Ningxia releases scientific and technological achievements of goji berry industry

Ningxia holds a press conference on the major scientific and technological achievements of the Chinese goji berry industry on June 22. [Photo by Cai Yuxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

On June 22, with the 4th Goji Berry Industry Expo coming up, Ningxia held a press conference to outline the major scientific and technological achievements which have been made by the Chinese goji berry industry. 

The goji berry has been known as "the tree of life" since ancient times, and has become a key agricultural industry in Ningxia, with local characteristics and good brand recognition. 

Ningxia has made a number of landmark achievements in areas like variety breeding, high-quality cultivation, pest prevention and control, medicines and food product development.

Since the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), Ningxia has cultivated more than 59 new varieties, built a green, high-quality and efficient production technology system, and developed a complete set of extraction and separation processes for goji berries. 

It has analyzed the efficacy of a variety of goji berry substances, built a database of 700 metabolites, and developed more than 100 functional products in 10 categories. It has also built 12 innovation platforms, two autonomous region innovation teams, and cultivated 61 scientific and technological enterprises. 

Cao Youlong, researcher at the Wolfberry Engineering Technology Research Institute of Ningxia Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, the National Wolfberry Engineering Research Center and the China goji berry research institute, announced that Ningxia has deciphered the whole genome of goji berry for the first time, marking China's leading position in goji berry genome research, the evolutionary mechanism of Solanaceae, the mining of functional genes for important traits and the analysis of molecular breeding. 

Cao Youlong, researcher at the Wolfberry Engineering Technology Research Institute of Ningxia Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, the National Wolfberry Engineering Research Center and the China goji berry research institute, speaks at the conference. [Photo by Cai Yuxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

Liu Changqing, deputy director of the Ningxia Science and Technology Department, said at the conference that the goji berry industry has developed into a key agricultural industry with the most local characteristics and brand advantages in Ningxia, and that scientific and technological innovation has always been the focus of their work.

Ningxia will continue strengthening cooperation and building platforms for the development of its goji berry industry.

Ningxia uses genome database to uncover key regulatory genes related to traits such as pest resistance, medicinal use, fruit size and color, and targets new varieties based on gene editing technology to meet market demand. [Photo by Cai Yuxin/chinadaily.com.cn]

A molecularly-assisted breeding and gene editing technology platform for goji berries has been established, shortening the breeding cycle and allowing for the targeted breeding of new varieties of goji berry. [Photo by Cai Yuxin/chinadaily.com.cn]