How can a tiny sheepgrass turn sand into green?

Leymus chinensis is a high-quality forage grass belonging to the Triticeae family of the Poaceae family. It is known for its well-developed rhizomes and is cold-resistant, drought-resistant, salt-alkali-resistant, wind-proof and sand-fixing. At the same time, Leymus chinensis has high nutritional value and palatability, and has important ecological and economic value.

As the level of economic and social development continues to improve, residents' demand for high-quality protein sources such as meat, eggs, and milk has gradually increased, which in turn has led to a corresponding increase in demand for forage. Therefore, research and development of domestic grassland native grass species is of great significance to promoting the development of the grass seed industry. Leymus chinensis is a high-quality grass species that is conducive to grassland ecological restoration. A sheep grass has a main stem and tillers, and there is also a special organ running horizontally underground - the horizontal rhizome. When the horizontal rhizome grows, it will continue to produce rhizome buds and extend out of the ground, and it will form new plants one after another. The new plant will replicate again, and it will produce a main stem, tillers, and horizontal rhizomes... When sheep grass reproduces in this way, it will expand from point to line and then to surface on the grassland to form a network. "Horizontal rhizomes" are excellent traits for grassland ecological restoration. After many years, the aboveground coverage and biomass of sheep grass will increase significantly, and the underground root network will be dense, which will increase the carbon sink of degraded grasslands.

But for a long time, the biggest problem of sheepgrass is the low seed setting and low germination rate. After years of research, researchers have found that the main reason for the low seed setting of sheepgrass is "inbreeding", that is, self-incompatibility. For this reason, the sheepgrass research team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed five sheepgrass varieties, namely "Zhongke 1", "Zhongke 2", "Zhongke 3", "Zhongke 5" and "Zhongke 7" in 26 years, breaking through the bottlenecks of "low fruit setting rate and low germination rate" that have plagued the industrial development of sheepgrass. In 2014, Zhongke 1 sheepgrass variety passed the approval of the National Grass Variety Approval Committee, becoming the first national approved variety in my country in more than 20 years.

File photo: Experimental planting site of Leymus chinensis in Xiaojieji Town, Kailu County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

The breakthrough of bottlenecks has given the "king of grasses" hope. "Zhongke No. 1" sheepgrass has a high fruiting rate and germination rate, and is suitable for planting in northern my country. It can be used for artificial grassland construction, degraded grassland improvement, and ecological management in areas of soil erosion, solving a key problem for the large-scale development of artificial grassland and improvement of natural grassland in northern my country. At the same time, the Horqin Sandy Land took the lead in establishing a Zhongke sheepgrass breeding base of more than a thousand acres. Xiaojieji Town, Kailu County, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia, also took Zhongke sheepgrass as a starting point. Currently, 20,000 acres of sheepgrass have been planted, and it is planned to develop to 100,000 acres to form a new sheepgrass ecological industrial base and create the first "Zhongke sheepgrass town".

In the sheepgrass garden, the newly emerged sheepgrass seedlings are slender and tender, like a needle. The green lake and the blue sky echo each other, and the white clouds are connected with the sheep, forming a picturesque scenery that is intoxicating. At the same time, the sheepgrass garden has also brought rich economic benefits to animal husbandry. Whether from the perspective of beauty or economy, the sheepgrass garden is a valuable piece of land.

Review expert: Gao Zhiling, Professor of College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hebei Agricultural University

China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Xinhuanet

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