Cereals in China

Abstract

China, which has a very long history, abounds in agrarian testimonies from Neolithic times. As the sinologist Joseph Needham once wrote, “the fundamental occupation, the root pen and the basis of the nation’s wealth and well-being, was agriculture – as all philosophers and political economists from Confucius all agreed. The royal house of Chu claimed their descent from the agriculture deity Hou Chi, Prince Millet. Chinese emperors sacrificed at the altar of the spirit of the soil each spring and autumn, and in the spring it was also their duty to drive out to the royal fields near the capital and ceremonially plough a furrow, after which each of the chief ministers would in his turn put his hand to the plough.” Traditionally, the Chinese diet was largely vegetarian, with cereals its main “fan” or staple food. Most proteins came largely from legumes or protein-rich legume products such as bean-curd or soybean sauce. The Chinese have farmed millet and rice in the basins of the Huang He (Yellow), Huai He (Huai), and Changjiang (Yangtze) rivers for several thousand years, and modern China is a major producer of a large range of cereals. Wheat, barley, maize, sorghum, oats, and even triticale are now cultivated in addition to rice and millet. Among these crops, maize and rice hybrids predominate, and several wheat hybridization systems are currently being evaluated. Sustaining the enormous Chinese population in both historic and recent times would not have been possible without the cultivation of all these cereals. Today, steady production and genetic improvement of cereal crops are essential for food security and the stability of modern Chinese society. At present, Chinese cereal producers and researchers face huge challenges, and as population continues to grow and arable land to decline; they will also have to find ways to cope with ever-decreasing water resources and the predicted impacts of climate change. Despite its potential usefulness, very little information is available in English on the production and breeding of Chinese cereals, which have unique traits due to the varied dietary styles and multi-cropping systems that can be found across China’s vast landscape. To fill this gap, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) which has worked closely with China for more than 30 years, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), China’s leading agricultural research organization, and the Limagrain Group, a leading international cereal research company, have collaborated to produce this publication, Cereals in China. In addition to maize, wheat, and triticale, CIMMYT’s mandated crops, the book also includes other important cereals such as rice, barley, millet, sorghum, and oats. In addition to Zhonghu He and Alain P.A. Bonjean, who edited this book on Chinese cereals, authors include experienced colleagues, breeders, and research professors from leading Chinese agricultural research institutes. We feel confident that this publication will provide interesting and useful information on Chinese cereal production and breeding, not only to cereal crop professionals, but also to all who wish to learn more about food production and agriculture research in China. We also harbor the hope that it will contribute to inspire new vocations in plant breeding and related technologies among the new generation.