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The People’s Daily App and The Beijing News, among other media outlets, recently covered the commitment of BUA’s teachers and students who have worked on seed breeding at Nanfan Seed Breeding Base for 25 years, making great contribution to sharpening the competitiveness of agriculture.

“With the corns growing well at Hainan Ledong Base, it’s the right time for pollination. Around the Spring Festival, we bagged and pollinated the corns at the base every day,” said Professor Zhang Qiuzhi, head of BUA’s corn team. Over the last two decades, from late October to April of the following year, Professor Zhang Qiuzhi and Professor Pan Jinbao have headed the team to conduct innovation of corn germplasm resources and selection and breeding of superior varieties in Hainan.

Zhang Qiuzhi said, “For agricultural technology workers, there are no holidays but farming seasons.” She added, located in the tropic zone, Sanya and Ledong are parts of Nanfan Seed Breading Base, as well as major “cradles” for the breeding of crop seeds. BUA’s scientific research team has conducted seed breeding in Hainan for 25 consecutive years. They primarily focus on the innovation of silage corn germplasm resources, breeding of inbred lines, testing of hybrid combinations, and production of superior seed varieties. "The key task at Nanfan Seed Breeding Base is to speed breeding. For example, corns are harvested just once a year in northern areas, but can be harvested 2-3 times a year at Nanfan. This can accelerate the research process, making what would typically take 2-3 years accomplished in one year. "

It’s learned that silage corns are dubbed the “king of feedstuffs” in contemporary animal husbandry, and a major part of the food for grass-feeding livestock like dairy cows, beef cattle and mutton sheep. For years, focusing on the demand for high-quality silage corns arising from the development of the animal husbandry and dairy industry, BUA’s silo corn germplasm innovation team has been devoted to cultivating superior silo corn varieties for the country, promoting and demonstrating the technology for producing and cultivating new silo corn varieties, and improving the output and quality of silo corns. In 2023, “BUA Silo Corn 368”, a new corn variety bred by the team, was included into the National Catalogue for Promoting Superior Crop Varieties, with the area of promotion in major provinces of animal husbandry like Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xingjiang and Gansu totaling over 2 million mu. In 2024, the team’s project "Smart Seed Production to Build an Engine for Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Silage Corn", was selected as the 7th Typical Projects of Targeted Assistance for Provincial Universities by the Ministry of Education.

“We shall take the advantage of the unique natural conditions of Hainan and produce more good seeds, making positive contribution to the development of the seed industry and injecting new vitality to the competitiveness of agriculture,” said a teacher on the team.