A Chinese research team produced rice seeds from 'parent' rice seeds that germinated, grew and matured after 120 days in a complete life cycle on China's Space Station. This is the first time that seed rice breeding has been achieved in space, China News Network reported at the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Monday.

Rice seeds, along with seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant harvested after a complete life cycle in space, returned to Earth with the Return Capsule Shenzhou-14 on Sunday night and were delivered to scientists in Beijing on Monday. The seeds are scheduled to be sent to laboratories in Shanghai for further analysis. This time, three major experiments were completed, said Zheng Huiqiong, a researcher at the Center of Excellence in Plant Molecular Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The first is experiments on the complete life cycle of rice in space, including germination, seedling growth, sprouting of heads and seed formation. The images were obtained for analysis. The second is to grow soca rice after cutting the soqueira of the first harvest and producing ripe seeds in space. And the third is the analysis and sampling on seed germination, seedling growth and flowering of Arabidopsis thaliana, according to the scientist.

The space-breeding experiment this time has made many significant achievements, which will provide theoretical guidance for space grain production, Zheng said. Scientists have found that rice straws become looser in space, and short-stem rice gets even shorter, while the tall stem remains the same. The flowering time of rice in space is a little more advanced than on Earth, he added.

Source: Agrolink