First batch of cloned orchids officially unveiled in Shaoxing

"These dozen or so rootedorchidseedlings were cultivated by us through cloning technology." Yesterday, researchers at the laboratory of the Biotechnology Research Institute of the Shaoxing Academy of Agricultural Sciences showed reporters the first batch oforchids。

According to Chu Jianfeng, a researcher at the institute, as early as the late 1990s, cloned orchids had already entered the market, and many orchid enthusiasts were cheated, with cloned orchids costing a few yuan per seedling being sold on the market for dozens or even hundreds of times the price.

Zheng Qi of the Biotechnology Research Institute of the Shaoxing Academy of Agricultural Sciences said that orchids are the city flower of Shaoxing, and if orchid cloning technology is applied to industrial production, then it would not be difficult to propagate tens of thousands of seedlings a year of precious orchid varieties worth hundreds of thousands of yuan. Whereas now, ordinarycultivatedorchids produce only two seedlings a year, or four at most.

At the same time, he said that for the time being he would not consider applying orchidFloralcloning technology to industrial production.

Ma Xingyuan, a member of the China Orchid Association and a senior orchid researcher in Shaoxing, believes that cloning technology has not yet truly affected the orchid market.

He said that cloning technology must first solve the problem of the mother plant, and currently orchid seeds are used, which are very difficult for precious orchid varieties to produce. Second, the habits of cloned orchids are not completely consistent with those of the mother plant. Third, whether test-tube orchids can survive outdoors is also a problem. Due to various economic interest factors, cloned orchids once aroused opposition from manyorchid growers.

"If orchids develop according to the traditional reproductive capacity of producing only oneorchid plantseedling per year, it will be very difficult for precious orchids to enter ordinary households and to be appreciated by more people." A local orchid grower surnamed Qian believes that after all, orchid cloning technology is developing rapidly, and perhaps it will not be long before precious orchids enter ordinary households.