September 16, 2025
China: Bio-tech firms eager to develop new strains of high-quality soybeans
Chinese biotech firms, leveraging rapid advances in breeding technology, are focusing on developing new high-quality soybean varieties to meet the nation’s strong market demand, according to sources from a recent national meeting.
A collection of newly-developed high-oil and high-yield soybean varieties were showcased at the meeting held in northeast China's Jilin Province on September 12. The meeting focused on national major scientific and technological achievements in agricultural biotechnology breeding.
All of the new strains displayed at the meeting in Jilin boast oil content above 22% and yields more than 8 % higher than strains currently planted.
With support from a national program aimed at encouraging agricultural biotechnology breeding, research institutes and seed enterprises have joined efforts in introducing state-of-the-art technology in soybean breeding -- such as polygene polymerization and molecular marker selection.
Beijing Dabeinong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. presented the company's new variety named Maiyu 511 at the meeting, which is proven to be suitable for spring planting in China's northern regions and which offers an oil content of 23.69 % -- exceeding the average oil content of imported soybeans.
Shao Liangliang, a grain grower in Lishu County, Jilin, was among the farmers who tried the new strain this year. He planted the soybean seeds in a 3.6-hectare field -- with the crop almost ready for harvest.
"This new variety saved me nearly CN¥100 (about US$14) per hectare in growing costs. The yield is poised to be higher than before. I will expand the planting area of these seeds next year," Shao said.
Since 2015, China's annual soybean import volume has exceeded 80 million tonnes -- as the domestic soybean supply failed to meet market demand, which was partly attributed to insufficient breeding of soybean varieties featuring high oil content.
- Xinhua News
