Chapter 1901: Genetic research on crops is nothing (please vote for me)
Chapter 1908: Genetic research on crops that is nothing to ask for (please vote for me)
Grete basically knows nothing about agriculture.
He knew that production could be increased by improving agricultural tools, water conservancy, planting methods, breeding, chemical fertilizers and compost... He knew that. As for how much production could be increased, he was at a loss:
"Probably... can it grow by 10%? Or 20%?"
This number is obviously not enough. Grete knows without calculation that in industrial society, the urban population exceeds the rural population, or at least is equal to the rural population.
If we say that currently, about two-thirds or even three-quarters of the population make a living from farming, to upgrade to an industrial society, agricultural productivity must at least double.
If you include spellcasters, warriors, and all kinds of warcraft raised, there is a huge demand for meat, warcraft meat, and magic plants. Doubling productivity may not be enough. Doubling the farmland must be cultivated, and the output of meat must also be at least
Double...
Gretel did not know that in the world he came from, Britain had firmly entered the industrial society through these non-extraordinary means alone.
In other words, there is no need for him to conduct research at all. As long as there is an organizer who is determined enough and a group of leaders who are enlightened enough, agricultural productivity can be improved to a sufficient level through long-term efforts.
If only he knew...
If he knew, he wouldn't interfere!
It was impossible for him to promote agricultural tools, water conservancy, planting methods, and other types of work. Grete thought on his knees that it was impossible. Not to mention, improving these things and improving productivity would inevitably lead to huge changes in production relations.
To stimulate the improvement of production relations related to the improvement of agricultural technology, if it can be given extraordinary professional feedback, the promotion from an agricultural society to an industrial society may be enough to turn a small farmer into a legend!
Where does Gretel have that New World time?
That kind of work of peeling off cocoons, coordinating the royal family, nobles, all major extraordinary forces, down to farmers, homesteaders, and tenant farmers, regulating food price fluctuations, absorbing the labor force squeezed out by agricultural production, and at the same time not causing huge social turmoil...
…
First of all, he is not good at this kind of work. Secondly, even if he is good at it, it will take fifty or a hundred years. Whoever wants to do it can do it. Gretel can just bury himself in the laboratory.
!
On the operating table in front of him, a row of test tubes were laid out leisurely. Each test tube was thick and strong, at least 500 ml, and contained more than half of the wheat seeds.
On the walls of the test tubes, there are small labels one after another. From Hampshire, from Suffolk, from Herdfordshire... Ordinary wheat, high-yielding wheat, multi-ear wheat, multi-grain wheat, lodging-resistant wheat,
Pest-resistant wheat…
Grete took a deep breath, turned around and walked out. Behind him, the lids of the test tubes jumped up one by one, and a few grains of wheat flew out of each test tube, laying flat on the floating saucer.
superior.
At the same time, a ray of light was also cast from the top of the laboratory, and the records were written on the record book. A copy of each label was copied and affixed to the corresponding position on the floating dish.
Grete himself walked out in a carefree manner, empty-handed, and walked to the specially flattened greenhouse land. With a flick of his finger, all the wheat seeds flew up and fell into the soil.
Grete just stood still, with the power of nature permeating his body. Naturally, buds sprouted from the soil, rising from the ground and growing vigorously. They tillered, jointed, headed, filled, matured, and produced full-grained golden wheat...
…
Then, the invisible servants swarmed up, sorted the wheat into categories, measured the height of the wheat, counted the number of wheat ears, the number of wheat grains, weighed... took the soil, measured the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content in the soil, and compared it with the previous values...
Grete just wanted to see the wheat with his own eyes and feel its properties for himself.
Seeing is believing. Only after seeing it for yourself can you know whether the wheat is tall or short, whether it is thick or thin, whether it has six ears or eight ears, how many grains of wheat are in each ear, and how big each grain of wheat is...
As for cold resistance, salt-alkali resistance, resistance to diseases and insect pests, etc., they cannot be seen with the naked eye, and must be studied carefully.
However, it was enough to see this. Grete returned to the laboratory, and with a single order, he called up the chromosome maps of these wheat species and the comparative data. He looked at them for a long time, and then screamed:
"Why are there so many differences..."
How many chromosome points are there in wheat?
There are so many, so many. In a small grain of wheat, or more specifically, the germ part of the wheat, there are so many 42 chromosomes crowded in the nucleus of the cell...
This thing is hexaploid!
Hexaploid!
If Gretel's team hadn't had experience studying dragon genes, they would have stopped wanting to do it long ago when they saw this huge mass.
At the moment, we are working steadily, processing these wheat grains one by one, scanning them one by one with a microscope, and comparing them one by one with Taling. If you find a difference, mark it...
Obviously, the differences in the chromosomes of the wheat grains that Grete now masters have exceeded the scope of what he could imagine. In the same multi-ear wheat, the difference between the chromosome points is not three to five, nor ten.
eight...
Moreover, Gretel's previous research on dragon chromosomes was a coincidence. There were dragon-born creatures that had undergone dragon genetic modification as a comparison.
What is placed in front of Gretel now is all ordinary wheat, not even magic plants, and has no special spell fluctuations at all.
Which point means growing stronger, which point means growing more ears, which point makes it grow taller, which point makes the plant dwarf...
Gretel had no clue, not even a template to compare with!
Not to mention, there is a high probability that one point contains seventeen or eighty, or even seventy or eighty DNA fragments, and who knows how many sequences composed of certain purines and certain pyrimidines.
The group that my senior sister led before had a branch that specialized in studying the atomic sequence of chromosomes. However, this task is too difficult, and no satisfactory results have been obtained yet.
If we expect them to do so, we might as well rely on ourselves and work hard...
Gretel took a long breath, grabbed a handful of wheat seeds labeled as "multi-ear wheat", counted out one grain, buried it in the soil, input the power of nature, and began to recite silently:
"A certain chromosome, a specific point is removed, and then it grows rapidly, sprouts, blooms and bears fruit..."
Uh, no response. It seems that after cutting off a certain point, the seeds cannot grow...
Okay, one more. This time, when Grete input the power of nature, he changed his mind:
"A certain chromosome, a certain point does not work, and then grows rapidly..."
Er, there is still no response. So, if this point does not work, the wheat may still not grow?
Another way...
——
Please give me a monthly ticket, meow meow meow meow!
It’s the end of the month, and everyone’s monthly votes are about to expire. Hurry up and vote for Gretel!
Let monthly tickets sprout!
The paper the cat read shows that in Britain, from the second half of the 18th century to the first half of the 19th century, wheat yield per acre increased by 79%...