At present, the cotton harvest in Xinjiang has been completed, and there is a lot of good news coming from the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains--
The Xinjiang Cotton Industry Technology System and the National Cotton Industry Technology System jointly launched the "Hundred Acre Key Research, Thousand Acre Creation, and Ten Thousand Acre Demonstration" high-yield demonstration field, which set three national records for coordinated improvement of yield and quality with yields of 769 kilograms, 636 kilograms, and 564 kilograms per mu, respectively. The fiber quality reached double 30 or above, achieving coordinated improvement in quantity and quality;
The 100 acre high-yield demonstration field of cotton in Jinghe County has set a national record for cotton machine harvesting with a yield of 743.6 kilograms of seed cotton per acre;
The 100000 mu cotton high-yield demonstration field in Shawan City has set a national record for large-scale cotton production with a yield of 586.4 kilograms of seed cotton per mu;
The high-yield cotton demonstration field in Aksu City has reached a new high with a yield of 648.8 kilograms of seed cotton per mu;
……
Variety contributes more than 35% to high cotton yield and plays a decisive role in improving quality, "said Li Xueyuan, Chief Expert of Xinjiang Cotton Industry Technology System and Researcher at the Economic Crop Research Institute of Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
In the past 30 years, Li Xueyuan has led a team to cultivate more than 20 multifunctional cotton varieties, many of which have filled the gap in cotton varieties in Xinjiang. Among them, Xinluzhong 78 and Yuanmian 8 have become the dominant varieties in the local area.
The main breeding goals for cotton in Xinjiang have always been early maturity, high and stable yield, disease resistance, insect resistance, and high quality. With the continuous improvement of mechanization level, breeding experts have begun to actively cultivate varieties suitable for machine harvesting, and in the future, it is necessary to select cotton oil feed dual-use varieties.
The world's cotton looks at China, and China's cotton looks at Xinjiang. The total cotton production in Xinjiang has remained stable at over 5 million tons for five consecutive years, and the planting area and total output have ranked first in China for 30 consecutive years.
In response to these issues, Li Xueyuan led a team to develop a breakthrough cotton variety, Yuanmian 8. This variety has excellent comprehensive performance, integrating early maturity, high yield, disease resistance, high quality, machine harvesting and other excellent traits. It has achieved a national record for the coordinated improvement of cotton quality and quantity in the creation of high-yield demonstration fields in the Xinjiang cotton industry technology system.
Li Xueyuan introduced that Xinjiang has the basic advantages of heat, light, and other factors that contribute to the large-scale increase in cotton yield. The large-scale, mechanized, standardized, and intelligent production methods also provide production guarantees for the large-scale increase in cotton yield. The key to achieving the large-scale increase in cotton yield is to increase the number and weight of bolls per mu, which is the main goal of breeding experts in selecting new varieties.
Taking Xinjiang Jinfengyuan Seed Industry Co., Ltd. as an example, the company is a leading agricultural industrialization enterprise that integrates crop seed breeding, propagation, and promotion. With the adjustment of the national cotton reserve policy, the demand for high-quality raw cotton in textile factories has become more urgent. Therefore, cultivating higher quality cotton varieties is also the unremitting pursuit of breeding enterprises. "Liu Jun, Deputy Director of the R&D Center of the company, introduced that the company has cooperated with the Autonomous Region Academy of Agricultural Sciences for more than 10 years, jointly cultivating three new cotton varieties with a promotion area of over 3 million acres.
Up to now, Xinjiang Jinfengyuan Seed Industry Co., Ltd. has not only led the establishment of the Xinjiang "New Silk Road" genetically modified insect resistant cotton experimental consortium, but also jointly formed three cotton breeding innovation platforms with scientific research units: the National Cotton Biological Breeding Industry Science and Technology Innovation Alliance, the Cotton Biological Breeding Joint Research Center, and the Zhejiang Arab Cotton Biological Breeding Innovation Center. The aim is to promote the smooth transformation of scientific research achievements, cultivate a group of high-quality, capable, and professional local cotton researchers, and enhance the competitiveness of local cotton breeding.
Research institutions and enterprises are working together, and relevant departments are also actively guiding. In 2022, led by the Autonomous Region Cotton Association, Xinjiang will for the first time recommend 35 main cotton varieties that balance quality and yield and meet the planting wishes of local cotton farmers to 11 cotton planting areas (prefectures, cities), 38 cotton planting counties (cities), and 45 ecological zones in the region, including 15 in northern Xinjiang, 4 in eastern Xinjiang, and 16 in southern Xinjiang.
The cotton planting area in Xinjiang is vast and the environment is complex and diverse. Cultivating high-quality cotton varieties that meet the characteristics of Xinjiang's climate resources is crucial for the high-quality development of the cotton industry, "said Su Xuhong, Secretary General of the Autonomous Region Cotton Association
Through the joint efforts of various departments, the innovation capability of cotton breeding in Xinjiang continues to improve. As of now, the main cotton varieties are mainly locally bred varieties, accounting for over 90%. Xinjiang has become the largest cotton seed production base in the country, and the level of cotton seed processing has reached the international leading level.
In February 2023, the National Cotton Biological Breeding Industry Science and Technology Innovation Alliance was unveiled and established. The alliance aims to integrate advantageous research institutes, seed industry, and cotton leading enterprises across the entire cotton industry chain resources nationwide, guided by industrial demand, and utilizing key technologies such as genetic engineering and whole genome design breeding to carry out precision breeding and promote technological innovation in China's cotton industry.
Not only that, in order to solve the key technical problems faced by cotton breeding, Xinjiang has launched a number of major scientific research projects in the field of cotton breeding. Such as "Analysis of Major Agronomic Characteristics of Cotton Varieties and Molecular Design Breeding". This project is the first to use scientific research institutions as the listing party, and is aimed at national scientific research institutions. It organizes advantageous teams to carry out joint research and development, focusing on varieties such as Yuanmian 8, analyzing important agronomic traits of the varieties, carrying out variety improvement, improving the seed density and stress resistance of the varieties, and providing technical support for the stable production and supply of cotton industry in Xinjiang, improving quality and efficiency, and promoting green and sustainable development.