Chapter 2120 One tree produces four tons of watermelon per year
"We have inserted some genes from vine plants into the watermelon gene sequence, thus making its vines and roots lignified. On the one hand, this is of course to make the vines stronger and able to withstand greater weight. On the other hand,
On the one hand, it also extends the life of the melon vines and changes the growth habits of the melon vines from annual to perennial.
In this way, some of the planting habits of watermelon can be changed, so that it can be managed like a fruit tree and continue to grow for many years. As for ordinary watermelon varieties, you have to change the place after one year of planting, but we do not need to change it.
Local cultivation.
In addition, we have also optimized the size of the watermelon, including its texture and taste. Because it is a hanging melon, the size of the watermelon cannot be too large. The overall size is about 20 centimeters and it is round.
The skin is golden or green, and the skin is relatively thin, but relatively strong and not easy to break. This is what we have specially improved. In order to prevent this kind of watermelon from breaking during transportation, and avoid unnecessary losses and waste.
The melon pulp is a kind of sandy pulp with relatively sufficient water content. The sugar content of mature watermelons can reach more than 20 degrees, which is already very sweet among watermelon varieties. And we have also made seedless improvements to make this kind of watermelon.
Watermelon doesn’t taste like watermelon seeds, so it’s very convenient to eat.”
"Without seeds, how do you breed this kind of watermelon?" Zhang Jun couldn't help but wonder.
"Haha, this involves the application of square wood technology to artificially induce polyploidy. In fact, seedless watermelons are also grown from watermelon seeds, but seedless watermelons are triploids.
Cell synapsis is disordered during meiosis, so triploid watermelon cannot form seeds.
However, we can also use this technology to propagate tetraploid watermelon and diploid watermelon. Every year, the tetraploid watermelon is the female parent and the diploid watermelon is the male parent, and the melon seeds are cultivated.
Of course, there is a more convenient method, which is the grafting method and the cutting method. Grafting technology is used to cut some buds and branches from the mother tree for cutting cultivation, or grafting for breeding."
Seeing everyone nodding, Yang Fang continued to lead everyone and introduced them as they walked. These are fruits and vegetables, using similar techniques to the watermelon tree. The biggest advantage of this is that it has a huge yield and is easy to manage.
Like the watermelon tree above, one tree can grow four tons of watermelons a year, which is eight thousand kilograms of watermelons. This is a very scary number (Note 1). The yields of other melon and fruit trees vary greatly.
All around this number, it can be said that the output is very amazing.
This also makes Wu Hao full of interest in this technology. Their biggest project currently is the lunar scientific research station construction project. In the future, in order to allow astronauts, scientists, and some resident tourists to live on the moon better and longer
, must be self-reliant according to local conditions.
Therefore, it is an inevitable trend to establish a lunar plant factory to plant and cultivate related agricultural products, fruits and vegetables. After all, it is only supplied from the moon. On the one hand, it is difficult to provide such long-term fresh vegetables and fruits to satisfy the dietary tastes of the crew members in the scientific research station.
Needed. On the other hand, it is difficult to completely control the cost of this kind of earth-to-lunar supply, even if Wu Hao and his team use their step-by-step transfer technology.
Therefore, a lunar plant factory must be established, but what to plant in this plant factory requires careful study and consideration.
These fruit trees have huge yields and are easy to manage. If they can be planted in the lunar plant factory, they will provide a very abundant and stable source of fruits and vegetables for the lunar scientific research station.
Thinking of this, Wu Hao immediately asked Yang Fang.
After hearing his question, Yang Fang smiled and shook his head: "At present, we are not sure that this vegetable and fruit variety is suitable for growing in the lunar environment. Because this vegetable and fruit tree has a huge yield, it requires fertilizer nutrients.
The demand is also very huge.
The moon is a very barren place and whether it is suitable for these species to grow remains to be studied."
Hearing Yang Fang's answer, Wu Hao was not disappointed, but nodded and said to her: "In this way, based on this aspect, you can contact and communicate with the lunar scientific research station project team of the aerospace department, and see
Can we cooperate in this regard?
I very much hope that these new technologies can also be used in the construction and operation of lunar scientific research stations. In the future, if we want to survive in space and extraterrestrial planets for a long time, food is a problem that we must solve. The efficiency of supplying close to the earth is too low.
The cost is also too high. And the transportation time is too long. Even with advanced cold storage, it is difficult to store a large amount of fresh vegetable ingredients.
So the best way is to be self-sufficient and grow your own food in space, on the moon, even on Mars in the future, or even on other planets, so that our people’s talent for growing vegetables can continue to be brought into play.”
Everyone nodded after hearing his words, and Yang Fang responded with a smile: "Don't worry, our cooperation with the aerospace department has been continuing. At present, our main research is on the recycling construction of the space farm ecosystem.
We have verified through the Oasis inflatable and expandable space experimental capsule that we can build a space farm and a simple space ecosystem, but we are still not sure whether this ecosystem really meets our needs.
Because this ecosystem is still very rudimentary and fragile, and not everyone can accept it. For example, when we cultivate mealworms, although they are a very good source of high-quality protein, not everyone can accept eating these insects.
Yes, and I eat it every day, the taste is definitely not good.
So we are currently studying to introduce some other animals into the entire ecosystem to make the entire ecosystem more complete and provide astronauts with better and higher-quality meat and protein.
For example, our scientists have proposed adding bullfrogs and rabbits. Rabbits can be raised with forage plants, which are a very good source of meat. The same goes for bullfrogs, which grow up by eating mealworms.
, the meat quality is also very good. Both of them grow and reproduce very quickly and do not take up much space, making them very suitable for space breeding.
And like bullfrogs, we can transport some refrigerated fertilized eggs to be cultivated on site, which makes transportation more convenient. Unlike mammals like rabbits, we need to transport live rabbits from the earth for breeding."
[Note, this number refers to the tomato tree displayed at the West Farm Expo, which can grow six thousand kilograms of tomatoes every year. Based on this, I made a reasonable imagination.]