Agricultural giant since 1983

Chapter 148 Quantitative Genetics and Molecular Breeding
Brother Chao left the next day. Before leaving, he said that he would invite Li Lei to attend the ceremony when the feed factory was completed, and Li Lei readily agreed.

Last year, Li Lei was very busy. He had to explore the market everywhere and train management and technical personnel. Stay at home, read books, chat with parents.

After a few days of idleness, I felt bored again, so I drove to the breeding base. He Zhanhai had already come to work, and Li Lei went over and asked, "Didn't you come to work after the fifteenth day? Why are you here now?"

"It's okay to be idle at home, and I stayed in Wuhan for more than half a year last year, and the situation in the breeding farm was a bit unfamiliar, so I came back early, so that I can continue to work after getting familiar with the situation." Feed factories and farms made a lot of money last year. With little money, he is the only one who can only get in and out, and He Zhanhai is also under pressure.

"Don't worry, breeding is not a matter of one or two years, nor is it a matter of three or five years. It is not uncommon to produce results in ten years; I don't urge you to produce results immediately. People such as Hailan International, Roman Group, How many years did it take the Hypor Company to breed chickens and pigs? If we want to catch up in a year or two, we will underestimate them!" Li Lei pulled He Zhanhai up from the computer.

The sun was just right today, so I found a sunny place outside, made a plate of peanuts, brought a bottle of wine, and the two chatted while drinking.

"You came back just in time for the Chinese New Year. I didn't come to remember and look for you. I happened to meet you today, so let's have a good chat. How does it feel to be in Professor Xiong's place?" Although the farm is making money every day, Li Lei The most important thing is the breeding base.

Still using the previous analogy, breeding chickens and pigs are like chips, and pigs and eggs produced by farms are like computers and mobile phones. Some money may be slaughtered after the foreign breeding company completes its layout in the future.

So he has great expectations for He Zhanhai and the breeding base, and hopes that he can breed breeders that are not inferior to Hailan brown-shell hens and lean-meat breeding pigs that are not inferior to Hypor.

"Professor Xiong is really good, and I learned a lot from him." He Zhanhai's words were full of admiration, "From the similarities and differences of different pig breeds across the country, to the comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese domestic pigs and foreign pig breeds, to the breeding base Scientific management, compared with him, I am really far behind!"

"Don't underestimate yourself. After all, he has been working for so many years, but how many years have you been working? You don't even get a fraction of his salary." That is a future academician, can ordinary people compare with it?

"I don't. Although Professor Xiong is powerful, we are not without advantages! For example, in terms of computer-assisted breeding, they are far behind us; we are also better than him in artificial insemination and cryopreservation. Professor Xiong still uses the natural insemination method."

"I mentioned artificial insemination to him. Professor Xiong actually knows that this method is better, but he has only so little funds at hand, so he has no money to use this technology." He Zhanhai became proud again when he mentioned this. .

Compared with traditional methods, artificial insemination has many advantages. The first is cost. Using traditional methods, the ratio of boars to sows is only [-]:[-], but using artificial insemination technology can expand this ratio to [-]. Compared with one hundred, the same number of sows, the number of boars is reduced to one-fifth, and the cost of feeding, breeding farm construction costs, and labor costs are all greatly reduced.

The number of boars needed is reduced, so the best boars can be selected again, and the best boars can be selected for breeding. The average quality of the next generation will definitely be higher.

In addition, it can also overcome the breeding difficulties caused by the difference in size of male and female pigs and the preference of male and female pigs. was crushed; and using artificial insemination technology, there is no such problem.

Because the non-contact breeding is adopted, there is no need to worry about the transmission of diseases between boars and sows.

With freezing technology, it can also increase the frequency of breeding. You must know that animals are different from humans.
Another advantage is that the cost of introducing pig breeds has also been reduced. When Li Lei went to Chongqing before, he had to find a way to sell the pigs and then transport them back, lest something might go wrong and he would spend a lot of money to buy the pigs. He died on the way, and the best breeding pigs haven't been bought yet, and the breeding farm won't sell this kind of baby.

If you go again next time, it is enough to bring the refrigeration equipment. Don’t you sell the best breeding pigs?Then I'll buy some of its tadpole head office, shall I?Then freeze it in a test tube and bring it back. You don’t need to spend money on a wagon, a single ticket is enough, and you don’t have to worry about problems on the road.

When He Zhanhai came back this time, he brought a lot of frozen tadpoles that he got from Professor Xiong; of course, this does not mean that there is no need to buy breeding pigs at all in the future. After all, breeding pigs and tadpoles are still different. While freezing the tadpoles, it is still necessary to charter a plane to transport the breeding pigs back from abroad.

"According to the judgments of foreign large-scale breeding companies, universities, and research institutions, the scientific and technological content of future breeding work will become higher and higher, and many high-tech methods will be applied. Whoever can take the lead in this area will be able to dominate the competition." Advantage!" Li Lei decided to reveal more information to He Zhanhai.

Compared with others, Li Lei's greatest advantage lies in knowing which direction is correct and which direction is doomed to fail, which means that his breeding company can save a lot of manpower and material resources.

"Indeed, when I was studying, I never thought that breeding could be connected with computers. Later, after using those software, I realized that the efficiency of computers is far beyond that of humans! Professor Xiong was full of praise when he tried it, saying If he could have used the computer earlier, the breeding work of Hubei white pigs would have been completed long ago!" He Zhanhai has experienced the benefits of high technology, so he agrees with Li Lei's point of view very much.

"According to my analysis, there are two directions that will play a key role in future breeding work. One is quantitative genetics, which is a scientific method that uses mathematical statistics and mathematical analysis methods to study the inheritance of quantitative traits. The software given to you is the specific application of this technology.”

"This subject requires a high level of mathematical foundation. Fortunately, with computers now, you don't need to re-learn probability theory, linear algebra, multivariate statistics, and stochastic processes!" Li Lei was in so much pain that he couldn't live without his high math.

"Using biostatistical methods to randomly sample and measure certain quantitative traits of the population, calculate the average, variance, etc., and conduct mathematical analysis on this basis; on this basis, a series of guiding breeding practices can be estimated Significant genetic parameters such as heritability, repeatability, genetic correlation, genetic progress, and selection index, etc.; these parameters can be used to analyze and predict the genetic dynamics of quantitative trait variation, as a reference for animal and plant breeding."

It sounds complicated, but it actually means the same thing. If you understand quantitative genetics, you can analyze the breeding effect more clearly, and then in turn guide the next stage of breeding work, thus saving a lot of time and money. Compared with breeding companies using old methods Breed earlier to better quality varieties.

Quantitative genetics originated in 1909, the polygenic theory proposed by Swedish geneticist H. Nilsson-Eller, using the Mendelian separation of each pair of minor genes to explain the inheritance of quantitative traits.

Later, British statistician and geneticist RA Fisher, American geneticist S. Wright and British physiologist and geneticist JBS Haldane laid the theoretical foundation of quantitative genetics in the 20s.

In the mid-40s, American scholar JL Lesh and British quantitative geneticist K. Mather further developed quantitative genetic research. Since the 50s, with the gradual application of probability theory, linear algebra, multivariate statistics and random processes, quantitative genetics The content has been greatly developed.

After the 80s, with the popularization of computers, this discipline has achieved further development, and the breeding efficiency has also been greatly improved; many large breeding institutions have adopted this technology and developed their own algorithm formulas and application software.

The most advanced algorithm formulas are kept strictly confidential, and Li Lei has no access to them, but there are still many that have been eliminated. Li Lei has seen them when he was reading the papers, and he still remembers many of them.

Even if it is eliminated, it will be eliminated in the second decade of the 21st century. It is definitely an advanced algorithm far ahead of the times in the present.

According to the current performance level of the computer, Li Lei took out a few more suitable ones for Shi Yuzhu to compile into software, and then handed them over to He Zhanhai for use. The efficiency of this breeding base in certain fields can surpass those of international giants.

Of course, breeding is a cumbersome job, and it doesn't mean that they can catch up with them as soon as possible, but then again, Li Lei knows more than this one piece of information.

He quickly talked about another direction with He Zhanhai, "In 1983, the American scientist Mullis was driving to his country house when he suddenly had the idea of ​​'polymerase chain reaction'; two years later, last year, He officially invented and patented the technology!"

"Mullis's paper was published in the "Science" magazine in December last year, and PCR technology spread in the scientific community!" Alas, it's a pity that Li Lei didn't study chemistry, otherwise he would have to learn from Yang Rui, Take the Nobel Prize back from Mullis.

"What is the use of this technology? Simply put, it can greatly increase the amount of DNA in a small amount, which also makes it feasible to draw a human genome map! Many foreign scientists are calling for the development of a human gene map project. Find out the location, structure, function and mode of action of 10 human genes."

"After the human genetic map is completed, the genetic map of important economic animals and plants such as chickens, pigs, wheat, and rice can be drawn, and then in turn guide the breeding work! Molecular biology will inevitably play an important role in future breeding work .”

Molecular breeding and transgenic breeding are not the same concept. Molecular breeding is the application of molecular biology techniques to breeding at the molecular level; usually includes: molecular marker-assisted breeding and genetic modification breeding.

Genetic modification breeding is transgenic breeding, which is a breeding method for cultivating new varieties with certain requirements through gene introduction.

Molecular marker-assisted selection technology has been widely used in the breeding of domestic breeds. For example, the SLCO1B3 gene, which controls the green shell trait, is applied to the breeding of green shell hens; The detection method of susceptible alleles is applied to the breeding of high-yield laying hens; the mutation site that inhibits the dominant white feather gene is excavated, and the red-feather pink-shell laying hens are bred.

Since PCR technology has just been invented, it is relatively expensive, and not many people know how to use it. Those breeding companies may not have started to contact it, but Li Lei knows how to use this technology, which is another huge advantage.

"I also brought this paper, and some other information. You should study it carefully and think about how to use it in breeding work, and then we will continue to discuss!" Li Lei knew the answer, but he couldn't tell him directly every time. He Zhanhai will develop dependence in the long run, which is not good for him and the development of the breeding base.

After He Zhanhai heard this, he was both excited and a little timid, "Boss, you let me study the new technology invented by foreign scientists, and you think highly of me! I haven't even finished my university degree. For what you said, find a The professor may not be able to fully understand it, let alone me?"

"Don't underestimate yourself. I called Professor Xiong a few years ago to say New Year's greetings. He praised you several times. If you didn't have a diploma, he would have accepted you as his graduate student! So I believe in your ability, learn slowly, always One day I can learn it!" To be valued by academicians shows that He Zhanhai still has a bright future.

When I go back that day, until the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, whenever Li Lei is free, he will come to the breeding base to have a chat with He Zhanhai, and continue to tell him about the application of quantitative genetics and molecular biology in the field of breeding.

It took some time for the farms, fertilizer factories, and feed factories to resume work after the year. After finishing his work, Li Lei came with new equipment.

(End of this chapter)