On the morning of March 28, Fu Tingdong, Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Professor of HZAU, delivered a special lecture on “Rapeseed Industry Development and Variety Improvement” at the No. 6 Conference Room of the School of Education and Training. The 141 leaders in rural industrial revitalization, known as “leading goose” from Anhui Province attended the event and exchanged ideas with him.
“As the only winter oil crop, rapeseed is the largest oil crop in China. It plays an essential role in agricultural production and the supply of cooking oil.” Fu Tingdong first pointed out the importance of rapeseed in ensuring self-sufficiency in edible vegetable oil. He then introduced the significant progress made in improving varieties since 2000 in terms of increasing oil content, resistance to clubroot disease, high oleic acid with double low (low erucic acid and low glucosinolate), and herbicide resistance. In addition, the advantages of developing forage rapeseed were highlighted. Fu Tingdong noted that forage rapeseed was a high-quality forage due to its fast growth, high yield, high protein content, and palatability. Planting forage rapeseed in the fallow land in the north and some winter fallow fields in the south could effectively address the huge shortage of quality forage in China.
In response to the problem of low efficiency in rapeseed cultivation, Fu Tingdong proposed five measures: reducing costs, improving quality, expanding capacity, increasing processing, and enhancing branding. He pointed out that large scale and mechanization were at the core of reducing costs, and mechanization was a prerequisite for large scale. Popularizing disease-resistant varieties and reducing pesticide inputs were effective ways to reduce costs. Promoting high-yield, high-oil-content, and high-oleic-acid varieties could improve the quality of rapeseed, providing guarantees for further processing and brand building. Based on his 60 years of research on rapeseed, Fu Tingdong summarized that rapeseed was a “near-perfect” field crop and discussed ten strengths of developing the rapeseed industry. Finally, he expressed his willingness to work together with “leading goose” to develop the rapeseed industry, ensure national edible oil security, increase farmers’ income, and contribute to the construction of beautiful countryside.
Academician Fu Tingdong answers the questions.
During the Q & A session, six trainees brought up their problems and concerns in the fields of rapeseed variety selection, rapeseed processing, and forage rapeseed planting. Academician Fu Tingdong answered the questions one by one and stated, “If you encounter any problems, you can contact me at any time. The HZAU rapeseed team will provide services for you in varieties, technology, processing, etc.” The attendees also expressed great admiration for such an enthusiastic talk by 85-year-old Academician Fu Tingdong. They believed that the lecture broadened their visions in the development of rapeseed, which had boosted their confidence.
Source: http://news.hzau.edu.cn/2023/0403/66021.shtml
Translated by: Zhang Qiongfang
Supervised by:
