Chapter 153 Chapter 67 Breeding researchers are somewhat stubborn
For breeding, determining the breeding goal is the first priority. Without a goal, it must be a chance or nothing will be accomplished.
Traditional breeding selects and infers genotypes based on phenotype.
Molecular breeding starts with the genotype, first selects the genotype, and then identifies whether it is the selected desired type.
Both hybrid breeding and utilization of hybrid vigor require two parents.
Molecular breeding requires a parent and one or more target genes, which must be complementary and together possess beneficial genes for the breeding target traits.
Both parents do not have favorable genes that control the target traits, so the breeding goals can basically not be achieved, which also shows that the selection of parents is crucial.
Without the utilization of new beneficial genes or gene combinations, there can be no substantial breakthroughs in breeding.
The epoch-making dwarf rice, hybrid rice variety Shanyou 63 and corn variety Zhengdan 958 have all proven the importance of excellent parents.
Even the directional breeding in Guoyang Seed Store requires the support of parents. Tianyu No. 1, Tianjiao No. 1, etc. all inherit the excellent genes of their parents.
In addition, seed stores have an extremely powerful ability to accurately locate specific points in plant genes and repair, eliminate and enhance plant genes.
For example, if a gene sequence is too much, you can use scissors to cut it off.
If one of the ATCGs that make up DNA is wrong, you can erase it with an eraser, and then write the correct one with a pencil. The pencil and eraser do not stay in the cell.
This also means that if Guo Yang has enough natural energy to squander, he can create all kinds of imaginative seeds through the seed store.
Disease resistance, seed quality, yield, nutritional content, plant flavor...
It's a bit similar to gene editing technology, but it's incredibly efficient.
Today, Jiahe Group is rapidly developing and growing in the field of environmental restoration, including saline-alkali land improvement, desert control, degraded grassland restoration, etc.
The area now involved has reached more than two million acres, and the results of the treatment are gradually showing.
The accumulation speed of natural energy will definitely become faster and faster, and my country's regional environment varies greatly, and there are many types of regional seed needs.
In order to maximize insurance and profits, Guo Yang will definitely roll out from point to point first, and the more important seeds will be released later.
Just like now, he has cultivated 6 pasture varieties and only spent 96 points of natural energy.
Including the newly obtained, there are still 731 points of natural energy left.
But before a breakthrough is made in the breeding laboratory, Guo Yang will not breed new seeds.
Plant genetic engineering is a relatively complex high-tech technology that requires the investment of specialized senior scientific and technological talents, modern instruments and equipment, and a large amount of funds.
But a lot of money here is for colleges and universities.
In 2005, to build a basic molecular plant breeding laboratory, the investment in hardware equipment required at least 300,000 yuan.
Can accommodate 3-5 people to engage in molecular breeding experiments.
Labs with slightly better hardware configuration and larger scale can only cost about 500,000 yuan at best.
Money is not the difficulty for Jiahe. The difficulty lies in the deployment of talents and the accumulation of basic technology research.
For example, agronomic trait gene positioning, isolation and transformation, crop genetic population cultivation, molecular genetic map construction, etc.
These are time-consuming and laborious tasks.
Tianhe Seed Industry has also established a breeding laboratory, but the scale of R&D personnel does not match its current status.
Vegetables, corn, wheat, pasture, soybeans, just to mention them all can be used as a research direction.
And to match Guo Yang’s current breeding speed, the number of people required for each team is indispensable.
Guo Yang thought about it for a while.
The research team must have more than 10 people, and the number of R&D personnel in the main corn, pasture, vegetable, soybean and other teams cannot be small.
To first reach the top level in the country, Tianhe Seed Industry’s R&D personnel must account for more than 15%, which is at least one to two hundred people.
Every field must have a leader, and it will continue to expand in the future.
There is really a huge demand for talents.
After leaving the laboratory, Guo Yang stayed at the group headquarters and led a group of people to design a commercial breeding platform.
Finally, after a series of considerations.
Guo Yang decided to integrate the group’s existing R&D resources and invest 100 million yuan to register and establish Tianhe Seed Industry Scientific Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Build three major platforms of biotechnology, traditional breeding and pilot evaluation, and establish Jiahe’s commercial breeding system throughout the entire process from resource innovation to variety approval.
The only troublesome point is the invitation of talents. Real breeding talents are very rare.
Breeding is a very hard job. Many college students studying breeding are afraid of the hardship and change their careers to other majors.
Most of the students recruited from universities chose to leave the breeding industry because it was too hard, and more experienced breeding talents were concentrated in scientific research institutes.
Poaching people from scientific research institutions is extremely painful.
There is a saying in the industry that those who do agricultural scientific research are not necessarily craftsmen, but they must be 'stubborn' people, just like the stones on the side of the toilet, which are smelly and hard.
In addition to recruiting talents through headhunting, Guo Yang often has to find time to recruit people.
After three years of development, Jiahe Group is no longer an unknown person.
Tianjiao No. 1 helps farmers increase their income, and Red No. 1 supports the rise of domestic high-end vegetable seeds.
Tianyu No. 1 has become a dark horse in the seed industry market this year, with unprecedented promotion speed.
But in the process of recruiting talents, Guo Yang encountered obstacles one after another.
First I went to Hainan Island and found Mr. Cheng, who had dyed hair on his temples. His skin color and figure made him look like a typical northern rural man at first glance.
When Guo Yang saw him, Mr. Cheng was still breeding corn in the field, and there were marks on his arms from the stems and leaves.
The environment at the breeding base is also primitive, with no protection from the wind or rain, and life seems so-so.
But Mr. Cheng has been obsessed with corn breeding all his life. When faced with opportunities for promotion and transfer back to big cities, he has not been tempted at all and is willing to take root in the countryside. When he learned of Guo Yang's intention, Mr. Cheng just praised, "Tianyu 1 is a good variety, better than Zhengdan 958."
"Taking compact plant type as a research direction, It is indeed a good idea to rely on improving the stress resistance of crops and obtaining high yields from groups."
Guo Yang said with a smile: "Mr. Cheng, Jiahe has now established an independent breeding company and plans to develop in the field of biotechnology breeding. To carry out research, we need you..."
"Stop, stop."
"Old man, I don't know anything about biotechnology breeding. I only know that several existing breeding projects can produce results based on the idea of compact plant type."
" Let’s go. Although I am interested in money, I am more worried that I will accomplish nothing in the future.”
Guo Yang said leisurely, “I have already selected and bred twenty or thirty varieties.”
Mr. Cheng's eyes widened, "Achievements can only explain the past, but cannot represent the present and future."
Then he got into the corn seed field.
Guo Yang said loudly: "Okay, Jiahe's breeding platform will be open to the outside world, and you are welcome to do experiments then."
"Then I, Old Cheng, will definitely come to support me then. !" Mr. Cheng's voice came from afar.
This old Biden!
Actually, Guo Yang invited Mr. Cheng not because of how good he is in breeding. He is over sixty years old, no matter how good he is, he can be as good as he is.
But its management capabilities in breeding research are extremely strong.
Under the leadership of Mr. Cheng, the research institute where he works started from scratch. Now its fixed assets exceed RMB 10 million, making him one of the top students among county-level research institutes across the country!
Guo Yang complained silently, only knowing the bitterness of the old stubborn man who was taking notes in the fields with a pen and paper.
A few days later, Guo Yang, who had been rejected one after another, got another piece of news.
Liang Guo, the head of Denghai Seed Industry R&D Center, was in Zhangye to guide corn seed production, and Guo Yang hurriedly drove to Zhangye.
He didn't even have time to take a sip of water before he went straight into the corn field.
Liang Guo is thirty-four years old, and there is not much age difference between him and Guo Yang.
Liang Guo also had some contact with cutting-edge biotechnologies such as genetic breeding and gene editing, and the two of them got along quite well.
Guo Yang felt hope.
But before he could be happy, another dark-skinned man wearing a straw hat, an ordinary white shirt, and an old trousers belt came out.
The man stared at Guo Yang with an unkind expression, "Okay, boy, the poaching is on me, Li Denghai."
Li Denghai?
Guo Yang looked at the authentic farmer in front of him and found it hard to imagine that he was the chairman of Denghai Pioneer Seed Industry.
Li Denghai said with an unhappy look: "As soon as Xiaoliang and I arrived in Zhangye, Mr. Guo turned around and came. This was premeditated!"
Smiled awkwardly.
Li Denghai is known as the father of Chinese corn. He is not a high-ranking official, but he has a high political status. The Yedan 13 he cultivated set a new world summer corn yield record in 1989.
Although subsequent research did not yield a breakthrough, it only made improvements in aspects such as stress resistance and adaptability.
In recent years, due to poor operating performance, Denghai Pioneer established a joint venture with DuPont Pioneer Company of the United States.
But Li Denghai started out as a farmer technician. He had no national project approval, no scientific research funding, and no hordes of scientific research assistants.
Not even a decent office. During the past 30 years, more than 30 high-yielding corn varieties have been developed.
Such people are undoubtedly worthy of respect.
But Guo Yang will not give up because of this, "Bo Le knows a good horse, and a wise master looks for talented people. Who doesn't like talents like Brother Liang."
Li Denghai is also unwilling to give up his own hands. The emergence of Tianyu No. 1 has made Denghai Seed Industry very uncomfortable.
"Denghai is the leader in the domestic corn seed industry. Xiaoliang, you also know the potential of Xianyu 335. It is definitely one of the best corn varieties in the country, not to mention the technical support of Pioneer Company."
When he heard that Li Denghai showed off the Xianyu 335, Guo Yang was immediately unhappy. If you talk about the Denghai series, I can save you some face.
"Oh, Xianyu 335? Can it be compared to Tianyu 1?"
"And Jiahe has more sufficient funds, a better experimental environment, and has also made major technological breakthroughs in the direction of biological breeding. , just waiting for talents like Brother Liang to organize corn genetic breeding."
Li Denghai immediately counterattacked and said what he often said to motivate the R&D team.
“No matter how many boxes of calculation paper you have, you can’t produce a good seed. No matter how superior the conditions of the laboratory are, it cannot replace the pious work that faces the loess and back to the sky in the scorching heat, severe cold, and violent storms.
If you are not willing to be a farmer and take care of it like your own child, opportunities may slip away from you at any time.”
Guo Yang seemed to see Liang Guo's eyes shining, and in the end he could only leave with tears.
Alas!
I can’t understand the brain circuits of these people.
Although cross-breeding is more efficient than traditional natural and artificial selection, maintaining the stability of the traits of genetic offspring also requires multiple generations of backcrossing.
The process is not only time-consuming, but also requires a high degree of professional knowledge and technology during the operation.
But what to do?
These old-timers only believe that God rewards those who work hard.
I only believe in hard work year after year, hard work day by day, fighting for time in the wind and rain, and fighting for efficiency under the scorching sun.
Sweat and pour the loess to cultivate a seedling, pouring all the effort into just one bud.
Guo Yang just wants to say, boss, you are behind the times.
The mainstream in the world now is biological breeding technology, which is molecular markers, chromosome engineering, and genetic engineering...
After running into obstacles one after another with the older generation of breeding experts, Guo Yang had to adjust his direction.
We might as well recruit a group of undergraduates, graduate students, and doctoral students who graduated from colleges and universities, and train them from scratch.
Just a snack.
Batch by batch, the waves wash away the sand, but there is always gold left behind.
(End of this chapter)