Industrial Cluster: Pay Attention To The Land Competition Between Cotton And Grain In The Yangtze River Basin

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The cotton area in the Yangtze River Basin is a traditional high-quality cotton production base, but the contradiction between grain and cotton is prominent, which threatens the safety of cotton industry. Song Guoli, the project host and researcher of the Cotton Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that after three years of scientific and technological research, the project team has cultivated 28 new cotton varieties suitable for planting in the Yangtze River Basin, and the demonstration and promotion of new varieties are more than 8.5 million mu, 14 sets of matching production technology were formulated, and the cotton production in the Yangtze River Basin realized the method of good variety matching.

? The benefit of cotton planting decreased and the planting area decreased sharply

The Yangtze River Basin is a traditional high-quality grain and cotton production base with abundant rain and heat resources and sufficient sunlight. Before 2013, more than 90% of the cotton planting methods in the Yangtze River Basin were wheat / rape and cotton double cropping a year, cotton was mainly seedling transplanting, followed by wheat interplanting cotton. However, the contradiction between the two planting methods is prominent, and the mechanization level is low and the cost is high. Especially in recent years, the labor cost has been greatly increased, the long-term focus on Yield and quality of cotton planting, and it is difficult to improve the yield and quality in a coordinated manner. The benefits of cotton planting have been continuously reduced, and the cotton planting area has declined sharply, threatening the safety of the cotton industry.

According to the data released by the National Bureau of statistics, in 2020, the sown area of cotton in China will be 47.548 million mu, a decrease of 2.541 million mu or 5.1% over the previous year. Among them, the cotton planting area in the Yangtze River Basin was 4.257 million mu, a decrease of 850000 mu or 16.6% over the previous year.

? Early maturing new varieties support rotation pattern of two seasons a year

? ? ? Crop variety is considered as the "chip" of agriculture, which is closely related to the growth period, yield, quality and price of crops. Under the support of the project "cultivation of new cotton varieties with high yield and high efficiency in the Yangtze River Basin", the Cotton Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, together with Nanjing Agricultural University, Huazhong Agricultural University and other units, has cultivated 28 early maturing cotton varieties suitable for direct seeding of wheat / rape after harvest in the Yangtze River Basin. In particular, the new cotton variety Zhongmian 425 is an extremely early maturing variety. The growth period from seedling emergence to boll opening is only 98 days, and it contains insect resistance gene. It can be resistant to cotton bollworm, Fusarium wilt, Verticillium wilt, wide adaptability and good fiber quality.

The breeding of early maturing varieties such as Zhongmian 425 has realized the direct sowing of cotton after rape or wheat harvest, which no longer needs seedling transplanting or field interplanting as before, greatly reducing the labor cost and labor intensity, and improving the level of cotton planting mechanization, realizing the rotation of rape / wheat and cotton for two seasons a year, In recent years, the cotton planting area in the mainland of China has been greatly reduced.

The project of "cultivation of new cotton varieties with high yield and high efficiency in the Yangtze River Basin" was established in 2018. At present, it has completed various tasks and indicators, authorized 19 national invention patents, and obtained 8 new plant varieties protection rights, providing variety and technical guarantee for improving farmers' income and helping Rural Revitalization.

? High quality and high yield, production can be mechanized

In order to give full play to the benefits of improved varieties, it is necessary to have a complete set of "good laws". The project also developed a complete set of high-yield and high-efficiency cotton production technology, a total of 14 sets.

Zhou Zhiguo, a member of the cotton expert guidance group of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas and a professor at Nanjing Agricultural University, said that in view of the technical problems of long-term emphasis on Yield and quality of cotton, difficulties in coordinated improvement of yield and quality, low mechanization level of cotton field and low benefit of cotton planting, Nanjing Agricultural University, in cooperation with Cotton Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has selected high-quality, high-yield and early maturing varieties Through the key technological breakthroughs, such as increasing planting density, regulating growth process, optimizing individual and population structure, and returning straw to field, a compact individual and high light efficiency population of cotton with concentrated budding, boll forming and boll opening has been built, and high quality, high yield and light, simple and efficient production of cotton after wheat (oil) has been realized.

According to the field yield measurement, the yield of 85% seed cotton in Dafeng and Anfeng demonstration areas of Yancheng and Anfeng reached 356 kg / mu and 380 kg / mu respectively. "Such production is also leading in the Yangtze River Basin." Zhou Zhiguo said that the combination of good varieties effectively solved the problems of land competition between grain and cotton and the high quality, high yield and high efficiency of the two crops. Moreover, the application of wheat and cotton straw can be reduced by more than 20%, and the economic and ecological benefits are remarkable.

When cotton is planted after wheat or rape harvest, the cotton production period is just postponed to winter. Song Guoli said that this effectively avoided the high incidence period of Fusarium wilt, Verticillium Wilt and major insect pests, greatly reduced the use of pesticides, and increased farmers' comprehensive income. "The project team has also developed key technologies such as one sowing and whole seedling, nitrogen control at seedling stage, simplified fertilization, integration of water and fertilizer, chemical topping, defoliation and accelerated ripening. Based on the current cultivation of these excellent varieties and related cultivation techniques, the whole process of cotton production in the Yangtze River basin can be realized. In this way, the aging of cotton production in the Yangtze River valley cotton area has been solved Fragmentation, decentralization and other issues will lead to the development direction of China's cotton production in the future Song Guoli said.

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