Since the potatoes cannot be stored for a long time, once they are spoiled, they can no longer be used.

In addition, these potato seeds took Jian Shuqi three years to find with great difficulty, and who knows if he can get the second batch of seeds after this trip, and the breeding matter is imminent.

In order to find a method of potato breeding as soon as possible, Chi Fei handed over most of the unnecessary things to the officials under him, and then devoted himself to this most important research with Jian Shuqi.

Just as the two were in full swing preparing for the experiment, something happened to Jian Shuqi's family: his mother Liao was sick and had a high fever.

As soon as he heard that his mother was sick, Jian Shuqi was very nervous and immediately rushed back with his friends.

After Chi Fei returned home, he invited Lan Qing over as soon as possible and asked her to treat her friend's mother.

Lan Qing, who came in a hurry, came to the conclusion that the old lady was sick this time after checking the pulse of the Liao family, mainly because of the excessive worry and anger some time ago, coupled with the fatigue of running around along the way, which caused the essence to be damaged.

After arriving in Jiujiang, as soon as her spirit relaxed, the root of the disease naturally broke out all at once. It takes a while to recover slowly.

After listening to the words of this female doctor named Lan Qing, Jian Shuqi felt very guilty.

He knew that the reason why his mother was sick this time was mainly because of him.

In view of the old lady's condition, Chi Fei asked Lan Qing to continue to treat the old lady, while letting his friends stay in the house to take care of the old lady with peace of mind.

As for the breeding trials of potatoes, for the time being, it is up to him to conduct research alone. When the old lady was well, it was not too late for him to come and help.

Jian Shuqi is a filial son, so naturally he has no opinion.

In this way, Chi Fei carried out potato breeding research alone.

As a typical modern otaku, Chi Fei has eaten a lot of potatoes before, but he has never tried to grow this thing, and he is completely confused.

But it doesn't matter if he doesn't understand, he can find foreign help.

Plants that grow underground like potatoes are also found in the Great Wei Dynasty, but most of them are low-yielding medicinal herbs, such as kudzu and yam.

It's just that kudzu and yam are generally wild, and few people will specialize in planting, so it's really hard to find medicine farmers who are familiar with this aspect.

In order not to waste time, Chi Fei could only mobilize his subordinates to look around for medicine farmers who knew how to artificially grow kudzu or yams, and at the same time took out some potatoes for exploratory experiments.

First of all, he asked a few old farmers from the northwest to find a few vacant land with similar soil quality to the northwest on the Jiujiang side to trim to simulate the planting environment in the northwest.

In terms of breeding, Chi Fei, who has only eaten potatoes but has never grown potatoes, can only think of two options: one is to plant the whole potato, and the other is to cut the potato and plant it again.

The first option is the easiest and most insurable, but it is also the most wasteful, using up the whole potato at once.

The second option is the breeding method that Chi Fei wants to experiment the most.

If successful, one potato can be made into two or even three seeds, achieving an exponential increase of two or even three parts, which is the key to promoting large-scale cultivation.

In order to verify the test effect, Chi Fei deliberately selected two fields with the same soil quality for comparative testing.

One piece is planted with whole potatoes and one is planted with potatoes split in two.

Although Chi Fei didn't know anything about farming, he still went to ask the farmers for advice on farming methods for this experiment.

The peasants who had been invited did not expect that the prefect would personally ask them about farming, and they immediately answered all kinds of questions raised by him with trepidation, and did not dare to hide them in the slightest.

Some farmers suggested that it is better to add manure to the field, so as to improve the fertility of the field.

Chi Fei felt that it made sense, so he asked someone to open two fields next to it, and specially added manure as a comparative test to see how big the difference was between not fertilizing and fertilizing.

Since the start of the formal experiment, as long as Chi Fei has time, he will ride over almost every day to see the growth of potatoes and record them in his notebook.

In addition, he left one of the most experienced farmers from among the temporary farmers to be responsible for cultivating the experimental fields.

The old farmer knew that the prefect attached great importance to these fields, so he naturally did not dare to be careless, and carefully observed and maintained them every day.

After about ten days, the potatoes buried in the ground finally sprouted, which made Chi Fei surprised and delighted.

However, after most of the potatoes had sprouted, Chi Fei found that only the experimental fields planted with whole potatoes could maintain a germination rate of more than 90%, while less than one-third of the potatoes that were cut in half and planted could successfully sprout, and most of the rest rotted in the ground.

Chi Fei and the old farmer dug it up and took a look, only to see that the most rotten potatoes were the incisions.

If Chi Fei guessed correctly, it should be that the incision was infected with bacteria and caused the whole potato to rot.

More than a dozen potatoes were rotten at once, which made Chi Fei feel very distressed.

However, it has at least proved that it is feasible to cut the potatoes before planting.

As long as the problem of easy infection of the incision is solved, it can survive as a seed.

Although the loss was a bit large, this result still made Chi Fei very excited.

In order to solve the problem that the incision is susceptible to infection, Chi Fei went to consult the old farmer to see if he had any good solutions.

The old farmer said that the general method of pest control is to smoke it, or to soak the seeds in tobacco water overnight before planting, but the effect can only be said to be better than nothing.

Or maybe you can try using plant ash. Every year, before sowing seeds, the local people sprinkle some plant ash in the ground, which seems to reduce some insect infestation in the field.

However, the most effective way is to remove the insects by hand, although this method is both hard and slow, but at least it can maintain a certain harvest and not lose the harvest.

Chi Fei can understand the helplessness of the old farmers, after all, there were no pesticides in ancient times, and when they really encountered large-scale insect pests, the farmers could actually do very little, so they could only do their best.

Chi Fei didn't know which method was useful, so he could only take out some potatoes and test them in different ways.

At this time, more and more potatoes have begun to sprout because they have been left for a long time.

After another ten days, the second batch of seedlings finally grew, and Chi Fei was pleasantly surprised to find that the survival rate of potato pieces sprinkled with grass ash at the incision rose to nearly 60%.

Even if it doesn't survive, at most it will just dry out, and it won't rot as it did before.

As for the potato cubes that have been smoked and soaked in tobacco water, it can only be said that the survival rate is slightly improved, but it is far less effective than plant ash.

This suggests that plant ash is indeed able to greatly reduce the infection of incisions.

After digging out all the planted potato pieces, Chi Fei made a new discovery through careful observation and data comparison.

The vast majority of surviving potato seedlings have not only been sprinkled with plant ash, but have already sprouted before they are planted.

And those potato chunks that were also sprinkled with plant ash but did not sprout were less than one-third of the eventual survival rate.

This shows that whether the potato cube can emerge successfully is very important to whether it has sprouts or not.

The results of this experiment made Chi Fei excited, and he immediately conducted a third experiment.

This time, he deliberately selected the potatoes that had sprouted, left one or two small buds on each potato piece when cutting, and then sprinkled plant ash on the cut and skin before planting.

When Liao's body slowly recovered two months later, and Jian Shuqi finally had time to come over to test the field, the scene in front of him suddenly stunned him.

I saw that the experimental field had expanded from less than half an acre of land to as much as three acres of land.

Each piece of land is covered with green seedlings, and it looks very gratifying.

In addition to the area of the experimental field has been expanded several times, the number of soldiers in charge of guarding around has also increased a lot, which shows that my friends attach great importance to this place.

Jian Shuqi looked at his friends in surprise and joy and said, "Have you found a way to breed?" ”

Chi Fei smiled: "This time next year, you will be able to eat fresh potatoes."

At that time, I will personally cook two dishes for you with potatoes to satisfy your taste. ”

Jian Shuqi trembled with excitement, and rushed quickly to the test field, wanting to see what these treasures looked like up close.

Looking at his friend's excited look, Chi Fei smiled very happily.

Ning Zhiyuan, who was far away in the northwest, was no less excited than Jian Shuqi after receiving the letter from his little son-in-law.

If it weren't for Yao's stiff pull on him, he would already be on his way to Jiujiang.

He also wanted to see with his own eyes what this kind of treasure, which had great hopes of being able to feed the military and civilians of the entire northwest, looked like.