China has made remarkable progress in developing the technology of
seed breeding in outer space during the past decade, the former
director of the State Aerospace Bureau told the ongoing China
Industrial Hi-tech Forum.
"The vast space has become an industrial base for seed breeding,"
Liu Jiyuan said, giving 150-gram green peppers as an example of
what can be grown from "space seeds."
Seeds and organs of plants carried by satellites or spacecraft to
space are genetically mutated as a result of radiation and
weightlessness. Scientists select certain mutated seeds to grow
high-quality strains of plants and vegetables.
China has successfully carried more than 1,000 varieties of seeds
to space on ten trips via satellites and unmanned aircraft, Liu
said. Half of the seeds mutated with improved qualities, and some
of the selected seeds are now growing on a large scale.
Professor Shen Guifang with the Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences said the production of
selected sweet peppers has increased by 30-50 percent and "space
cucumbers" are now popular in Beijing, and Sichuan and Jiangsu
provinces.
Meanwhile, flower seeds returned back from space have also
exhibited improvements, Shen added.
(People’s
Daily 10/15/2001)