Zhu Peikun: Safer Crops, Higher Yields

By staff reporter LI WUZHOU

CONSUMERS have been concerned about the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods for years. But China might have come up with a way to put their minds at ease. Hybridizing crop species has the potential to be a safe and pragmatic solution to the GM quandary. Hybridization also promises higher yields and better adaptability to local growing conditions, hence benefiting farmers.

The man behind China’s breakthroughs is Professor Zhu Peikun, 68-year-old chairman of Shenzhen Bioroad Biotechnology Co,. Ltd. In 2011, Shandong Science & Technology Press published his work on the chromosome hybridization of higher plants, the first publication of its kind in the field worldwide.

In 1982, aphids were wreaking havoc on vegetable crops in Shanghai. At the time, Zhu was an assistant professor in plant virus research at the Department of Biology of Fudan University in Shanghai. During his research he noted aphids’ strong aversion to the smell of garlic, and so set about crossbreeding to introduce the genetic elements responsible for the smell into green vegetables.

This marked the start of Zhu’s work on chromosome hybridization. It’s been three decades, and it’s fair to say Zhu is at the very forefront of this field.

In 2001, Zhu returned from the U.S., where he had worked for 15 years. He employed a research team of a dozen scientists and began an experimental research program based out of the Shenzhen Overseas Chinese High-tech Venture Park.

Zhu Peikun.

Zhu elaborates that scientists use the term hybridization to refer to intraspecific crossbreeding of plants of the same species. Zhu’s research differs from this definition somewhat – his team aims to insert the chromosomes of one plant into another species in order to create a completely new type of plant.

Zhu’s team is responsible for the creation of more than 100 new crop types, including pea-corn, wheat-corn, broomcorn-rice, corn-rice and corn-wheat. The team’s rice-corn and wheat-corn species have been certified as new-type crops by China’s Ministry of Agriculture.

Genetically modified food remains controversial, and rightly so. Some modification processes use the Cauliflower mosaic virus or other similar viruses and bacteria to achieve the desired aims. The jury is still out on whether these techniques are harmful to humans.

Zhu is aware of safety concerns. “As of May this year, protests against GM foods had taken place in more than 50 countries and regions across the globe,” he pointed out.

Zhu is nonetheless adamant that his technique of chromosome hybridization means new species are safe – there are no bacteria or virus carriers involved. Crossbreeding of crops in general has long been recognized as safe with regards to human consumption.

Zhu’s technology comes with another upside. Hybridization can increase the nutritional content of crops.

He cited a report from Hunan Medical University (now merged with the Central South University) that compared the protein content of corn with his wheat-corn variety. Corn registered 7.9 percent; his wheat-corn came in at 11.4 percent, close to the 12.5-percent protein content of pure wheat.

Currently Zhu is promoting the adoption of sesame-corn and flax-corn in agriculture; both varieties surpass plain corn in linoleic acid content. The acid is vital for human health.

Chromosome hybridization technology combines the advantages of different species to create more adaptable crops, some of which can even be grown in saline-alkali soil. For instance, in Pucheng County, Shaanxi Province, high salt content in the soil meant the area was traditionally unsuited to agriculture. Now, Zhu’s saline-alkali tolerant common cordgrass-corn is growing in the region; yields have reached six tons per hectare. In Dongying City of Shandong Province, which stands on the Yellow River floodplain, salt in the soil has also been a problem in the past. Now the formerly barren land is covered in Zhu’s corn-rice, which can harvest 5.6 tons per hectare. Locals love the crop for its high yield and good taste.

There are one billion hectares of saline-alkali soil in the world. If only 10 percent of this land is planted with Zhu’s new corn-crop species, this would add an annual yield of 600 million tons to the world’s food supply, close to the current global corn yield of 860 million tons per year. Imagine the difference to food prices – and to global hunger – this would make.

Zhu’s dream is simple, and hasn’t changed for three decades: to provide the people with safer, more adaptable and more nutritious crops. It looks like his dream is coming true.