China harvests ‘space rice’ with seeds, first batch of rice that travelled around the moon.

China, which has been pushing for deep space exploration through its ambitious projects, has now harvested the first shipment of rice grown from seeds returning from space.

Beijing has approved the harvesting of rice seeds in a bid to strengthen its food security after returning from a lunar voyage under the Chang’e-5 mission.

According to state television, scientists planted rice with 40 grams of seeds that travelled with the lunar probe.

They are now in the process of studying the crop to identify the best varieties of seeds that can be approved for cultivation across the country.

The growing emphasis on food security comes amid China’s large population and demand for consumer goods.

After dubbing “Rice from heaven”, the seeds travelled more than 7,60,000 kilometers to the moon last November and returned to Earth on December 17 after a 23-days of flight onboard in China’s Chang’e-5 lunar probe.

The sprouts were then prepared and planted at the National Engineering Research Center for Plant Space Breeding at the South China Agricultural University (SCAU).

During the journey, the seeds were exposed to cosmic radiation and zero gravity, as well as violent sunspot activity.

Chinese researchers believe that some of these seeds can change and produce higher yields and better quality.

Guo Tao, deputy director of the research center, told China Media Group that the best seeds will be grown in laboratories and later planted in fields.

It is expected to introduce new varieties of rice that will boost China’s grain harvest and improve the breeding industry’s efficiency.

Experts say only high-yielding, high-quality varieties that are prove to be resistant to disease will be formally recognized as stable varieties.

It will then be widely planted and provided to thousands of households.

The Global Times quoted a space analyst Wang Ya’nan as saying; “With long-term human stays at the space station, researchers are hoping to conduct experiments to test a self-recycling ecosystem in space, which will greatly cut costs and reduce the resources needed for future manned space flights. This will support more deep-space explorations, including the building of a lunar research base and manned missions to Mars.”

China has been sending seeds into space since 1987, visiting more than 200 species of plants.

These include varieties of tomatoes, cotton among others.

Beijing has already allocated 2.4 million hectares of land for the cultivation of space crops.

Latest Indian news

Popular Stories

Latest Video