Fu Cai Potato No. 18 "growth is gratifying.
Southeast Network December 16** Road (Fujian** reporter Zhang Hui text) The warm winter sun is again, and it is the season of roasted sweet potatoes "out of the circle". When we eat sweet potatoes, what are we eating sweet potatoes?
The answer may be surprising – roots.
Sweet potato, also known as sweet potato, has evolved over a long period of time to produce enlarged storage roots, which store large amounts of starch and other nutrients. This is very different from potatoes, which are also potato crops. The latter feeds on tubers.
But in fact, sweet potato vines - stems and leaves, are also edible. However, due to the poor taste, sweet potato vines were mostly used to add meals to pigs in the past. There are also farmers who pinch the tip of the food to cook, but only a small amount of taste.
Imaginative breeders have bred a special vegetable sweet potato variety, which is the sweet potato leaf that has become popular in the market in recent years. As the "specialty" of the sweet potato family, sweet potato leaves get rid of the bitter and astringent taste of traditional sweet potato vines, and are tender and refreshing, and are also rich in vitamins and crude fiber.
China's first vegetable-type sweet potato "Fushu 7-6", which has passed the national variety identification and provincial approval, comes from Fujian breeding. At present, the "top stream" in the national sweet potato leaf market - Fu Caishu No. 18 is also from Fujian.
Putian Xingtian Ecological Agriculture*** growers hold sweet potato seedlings for vegetables.
The road to sweet potato localization.
Another widely known name for sweet potato is sweet potato. This "fan" word is the imprint of his life experience.
The ancestors of sweet potatoes and potatoes both came from distant Central and South America. After Columbus discovered the New World, the two potatoes were presented to European royalty as an exotic gift. But sweet potatoes were not very popular, but the potato gradually took over the tables of Europeans. After going to sea for the second time from Europe and spreading to Southeast Asia and other places, sweet potatoes counterattacked and became the staple food in various places.
In the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, sweet potatoes came to China.
The Xianshu Pavilion on Wushan Mountain in Fuzhou is a witness to this history. During the Wanli period, there was a severe drought in Fuzhou, and the hungry people were everywhere. Chen Zhenlong, a native of Changle in Fuzhou, who was doing business in the Philippines, took the risk to bring back potato seedlings, and after the successful trial planting, he reported to the governor Jin Xuezeng and taught the people to plant them widely. Sweet potatoes from afar became a "life-saving straw" to alleviate the drought and hunger at that time. The people were grateful for this and built this pavilion in Osan Mountain. Since then, this meritorious crop that is drought-resistant, barren-tolerant, and high-yielding has spread from Fujian to the whole country. At present, sweet potato is the first in the country.
5. Fujian's second largest grain crop.
The official launch of sweet potato breeding research was after the 50s of the 20th century. Previously, the excellent variety with the largest use area in China was the "Victory 100" from Japan.
In 1955, Chen Luogeng, a farmer in Anxi, obtained several natural hybrid seeds from sweet potato plants and cultivated a high-yielding variety "New Seed Flower". This variety was the main cultivar in Fujian in the sixties and seventies of the 20th century. Since then, the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other scientific research institutions in the province have carried out research on sweet potato breeding.
At that time, the first goal of breeding was high yield, and grain-and-feed varieties were the mainstream. In the 80s of the 20th century, Fujian extensively carried out the "five reforms" of sweet potato, and achieved "10,000 catties of potatoes per mu" by changing varieties, changing cutting density, changing farming systems, changing fertilization methods, and changing pest control methods, becoming a typical example of high yield of sweet potatoes in the country.
At the turn of the century, people gradually shifted from "to eat enough" to "to eat well", and the status of sweet potatoes also quietly changed - the use of grain and feed gradually weakened, and the proportion of fresh food, processing and other uses became higher and higher, and the direction of breeding changed.
From the dual-use varieties to the era of special varieties blooming. Tang Hao, vice president of the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that Fujian's sweet potato industry has formed three types of fresh food, starch processing and dried sweet potato processing, and the corresponding new varieties are emerging one after another. On this basis, new categories such as anthocyanin-rich purple potatoes and vegetable sweet potatoes have given this traditional crop a new way to open up.
In fact, there has long been a tradition of eating sweet potato leaves. Growers Xi used to eat sweet potatoes when they grow young leaves after rain. However, this sweet potato leaf is not only difficult to produce yields, but also has a poor taste, with a pronounced bitter and astringent taste. As a result, more sweet potato vines can only be used as fodder after the tuber is harvested.
Sweet potato leaves are very nutritious**. Qiu Sixin, deputy director of the Crop Research Institute of the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that the tip of the sweet potato stem is rich in vitamins, crude fiber, protein and physiological alkaline substances, and has strong stress resistance, high yield and fast growth. At the same time, the stem tip of sweet potato is rarely harmed by cruciferous pests, and less pesticides are used in the growth process, making it an ideal healthy vegetable.
Can we take the long and avoid the short, and breed a special vegetable sweet potato?
Ji Rongchang, an associate researcher at the Research Institute of the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, inspected the field performance of new sweet potato varieties in Liuao Town, Zhangpu County.
Cultivating leading varieties of sweet potatoes.
What kind of varieties are suitable for vegetables?First of all, it has to be like a vegetable: tender, less crude fiber, sweet, no bitterness. In addition, the edible part should be long enough, the branches should be large enough, and the vitality should be strong enough to achieve mass production.
With a clear breeding goal, it is nothing more than finding potential stocks from a complex variety of materials, and through crossing, many advantages are brought together.
To carry out artificial hybridization, it is necessary to wait until the flowering period for artificial pollination. But sweet potato is a very special plant, which likes high temperatures and short days. In general, it does not bloom when it reaches the area north of 23 degrees north latitude. Even in Fujian, not all varieties bloom in their natural state.
Therefore, sweet potato hybrid breeding should first solve the flowering problem.
Nature does not like to bloom?Use its close relative morning glory as a rootstock graft to play a leading role model;Like short sunshine?Create conditions for them to be in a dark room where they can't see their fingers;Lack of stimulation?It is induced with specialized growth regulators. In addition, plants are prone to shift from vegetative growth to reproductive growth under adversity, such as controlling water to cause drought conditions, artificially creating adversity, and it is also a method of artificially inducing flowering.
In Fuzhou, the sweet potato flowering period is generally after the National Day, and artificial pollination can be carried out at this time.
In the evening before flowering, peel off the buds and remove the stamens from them with tweezers. Qiu Yongxiang, a researcher at the Crop Research Institute of the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that at five or six o'clock the next morning, sweet potato flowers bloomed one after another. They race against time to collect the pollen of the male parent and pollinate the female parent that has been de-emasculated. Sweet potatoes have a very short flowering period, and the flowers gradually wither in the afternoon, and the insects come out to cause trouble when the temperature rises, leaving only three or four hours for artificial pollination. The most experienced breeders can only pollinate twenty or thirty sweet potato flowers in an hour.
As a result, the more efficient planning group hybridization method came into being.
Unlike the one-to-one matching method, the plan group crossbreeding creates a large matchmaking market. According to the breeding goals, breeders select multiple breeding materials and randomly sow them in the same field. These "young talents" selected by thousands of people have their own strengths and are freely matched.
At the harvest season, breeders collect the seeds that are the crystallization of "free love" one by one, sow them intensively in the following year, select the best offspring from them, and then multiply them through asexual propagation to produce seed potatoes and seedlings that can be used in production. It's just that the background of these "chosen sons" is a mystery, and they only know their mothers, but not their fathers. Fortunately, with the application of modern molecular biology techniques, it is easy to find a biological father for him.
It seems random, but in fact, everything is under the control of the plan. Qiu Yongxiang said that this method can create more hybrid combinations in a short period of time, which accelerates the breeding process. However, this method is not suitable for all crops. The peculiarity of sweet potato is that although it is monoecious, the self-seeding rate is extremely low, generally within 3%, and the highest variety is not more than 20%, even if it is self-flowering, the vitality of the inbred seeds is very weak. This can ensure that most of the products of the hybrid of the project group are hybrid offspring.
At present, artificial combination and planned group crossbreeding are the two most commonly used methods in sweet potato breeding.
The vegetable sweet potato variety "Fushu 7-6" selected and bred by the Crop Research Institute of the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences is the result of the hybrid of the Planning Group. His dam is Bai Sheng, and his sire may be Fu Shu 26, Tai Nong 68 or A48. The emergence of "Fushu 7-6" has created a new way for the utilization of sweet potatoes in China, and has also opened up a new category in the green leafy vegetable market.
The "Fu Cai Tu 18" that came after it is a leading variety of faults. It is cross-bred from "Quanshu 830" and "Tainong 71", which is still green after boiling, fragrant and sweet, and smooth in the mouth. After more than 10 years of promotion, its comprehensive characteristics are still unsurpassed by competing products. At present, "Fu Cai Potato No. 18" occupies more than 70% of the national sweet potato leaf market.
A new target for vegetables with sweet potatoes.
After winter, Putian Xingtian Ecological Agriculture is located in the vegetable base of Guangshan Village, Baisha Town, Hanjiang District, and more than 100 acres of sweet potato land have set up small arches covered with blue film. This base is planted with the star variety "Fu Caishu No. 18". Sweet potatoes are naturally afraid of cold, and with the small arch shed to assist wintering, sweet potato leaves can also be marketed as scheduled in winter.
In 2012, Yan Shengren, chairman of Xingtian Company, introduced this variety from the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences. At that time, sweet potato leaves were still a novelty in the vegetable market.
At the beginning, we adopted the strategy of buying vegetables and sending sweet potato leaves to cultivate the market. Yan Shengren said that after three years of promotion, consumers have a new understanding of sweet potato leaves. It turns out that sweet potato leaves can not only be used to feed pigs, but also make excellent vegetables. Different from traditional sweet potato leaves, vegetable sweet potatoes can be eaten without tearing the skin, which is crisp and refreshing, and does not feel stuffed with teeth.
Vegetable sweet potatoes are not only delicious, but also easy to grow. However, the planting pattern is different from that of regular sweet potatoes. Ordinary sweet potatoes can only be planted about 3,000 plants per acre, but the planting density of vegetable sweet potatoes can reach six or seven thousand plants per mu. As a result, there is limited space for underground tubers to expand, and nutrients are used to feed the stems and leaves to grow. As long as there is enough fertilizer and water, sweet potato leaves can thrive, and in the summer when the hydrothermal conditions are at their best, they can be harvested in less than a week. In Putian, one acre of land can harvest 10,000 catties of sweet potato leaves a year. At present, Xingtian Company's "No. 18 Fresh E-commerce Enterprise" is about 2 per catty$5. In this way, the annual output value per mu is nearly 30,000 yuan.
However, the sweet potato leaf industry is also facing growing pains.
Due to the semi-prostrate shape of its plants, ordinary mechanical harvesters are helpless, and sweet potato leaf harvesting can only rely on manual labor. In the best growing season, a skilled worker can only harvest a few hundred catties a day at most. According to Yan Shengren's calculations, the labor cost of producing one pound of sweet potato leaves alone is not less than 05 yuan, accounting for 20% of the field purchase price. What's more, during the busy season, it is difficult to recruit enough workers for a while. Therefore, although the market space is not small, many growers do not dare to expand the scale of production, for fear that the output will come up and the harvest will not be able to keep up.
This places new demands on breeders – are there any varieties suitable for mechanized harvesting?
The ideal plant shape is the key to mechanized harvesting. Qiu Yongxiang said that the so-called ideal plant type must have several conditions: the stems and leaves are upright and compact, the branch growth rate is consistent, and it is resistant to mechanical breakage, so as to facilitate mechanical cutting, and the length after cutting is regular, easy to store and bundle, and does not affect the subsequent growth of the plant.
Under such breeding ideas, Qiu Yongxiang's team selected and bred China's first vegetable sweet potato variety suitable for mechanical harvesting - "Fu Caishu 22" through crossbreeding of the planning group. However, agricultural mechanization can not only rely on varieties, but also need the full integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy, and it is urgent to develop special harvesting tools.
The industry has more expectations for vegetable sweet potato varieties. As mentioned earlier, sweet potatoes are not cold-resistant, in Fujian, even with the blessing of small arch sheds, it is difficult to do the anniversary**, and the coldest season before and after the Spring Festival is mostly empty. This requires the selection of varieties that are more adaptable and more tolerant to cold. In addition, sweet potatoes have a soft form when boiled, and if they can be as distinct as choy sum, they can enhance their appearance.
The market has called, and scientific research has responded. Zhao Jieliang, director of the provincial seed station, said that our province is implementing the seed industry innovation and industrialization project - sweet potato joint breeding project, focusing on the new market demand for vegetable sweet potato, further increase joint research efforts, and strive to breed a number of high-quality, high-yield, cold-resistant, adaptable, suitable for machine harvesting breakthrough new vegetable sweet potato varieties applied to production.