Special Column:Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of IGSNRR, CAS
Lou Xizhi, Fang Jiahe, Zheng diansheng
Crop germplasm resources are an important component part of biodiversity and are the material base of agricultural development. Especially they play an important role in increasing food production. Thus, the effective protection and sustained utilization of crop germplasm resources are treated as an essential matter related to the national economy and the people's livelihood in the scientifically and technologically developed countries, such as the United States, Japan, France, Russia, United Kingdom, etc. In China, the collection, conservation, study and utilization of crop germplasm resources are also paid great attention,and a large number of new varieties have been bred through using the excellent ones. After the popularized varieties of main food crop were replaced 4 to 5 times, the food yield were increased from 1 155kg / hm2 in the 1950's to 4065kg /hm2 in 1994. So far, about 240 thou sand portions of food crop germplasm resources have been collected, and 20 thousand of them identified and evaluated for the main agricultural characters, quality, tolerance to environmental stresses, and resistance to diseases and pests. A great number of resources with desirable characters have been screened out, and some of them have played a great role or will play a still greater role in increasing food production. However, compared with the advanced countries, our country still has a long way to go. Therefore, various new techniques should be fully utilized to accelerate the identification and exploitation of the current food crop germplasm resources. Furthennore, new resources should be also continued to collect and screen on the basis of the needs of breeding and production. It is also necessary to create new species or medium materials to provide the breeders with various excellent resources that do not exist before. This will lay a foundation for the sustained development of our food production.