Why can "sterilized" land stage a "rock candy fairy tale"?

On November 8, at the Daxinfeng Orchard, a modern agricultural industry technology demonstration base in Cuicun Township, Changping District, Beijing, Xu Jianli happily received reporters. Old Xu's own "Xu Jianli Orchard" now has a very booming apple business, with a jin selling for 10 yuan, and an annual income of one million.

But 4 years earlier, he was not like this at all. "At that time, a Japanese expert said my orchard had 'continuous cropping obstacle' and could only be scrapped." Recalling the scene at the time, Xu Jianli still looked gloomy.

However, a year later, when the Japanese expert walked into "Xu Jianli Orchard" again, he was stunned by the scene before him. What was academically considered impossible to reverse had happened in this small orchard. This piece of "sick land" that he had once identified as such bore high-quality "rock candy heart" Red Fuji apples.

?What made the sick land gain rebirth?

Land sentenced to "death penalty"

In 2012, Japanese fruit tree expert Narita Tsutomu was invited to "Xu Jianli Orchard." At that time, this orchard already had a planting history of nearly 30 years, with traditional Red Fuji as the main variety.

As the age of the trees increased, fruit yield and quality declined rapidly. Many people suggested cutting down the trees, but Xu Jianli still wanted to continue planting apples in the same place.

"The biggest worry in renewing and transforming an old orchard is cutting down the trees. If the trees are cut down and then replanted, for 3 to 5 consecutive years there will be small old seedlings, and we fruit farmers will have almost no income. In addition, if the planting methods and techniques are inappropriate, what grows will all be small old seedlings that cannot grow large."

At that time, Xu Jianli was in a dilemma. After looking at the orchard, Narita Tsutomu concluded that this was a piece of "sick land." He said that the nutrients in the soil of this orchard had been exhausted, and apple quality would continue to decline. It would be difficult to renew old trees and replant, and basically impossible to plant apples again.

The sick land phenomenon Narita Tsutomu spoke of refers to the phenomenon of poor plant growth and development during continuous cropping, also known as continuous cropping obstacle, replant disease, or replant problem. When the sick land phenomenon occurs, plants often appear short, weak in growth, reduced in resistance, or even dead, along with low survival rates in field populations, low yield, or even no yield. The sick land phenomenon is very common and occurs in a wide range of regions. It can be encountered in almost all planting areas. At present, the sick land phenomenon is relatively prominent in protected vegetables and old orchards.

?Chinese-style revival

In fact, "Xu Jianli Orchard" is merely a microcosm of the crop continuous cropping obstacle problem in China.

So-called continuous cropping refers to continuously planting the same crop (or crops of the same family) in the same field. After continuous cropping of the same crop or closely related crops, even under normal management, phenomena such as reduced yield, deteriorated quality, and worsened growth conditions occur. This is continuous cropping obstacle.

A recent article in Scientia Agricultura Sinica pointed out that at present, the area of continuous cropping plots with high damage levels in China is greater than 10%. Among them, the affected area in large-scale planting regions generally exceeds 20%. Continuous cropping obstacle causes huge losses to the current season's crops, and in severe cases almost total loss of yield.

For this difficult problem, foreign solutions are mostly crop rotation, letting the land rest, or switching to other crops with different soil requirements. But this does not suit China's national conditions, with its huge population, enormous pressure on food demand, and increasingly scarce arable land.

After Narita Tsutomu left, Xu Jianli fell silent. Unwilling to give up, he finally, with the idea of treating a dead horse as a live horse doctor, began searching everywhere with his son for relevant domestic companies. He believed that technological means might offer a solution.

In 2013, they found Zhongyuan (Beijing) Green Biotechnology Development Co., Ltd. Zhongyuan Company would complete two tasks at "Xu Jianli Orchard": one was to improve fruit quality and upgrade excellence, that is, to grow "rock candy heart" apples; the other was to renew and replant the old orchard.

Lu Sen, director of the Zhongyuan (Beijing) Soil Improvement Technology Research Institute, explained the steps for soil remediation in this orchard:

First, use organic materials such as organic fertilizer and straw, beneficial microbial composite bacteria rich in non-legume nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and natural mineral fertilizers to solve problems such as crop carbon starvation.

Second, add medium and trace nutrient elements to create a good soil environment for crops, and provide carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other beneficial elements needed by crops, laying the material foundation for high crop yields.

Throughout the entire crop growth process, continuously activate the crop's secondary metabolic pathways, so that crops have immunity early in growth, and then all crop organs produce allelopathic substances resistant to diseases, insects, weeds, and disastrous weather, while also improving the quality and flavor of agricultural products, ultimately achieving the goal of high yield and high quality.

"This is the 'soil remediation and improvement technology' system we established with ecosystem regulation as the core - the Zhongyuan model," said Lu Sen.

?Save more land

Now, because the fruit is excellent and sweet, Xu Jianli's apples sell well. In fact, not only has "Xu Jianli Orchard" gained rebirth, but many crop continuous cropping obstacles have also been solved one after another after applying the Zhongyuan model.

Liang Mingzao, associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that the main advantages of the Zhongyuan model lie in avoiding the application of urea and phosphate fertilizer, using straw, organic fertilizer, beneficial microbial bacterial fertilizer, and natural mineral fertilizer as production materials; avoiding chemical pesticides, with zero pollution to the environment, and continuously managing crop fields; crops do not get sick, do not attract insects, have strong stress resistance, and can resist disastrous weather, etc.

Recently, the China Fruit Wine Industry Science and Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance was conducting related research on how to ensure the safety and quality of fruit wine raw materials, namely fruit products. Liu Xiaoqin, secretary-general of the alliance, when researching the Zhongyuan model, was deeply impressed that this model can also passivate heavy metals in soil and solve the difficult problem of soil heavy metal pollution.

From 2007 to 2010, Zhongyuan Company cooperated with the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and experiments proved that Zhongyuan technology had the effect of in-situ passivation of heavy metals; in 2013, recommended by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Zhongyuan Company solved for the Dangshan Science and Technology Bureau in Anhui the problem of excessive heavy metal chromium in exported Dangshan pears from trees 40-60 years old, and the in-situ passivation test effect was remarkable...

On November 17, Lu Sen rushed to Pinggu District, Beijing, to carry out renewal and replanting for a 20-year-old peach orchard. He hopes that this time the rescue effect will go a step further than Xu Jianli Orchard, and the soil organic matter can be improved to 5% in one treatment. Author: Ma Aiping

?————Related links————