundance rotation technology, new high-oil mechanized rapeseed varieties, new high-yield mechanized maize varieties, full-process mechanized high-yield and high-efficiency rapeseed production technology, full-process mechanized high-yield and high-efficiency maize production technology, efficient utilization of reduced fertilizer application, efficient utilization of reduced pesticide application, and rapid decomposition of straw (sclerotia). According to experts' experimental yield measurement results in Xiangyang, after adopting 5-year rapeseed rotation and planting maize or rice after rapeseed harvest, yields all increased. Relevant data show that maize increased by an average of 5% per mu, rice increased by 9% per mu, fertilizer was reduced by 10%, and on average, dryland organic matter could be increased by 0.2% per year and paddy field organic matter by 0.4% per year.
According to reports, the rapeseed-maize rotation technology model can not only promote grain production, but also increase the effective supply of oilseeds and increase farmers' income, and is even more conducive to agricultural ecological security. If this new technology model is widely established and promoted in some regions across the country, it will lead the new direction of China's agricultural production toward both abundant oilseed and grain and green high-efficiency development.