After conducting in-depth research on several major desert areas in China in the supercomputer, Chen Cheng found that in fact, most desert areas will have a water content of 10 underground in ordinary areas about 1m-2m underground.

That is, the desert is not short of water, but it is buried a little deep.

He immediately decided to transform the root system of the desert watermelon to be a little more developed.

When he transferred the information from the desert watermelon that Bridda had given him on his laptop into the system, the system quickly gave a 3D virtual model.

"Analyze its strengths and weaknesses." Chen Cheng said.

[Desert No. 8 watermelon variety, the adaptability of the environment is relatively strong, resistant to barrenness, salt and alkali, and the resistance is very good, high resistance to blight, vine cutting disease, mature single weight in 10-20 catties]

Chen Cheng looked through the information and found that this variety of watermelon was very large. Moreover, the taste of the material is outstanding, the meat is crispy and sweet, and the sugar content is high.

The sugar content in the center of the hanging is about 13 degrees, the gradient is small, even the edge of the watermelon is sweet.

Although the skin of this variety of watermelon is also relatively thin, it has strong toughness and is resistant to storage and transportation.

It can be said that it is a watermelon variety with outstanding dominant genes.

After carefully inspecting the root system of this watermelon variety, Chen Cheng found that its root system was relatively developed.

The root distribution of this watermelon is both deep and wide, with a depth of more than 1 m for the taproot and a horizontal radius of up to 1.5 m around the taproot.

Watermelon is a tertiary root plant, that is, the root system is composed of taproots, lateral roots, and root hairs, which are mainly distributed in the 20~40cm cultivated soil layer. Generally, there are 4~5 lateral roots on the main root and lateral roots, the root hairs are mainly born on the main root and the lateral heel, and the first-level roots are mainly distributed at 20cm near the soil surface of the main root, at an angle of 40 ° with the main root, and the group is mainly distributed in the soil of the 30~40cm cultivated layer.

The maximum taproot can reach 1 m, which is ideal, and it is generally about 50 cm.

Chen Cheng's goal is to improve its root system so that its taproot can be rooted deeper.

He quickly simulated a watermelon variety with a well-developed root system through a supercomputer.

However, experiments to induce watermelon roots with rhizobia and make them symbiotic with them failed.

Rhizobia cannot invade the roots of watermelons at all.

Chen Cheng frowned, clicked on the supercomputer again, and checked the relevant literature.

It turns out that this is related to the gene expression of legumes such as soybeans.

During the evolution of leguminous plants, the key gene SCR of leguminous stem cells was expressed in cortical cells, and another key transcription factor of stem cells, SHR, was moved to cortical cells after expression in vascular bundles, so that cortical cells of leguminous plants acquired SHR-SCR stem cell molecular modules.

This stem cell molecular module gives leguminous cortex the ability to divide cells, making the legume cortex different from that of non-leguminous plants. This stem cell molecular module is able to be activated by the signal of rhizobia to induce cortical division of the legume alfalfa to form nodules.

Chen Cheng looked at other species of plants, and their root epidermal cells did not have the gene expression of the SHR-SCR molecular module at all.

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That is, all the rhizobia in the soil have tried to invade the rhizome cells of any plant, but only the root cells of leguminous plants can break open, allowing rhizobia to enter, and form root nodules.

By looking at the rhizome cells of watermelon, Chen Cheng found that the rhizome of this type of watermelon was lignified earlier, that is, the rhizome was harder, and rhizobia could not get into it at all.

"Then the only way to try is to try to express the gene of the watermelon root cell containing the SHR-SCR molecular module."

Chen Cheng thought about it, using a genetic combination to add the SHR-SCR molecular module to the root cells of watermelon.

Through simulation, he was surprised to find that ectopic overexpression of SHR-SCR molecular modules in watermelon roots could also induce cell division in the root cortex.

"Then let's get rhizobia again."

Chen Cheng manipulated it by hand and added rhizobia to the genetically modified watermelon simulation image.

In less than a minute, the simulated growth experiment of the watermelon showed that the taproot part of the watermelon successfully produced rhizobia.

Of course, there are fewer rhizobia produced in the roots of soybeans.

"It's less, but it should be enough."

As he spoke, Chen Cheng clicked on the simulation.

A minute later, the results were in.

[Watermelon plant growth is normal, the plant size is expanded by 34%, and the yield is increased by 41%]

Chen Cheng was satisfied with the result. Nitrogen is an important part of amino acids in plants, which is conducive to enhancing photosynthesis. Nitrogen fertilizer can promote the division and growth of crop cells, and promote the growth of crops.

With the blessing of nitrogen fixation by rhizobia, it is certain that the yield of watermelon will increase.

After solving this matter first, Chen Cheng still has to study the next question. That's how to improve the soil quickly.

This is the reason why Chen Cheng did not directly tell Zeng Lao about his technical methods at that time.

If it is only to strengthen the watermelon rhizome and then fuse the rhizobia, it will only solve half of the problem, and the other half of the problem is how to improve the desert soil as soon as possible.

Brida said that they improved the structure of the soil by allowing the litter of plants to rot, increasing the viscosity of the desert soil, and thus increasing its water content.

Therefore, Chen Cheng set his sights on how to make the dead branches and leaves corrupt as soon as possible.

Plant cells are known to spoil faster in a warm environment. In contrast, although the temperature in the desert is high, the humidity is too low, which is not conducive to the reproduction and development of spoilage microorganisms.

In fact, microorganisms are the most powerful organisms in nature.

They are found anywhere in the world, in the human body, in animals, on the skin of the body, in the air, and in water.

At the same time, they can degrade almost anything.

Microbial degradation refers to the transformation of organic matter into simple inorganic matter by microorganisms. The excrement and dead bodies of various organisms in nature are transformed into simple inorganic substances by the decomposition of microorganisms. Microorganisms can also degrade synthetic organic compounds.

Of course, most plants are degraded by microorganisms after death, allowing them to turn back into nutrients and return to the soil, increasing soil organic matter and improving soil quality.

Among the main components of straw, the cellulose content accounts for 30%~35%, the hemicellulose content accounts for 25%~30%, and the lignin content accounts for 20%~25%, all of which can be degraded by microorganisms.

When plants are degraded, they can increase soil organic matter and improve soil fertility.

What Chen Cheng wants to do is to study the characteristics of these degrading microorganisms, and strive to cultivate microorganisms that can survive in the desert environment and accelerate the degradation of plants.

According to the data in the supercomputer, the main microorganisms that degrade plants are white rot fungi, Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma viridum, etc.

Their degradation of plants is the process of decomposing plants through the reproduction of these microorganisms under suitable conditions of nutrients (especially nitrogen), temperature, humidity, aeration and pH, and the decomposition and mineralization of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulfur into simple organic matter and humus.