With the help of LED lights, Chinese scientists successfully experimented with growing rice in desert greenhouses

On the 26th, a scientific research team from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences successfully planted the first fast-breeding rice in a greenhouse in Hotan Desert, Xinjiang.

Three-layer cultivation in a greenhouse. It only takes two months from planting to harvest

Early in the morning, in the greenhouse of the Ten Thousand Mu Desert Agricultural Industrial Park in Hotan, Xinjiang, scientific researchers from the Institute of Urban Agriculture of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and local agricultural technicians were busy harvesting rice. The rice grown on a three-layer cultivation frame only occupies one acre of land in the greenhouse, and it only took two months from planting to harvest.

Wang Sen, researcher at the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: What we used this time was the local new rice variety No. 1. We adopted a rapid breeding technology method. The seedling cultivation time took 15 days. In February, we planted the rice seedlings into the soilless cultivation trough. So far, the entire production cycle is 60 days.
Rice is grown in desert greenhouses, and Chinese scientists have successfully experimented with growing rice in hot fields in Xinjiang

How to grow rice in desert greenhouses How can the growth cycle be shortened by nearly half?

Our country is the first country in the world to cultivate rice. The average growth cycle of rice grown in the north and south is about 120 to 150 days. So why can the fast-breeding rice grown in hotan desert greenhouses in Xinjiang shorten the growth cycle by nearly half?

The plant factory model can control the temperature, humidity, light and other environments

In 2021, a scientific research team led by Yang Qichang, chief scientist of the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, after five years of research, used rapid breeding technology to halve the growth period of rice at a plant factory in Chengdu, Sichuan, and achieved a technological breakthrough in continuous breeding throughout the year regardless of season.

Yang Qichang, chief scientist of the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: It turns out that under the conditions of a plant factory, we can completely control its (rice) temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide and rhizosphere nutrition, that is, we can completely control its environment. However, in the context of a plant factory, its energy costs, operating costs, and construction costs are relatively high. So We want to take advantage of the greenhouse conditions in the desert, because desert greenhouses also have good light and heat resources.

Building plant factories in the desert can halve the growth period of rice

In Hotan, many greenhouses are built on flattened desert. The construction cost is much cheaper than land in the mainland. Moreover, Hotan’s special geographical conditions include long sunshine hours and a large temperature difference between day and night, which is conducive to improving crop quality. The scientific research team used accurately formulated nutrient solutions to replace soil in Hotan for soilless cultivation, and then used artificial light sources and environmental control technology to carry out light and temperature control intervention on rice. After more than two years of experiments, the team finally overcame the key problem of rapid rice growth under desert greenhouse conditions.

Using light and heat resources to explore rapid crop breeding technology

After overcoming the problem of halving the growth period of rice, Yang Qichang’s scientific research team is currently exploring key technologies for rapid breeding of staple food crops such as soybeans, corn, and wheat, as well as crops such as rape, cotton, and alfalfa in the desert greenhouse in Hotan.

Hotan area of ​​southern Xinjiang With sufficient light and heat resources, this breakthrough in rapid crop breeding technology in desert greenhouses will provide technical support for the future use of desert greenhouses in southern Xinjiang to carry out annual crop generation and rapid breeding.

What technologies support the rapid propagation of rice in desert greenhouses?

In the hotan desert greenhouse in Xinjiang, rice has achieved rapid reproduction and growth. So behind this new technological breakthrough, what other technologies support the shortening of the growth period of rice?

A circulating rice seedling machine can grow rice seedlings on 50 acres of land

The reporter saw in a greenhouse in the Hotan desert in Xinjiang that on one row of shelves were mature rice being harvested, on another row were rice that had begun to ear, and a batch of rice seedlings were being raised on a circulating rice seedling machine.

Yang Jun, assistant researcher at the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: (The rice cultivating machine) allows light to fully shine on each plant, allowing the plants to grow evenly. One machine can supply the rice seedlings required for 50 acres of land, and it can carry out annual rice seedling cultivation. The current seedling date is April 10th The seedlings are already ten days old and can be planted in another five days.

Vertical three-dimensional soilless cultivation with artificial light and intelligent supplementary light

The rice rapidly bred in Hotan greenhouses adopts vertical three-dimensional soilless cultivation technology, and under the illumination of artificial light and intelligent LED supplementary light, it provides the crops with good light, temperature, water, air, fertilizer and other production conditions.

Shi Dawei, assistant researcher at the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: Through our LED lighting settings, continuous regulation of a light formula, combined with a measure of precise light supplementation, the breeding cycle of rice itself can be quickly shortened.

The Hotan area has vast deserts and good light and heat resources, making it an ideal place for research on non-cultivated land in facility agriculture.

Image source: CCTV News

Desert multi-span greenhouses are highly energy-efficient and enhance competitiveness

How to reduce the costs of plant factories and desert greenhouses will be an urgent issue that scientific researchers and the development of facility agriculture need to solve in the future.

Yang Qichang, chief scientist of the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences: The high-efficiency and energy-saving desert multi-span greenhouse we explored in Hotan this time costs only about 350 yuan per square meter, which is 1/3 of the glass greenhouse in the Netherlands. At the same time, our energy consumption cost is only about 25% of that of Dutch glass greenhouses. In the future, this kind of greenhouse can be combined with new energy, as well as with mechanization, equipment and intelligent technology, and its construction and operating costs will be greatly reduced. In the future, this kind of greenhouse will be very competitive internationally.