Congratulations on the successful launch of Shenzhou XII. Why do you have to bring seeds every time you take goods into space? As many people know, shenzhou spaceship will take some seeds with him every time he launches. Taking seeds into space can also be planted in space to experiment the germination and growth of seeds in space.

Congratulations on the successful launch of Shenzhou XII. Why do you have to bring seeds every time you bring goods in space? 1 Meeting Point News1At 9: 22 on June 7, the Long March II F- 12 carrier rocket carrying Shenzhou 12 was successfully launched from Jiuquan Satellite Base, successfully sending three astronauts into space and going to China Space Station for a series of work such as being in orbit for three months.

As many people know, shenzhou spaceship will take some seeds with him every time he launches. Shenzhou 5 brought 1 kg of plant seeds, Shenzhou VI brought seeds of begonia, Gesneriaceae and Erigeron breviscapus, Shenzhou VII brought seeds of 87 varieties of vegetables, Shenzhou VIII brought seeds of yew and olive, Shenzhou IX brought seeds of Yunnan Pu 'er tea, and Shenzhou X brought seeds of ginseng ... I believe Shenzhou XII is no exception, and the reason why it brought seeds into space is because of gene cultivation.

"After the crops are harvested every year, farmers' friends will leave the seeds of crops that grow well and bear many fruits, and prepare to plant them again next year. But many times, we will find that the varieties will get worse and worse, and the resistance to growth and yield will become weaker and weaker, and gradually become unsuitable for planting. "Yang Jie, director of the Institute of Grain Crops of Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, explained that to ensure the quality of planting, it is necessary to carry out breeding, that is, to dig out the high-quality genes in seeds. However, there are some high-quality genes in seeds that cannot be obtained by conventional methods. At this time, we have to rely on "extraordinary" means, that is, going into space. "Space breeding" is to induce seed variation through the special environment of the universe, so as to cultivate more ideal new varieties.

In addition, taking seeds into space can also be used for planting in space and testing the germination and growth of seeds in space. "It is weightless in space, and plants growing on the earth will be affected by the gravity of the earth. If you want to study the growth of plants under zero gravity conditions, you can bring plant seeds into space, with the aim of developing space plant culture technology and exploring ways to ensure human long-term survival in space. " Yang Jie added, don't think that bringing seeds to the spacecraft is just a simple handling, but a series of tedious screening and cultivation. When selecting seeds, all varieties with good genetic stability, strong disease resistance and high yield are required to be qualified to enter space.

There are microgravity environment and cosmic rays in the universe. Cosmic rays include ultraviolet rays, x-rays, gamma rays, etc. They can destroy the genetic material of seeds with high probability and cause genetic variation of seeds. "Because of the existence of the geomagnetic field and the ozone layer on the earth, the probability of genetic mutation in organisms is only one in 200,000, but it has a probability of several percent and several thousandths in space." China Academy of Sciences Purple Mountain Observatory engineer nonsense, the shape of seeds brought into space will not change significantly. After genetic modification, the appearance of plants germinated by seeds will be very different from the original, which may be beneficial or harmful. The reason for uncertainty is that the gene mutation caused by radiation is not directional, and some internal characteristics of plants grown from seeds will also change.

"cosmic rays irradiate seeds and mutate the DNA of seeds. This mutation is not directional. That is to say, some plants planted by seeds returned from space are bigger and sweeter than the original ones, some are degraded and have worse disease resistance. Some seeds will even be killed by cosmic rays. " Nonsense, after the seeds return to the ground, scientists still need to choose favorable genetic variation, continue sowing and screening, and screen out complete seeds for breeding. Judging from the current situation of seed cultivation returned from space, most fruits are big, good in color and better in taste.

Congratulations on the successful launch of Shenzhou XII. Why do you have to bring seeds every time you bring goods in space? Space breeding: Also known as space mutation breeding, it is a new crop breeding technology that sends crop seeds or test-tube seedlings into space, uses the mutation effect of special space environment (high vacuum, cosmic high-energy ion radiation, cosmic magnetic field and high cleanliness) that cannot be simulated on the ground to mutate the seeds, and then returns to the ground to select new seeds, new materials and cultivate new varieties. Space breeding has many beneficial variations, large range, fast stable yield, high yield, high quality, early maturity and strong disease resistance. The mutation rate is 3-4 times higher than that of ordinary mutation breeding, and the breeding cycle is shortened by about 1 times, from about 8 years to about 4 years. Only the United States, the Russian Federation and China have successfully carried out space-borne breeding. China began to carry vegetables into the sky in 1987.

Space breeding is a new way of agricultural breeding integrating space technology, biotechnology and agricultural breeding technology. It is one of the most advanced scientific and technological topics in the field of agriculture in the world today. Through the experiments of space agriculture, many mysteries of plants, animals and other biological characteristics have been revealed. Only the United States, the Russian Federation and China have recoverable satellite technology. In this respect, China is at the forefront of the world.

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Space breeding Chili king

Scientists believe that space breeding mainly induces the genetic variation of plant seeds through space comprehensive environmental factors such as strong radiation, microgravity and high vacuum. Because the morphology, physiology and evolution of plants on the earth have been deeply influenced by gravity for hundreds of millions of years, once they enter weightlessness and are affected by other physical radiation, it will be easier to produce genetic variation that is difficult to obtain on the ground. The space environment, which combines space radiation, microgravity and high vacuum, has a strong influence on the physiological and genetic characters of plant seeds, but it is still inconclusive about which factors are the main ones and how to produce them. After the seeds of crops traveling in space are planted on the ground, not only the plants are obviously increased and thickened, but also the fruit types are increased, the yield is generally improved and the quality is greatly improved. So far, space breeding has achieved good results, but it is still unable to control the direction of seed variation and can only be allowed to develop. This is a scientific blank area in today's world, waiting for scientists to explore further.

The influence of space environment on plant genes has been confirmed by scientists all over the world, but the explanation of the principle of space breeding is still controversial.