Era: I was a farmer at the foot of Yaoling Mountain

Chapter 93 Hybrid Rice, Loquat
"Third brother, the county and the commune have been quite good to you."

Fang Ping specially scooped out a pot of wine. Today's events had a great impact on him, and he felt proud of it.

All in all, these honors are due to the fact that my third brother produced good breeds, and he deserves respect.

"How can it be considered good? If you really value me so much, you should transfer me to the commune or county to feed me with commercial grain."

Tian Guihua came out of the kitchen with a plate of food. When she heard what her husband said, she felt a little disapproving.

She felt that someone as capable as her younger brother should be a state official, as he would be more useful than people like Chen Mazi.

"Sister-in-law, let's not talk about this anymore and get ready to eat."

Fang Wei waved his hands. He was not yet confused and knew that he had no right to bargain at all.

Fang Ping glared at his wife, wanting to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

The following days returned to normal, and the breeding team devoted half of their energy to studying.

The 20 mu of experimental fields were all planted with [Nongken 58] japonica rice.

Due to the limited potential of the rice seed, it is difficult to increase the yield this season. However, considering the future promotion work, this seed must be planted.

Conventional breeding is something everyone is familiar with and easy to handle.

Several members followed Gao Qingshan to learn forestry knowledge. Fang Wei attended a few classes and then stopped going.

He didn't intend to become a jack of all trades, but it was still necessary to understand.

The new variety of rice seeds has not yet been found. Wu Maosheng wrote to him several times asking him to be more patient and to send it to him as soon as he found a good variety.

However, Wu Maosheng wrote a letter to his friend in Zhejiang, inquiring in detail about the cultivation of [Nongken 58] in southern Hunan.

This matter should have been told by Wu Maosheng to someone who was an agricultural expert in Zhejiang named Sun Zhenxing.

Fang Wei replied and sent Sun Zhenxing five kilograms of [Nongken 5] third-generation rice seeds. Actually, the first-generation rice seeds had been sent by Sun Zhenxing, a gesture he had never forgotten.

In his plan, whether it is [Nanguang No. 58] or [Nongken ], after they start to be promoted on a large scale and achieve results, there are two paths to follow.

One way is to find better first-generation rice seeds and then cultivate them in the traditional way like [Nan Guang No. 1].

Another way is to start researching hybrid rice.

He was very clear about the principles and basic methods of hybrid rice. After all, he was the best graduate of the agricultural university in the country in his previous life, so he had a good foundation.

After two years of practice, Fang Wei has sorted out the knowledge in his memory and often gains something.

The road to hybrid rice is rather difficult and requires long-term efforts. Without ten or eight years of hard work, it is difficult to achieve significant results.

"Let's do the preliminary preparations first."

Fang Wei soon stopped worrying about it and decided to work hard to find more wild rice seeds from now on.

Rice is actually self-pollinating, which means that the stamens and pistils have been successfully pollinated before the rice flowers are fully open.

So under normal circumstances, rice is purebred.

The inability to carry out artificial pollination means that rice hybridization is impossible.

The key to solving this problem is to utilize the male sterility of rice.

In his previous life, Mr. Yuan also started the hybrid rice industry in China because he discovered a naturally male sterile plant in the wild.

This matter was relatively simple for Fang Wei. After all, his predecessors had already taken a successful path. He only needed to find enough natural sterile plant samples.

At least you won't take a detour.

morning.

After Fang Wei had breakfast and said hello to his elder brother, he put on his backpack and took his gun and headed deep into the mountains.

Such a search was like looking for a needle in a haystack, so he was not in a hurry and just treated it as a trip for fun.

After many days of searching, and not sparing any time to improve the [Exploration] and [Identification] attributes, we finally found 6 wild sterile plants.

Fang Wei planted these six plants at the edge of the experimental field and separated them with markers.

These natural plants can be used to cultivate sterile lines, ensuring that rice male sterility can be transferred to the target rice varieties and can be stably inherited.

"All that remains is to cultivate the sterile lines, and hybridization experiments should be possible by next summer."

After Fang Wei finished his work, he left the experimental field.

Next, he went out early and came back late every day in the name of looking for wild rice seeds, and discovered a lot of good things in the mountains.

At noon that day, he discovered a grove of loquat trees deep in the mountains, and the trees were full of loquats.

He picked one, wiped it clean and tasted it. It tasted sweet and was ripe.

Loquat is a fruit that is very popular among the locals and also has strong medicinal value, so he marked the area and picked a basket of loquats to take back.

In the evening, Zheng Hu and others came to ask Fang Wei about various educational issues, so he washed a large basin of loquats to entertain them.

"This loquat is delicious, but it's not available outside right now. Could it be wild?"

Fang Wei gave them a lesson, and then everyone sat down and chatted while eating loquats.

Zheng Hu was the first to discover the problem and guessed that what he and others had eaten were wild loquats.

"Yes, I found it in the mountains. There are a lot of loquat trees in that area, at least fifty or sixty, laden with fruit.

It’s a pity that I can’t bring back so much by myself, otherwise I could let you eat as much as you want.”

Cultivated loquats bear fruit around May and June, but the wild loquats he discovered this time bear fruit two months later.

Forget about transplanting, the team doesn’t have that much forest land.

However, Fang Wei still selected some seeds and planned to sow them in the [Afforestation Area] after the spring of next year so that some seeds could be left in the nearby mountains and forests.

"Third brother, take us with you tomorrow. There's strength in numbers, so we can pick more."

Zheng Hu and others were eager to try, but Fang Wei shook his head.

That area is far away from the village, and it takes a whole day to go back and forth. He is a little worried about his friends' physical strength.

Zheng Hu and others repeatedly assured him that there was no problem, and Fang Wei reluctantly agreed.

The next day.

Early in the morning, Zheng Hu and others were ready to go.

Fang Wei asked them to bring all their weapons with them. There were all kinds of dangerous factors in the mountains. Without any self-defense tools, he would not be able to handle the situation alone if they encountered any danger.

There were 12 friends going up the mountain with him this time. Each of them carried a backpack and weapons. Even those who didn't have guns brought axes.

In addition, everyone also brought dry food and clean water.

It takes a whole day to go back and forth, and it is impossible to last without food and water.

"Okay, let's go."

Fang Wei casually mentioned some things that needed attention and then led everyone up the mountain.

There are people staying at the experimental field, so there is nothing to do today, so there is no need to worry.

The group excitedly crossed mountains and rivers, but encountered a problem less than two hours after walking.

"Snake! There's a snake!" The little friend walking behind the team found a snake jumping out of the grass and couldn't help but exclaimed.

"Where? Where?"

Zheng Hu, who was haunted by the poisonous snake, asked repeatedly, while Fang Wei had already quickly run to the end of the team.

He spotted a rather large snake at first glance, then walked forward and grabbed it. He quickly cleaned it up and threw it into the basket on his back.

"Don't panic, it's just a vegetable snake, it's not poisonous, what's there to be afraid of?"

Then he ran to the front of the team and continued to lead everyone forward.

Zheng Hu finally came to his senses and asked his friends to knock on the grass on both sides while walking, under the pretext of "stirring up trouble".

After walking for more than an hour, Fang Wei asked everyone to stop and rest and have something to eat.

There was a stream in the area, so he took the snake to the stream to wash it. When he came back, he built a fire and started roasting it.

No one can bring a pot when walking such a long mountain road, so we can only roast it.

Fortunately, Fang Wei always brings some seasonings when he goes out, including salt and chili powder, and the roasted snake meat tastes quite good.

Everyone shared a vegetable snake. No one could eat much, but everyone enjoyed it very much.

Snake meat is delicious, but poisonous snakes are difficult to catch. Among the group, only Fang Wei has the ability to catch snakes.

Zheng Hu and others took out their dry food and water, which solved their lunch problem.

Afterwards, the group continued on their journey and reached their destination in just half an hour.

“There are so many loquat trees!”

There are many loquat trees in this area, and the trees are full of ripe loquats.

Fang Wei then assigned them picking areas so that picking would be more efficient.

Everyone started to get busy and soon filled their backpacks.

"Everyone take a break. We'll set off in twenty minutes."

Fang Wei gave them twenty minutes to rest and then set off on their journey home.

Zheng Hu and his men were stronger than he'd expected, but they weren't suited to deep forests. The problem was they had almost no hunting experience and didn't even know how to deal with a harmless vegetable snake.

It’s better to take them less into the mountains in the future. The mountains and forests near the village are not a big deal.

"Third brother, there are so many wild loquats, and we haven't picked many. How about we come back tomorrow?"

Zheng Hu tasted the sweetness and was reluctant to give up these wild loquats in the mountains.

Fang Wei didn't expect the other party to be so active. He thought that this guy would complain after running for a while.

It's not impossible to come back and pick more fruit, since I'm not busy lately anyway. Just arrange for a few people to stay behind in the experimental field. Even if there's nothing else to do, they still need to keep a close eye on the ducks in the field.

"Don't talk big now, because no one will be able to get up tomorrow. As long as you can walk, come again."

Fang Wei agreed to Zheng Hu's request, and the group returned to the village before dusk.

Many people came forward to greet them when they saw them, and they grabbed a few loquats each, all wanting to try something new.

Wild loquats and cultivated loquats look very different and taste different too, but both are delicious.

Even Zheng Xianfa came over to try it and thought it was very good.

"Little Scholar, are there many wild loquat trees in the mountains?"

"Quite a lot! We only picked a small number of loquats today, and there are still quite a lot left. We will make another trip tomorrow."

"Yeah, go ahead. Don't be too greedy. Just try it out. The road is long and the mountains are high, so be careful."

When Zheng Xianfa heard that the loquat forest was far away from the village and it would take a whole day to go back and forth, he immediately lost interest.

There are many dangers in the deep mountains and forests, so he was unwilling to sacrifice several people just for a bite of food. That would be a waste of time.

Zheng Hu and his group of young people don’t care about these things at all. At their age, they generally don’t have too many concerns about what they want to do, not to mention that they have their third brother around.

In their opinion, nothing in the mountains could stump Fang Wei.

After going there three times in a row, Fang Wei called a halt.

The friends have exhausted a lot of energy these days and encountered various situations in the mountains, including encountering poisonous snakes 5 times.

Fortunately, there was no danger, which made him feel relieved.

After three days of picking, they harvested 1800 kilograms of wild loquats. Fang Wei distributed 5 kilograms to each member, and the rest was divided among the breeding team.

He kept 100 kilograms for himself and prepared to dry the loquats.

The medicinal value of wild loquat is not small, and its effect is much stronger than that of cultivated loquat. Dried loquat and loquat paste are both good things.

There was also food for the family. He had picked dozens of kilograms by himself, and the whole family had enough.

It is not advisable to eat too much fruit. The total amount should be controlled, otherwise it will be bad for your health.

There are still a small number of loquats left in the forest that have not been picked. They will be ripe and fall off in half a month at most. By then, they will all rot on the ground. It seems such a waste.

"We can't waste it. Tomorrow I'll find a few people and you can take us to pick it."

Wild loquat is a good thing. If you can’t finish it, you can dry it or make it into loquat paste, which has high medicinal value.

Fang Ping couldn't stand the waste, so he went to find 10 people at night and followed Fang Wei into the mountains the next day.

"Third brother, the loquat trees here are very good. You should carefully select some seeds and plant them in the village."

Among the group was a member named Shi Hongsheng, who had a special liking for trees and planned to plant a loquat tree behind his house.

The propagation of the loquat tree can be done by sowing, layering and grafting. Grafting is the fastest way to produce results, and it will bear fruit in about three years. Other methods require at least 5-8 years.

Others followed suit and planned to find a place to plant it after returning.

The fighting power of these 10 members was stronger than Zheng Hu and his team, and they finished picking the fruits in just two days.

[Picking Fruit, Points +3300, Total Points: 19174]

Fang Wei thought that Pan Lianhua often sent gifts to him, so he took 40 loquats and some small things he bought from the supply and marketing cooperative and went to the Yao village.

"Brother Fang, it's such a long journey, and you're carrying so many things. Aren't you tired?"

Pan Lianhua was indeed very happy to see Fang Wei. She was even happier when he put down his backpack and took out the loquats.

Fang Wei then took out a wooden comb, a few hair ties, and hairpins, which are things that girls often use.

"I bought it from the supply and marketing cooperative. You can use it."

Seeing these odds and ends, Pan Lianhua, who was usually generous and cheerful, suddenly became shy.

A red cloud climbed up her cheek. She lowered her head and pinched the corner of her clothes, feeling a little at a loss.

Fang Wei didn't think that the other party was quite shy, so he just put the things on the table.

"Brother Fang, please sit down first. I'll go make some tea."

After a while, Pan Lianhua finally recovered. After saying hello, she took the odds and ends and went into the house.

(End of this chapter)