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 tackling of key problems, Chinese agricultural experts have created a "Rapeseed-Maize Annual Green High-Yield and High-Efficiency New Technology Model," successfully carrying out demonstrations of mechanized, simplified, integrated, large-scale and industrialized production, and achieving the goal of both grain and oil abundance, green and high efficiency.

According to the introduction, under the new normal of agricultural development in which the constraints of five major factors - arable land, water resources, labor, ecological carrying capacity and competition from foreign agricultural products - are becoming increasingly severe, sustainable agricultural development must rely on scientific and technological progress, must aim at green, high-yield and high-efficiency, and must strive 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 institutions including Huazhong Agricultural University and Hunan Agricultural University, established a demonstration base with a total area of 5000 mu and a core demonstration area of 1920 mu at Xiangbei Farm in Xiangyang, focusing on key technologies for rapeseed-maize rotation, and jointly carried out scientific research tackling of key problems.

"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 oil crop and grain crop, and occupy an important position in the national food security strategy. Rapeseed mainly uses winter fallow fields for production, 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 rotation of rapeseed with grain crops can significantly increase soil organic matter, fumigate and kill soil-borne pathogenic microorganisms, and reduce crop disease and pest damage." Wang Hanzhong further explained that rapeseed improves cultivated land "fertility" through two characteristics: first, rapeseed leaves account for 15% of biomass, and in the end all are returned to the field, becoming natural green manure; second, its root system contains special substances that can release phosphorus in the soil and kill pathogenic microorganisms in the soil, thereby reducing the application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

According to the introduction, this new model of grain and oil crop rotation technology integrates and combines a total of 8 advanced technologies: grain and oil 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 expert test yield measurement results in Xiangyang, after adopting 5-year rapeseed rotation, planting maize or rice after rapeseed harvest both increased yields. 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 organic matter in dryland could be increased by 0.2% per year and organic matter in paddy fields by 0.4% per year.

According to the introduction, the rapeseed-maize rotation technology model can not only promote grain production, but also increase the effective supply of oil crops, increase farmers' income, and is more conducive to agricultural ecological security. If this new technology model is widely established and promoted in some areas across the country, it will lead a new direction for China's agricultural production to develop with both grain and oil abundance, green and high efficiency.

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