It has been my fourth year in charge of the river crab breeding project in the R&D center. I often talk about this work with some colleagues and find that some colleagues do not know much about this work, or even have some misunderstandings, thinking that the company spends so much money every year. What's the point of having resources for a group of people to raise crabs there? I still feel the need to talk to everyone.
First of all, why should we carry out river crab breeding? As an important domestic freshwater aquaculture species, the river crab industry has become a large-scale industry of tens of billions of dollars. In 2015, the output of river crab has reached 820,000 tons, and more and more competitors have invested in it. The river crab is the fundamental product of our company. Only by occupying a stable position among many competitors, can we obtain huge social benefits while obtaining stable economic benefits, and realize our purpose of "producing ecological quality products, benefiting thousands of households and thousands of families". With the development of the industry, the application and management details of various conventional means have been gradually improved, and the gap between everyone is shrinking sharply. In order to obtain a larger market share, we need to have our own characteristics. Where do the characteristics come from, that is research and development, and in the case of river crabs, it is breeding and cultivating new varieties. This has been reflected in the sales of crab fry in recent years, and "Photosynthesis No. 1" has been recognized by most farmers.
So what exactly is the breeding of river crabs carried out by the company? To put it bluntly, it is to cultivate new varieties of river crabs by means of selection. In the case of "Photosynthesis No. 1", it is to obtain offspring with different traits by combining large-scale and high-survival crabs to obtain offspring with different traits. We select large-sized and high-survival-rate seed crabs for combined hybridization to obtain offspring, and through continuous circulation, we finally get crabs that far exceed the size and survival rate of ordinary river crabs. We select a batch of seed crabs for production, and cultivate crab fry to put them on the market. "Photosynthesis No. 1".
However, breeding is a long-term work, and coupled with the biological characteristics of the two-year-old crab, our work is even more time-consuming and labor-intensive. The company has been trying to carry out breeding work since 2000. At that time, we were simply crossing the river by feeling the stones, starting from scratch and accumulating experience, but without systematic theoretical guidance, the results were minimal. Until 2006, we strengthened our investment, hired a Norwegian expert Ma Dayong, and introduced the mature theory of salmon breeding "Advanced Group Breeding Technology", starting from the most basic establishment of family, learning little by little, improving step by step, from From nothing, we have overcome technical difficulties one by one, and now we finally have established our own breeding system. We have our own specialized breeding workshop, 380 hatching tanks and more advanced supporting facilities, and we can cultivate more than 200 families every year; Breed crabs weighing about 10,000 kilograms are selected for groups; these have effectively guaranteed the smooth progress of river crab breeding. As a result, the first new species of river crab "Guanghe No. 1" was born, and the first prize for scientific and technological progress in Liaoning Province was obtained.
The new variety "Guanghe No. 1" has been obtained, and the new variety industry has been well recognized by the market. Can the breeding work be over? of course not! There is no end to the selection and breeding. There is no best new variety, only better. Only by continuous selection and breeding can the vitality of "Photosynthesis No. 1" be continuously extended. And we can't be satisfied with a new variety, but complacent and stagnant. The fierce market competition requires us to breed more new varieties, such as varieties with strong resistance, ornamental, and good taste. These are our work direction and goal. In 2015, we cooperated with Yang Runqing, the chief expert of the Chinese Academy of Water Sciences, to develop a new breeding model, adding a matching line breeding model from the original group breeding. Through this breeding method, we can not only follow our breeding goals. The target strain we want is obtained, and the parental control of the new variety can be achieved, bringing economic benefits to the company. Of course, the realization of this breeding goal still requires a long-term process. All members of our river crab breeding project team will make every effort to overcome the difficulties in the breeding process, strive for the acquisition of more new varieties, and contribute to the development of the company's river crab business. Contribute to healthy and sustainable development, and help fly photosynthesis with technological innovation!