For several days, the temperature in Qingdao fluctuated at zero, and the sea cucumber parent cultivation workshop of Qingdao Ruizi Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Qingdao ruizi”) was very warm. There are more than 60 square ponds in the workshop, and there are more than 400 sea cucumbers in each pond, which is a precious parent of sea cucumbers for breeding offspring. In order to promote the growth and development of sea cucumber, the workshop was adjusted to the “spring” temperature. Fan Rui, general manager of Qingdao ruizi group, introduced while salvaging sea cucumber. Qingdao ruizi has 14 such workshops with a seed preservation scale of 60000. It is one of the largest standardized production demonstration bases of sea cucumber in northern China.
Looking all over, it is a continuous pond. At present, Qingdao ruizi covers an area of 2062 mu, with an annual supply of 400000 kg of high-quality Apostichopus japonicus seedling “Shenyou No. 1”. The supply of improved varieties accounts for more than 30% of the Chinese market, which is in short supply. At the end of January this year, the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas announced and approved three national aquatic breeding farms. Among them, Qingdao ruizi was named “national Qingdao west coast sea cucumber breeding farm”, which is the first national sea cucumber breeding farm in China. Recently, the technical specification for industrialized large-scale seedling cultivation of Stichopus japonicus prepared by Qingdao ruizi and other units was released, which is the first local fishery standard in Qingdao. The approval of the national Apostichopus japonicus improved seed farm and the formulation of Apostichopus japonicus cultivation standards mark Qingdao’s leading advantage in the Apostichopus japonicus seed industry and its strength to build a “blue seed capital”.
16 years of sharpening a sword, a model of Qingdao marine industry university research cooperation
Qingdao ruizi integrates the cultivation, seedling raising, R & D, breeding, processing and sales of sea cucumber varieties. It is located on the Bank of chenjiagong Bay in Qingdao West Coast new area. It is a “native” scientific and technological innovation enterprise of sea cucumber. After learning that he was approved as China’s first national ginseng breeding farm, fan Rui was excited and sad. “It started from zero in 2006 and was approved as a ‘national level’ in 2022. How many twists and turns has it come all the way.” Fan ruiyong said that in 16 years, Qingdao ruizi has made continuous breakthroughs, which is inseparable from the full support of Qingdao Municipal Bureau of ocean development, Qingdao Municipal Bureau of science and technology, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and other units, reflecting the advantages of industry university research cooperation in Qingdao’s marine field.
Van ry’s gratitude was not polite. For many years, the national Apostichopus japonicus improved seed farm has been in a blank state. This is because one of the “hardware” conditions for applying for improved seed farms is that the enterprise has independently developed new varieties of marine aquatic products. At present, there are six new varieties of sea cucumber in China. The sea cucumber “Shenyou No. 1” jointly cultivated by Qingdao ruizi and Huanghai Institute for 12 years is the most successful representative of industrialization. “Shenyou 1 has strong disease resistance, fast growth speed and high temperature resistance. It is the first new variety of Stichopus japonicus with stress resistance in China.” Huang Hai Institute researcher Wang yingeng introduced that at present, high temperature and diseases have increasingly become important factors restricting sea cucumber breeding. The high temperature disaster in 2018 has seriously hit China’s sea cucumber breeding industry. The loss of sea cucumber breeding in Shandong is about 80%, and Liaoning and Hebei are almost completely destroyed. “Shenyou No. 1” has been favored by the market because of its excellent characters.
Whether the new varieties are good or not, the market has the most say. At present, the market price of “Shenyou No. 1” is 30% – 40% higher than that of other sea cucumbers, which is still in short supply, so we have to adopt order production and limited supply. “This year’s orders are already full, no more orders.” In the cold wind, fan Rui showed his pride with “Shenyou No. 1”. At present, “Shenyou 1” has a market share of more than 30% in China. No large-scale disease occurred in all seedlings sold in 2021.
Facing the success of Qingdao ruizi, many enterprises began to seek cooperation, and some local governments also threw olive branches. “In fact, under the bright aura, enterprises have also gone through many unknown bumpy roads.” For example, when the covid-19 pneumonia epidemic first occurred, enterprises faced labor shortage and were on the verge of bankruptcy due to closed management. Jiao Mingwei, director of Qingdao Municipal Bureau of marine development, joined Langya town government to actively coordinate manpower to tide over the difficulties after investigating the enterprise. This kind of warm service has made ruizi more determined that his “last name” must be “Qingdao”.
The cooperation between science and enterprises will make Qingdao ruizi’s new varieties of sea cucumber always have a “reserve army”. In the sea cucumber parent breeding workshop, in addition to the new varieties of “Shenyou No. 1”, there are “langyaqing No. 1” and “Shenyou No. 2”. Liao Meijie, a researcher of Huanghai Institute, introduced that this is a new line cultivated by Huanghai Institute in conjunction with Qingdao ruizi, which has the advantages of high peeling rate and spiny disease resistance respectively. In the future, it is expected to continue to obtain 1-2 new aquatic products approved by the state in 3-5 years.
Government services have given Qingdao ruizi the courage to make continuous strides. In 2020, recommended by the Municipal Oceanic Development Bureau and supported by Qingdao municipal financial funds, “Shenyou No. 1” launched the construction of improved seed breeding and promotion system to improve the large-scale production capacity of seedlings; In 2021, the municipal two-level Marine Development Bureau and Langya town government actively coordinated to promote the newly approved land of 50 mu and the confirmed sea area of 4816 mu in Qingdao ruizi, and accelerate the construction of a national high-quality sea cucumber seedling supply base.
“There are two most important conditions for the construction of a national Apostichopus japonicus seed farm. One is to have new varieties of aquatic products, and the other is to have land.” Fan ruiyong said that from this perspective, without the support of the competent Marine Department and Qingdao Scientific Research Institute, there would be no Qingdao ruizi’s first national ginseng breeding farm in China.
build an innovation demonstration base for Apostichopus japonicus cultivation and build a blue seed industry center
In recent years, China’s Stichopus japonicus breeding industry has developed rapidly, forming a Stichopus japonicus breeding industry group with the coastal areas of Shandong, Liaoning and Hebei as the main production areas and extending to the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang in the form of North-South relay. According to Han Bing, deputy director of Qingdao marine management and security center, as a representative variety of the fifth wave of mariculture, the annual output value of Chinese Stichopus japonicus aquaculture industry is nearly 60 billion yuan. Among them, the annual output of Stichopus japonicus in Qingdao is nearly 30000 tons, and the annual output value of aquaculture is nearly 5 billion yuan. It is one of the pillar industries of aquaculture in Qingdao.
Under the background of industrial support and the cooperation of scientific research institutes, governments and enterprises, the technical specification for industrialized large-scale seedling cultivation of Apostichopus japonicus was released. This standard is drafted by the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao marine management and Guarantee Center, Qingdao Ruizi Group Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Yuehai Bay Marine Industry Development Co., Ltd., giving full play to the advantages of production, study and research in the marine field of Qingdao, and has been formulated after widely soliciting the opinions of various groups in the industry. At present, there is no national standard for the cultivation technology of Stichopus japonicus. The release and implementation of Qingdao standard provides replicable and popularized technical model standards, which will provide strong support for promoting the standardization process of large-scale production of sea cucumber seedlings, and provide reference for the subsequent formulation of relevant industries, groups and local standards of sea cucumber seed industry.
“The approval of national Apostichopus japonicus improved seed farm and the formulation of Apostichopus japonicus cultivation standards are not the end, but the beginning.” Facing the future, fan Rui has drawn a blueprint. He said that based on the national improved variety farm of Apostichopus japonicus, Qingdao ruizi will build a national breeding and promotion industry platform of Apostichopus japonicus based on new varieties and new lines such as “Shenyou No. 1”, strengthen the breeding and strain cultivation of Chinese Apostichopus japonicus, improve the coverage of improved varieties, demonstrate and lead the innovative development of Chinese Apostichopus japonicus seed industry.
It is reported that Qingdao ruizi is accelerating the construction of marine aquatic seed industry innovation center on the newly approved 50 mu land, and the foundation is expected to be laid in the first half of this year.
The center will cooperate with advantageous teams and technical forces in marine science and technology fields such as Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ocean University of China and Yellow Sea Institute to carry out the planning of high-value aquatic product breeding and ecological breeding innovation demonstration base, and build three centers and corresponding supporting facilities, including Apostichopus japonicus improved seed breeding center, Apostichopus japonicus improved seed conservation center and Apostichopus japonicus improved seed breeding center. At the same time, it plans to build a marine seed conservation base, try to develop a new model of sea cucumber in offshore cage, and build an island reef type marine pasture.
Seed industry is the “chip” of agriculture and a national strategic and basic core industry. Marine seed industry is an important part of it. Apostichopus japonicus “Shenyou No. 1” is a beautiful business card of Qingdao Marine seed industry. “Qingdao has successively cultivated 60 new aquatic varieties recognized by the state, accounting for more than a quarter of the total in China. Triploid oysters account for more than 70% of the national seedling market. Varieties such as’ white jade ginseng ‘,’ Yellow Sea series’ Chinese prawn and ‘Haida series’ long oysters are highly recognized in the industry.” Wang Yanan, deputy director of the Marine Fisheries Department of Qingdao Municipal Bureau of marine development, said that Qingdao has strong marine science and technology strength. At present, it is making continuous efforts in the development of aquatic seed industry. In the relevant policies to support the high-quality development of marine economy, it has put forward special support for modern seed industry and vigorously cultivated innovative and leading aquatic seed enterprises. At the same time, we are exploring the establishment of China Blue Seed Industry Research Institute (Qingdao), investment development company and investment fund to build a world-class blue seed industry center.
“Based on the national mission of building a strong marine country and revitalizing the aquatic seed industry, Qingdao will seize the opportunity of building a leading modern marine city, continue to give full play to Qingdao’s scientific research advantages in the blue seed industry, strengthen the protection and utilization of germplasm resources, and vigorously carry out the research and development of improved aquatic varieties.” Wang Yanan said that Qingdao will focus on key aquaculture varieties such as Stichopus japonicus, oyster, Litopenaeus vannamei and Atlantic China Welding Consumables Inc(600558) salmon, carry out major technological breakthroughs such as key common technologies, core application technologies and strategic forward-looking technologies, strive to solve the “neck” problem, support the revitalization of aquatic seed industry and the green and high-quality development of fishery, and build a “blue seed capital” based on Qingdao and aiming at the whole country.
