The seeds of China's first batch of "space rice" that returned from a lunar mission were successfully harvested at the South China Agricultural University's space breeding research site in Guangdong Province.
Last November, 40 grams of space seeds traveled 23 days on China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe before safely returning to Earth despite being subjected to cosmic radiation in a deep space environment.
The research facility harvested the first batch of space rice after months of breeding and transplanting, which will continue to breed in the coming years and may become a new home-grown rice species.
According to the China Media Group, the best seeds will be grown in labs and then planted in fields, resulting in new rice varieties that are projected to raise China's grain yield and improve the breeding industry's efficiency, Guo Tao, deputy director at the research center, said.
The subject sparked intense debate among Chinese netizens, who questioned when space rice might be on their dinner tables. Guo said that it would still take three to four years for the rice to reach the market, according to a report by Global Times.
"It will take a few more generations and go through a series of tests, comparisons and regional trials before passing provincial- and state-level reviews," Xu Lei, a rice breeding expert based in one of China's major rice production fields of Panjin, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, told the Global Times.
Only high-yielding, high-quality varieties that show disease resistance would be officially recognized as stable types that could be marketed countrywide, he said.
Guo said the space seeds can also help China's hybrid rice breeding. The seeds can supply more and better genetic sources to build the seed bank by using space breeding technologies to super hybrid rice.
