Current location:Culture Canvas news portal > world
Reaping the Rewards of a Lifetime in the Fields
Culture Canvas news portal2024-05-21 11:47:47【world】7People have gathered around
IntroductionContact Us HomeNewsHighlightACWF NewsSocietyWom
- Home
- News
- People
- In-depth
- ACWF
Reaping the Rewards of a Lifetime in the Fields
ByLi Kun and Chen Meiling December 6, 2022Zhang stands in front of a field planted with different varieties of wheat in Xiangyang. [China Daily] |
As the Chinese saying goes, a seed can change the world; a variety can benefit a nation.
Zhang Daorong, who has spent the last 26 years cultivating 13 new varieties of wheat and contributing to national food security efforts, has done both.
The 50-year-old, who is dubbed the "mother of wheat", is a researcher at the Xiangyang Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Xiangyang City, Hubei Province. Xiangyang is the largest wheat production area in the province, and the yield in the city accounts for more than 40 percent of the provincial total.
The wheat varieties developed by Zhang and her colleagues have been grown on 2 million hectares of farmland and have generated net profits of over 100 million yuan ($14 million).
One of them produces large seed heads and is highly resistant to stripe rust; another is highly resistant to pre-harvest sprouting, which results in a decrease of the grain yield and affects the quality of flour and seed value for the following year.
Some are more suitable for making bread, and some are among the raw materials used to make the distiller's yeast for renowned alcohol brand Kweichow Moutai.
The research into new varieties requires strict standards and rigorous experiments.
"The first step is to find suitable parental types for a specific cultivation purpose. Then we try a hybrid combination," Zhang explained. "After several generations of trial and selection, and when characteristics remain stable, we begin a two-year process of yield testing and disease identification."
After several more rounds of tests, an application for evaluation and approval can be made to provincial or national authorities for market production.
"Generally speaking, a good new variety should produce high yields and stable production, show good resistance to bad conditions and be acceptable to the market," she added.
Wheat is planted in late October and matures in late May and early June. During the fallow period from June to September, Zhang said she doesn't rest because there is so much work to do, including data disposal, seed selection and planning for autumn sowing.
In her office, there is a 2-meter pile of materials related to a variety that has been cultivated for the last 18 years. Zhang said that the team planted 70,000 to 80,000 seedlings each year and were strict about conducting experiments, making records and analysis, before it passed approval in 2015.
"Key and core technologies cannot be taken, bought or begged for," she said.
When she graduated from the Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, in 1996, Zhang did not think she'd be dealing with agriculture for the rest of her life.
When she returned to her hometown in Xiangyang and joined the academy in 1997, she was not entirely satisfied with the job at first because the salary was low.
Over the last two decades though, working conditions and incomes for researchers have improved, and Zhang has also derived a great sense of achievement from studying agriculture.
She said that with the domestic and global economy still facing headwinds from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's her responsibility to work hard and contribute to food safety.
"Agricultural research work is hard and complicated. Sometimes your efforts do not pay off. All we can do then is think more, discuss more, ask more questions and find answers on the land," she said.
Today, Zhang's team is developing a semiwinterness wheat that produces high yields.
Zhou Fangju, a researcher at the academy, said that Zhang also cares about villages and farmers and promotes their research in rural areas.
"She also teaches younger researchers. Her spirit of innovation, dedication to work and empathy for people inspires us," Zhou said.
(Source: China Daily)
32.3KPlease understand that womenofchina.cn,a non-profit, information-communication website, cannot reach every writer before using articles and images. For copyright issues, please contact us by emailing: [email protected]. The articles published and opinions expressed on this website represent the opinions of writers and are not necessarily shared by womenofchina.cn.
Comments
Magazines
Projects
- 2023 Women Science and Technology Innovation Pioneer...
Photos
- People Enjoy Blooming Tulips in Jinan, East...
- Flowers Bloom Across China in Spring
Special Coverage
Address of this article:http://belize.arnoldview.org/article-68d199882.html
Very good!(6)
Related articles
- Cruise worker 'murders newborn son on board ship': Shocked co
- Martial arts enthusiasts found training class for local children
- China's non
- China Fashion Week S/S 2023 kicks off in Beijing
- Candice Swanepoel stuns in a form
- Chinese dancer pursues dream on wheels
- Study reveals giant store of global soil carbon
- View of 5th CIIE venue in Shanghai
- Ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse has been refloated
- Four China's C919 aircraft to serve during Spring Festival travel rush
Popular articles
Recommended
Strictly star Giovanni Pernice's former partner Rose Ayling
China may overtake Japan in patent filings at EPO
Qixi Festival marked in Xi'an, NW China
(HKSAR 25) Feature: Hong Kong Palace Museum
Amtrak train hits pickup truck in upstate New York, 3 dead including child
Performance of show Colorful Guizhou Style resumes in SW China
Fesitve atmosphere in Macao ahead of Mid
In pics: cultural and tourism services exhibition at CIFTIS
Links
- How major US stock indexes fared Tuesday, 5/7/2024
- Jewish student is ordered to leave Oxford encampment after refusing to sign up to radical pro
- Zelensky 'assassination plot foiled' as Ukraine detains two of its own counter
- Ukraine says it foiled Russian plot to assassinate Zelenskyy
- Harvey Weinstein back at Rikers Island after hospital stay
- Indiana professors sue after GOP lawmakers pass law regulating faculty tenure
- The terrifying 100
- Katy Perry and Rihanna didn't attend the Met Gala. But AI
- Zelensky 'assassination plot foiled' as Ukraine detains two of its own counter
- Doja Cat proudly shows off the results of her breast reduction and liposuction in a see