[Creative Cultivation Program] The "Growth History" of a Little Strawberry

When it comes to strawberries, everyone should be familiar with it. It is a very common fruit. Strawberries are not only attractive in color and taste good, but also rich in nutritional value. They are known as the "Queen of Fruits" and are rich in nutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, etc.

As a perennial evergreen herb, strawberry has more than 20,000 varieties in the world. There are more than 200-300 new varieties cultivated in my country and introduced from foreign countries. There are also dozens of varieties suitable for large-scale cultivation. There are a variety of fruit colors including red, orange-red, pink, and white.

Image from the author

Although there are many varieties of strawberries, there were no strawberries in ancient China, so there are very few poems describing strawberries. In addition, there were small wild strawberries in ancient times, not large artificially cultivated strawberries.

Image courtesy of Chang Linlin, Beijing Academy of Forestry and Fruit Science

The earliest record of artificial strawberry cultivation appeared in 1915, when a Russian expatriate introduced 500 Victoria strawberry varieties from Moscow to China for cultivation. This marked the beginning of strawberry cultivation in my country.

Before the founding of New China, strawberries were only cultivated sporadically near cities. They were not taken seriously and had not been commercialized. Strawberries were regarded as a luxury and were transported to the busy streets of cities and sold at high prices.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, strawberry production in my country had developed for a time. In the 1950s, Shanghai, Nanjing, and other cities and their suburbs had already begun to cultivate strawberries economically. During this period, strawberry varieties were mainly imported from abroad for selection and cultivation. In 1959, Shenyang Agricultural University (formerly Shenyang Agricultural College) introduced 26 varieties from major producing countries in the world from the Soviet Union twice, including American varieties such as "Spark" and "Nobinka".

By the 1980s, with the implementation of my country's reform and opening-up policy and the reform of the rural economic system, strawberry, as a "short, flat and fast" planting project, developed rapidly in various places, and a number of excellent strawberry varieties were introduced and promoted from abroad, such as 'All Star', 'Akihime', 'Tochiotome' and dozens of other new varieties. Among them, the 'All Star' strawberry variety has become the main variety in production in North China, Northeast China and Northwest China.

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On the basis of introducing foreign varieties, targeted and planned strawberry breeding work has also been carried out in various parts of my country, and a number of excellent new varieties suitable for my country's national conditions have been selected and bred.

Jingtaoxiang strawberry was bred by the Forestry and Fruit Tree Research Institute of Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences with Dacelekt as the female parent and Akihime as the male parent, and was approved by the Beijing Forestry Variety Approval Committee in December 2014. Jingtaoxiang strawberry has a conical or wedge-shaped fruit, moderate sweetness and sourness, a strong yellow peach aroma, strong continuous fruiting ability, and high yield.

Image from the author

As strawberries became economically popular, new varieties and growing techniques were continuously cultivated and promoted, ushering in three decades of rapid growth.

According to statistics from the Chinese Society of Horticultural Science, there were only 7 strawberry varieties bred in 1985. The number increased to 24 in 1995. By the end of 2018, the number of new strawberry varieties had reached 112.

With the addition of new varieties and planting areas, strawberry production has increased from about 25,000 tons in 1985 to 5 million tons in 2018, which is 200 times the strawberry production in 1985. The total area and total output rank first in the world.

According to a report on the global strawberry market released by market research company IndexBox, as of 2016, China is the country with the highest strawberry consumption in the world, accounting for nearly 73% of global consumption.

At present, strawberries are grown in all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. The provinces with large cultivation areas are mainly concentrated in the north, with Hebei, Liaoning and Shandong being the majority. There are various cultivation forms, including solar greenhouse cultivation, arch shed cultivation and open field cultivation. The fruit ripens from early December to June of the following year. Based on geographical location and natural conditions, my country's strawberry production areas can also be divided into three major production areas, namely the northern production area, the central production area and the southern production area. The northern production area includes the provinces north of the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River, the northeast, north China and the northwest; the central production area includes the provinces south of the Qinling Mountains and the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River Basin; the southern production area includes the provinces south of the Nanling Mountains and the southern China, which basically ensures that people across the country can eat strawberries nearby.

Written by: Lao Ke Kai Brain Hole

This article is produced by the Science Popularization China-Creation Cultivation Program. Please indicate the source when reprinting