On August 11, the Jianning Lotus Seed Science and Technology Yard cultivated and established in Sanming City was selected into the fourth batch of science and technology yards by the China Agricultural Technology Association and the Provincial Science and Technology Association, which will further promote the quality and upgrading of the Jianlian industry. Revitalized in a new era.

Breakthrough in breeding

Right now, it is the season for harvesting lotus seeds.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, Zhu Suzhong, a villager in Dayuan Village, Suixi Town, Jianning County, put on his gloves, stepped into the knee-deep paddy field, quickly folded off the fresh lotus pods, and put them into the bamboo basket around his waist. Basket. This is the representative lotus seed production area in Jianning County and the raw material base of Wenxin Lotus Industry, a leading local enterprise.

Jianning County has a long history of growing lotus. "Jianning County Chronicle" records that during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there was a White Lotus Pond in front of the Baoguo Temple in Jinnao Mountain. By the Qing Dynasty, Jianning White Lotus had become famous far and wide. In particular, the Jianlian lotus produced in the Ximenwai Pond is the top lotus.

Lotus farmer Xiong Lili’s family has been growing lotus since her grandfather’s generation, and the scent of lotus in the wind was the smell she was most familiar with when she was a child. ?Lotus seeds are very sensitive to time and temperature. ?Xiong Lili said that summer is hot and water easily evaporates. Fresh lotus seeds must be harvested and dried on the same day.

In Xiong Lili’s memory, when she was a child, her grandfather’s family only had 4 acres of land to grow lotus. At that time, Jianlian was famous, but the planting scale was not large. In the 1980s, with technological improvements, lotus planting craze arose in rural Jianning.

Degradation of Jianlian varieties followed, resulting in low yields and poor returns. In 1993, the Jianning County Agricultural Bureau took the lead to establish the Lotus Seed Science Research Institute (referred to as the Lotus Science Institute) to conduct research and promotion of Jianlian science and technology. Wei Yinghui, who graduated from Fujian Agricultural College, was transferred to the Lotus Science Institute.

The Lotus family takes cross-breeding as its main method, and has successively introduced a large number of parents to carry out cross-breeding experiments. Parental screening, single plant cultivation, product comparison tests, multi-site regional tests, and production demonstrations? Wei Yinghui and his team worked tirelessly and tried every step over and over again. Finally, in 2003, the first new high-yielding and high-quality Zilian variety, Jianxuan No. 17, was bred. By 2007, it had been promoted to a total of 120,000 acres, increasing the yield of Macaroni white lotus by more than 3,600 tons. Now it has become the main variety planted in Zilian producing areas across the country. The promotion area is millions of acres.

Wei Yinghui and his team continued to advance, and in 2011 and 2016 they bred new varieties with large and round grains, Jianxuan No. 35 and Jianxuan No. 31. ?The old varieties can only produce dozens of kilograms of lotus seeds per acre, while the new varieties can produce up to 200 kilograms of lotus seeds per acre. They are also of good quality and disease resistance, and they have quickly become popular among lotus farmers. ?Said Wei Yinghui, the current director of the Lotus Research Institute.

Good seeds need good methods. In addition to breeding, the Lotus Research Institute focuses on researching and promoting high-quality and efficient cultivation technologies and new primary processing technologies. ?We promote planting and breeding models such as rational sparse planting to adjust the blooming period, the development of special lotus fertilizers, winter sowing of milkvetch in lotus fields, artificial bee release, and smoke lotus rotation to make lotus planting more efficient. ?Wei Yinghui said happily.

Polishing the Golden Signboard?

The source of the Minjiang River nourishes the unique quality of Jianlian, which has large, round grains and does not fall apart after being cooked for a long time. It also breeds Wenxin, Lutian and other Shelianlians. Leading enterprises.

Shuai Jingao, the founder of Wenxin Lotus Industry, is a native of Lutian Village, Lixin Town, and his family has been growing lotus for generations. In 1985, he began to go from village to village to buy lotus seeds and sell them externally. However, the small business of selling Jianlian never came to fruition, so Shuai Jingao was determined to go out of the mountains to find a partner. In 1993, Fujian Wenxin Lotus Food Co., Ltd. was established to engage in the export and development and production of Jianlian series products. It has established distribution networks in more than 20 cities.

However, competing products have brought considerable impact. Data shows that more than 500,000 acres of Ganlian lotus are planted in Jiangxi. The lotus planting area in Hunan and Hubei exceeds that in Jiangxi, while the planting area in Jianning is only nearly 50,000 acres. Although Jianlian has good quality, there are often cases where genuine products are mixed with fake products in the market. ?The supply of lotus seeds from other places is abundant and the cost is lower. The practice of confusing the products with others has damaged the brand value of Jianlian. ?Wei Yinghui said sadly.

To this end, Jianning County has formulated a Jianlian standard system to accelerate the creation of a public brand. Wei Yinghui led the Lotus Research Institute to participate.

With the efforts of the Lotus Research Institute and leading enterprises, national and local standards such as "Technical Specifications for Cultivation of Lotus", "Technical Specifications for Processing of Lotus" and "Geographical Indication Product Jianlian" have been successively released. In 2021, the "Jianning Lotus Seeds" group standard led by the Jianlian Industry Association was released and implemented, which improved a complete set of technical standards and procedures from lotus root selection to planting, fertilization, and processing. The high-threshold Jianlian standards gradually standardized the market.

Brand building is also on the right track. Jianning has created the "Jianning Wuzi" regional public brand including lotus seeds, and prevented vicious competition and guaranteed the income of lotus farmers by going out for exhibitions and setting up county-owned state-owned enterprises to purchase lotus seeds. Jianning County has also deeply explored the connotation of lotus culture, built the China Jianlian Cultural Center, compiled a monograph on Jianlian culture, and made every effort to polish the golden sign of Jianlian. In 2006 and 2010, "Jianning Tongxin White Lotus" was awarded the National Geographical Indication Protected Product and China's Well-known Trademark; in 2021, it was selected into the protected list of the China-EU Geographical Indication Agreement, and is the only lotus seed product among them.

The lotus connects the upstream and downstream

When you are in the lotus sea of ??Xiemasu terraces in Suixi Town, the lotus flowers are in full bloom, just like a fairyland. On July 16, the seventh "Come for the Netherlands" China Jianlian Cultural Tourism Festival was held here.

At the agricultural products exhibition held that day, there were a dazzling array of more than 40 deep-processed lotus seed products, such as lotus juice, polygonatum lotus leaf tea, white fungus and lotus root soup, lotus seed paste, lotus seed, red dates and lotus root powder. Visitors took out their mobile phones to scan the codes. Place an order.

The lotus flower is full of treasures. Tested by the Central Laboratory of the Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jianlian has a protein content of 19.56% and is rich in 17 kinds of amino acids. From using dried lotus to process lotus seed paste, using lotus root to process middle-aged and elderly lotus root powder, to producing lotus core lozenges, to extracting flavonoid glycosides from lotus leaves to produce instant tea? 25 lotus companies also came for the lotus, using the power of science and technology. Eat the lotus flowers dry and squeeze them clean.

Half Mu Fangtang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. is one of the "dark horses". ?Modern people pay attention to dietary health, and the market for products with the same origin as medicine and food is vast. According to Wu Jingjing, deputy general manager of the company, the company has cooperated with Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to integrate the concept of traditional Chinese medicine compatibility into the research and development of lotus seed products, and launched a series of products such as lotus seed juice, meal powder, meal milk, and yogurt cubes that suit the tastes of young people.

The food economy has become a new growth point. At the end of last year, Sanming City launched the "One County, One Whole Banquet", and Jianning ingeniously developed the "Whole Lotus Banquet". Multiple "Lotus" themed dishes such as Gonglian with Honey Sauce and Xiyu in Lianxiang enriched the dual enjoyment of taste buds and vision. Popular with tourists.