The difficulty of domestic soybeans

Among China's major food crops such as rice, wheat, corn, and soybeans, rice and wheat have achieved complete self-sufficiency, and the self-sufficiency rate of corn has exceeded 95%.
Only soybeans have a huge gap between production and demand
.

Since the mid-1990s, due to changes in the national diet, soybean consumption has increased substantially, and China has gradually changed from a net soybean exporter to a net importer
.

For more than 20 years, the gap between soybean production and demand in China has gradually widened

While the amount of imported soybeans remains high, domestic high-protein soybeans and vegetable soybeans, which are mainly used for direct consumption, are also in short supply
.

Faced with the huge gap in soybean production and demand in China, in recent years, batches of new soybean varieties have been continuously introduced to the market, making positive contributions to improving the yield and quality of domestic soybeans

Low-yield Dilemma in Soybean Country

Although both domestic soybeans and imported soybeans are called soybeans, they are not a class of products
.

China only allows the cultivation of non-GMO soybeans, which contain high protein content, and are mainly used for direct consumption, processing of soybean products and soybean protein
.

Imported soybeans are genetically modified soybeans with high fat content and are mainly used to meet the needs of processing edible oil and soybean meal for breeding

This shows that domestic soybeans are still the "just-needed" food for the common people and cannot be replaced by imported soybeans
.

The interviewed experts believe that China must maintain a certain amount of soybean production in order to have a certain right to speak at the soybean international negotiation table

China's soybean planting area is limited, and the resulting shortage of production needs urgent attention
.

Jilin Province was once the main soybean producing area, with the highest planting area exceeding 10 million mu
.

In recent years, the planted area has been significantly reduced compared to the past

The reduction of soybean planting area has become a common phenomenon.
Many soybean-producing areas in China have switched to corn and other crops.
The main soybean-producing areas have moved to areas with relatively poor climatic conditions and cultivated land quality, and the yield and total amount are not high
.

Moreover, experts predict that China's soybean planting rate in 2021 will be slightly lower than last year, and the gap between production and demand may further increase

Difficulties in high-yield soybean breeding

When it is difficult to increase the planting area on a large scale, another way to increase soybean yield is to rely on science and technology to increase yield per mu
.

This requires continuous research by scientific researchers to breed more high- and stable-yielding high-quality varieties, continue to increase soybean production on limited land, and ensure the supply of domestic edible soy products
.

Soybean breeding technology mainly includes conventional breeding and molecular breeding
.

At present, soybeans in China are mainly conventional breeding

Hybrid breeding is a conventional breeding technique
.

In the 1980s, China began to study soybean hybrid breeding technology

Professor Wang Piwu of Jilin Agricultural University and other experts said that European and American countries are also studying hybrid soybean technology, but there are still technical bottlenecks in breeding.
China is already in the international leading position in the utilization of soybean heterosis
.
Experts said that the main advantage of foreign genetically modified soybeans is insect resistance and does not have a high-yield advantage, but China's hybrid soybeans have a high-yield advantage
.

In 2020, there will be another breakthrough in the yield of hybrid soybean seed production in China
.
The yield of hybrid soybean variety "Jiyu 611" selected by the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences reached 113.
87 kg per mu.
This is the second consecutive year that the yield of hybrid soybean varieties per mu in China has stabilized at more than 110 kg per mu
.
"The increase in hybrid soybean seed yield means the reduction of seed production costs.
This is a key step in industrial promotion.
The current seed yield shows the huge industrial application prospect of hybrid soybean
.
" said Zhang Chunbao, a researcher at the Soybean Research Institute of Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences
.

However, soybeans are sensitive to light and temperature.
Most of the existing soybean varieties in our country have a single adaptation area.
The yield in one region is high, but the yield in another region varies greatly
.
However, our domestic regions are widely distributed, and we need to breed more soybean varieties suitable for planting in different regions
.

The interviewed experts said that in addition to continuing to strengthen conventional breeding for breeding more soybean varieties, it is also necessary to study the use of the most advanced molecular breeding technology in the world
.
At present, experts have explored and applied soybean molecular design and breeding technology
.
Feng Xianzhong, a researcher at the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that through molecular design breeding, they have selected a batch of high-protein, high-yield and high-oil products such as "Dongsheng 102", "Dongsheng 105", "Dongsheng 112" and "Dongsheng 79".
New varieties of soybeans are introduced to the market
.
In 2020, the "Dongsheng 112" variety will be planted in a suitable area for soybeans in Xinjiang using integrated water and fertilizer technology, with a yield of over 400 kg per mu
.

However, the backward identification of soybean germplasm resources in China hinders the development of molecular breeding technology
.
Soybeans can only know the characteristics of genes after the germplasm resources are identified, so that good genes can be extracted for breeding
.
Due to policy and technical level, coupled with insufficient capital investment, the identification of soybean germplasm resources in China is backward, and molecular breeding technologies such as soybean genetically modified breeding and molecular design breeding are far behind foreign countries
.

Change from a small workshop to a factory operation

To change the situation of low average soybean yield in China and low enthusiasm of soybean farmers, it is necessary to solve the transition from small workshops to factory operation of soybean "breeding and propagation" in China
.

First of all, to solve the dilemma of insufficient scientific research strength faced by soybean varieties selection and breeding in China
.
As the leading unit of hybrid soybean research in China, the hybrid soybean research team of the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences has only a dozen people
.
They not only have to engage in research on breed selection, but are also busy with soybean cultivation, field management, and seed production, with insufficient manpower
.
Zhang Chunbao told reporters that the country's hybrid soybean scientific research team has fewer than 100 people, and the scientific research strength is far from that of the hybrid rice team with tens of thousands of people
.

"Nowadays, scientific research institutions are the main force of the soybean seed industry's breeding and promotion, but many scientific research institutions are small workshops, with a team of several people, and a fund of more than 100,000 yuan.
They are combined with the factory breeding and large-scale breeding of large foreign seed companies.
The test gap is huge
.
" Feng Xianzhong said
.

Second, give play to the role of enterprises, encourage cooperation between seed companies and scientific research institutions, and promote the industrial application of high-quality new soybean varieties
.

“At present, the hybrid soybean seed production capacity of the Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences can only meet the requirements for planting hundreds of hectares of land, and cannot reach the scale of industrial application
.
These tasks rely on only a few scientific research institutions to promote weak, and it is urgent for seed companies to participate.
Market-oriented cooperation
.
” Zhang Wei, director of the Soybean Research Institute of Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, suggested that large seed production companies should be encouraged to participate in hybrid soybean variety research and development and testing, expand the scale of trials, select better quality soybean varieties, and promote new soybean varieties.
Industrialized application to meet market demand
.

Finally, soybean planting and farming systems are not compatible, and it is difficult to achieve sustained high and stable yields
.
In some areas suitable for soybean planting in Xinjiang, farmers have adopted the technology of mechanized cultivation and integrated water and fertilizer.
The planting density is high, and the yield of some varieties is very high
.
In many areas of Jilin, the soybean planting area is small, the degree of mechanization and the application of supporting cultivation techniques are low.
Even if the same variety is planted in Xinjiang, the yield is not necessarily high
.
Feng Xianzhong suggested that soybean breeding and large-scale soybean farming should be combined for scientific research.
It is recommended that a 10,000-mu-level soybean high-yield and stable-yield technology demonstration zone be established in the main soybean production area to promote soybean production and quality improvement
.