2025-11-28Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced the latest batch of authorized new plant varieties. Among them, the wheat variety “Yumai 985” and the rice varieties “Jinyu 168” and “Hongdao 88,” developed by Professor Ji Shengdong's team from the College of Life Sciences at Henan Normal University, have officially been granted National Plant Variety Rights (PVR). Notably, “Yumai 985” is the university's first authorized wheat variety, representing its first new wheat variety with fully independent intellectual property rights and protected by national law.
Professor Ji Shengdong’s team has been diligently working to meet the major strategic demands of national food security, integrating basic research with breeding applications. Their research encompasses germplasm creation, genetic analysis of important traits, and molecular marker development, establishing an efficient crop bio-breeding technology system that lays a solid foundation for developing new varieties. “Yumai 985” was systematically bred over more than ten years to address the needs for high yield, stable production, and stress resistance in the Yellow-Huai wheat region. It boasts excellent yield potential, strong stress resistance, superior quality, and wide adaptability, providing a new superior germplasm source for the region. The distinctness, uniformity, and stability of this variety have been officially certified by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, marking a significant achievement in the university's active contribution to the national seed industry revitalization and food security strategies.
It is reported that previously developed rice varieties—”Yudao 518,” “Hongdao 59,” “Yujing 3,” and “Hanxiang 9” – have been cumulatively extended across approximately ten million mu (approximately 1.65 million acres) in suitable rice-growing areas of the Yellow-Huai region over the past three years. This has led to an increase of about 400 million kilograms of high-quality paddy rice and generated socio-economic benefits of approximately 700 million CNY. The team will continue to delve deeper into the field of crop breeding, focusing on research to continuously cultivate more excellent new varieties of wheat, rice, and other crops, thereby contributing more of Henan Normal University's expertise and efforts to the high-quality development of China's agriculture.
(By Yang Juntang, Li Junhua, School of Life Sciences)
