It will take at least 10 days for the first generation of seawater rice to complete the filling, so Chen Cheng has to stay in the research institute and wait for the results.

Fortunately, I carried the system with me and brought a laptop, so the rewritten paper was as good as the research that should be done.

The most important thing is that the vegetables and rice eaten in the institute are all grown by himself, coupled with the unique fresh and spicy method of Hannan Province, Chen Cheng eats every meal very fragrantly.

In addition to writing papers, there is one more important thing, which needs to be studied with Cao Lao and them. That is the genetic improvement of seawater rice.

Spraying seawater rice with a combination of mineral operanin and cytokinin can only solve the taste problem of this batch, and can neither form new varieties with genetic characteristics nor solve the yield problem.

Genetic improvement of seawater rice is imperative.

Strictly speaking, hybrid rice is also a means of genetic improvement. It's just that hybridization is the artificial control of the combination of male and female genes to achieve genetic improvement.

What the super lab can do is directly rewrite the genes, which is fundamentally different in terms of means and methods.

Chen Cheng spent more than a day combing in depth, and once again took the research on the problem of poor taste and low yield of seawater rice one step further.

He found Cao Lao to report on the progress of his research.

"Zeng Lao, after my in-depth analysis yesterday, I have roughly found the solution to the poor taste and low yield of seawater rice, and I would like to ask you for guidance."

"Xiao Chen, don't be modest. After getting along with each other in the past few days, I found that you are very active in thinking and thinking about problems very deeply. Say it! ”

Chen Cheng pushed the laptop in front of Zeng Lao, and Zeng Lao came to look next to him.

Don't look at Zeng Lao in his eighties, his eyesight is well protected, and he has no problem reading things on a small screen of his laptop.

Chen Cheng said: "First of all, the reason for the taste of seawater rice is that the rice contains too many minerals, which is the conclusion that our team has reached before. But I studied a little more and found that it was the mineral salt molecules that combined with the starch molecules in the rice, causing the starch molecules to coagulate, so the taste was rough when eaten. ”

Zeng Lao nodded and said: "That's true, we have recently studied this phenomenon by using the method of starch molecular marking. ”

Chen Cheng used the mouse to operate on the computer, and called up the high-definition pictures of wild seawater rice and premium rice.

"I don't know if you have noticed that their rhizomes are actually slightly different."

After saying that, Chen Cheng enlarged the pictures of the two and finally stopped at their rhizomes, and then, Chen Cheng translucentized the two pictures of the same size rhizomes and overlapped them on top of each other.

"Oh! Are you saying that there is a difference in their rhizome area?! Zeng Lao suddenly realized.

"Yes."

This difference is very small, and if you don't overlap the two pictures like Chen Cheng, you can't find it at all.

In the comparison of the overlapping images, we can see that the rhizome spread area of wild seawater rice is a little more than that of premium rice, and this is not on the crown roots, but on the very subtle lateral roots.

Then, Chen Cheng called up the picture of the lateral roots of wild seawater rice under electron microscopy.

As you can see from the picture, there are some small fibrous roots on the lateral roots of wild seawater rice, which are very small and estimated to be in the μm level.

"In my research, these tiny fibrous roots are the organs used by wild seawater rice to absorb minerals. This is the main reason why they achieve salinity and alkali tolerance. Chen Cheng said.

Zeng Lao leaned closer and looked at the picture incredulously.

Previously, they had been focusing on the genetics and hybrid traits of wild seawater rice, and had not paid much attention to the plant itself.

"So what we're looking for isn't their salt tolerance, but their ability to grow tiny roots on their lateral roots?" Zeng Lao thought about it.

"Yes."

Zeng Lao deserved to be Zeng Lao, and he immediately saw what Chen Cheng meant.

In other words, they may have chosen a fork in the road in the process of breeding wild seawater rice many times before.

It cannot be said that the wrong path is taken, because the goal is the same, to achieve the saline-alkali tolerance of hybrid rice.

It's just that Mr. Cao's team only paid attention to the conspicuous features, and did not pay attention to the factors behind this feature.

And Chen Cheng had carefully observed the rhizomes of autumn soybeans when he was working on super urease microorganisms before, so he suddenly discovered this subtle difference yesterday.

Zeng Lao said: "But the problem is that even if the wild seawater rice offspring with developed roots and many small roots and tendrils are continuously selected, it only strengthens its saline-alkali tolerance characteristics, and cannot solve the problems of poor taste and low yield." ”

Chen Cheng sat up straight and put his hands behind his head.

"My goal is to solve the poor taste and low yield, and also to further improve the salinity tolerance."

Zeng Lao looked at him, and a bright light flashed in his eyes.

This young man, whom he had only known for a few days, had repeatedly surprised him with his professionalism.

But what struck him even more was his ambition in agricultural technology.

To be honest, from a professional point of view, Chen Cheng's idea is not mature.

Engaging in agricultural technology, especially the selection and cultivation of crops, is the result of planting from generation to generation, selecting from generation to generation, and constantly selecting the best of the best.

This is also the reason why so many agricultural technicians have to take root in the soil all their lives to make a decent new variety.

There is no shortcut to success, and you can't eat fat in one breath.

Therefore, in order to maintain the salinity tolerance of seawater rice, their seawater rice team did not pursue too much taste and yield.

But when Chen Cheng said the goal just now in a heroic and sincere tone, Zeng Lao's heart suddenly moved.

He was in a trance and remembered that he had braved the scorching sun and vowed to find the best sterile male rice.

In the twilight of a hero, sometimes it is easier to be moved by the spirit of being stunned.

"So what's your technical path?" Zeng Lao looked at Chen Cheng with a smile.

Chen Cheng raised his head to look at him and said seriously: "Look for wild seawater rice with the most developed root system and the most small roots, take its pollen, and cross it with premium rice after screening." ”

"You mean to use wild seawater rice as the male parent and cross it with sterile line premium rice as the female parent?" Zeng Lao was shocked again.

"Yes. You chose to use wild seawater rice as the female parent and premium rice as the male parent to maximize its salinity tolerance.

If wild seawater rice with more developed root system and stronger salt and alkali tolerance is found, then using premium rice as the female parent can still surpass the current first-generation hybrid seawater rice, even if the salinity tolerance is reduced. ”

Zeng Lao's hand slapped lightly on the edge of the table, and said excitedly: "Okay! We just have a batch of special grade rice experimental fields, which are about to reach the flowering stage, if we can find wild seawater rice pollen in time, we can do experiments! ”

Chen Cheng said: "Elder Zeng, leave the matter of finding the target wild seawater rice to me." ”

Zeng Lao nodded and said, "Okay." I asked Deng Xing to accompany you. ”