Beijing (XNA) Aug 15, 2022 When China's Shenzhou-14 spaceship returns to Earth late this year, it...
It will be part of the harvest of a 6-month-long breeding experiment aboard the Tiangong space station, which is under construction.
Space breeding refers to exposing seeds and strains to cosmic radiation and microgravity during a spaceflight mission to mutate their genes.
Zhao Hui, an expert with the China Academy of Space Technology, said that unlike genetically modified food transferring genes from other species, space-bred seeds and strains undergo a mutation of their own genes only.
China has been a pioneering country seeking to apply the technology of space breeding to agricultural farming on the ground.
The world's most populous country conducted its first space breeding experiment in 1987, launching packets of seeds on a satellite and returning them to Earth after exposure to cosmic radiation.
Over the past three decades, China's space breeding program has helped produce more than 300 crop varieties and 700 new types of plants, ranging from vegetables, fruits, and flowers.
It has increased grain production by 1.6 billion kg and generated economic benefits worth over 240 billion yuan, said Zhao, also the secretary general of China's Space Breeding Industry Innovation Alliance.
Similar success stories have been reported nationwide, as space breeding has represented an innovative approach to helping Chinese farmers improve their productivity.
The space breeding tests have been conducted in all the flight missions during the essential technology verification phase of China's space station project.
The small mechanical arm mounted with Wentian, the first lab module of China's space station, has successfully completed in-orbit tests, according to the China Manned Space Agency.