China announces list of space seed projects for Shenzhou-16 mission

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Wednesday published a list of space seed projects on board the Shenzhou-16 manned spaceship.

According to the CMSA, experts in the field reviewed the declared projects and selected 136 kinds of space breeding experimental materials from 53 institutions, including 47 crops (12 grain crop seeds, 28 cash crop seeds, seven saline-alkali tolerant plants), 76 forest plants, grasses, flowers and medicinal plants (17 forest trees, 21 forage grasses, seven flowers and 31 medicinal plants), 13 microorganisms and other species (two species of agricultural microorganisms, three species of industrial microorganisms, three species of edible fungi, five species of algae and mosses).

Space breeding involves exposing seeds and strains to cosmic radiation and microgravity during a spaceflight mission to mutate their genes.

Since conducting its first space breeding experiment in 1987, China has sent the seeds of hundreds of plant species into space on dozens of retrievable satellites and Shenzhou spaceships.

Scientists said that sending seeds into orbit will help them develop new crop varieties that can withstand more extreme growing conditions. In low-gravity environments and outside the Earth's protective magnetic shield, the seeds pick up subtle DNA changes and become more resistant to drought and certain diseases.

China launched the Shenzhou-16 manned spacecraft on May 30, sending three astronauts to its space station for a five-month mission.