When it comes to the exchange and sharing platform of corn breeding materials, the first thing that many scientific researchers think of is the intelligent seed network. The intelligent seed network was once the "only seedling" of the mainland's savage growth in the field of corn seed industry research and development services. In the past eight years, its main investor, Beijing Xinrui Hengfeng Seed Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Xinrui Hengfeng), as the first professional corn seed industry R&D service company in China, has created a new corn R&D service model through the linkage between online intelligent seed network and offline Xinrui Hengfeng, and promoted the standardized use and authorized sharing of mainland breeding resources. Up to now, Xinrui Hengfeng has issued more than 1,500 inbred line materials; It has carried out long-term cooperation with more than 60 institutes and seed enterprises, and has authorized the combination of representative varieties with an annual planned seed production area of more than 10,000 mu. Independent research and development of 4 varieties that have passed the national examination, more than 30 varieties of provinces and consortia to participate in the test, and more than 200 new plant variety rights have been applied for, serving the commercial breeding in the mainland. In the past eight years, the mainland corn seed industry has continued to catch up with the advanced, and the role played by Xinrui Hengfeng is actually a "public foundation for seed industry research and development".
Maximize the value of mobile germplasm resources
Seeds are the "big thing" of a country's food security. It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and to cultivate a good seed, you must first have suitable breeding materials.
For a long time, mainland seed enterprises have generally had practical problems such as low breeding ability, low R&D efficiency, and poor testing quality. One of the reasons for this is that germplasm resources are difficult to revitalize, and many excellent breeding materials are wasted or forgotten.
"The exchange and exchange of breeding materials is not only a matter between breeders, it is a major event related to the efficiency of scientific research in the seed industry and the speed of agricultural development." In 2016, when the new "Seed Law" was implemented, and the green channel, consortium test and introduction record system were implemented, under the leadership of Che Xiaoping, the founder of Xinrui Hengfeng, Xinrui Hengfeng was formally established, becoming the first and only company focusing on the commercialization of germplasm resources in China.
How to realize the commercialization and standardized use, authorization and sharing of breeding resources? This is a topic that needs an answer urgently for the development of the seed industry in the mainland, and it is also a new topic faced by the cutting-edge Hengfeng at that time.
Making full use of the characteristics of national conditions, in the past eight years, Xinrui Hengfeng has focused on the core business of inbred line development and trusteeship, corn variety development and promotion, integrated and utilized individual and small-scale breeding areas in various ecological regions, created an integration model with the intelligent seed network as the platform, established distribution mechanisms and rules, and used 334 distribution methods (i.e., female parent 3; Paternal 3; The distribution principles of assembly, testing, and validation 4) have guided the practice of the industry-referenced germplasm resource circulation, utilization and distribution standards, and in 2019, it was approved as a national high-tech enterprise, a Zhongguancun high-tech enterprise and a technology-based small and medium-sized enterprise. Through the two-way service of the intelligent seed network, one in and one out, scientific research units, seed companies, and breeders can also authorize, host, or invest in the inbred line of their own intellectual property rights to the "intelligent seed network" platform while obtaining the authorization of the required materials, which increases the effective exchange of breeding materials.
The core business of Xinrui Hengfeng
Yangling Zhizhong Network is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhizhong Network, which introduces investors through R&D assets (inbred line and hybrid variety rights) and cash investment
"We insist on doing this thing, which is to establish an ecosystem of standardized and shared use of maize breeding materials through a variety of channels, so as to maximize the value of germplasm resources that can be flowed." Che Xiaoping said.
Eight years of accumulation and construction have also yielded fruitful results. At present, there are 68 seed companies and scientific research institutes and 26 individual breeders participating in the authorization of Xinrui Hengfeng's inbred lines, 368 inbred lines have been authorized, 115 inbred lines have been managed, 1867 inbred lines have been authorized, and 16 varieties have been transferred. At the same time, Xinrui Hengfeng has independently developed 4 national examination varieties, 33 provincial and consortium test varieties, and applied for 216 new plant variety rights.
Eight years and two rounds of technical cycle, consolidating chassis support
The completion of an innovative service system requires ten years of persistence and exploration.
Every five years for a cycle, this year is the eighth year of the establishment of Xinrui Hengfeng, Che Xiaoping regards it as the middle stage of the second round of development cycle: the critical period of consolidating chassis support.
"In the first five years, we are verifying the feasibility of the model and technology, and the second five years are the process of steady accumulation, including the reserve of resources, the accumulation of technology, and the improvement of competitiveness, and the third five years will enter a stage of rapid development."
Establish a breeding cooperation consortium, establish a prototype of its own R&D operation system, jointly establish a molecular database alliance, and complete the structure construction of main backbone resources......
Eight years and two rounds of technology cycles, a "R&D service innovation chain" led by Xinrui Hengfeng is being rolled out——
Make efforts in technological innovation. In Shuangcheng in Heilongjiang, Hebi in Henan, Sanya and Ledong in Hainan, the experimental stations set up by Xinrui Hengfeng have been continuously developed, and the testing network of new corn varieties established in major ecological regions across the country has been increasingly improved. At the same time, adhering to the mode of integration + independent research and development, Xinrui Hengfeng has deeply laid out the creation of excellent germplasm resources and the development of new traits, and has entered the second stage of independent creation of resources from the initial integration of external resources. At present, 80% of its self-created resources are created.
Focus on model innovation. At present, Xinrui Hengfeng has developed six business models, including commercial joint breeding, commercial joint testing, variety brokerage, R&D asset custody, core seed production and germplasm resource innovation. At the same time, through the commercial display test, the "new excellent strain display competition", "field environmental test", etc., we continue to provide decision-making information for new variety screening and regional positioning.
These are not all: in order to cope with the resistance needs of complex ecological environments, in 2024, Xinrui Hengfeng will officially roll out the creation of "base station" germplasm resources in major ecological regions across the country, with a total of 12 multi-environmental selection points in each ecological region, involving southwest, Huanghuai, northwest, northeast, and north-to-north mature areas, mainly disease-resistant areas. The theoretical support of this technology comes from "shuttle breeding", which makes full use of the interaction between genotype and environment to purposefully screen stress-resistant resources to meet the production and application needs of various ecological regions.
In response to the trend of industrialization of biological breeding, the key backbone inbred lines of Xinrui Hengfeng have completed transgenic breeding reserves through Hangzhou Ruifeng Biology and Hainan Longping Biology in recent years.
In terms of germplasm innovation and application, Xinrui Hengfeng continues to provide high-performance genes through alliances and licensing agreements, and at the same time adopts joint resource creation, DH joint creation projects, R&D asset trusteeship, variety rights shareholding, etc., with an annual production of 30,000 haploid seedlings and a conventional plus generation scale of 5,000.
If the corn seed industry research and development service is a battle, there is no doubt that Xinrui Hengfeng already has grain and grass, corps, weapons, and solid chassis support.
Adhere to long-termism and do the right thing
The accumulation and creation of breeding materials are important, but more importantly, how to revitalize and utilize resources?
In order to make faster and better use of the latest inbred lines to do a good job of matching, since 2021, Zhizhong Network has screened out some excellent inbred lines with high matching ability, clear resistance characteristics, clear group formula, and matching application and production environment every year, and improved the efficiency of resource utilization by adopting the method of "distributing excellent inbred lines". In addition, the "Hainan inbred line self-service pollen testing and matching" initiated by Zhizhong Network has been carried out for 5 consecutive years, and the method of "self-service pollination and matching" has been adopted during the southern breeding period, so that all kinds of breeding subjects can participate without threshold, which further enriches the germplasm utilization.
"It's an open way to use resources. Through the active distribution of excellent breeding materials nationwide, more high-quality resources can be leveraged, more varieties can be produced, and a number of win-win opportunities for cooperation. Ye Jian, president of the Xinrui Hengfeng Research Institute, said.
So far, Xinrui Hengfeng has issued more than 1,500 inbred lines, and thus helped to combine a number of competitive new varieties, which is of positive significance for the efficient utilization of germplasm resources in the mainland, deduplication and industry development.
These representative varieties of authorized combinations are playing a practical role in increasing agricultural efficiency and farmers' income. Among them, "Fengle 520" has applied for the national examination of the four major regions to participate in the test and approval, and the annual seed production area has increased year by year; Listed seed companies such as Longping Hi-Tech and Kangnong Seed Industry have also issued and authorized the inbred line assembly results to enter the trial and approval procedures.
Looking back on the past, Xinrui Hengfeng has always insisted on doing three things for eight years-
First, based on the needs of the seed industry and the country, the standardized use of breeding materials is guided through the intelligent seed network, and an application mechanism has been formed.
Second, through the eight-year two-round cycle, it has formed its own germplasm resource reserve and relatively mature technical process, and established a multi-ecological zone service chassis.
The third is to accelerate the commercial utilization of germplasm resources, so that the mobility of resources is enhanced, the scope of exchange is expanded, and the value is further enhanced.
Facing the future, Xinrui Hengfeng will continue to uphold the concept of "technology, innovation and value", and is committed to guiding the standardized use of intellectual property rights in the seed industry and building a leading service provider in the field of research and development of China's corn seed industry.
"The value of our platform is to give more breeders an outlet to release value. If we can, we'll do it for the rest of our lives. Che Xiaoping said.
Source丨Zhizhong Network Editor丨Nong Caijun Contact Nong Caijun丨18565265490
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