The seeds of cranberries grown in the "Easternmost Part of China" are actually "chosen by God"!

Not long ago, in order to thank the Northeastern friends for their care and love for 11 "small tangerines", Nanning, Guangxi donated 189 tons of tangerines and mandarin oranges to Harbin, Heilongjiang. In return for this generous gift, the Heilongjiang friends gave back 100,000 boxes of high-quality Fuyuan cranberries.

Cranberries from Heilongjiang

As soon as the news came out, it immediately became a hot topic on various social platforms. While people were moved by the warm interaction between the two places, they couldn't help but ask: "Heilongjiang is rich in cranberries? Why didn't we know about it?" Many local netizens in Heilongjiang said: "I have lived in Heilongjiang for decades, and I didn't know that fresh cranberries were grown there?"

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So, when did this "hidden" fruit, cranberry, come to Northeast my country? In fact, there are many unknown stories about this fruit.

From Overseas to Northeast China

Cranberry is known as the "North American Ruby" and is grown in northern United States, Chile in South America, and northeastern Europe.

Historically, the Native Americans living in North America were the first to eat cranberries, and its diverse products have become a daily choice for consumers in various countries. They make cranberries into jams, dried fruits and other foods, and use them as dyes for dyeing cloth and medicine for applying on wounds. As a result, cranberries have gradually become popular among people in various countries.

Cranberry jam

Although cranberries are popular, growing them is not easy.

Because this fruit is resistant to severe cold and likes water and humidity, it mainly grows in swamps or wetlands and has high requirements for climate and soil conditions, so the choice of growing site is extremely important.

In 2014, cranberries were introduced from North America to Fuyuan City, Heilongjiang Province. Fuyuan City, Heilongjiang Province is the "easternmost" of my country, located between 40 and 50 degrees north latitude. The Heilongjiang River and the Wusuli River meet here, which is the same latitude as the main production areas of cranberries in the world, and the natural environment is similar. Due to the high latitude and low temperature, the evaporation of the soil surface is relatively weak, and the river water floods from time to time, and the accumulated water mixes with the soil to form a continuous swamp. Therefore, this place has become a "paradise" for cranberries to take root.

With a good growing environment, how can we better grow cranberries? For a long time, large-scale cranberry cultivation in China has always used varieties imported from North America. China has never had varieties with independent intellectual property rights, and improved varieties are the "bottleneck" technology that restricts cultivation. In order to overcome this problem, the Chinese began a long journey of cranberry "domestication".

"Spread" into space

When talking about cranberry seeds, we have to mention the space breeding experiment of the Shenzhou 14 manned spacecraft.

At 20:09 on December 4, 2022, the return capsule of the Shenzhou XIV manned spacecraft successfully landed at the Dongfeng landing site, and the three astronauts returned home with cranberry seeds from Fuyuan. The space breeding experiment conducted this time set a precedent for the world's first cranberry space breeding.

So, what is space breeding?

Space breeding is to allow crop seeds to travel on a returning spacecraft to space, using the special environmental effects of cosmic rays, microgravity, high vacuum, etc. to cause genetic mutations in a very small number of these seeds, and then return to land.

So, can the cranberry seeds that have returned from "flying" be used directly?

Actually, it is not.

Generally, cranberry seeds will go through three stages after returning from "flying".

First, compare the main traits such as resistance to pests and diseases, cold resistance, high yield, early maturity, quality and yield; second, conduct research on ecological adaptability in different regions; third, test, observe and evaluate various test materials to select excellent cranberry varieties suitable for planting in different regions in my country. This process requires a long period of time.

According to researchers, space breeding can cultivate cranberry varieties with independent intellectual property rights based on the properties and characteristics of Chinese soil, achieving another "zero" breakthrough in the field of bio-economy. On this basis, it can enrich my country's cranberry germplasm resources and improve the competitiveness of Chinese cranberries in the international and domestic markets.

The manned space science exhibition held in Fuyuan City introduced the situation of cranberry seeds on board

In addition to the seeds, harvesting cranberries is also a science.

From September to early November every year is the cranberry harvest season. Compared with the harvesting methods of other fruits, the harvesting of cranberries is more special. They mainly use a special method, that is, water harvesting, that is, water is poured into the cranberry field to submerge the plants, and then a mechanical water truck is driven through the field to make the fruits fall off, and then they are gathered together and loaded onto the truck. This method not only greatly improves the harvesting efficiency of cranberries, but also can screen out fruits that are not full or have been infested by insects and make them sink into the water, which not only saves time and effort, but also has relatively low costs.

In addition, cranberry fruits suitable for harvesting need to experience at least one frost. The purpose is to allow the slightly cold weather to give the fruit a unique deep red color, thus forming agate-like cranberry fruits to enhance people's appetite and desire to buy.

Cranberries are harvested using water

Since cranberries were introduced to China from North America in 2014, the cranberry planting area in Fuyuan City, Heilongjiang Province has reached 4,200 acres, with a production of about 3,000 tons. It has become the largest cranberry planting base in the country, supplying 40% of the cranberry production to Asia, filling the market gap where domestic fresh cranberries are entirely dependent on imports.

This time, Heilongjiang's "return gift" has made people all over the country know about the cranberries in the Northeast. Looking to the future, as cranberry breeding technology continues to upgrade, perhaps we will see cranberry cultivation spread to more areas of my country besides the Northeast.