After coming out of the reservoir construction site, Liang Mi and Liang Mi, who were sitting on the electric wheeler, did not look very good, and if the water conservancy project was progressing slowly, it would have a great impact on agriculture downstream.

"It seems that the only way to do this is to step up the renovation of irrigation and drainage canals." Mishuo said thoughtfully.

"That's also a limit, you can't dig a canal into a river." Liang Letian sighed: "In the final analysis, it's just capillaries, the upstream arteries can't be repaired well, and the downstream will suffer no matter what, but the degree is different." ”

After thinking about it, Mishuo said: "Vigorously expand the fields of potatoes and sweet potatoes. ”

"Alas, that's the only way, let's live for two years first." Liang Letian said helplessly.

Since the reservoir can't be managed, the torrential rain and flash floods in July every year are a hurdle that cannot be avoided. In this situation, increasing the area under cultivation for root crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes is the only option for agriculture.

It's easy to understand why: potatoes and sweet potatoes hiding in the ground are far more resistant to flash floods, heavy rains, and Pacific storms than delicate rice products.

However, this strategy is not difficult to implement, because potatoes and sweet potatoes were originally the staple crops in Tainan, but now they are only continuing to increase the proportion of planting.

You must know that with the current technical conditions of lack of fertilizer and medicine, the yield per mu of rice is only five or six hundred catties, and the yield of one mu of potato field can easily reach three times that of rice.

After deciding on their future planting plans, the two returned to Chikan, and then followed the asphalt road by the sea all the way south, and after about 10 kilometers, their position had reached the dividing line between Kaohsiung and Chikan: near Errenxi.

Since the residential area has not yet expanded to this area, it is very desolate, and the surrounding area is full of black land that has been burned down. After running east along Erren Creek from the seashore for another two miles, a building appeared in the distance.

This is the core asset of the grain company: the improved seed base.

The base covers a large area and is composed of a biological laboratory, a greenhouse, an experimental field, a boiler room and a power generation room.

The biological laboratory is the core building of the breeding base.

At first glance, the laboratory surrounded by four two-story brick and concrete buildings looks no different from the small buildings of later generations. Large glass windows, iron balustrades, white walls.

The equipment inside the laboratory building is also as close as possible to future generations.

All kinds of imported biochemical instruments, including microscopes, are equipped here. In addition, there are some "domestic" low-level experimental equipment in the building, including a constant temperature cultivation room.

After showing the purple leather certificate representing the identity of the nobles at the gate at the sentry position, the tricycle drove into the base compound.

Yang Leyi, who learned the news, greeted him.

Yang Leyi is relatively young in the group of crossing people, only 25 years old this year. This gentleman majored in bacteriology in college, and after graduation, he threw his major aside and went to a trading company to become a "business manager" specializing in Zambia.

Originally, he thought that life would continue like this, who would have thought that after crossing over, he actually picked up the major he threw away, yes, "the country and the people" need his major.

Seeing a group of people in white coats coming out of the building, Liang Letian and Mi Shuo suddenly had a smile on their faces, put on a leader inspection, and enthusiastically stepped forward to hold Yang Leyi's hand and shook it violently: "Leyi, hard work, hard work, there is a serow in the car, and our brothers specially called you to stew a casserole!" ”

"Thank you, thank you!" Yang Leyi's round face was also full of smiles at this time: "I have beef here, let's have a good meal at night." ”

Talking a group of people entered the building.

The first floor is mainly used for various experiments and as a warehouse, and Yang Leyi usually synthesizes some chemicals here.

And after entering the foyer, the attaché brought by Liang Lotian and them stayed here: everyone's purpose today is clear to each other, and the main thing is to go to the second floor to have a look, so only Liang Mi and the others went upstairs.

After going up to the second floor, Liang Mi and the others changed into isolation gowns in the foyer, put on rain boots, and then stepped through the lime pool for disinfection, and then followed Yang Leyi into the No. 1 laboratory.

The seemingly quiet laboratory actually has a lot of people inside: 10 "female workers" in white coats, each with a microscope in front of them, and some **** cans, are busy behind a long table.

Leaning over behind a female worker and looking at it a few times, Mi Shuo, who had been an agricultural technician in a seed company, whispered to Yang Leyi: "Yes, the technology is getting more and more proficient." ”

"Practice makes perfect." Yang smiled happily and nodded.

Potato and sweet potato seedlings need to be detoxified. The work of these women workers is one of the processes in the detoxification process.

With the increase of planting generations, the phenomenon of smaller plants, declining growth, smaller tubers, and significantly decreasing yield and quality of sweet potato and potato varieties is called seed degradation.

Seed degradation has a serious impact on crop yields, but what are the causes of seed degradation? Virus.

Viruses in sweet potato and potato plants continue to spread in crops through infectious agents such as insects, nematodes, and fungi, resulting in crop failure from generation to generation.

The most important work of the seed base at this stage is to use the stem tip detoxification technology commonly used in later generations to obtain non-toxic crop seeds.

Anyone who has ever seen a moldy slice of bread or potato will know that mold is not evenly spread on bread, but rather forms a plaque of different sizes like a drop of ink, which is a normal form of bacterial colony.

Shoot tip detoxification technology also takes advantage of this: the virus is not evenly distributed in plant tissues.

The detoxification technique is to first cut off the top growth point on the poisonous tuber, and then tissue culture the parts with low virus concentrations to generate small seedlings, and then select non-toxic seedlings through testing.

These female workers who are busy on the table are working on the process of selecting non-toxic seedlings with a microscope.

Generally speaking, the detoxification rate of a wave of seedlings is only a few percent or a few thousandths. That's why the lab needs so many female workers: each of them has to test hundreds or thousands of materials before they can pick out some non-toxic seedlings.

When it comes to their true identities, these women are ordinary homeless women who have crossed the sea, most of whom are illiterate.

However, just like the female workers on the electronic production line in later generations, the laboratory does not need them to know any science and technology, but only needs them to use the natural patience of women to mechanically pick out non-toxic seedlings.

After passing through Lab No. 1, the trio came to the second lab, which was long in shape.

Laboratory 2 has opened up all the remaining rooms in this building. The long passage is flanked by large-format glass windows, as well as exterior additions to wooden windows, which are used to block out light and storms when needed.

The corridor after opening up is very sci-fi.

Strips of lamps stretch along the top of people's heads into the distance, and in the corners of the walls are extended cast iron plumbing pipes, and layers of iron shelves are piled up on both sides of the aisles, and on each floor there are glass constant temperature cultivation rooms like sealed fish tanks, and the lamps inside are also emitting soft light, illuminating the rows of triangular glassware.

This is the seedling breeding ground.

The non-toxic seedlings selected by the female workers are cut into sections and then packed into triangles. **A kind of S culture liquid will be prepared in advance, and after the non-toxic seedlings are put in, they will take root in 35 days under suitable temperature and light conditions, and grow into small plants in about 20 days.

All of the above procedures must be carried out in a sterile state, which is why everyone wears isolation gowns.

Of course, in addition to this detoxification, the laboratory will also use heat treatment and some chemicals to treat different varieties of viruses.

In addition to managing the base personnel and these seedlings, he is also responsible for synthesizing chemical agents and seedlings in the laboratory downstairs.

This work occupies most of his time: the chemical composition in the culture medium is relatively complex, the chemical plant is limited to the scale problem, and only bulk raw materials can be provided at present, and the specific fine operation still needs to be done by Yang Willing in the laboratory.

In the aisle mixed with sunlight and electric lights, Liang Leyi carefully looked at the petri dish in the glass box for a while, then turned his head and asked Director Yang a key question: "We will reclaim another 30.4 million mu of new land after the year, and the main crops are potatoes and sweet potatoes. ”

"No, I'm too busy." Yang Leyi shook his head and said: "It's easy to say that the screening and seedling cultivation in batches is good, just add some female workers, anyway, they all do things according to the rules." But I can't do it alone, and I need an assistant. ”

Yang Leyi said this and accentuated his tone: "That kind of real assistant." ”

"I understand, I understand" Liang Cifu rubbed his eyebrows with his fingers, which was his habitual action when encountering troubles.

The so-called assistants refer to the top students in Chihkan Middle School. Biology and chemistry are advanced subjects, and at this stage, only a few top students in middle school have been exposed to junior high school physics and chemistry. What Yang is willing to need is this kind of student who can be trained as a researcher all year round.

However, it's not that simple. Before this, the big office had specifically written for various departments: top students must complete all the courses in high school before they consider part-time work and study, and things that are fueled by seedlings are not allowed to happen.

So Lao Liang has a headache now: laboratory assistants must have physical and chemical knowledge, but these people are now detained.

After habitually glancing at Mi Shuo, it was Mi Shuo who said a hard word: "This matter must be solved, there will be more fields to be cultivated in the future, and Director Yang will be too busy to die of exhaustion, you will go to Lao Xia tomorrow." ”

"Hmm!" Liang Letian also realized the seriousness of the problem now: "Anyway, this is the case, this is not our forcing the palace, I will bring it up at the meeting tomorrow, see what they say, there is a kind of don't ask for food!" ”11