Professor Gai Junyi of Nanjing Agricultural University, reputed as the "Soybean Academician", has dedicated his life to studying soybeans. From the moment he became a teacher in 1957, Gai Junyi made up his mind to make sure that "the Chinese people would fill their bowls with their own soybeans."On the occasion of the seventh 5.30 Science and Technology Workers" Day, let"s follow the camera to see Gai Junyi"s lifelong dedication to soybean research.
It is Gai Junyi"s long-standing habit to drink a glass of soybean milk in the morning. He has devoted his life to studying soybeans since he was admitted to Nanjing Agricultural College in 1953.
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Gai Junyi said that throughout his life he has done nothing but ensure the Chinese people would drink soybean milk made from Chinese beans and eat tofu made from Chinese beans.
"Soybean is related to people"s livelihood and used to be the main source of protein for people, because at that time, people did not have access to meat and relied on tofu to obtain protein. At present, soybeans are related to the overall development of the entire aquaculture industry, as meat farming relies on feed that relies on soybeans," said Gai.
China is the country of origin of soybeans and was once the world"s largest producer and exporter of soybeans. However, since the 1950s, China"s soybean industry has started to fall behind developed countries. From 1980 to 1982, Gai Junyi was sent by the Chinese government to the United States for further education. During this period, Gai Junyi sought ways to revitalize China"s soybean industry.
"The United States originally did not have soybeans, which were passed on to them by China. After I arrived in the United States, many research institutions, schools, and professors in the United States asked us if we could give them some more soybean resources. China has abundant resources, and we ourselves do not know how many resources there are. So, since then, I have made up my mind that the first thing I need to do after returning to China is to clarify the resource base of China"s soybeans," said Gai.
Seeds are the "chips" of agriculture. Upon returning to China, Gai Junyi began to establish a soybean germplasm bank and search for high-quality genes hidden in wild soybeans.
Over the next 20 years, Gai Junyi and his team traveled to all soybean-producing areas in China, collecting over 15000 local soybean varieties. In 1998, they ultimately built the world"s third-largest soybean germplasm resource bank, second only to the China National Germplasm Bank and the US Department of Agriculture soybean germplasm resource bank.
With the support of the seed database, Gai Junyi led his team to lead or participate in the cultivation of over 30 new soybean varieties, promoting the planting of over 50 million mu in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and some areas of the Yellow River and Huaihe River, and increasing soybean yield by 10% per mu.
In 2022, under the leadership of Gai Junyi, the proposal to "Vigorously develop the technology of soybean and corn belt composite planting" was written into the No. 1 central document of 2022 for implementation. This technology is expected by Gai Junyi to be an important method for increasing soybean production under the limited arable land resources in China.
"By planting one season of soybeans in corn, the yield of corn is basically not reduced. The experimental results show that increasing the planting of soybeans for one season can increase the annual yield by 100 kilograms. If calculated in this way, the country can produce 60 million tons per year if an additional season of soybeans can be planted on 600 million mu of corn land nationwide," said Gai.
At the age of 87, Gai Junyi is still kept busy in the laboratory and running around in the fields. His National Soybean Improvement Center established has become an important platform for theoretical and technological research on soybean genetic improvement in China, and an important base for cultivating high-level talents in the field of soybean research in China.
In recent years, with the continuous increase in national investment in seed industry innovation, Gai Junyi realized that the historical opportunity for soybean revitalization has arrived. He said that as long as China has not yet achieved "soybean freedom," he and his team will never stop the pace of struggle.
"People who do research never feel tired and always feel like they are continuing with the research. Our practical goal is to hold the bowl of Chinese soybean nutrition in our own hands," said Gai.
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