Industrial Cluster: Xinjiang Cotton Travels In Space To Become "Space Breeding" Cotton

Xinjiang is an important cotton production base and high-quality cotton production area in China, accounting for more than 90% of the country's total output.

On November 29, 2022, Xinjiang's cotton seeds were carried into space by Shenzhou 15 spacecraft. Xinjiang is one of the areas where a large number of cotton was planted and used earlier in China, and is also the largest cotton production base in China. Space cotton breeding and cotton seeds cultivated in Xinjiang cannot be absent.

After the seeds that have traveled in space return to the ground, the researchers studied the changes in seed germination, growth and development, isozymes, and major agronomic and economic traits.

The research objects are mainly the population carrying cotton seeds and the individual plant carrying cotton seeds. Space breeding has become a new path of scientific and technological innovation in seed industry. Through the unremitting research of breeding researchers, space breeding of cotton will inject new vitality into Xinjiang's cotton industry.