In Pengpu Town, Mile City, Honghe Prefecture, 170 kilometers southeast of Kunming City, Yunnan Province, there is a 3,600-acre breeding base hidden in the bottom of the deep valley. Even locals are hard to find this place.

In Pengpu Town, Mile City, Honghe Prefecture, 170 kilometers southeast of Kunming City, Yunnan Province, there is a 3,600-acre breeding base hidden in the bottom of the deep valley. Even locals are hard to find this place. Despite the traffic congestion, the "Guangming No. 2" white-feathered broiler breed that appeared here affects the broiler markets in , North China, and Northeast China.

Yunnan Maitreya Standardized White Feather Broiler Breeding Farm. Photo provided by the Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

"The emergence of independent varieties such as 'Guangming No. 2' means that China's white-feathered chicken industry is no longer 'bottled'." Wen Jie, deputy director of , Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and chief scientist of the National Broiler Industry Technology System, said recently at the "2022 White-feathered broiler high-yield and efficient technology integration and on-site observation meeting".

China's white-feathered chicken industry has relied on foreign seed imports since 2004. In 2010, a number of domestic seed companies and scientific research institutions began to breed and research. Ten years later, the three major white-feathered broiler varieties, including "Guangming No. 2", officially passed the approval, and China has since had its own white-feathered broiler varieties.

seeds are agricultural chips. With the emergence of "Guangming No. 2", China has its own chips in the field of white-feathered broiler. Not only that, China also has the first biochip for breeding - "Jingxin No. 1".

"Jingxin No. 1" chicken 55K SNP breeding chip. Photo provided by the Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

The white-feathered broiler, which is the mainstream market, was once "bottled"

Chinese people love to eat chicken. According to China Animal Husbandry Association data, the proportion of chicken consumption in China is second only to pork, and chicken production accounts for 66% of poultry in 2021. Data shows that China's broiler production in 2021 was 14.7 million tons, an increase of 100,000 tons over 2020, and increased by 0.68% year-on-year.

When it comes to the names of chicken varieties, people can tell a long list: Xiaochai chicken, beggar chicken, white cut chicken, large plate chicken . Many people would not think of the name "White Feathered Broiler" at the first time, and they would never think that "White Feathered Broiler" is already the main consumer product in the current market in China. In 2021, the number of white-feathered broilers slaughtered reached 5.8 billion, and the meat production accounted for 61% of the chicken production.

However, in the huge market of white-feathered broiler, the phenomenon of seed sources "bottleneck" was once serious. According to Zhao Guiping, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, , Zhao Guiping, , a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, although the taste is good, the growth rate is slow and generally takes 60-100 days to slaughter. White-feathered broiler native to the West can be slaughtered in more than 40 days, which can better meet market demand.

On August 10, Zhao Guiping, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, shared and exchanged the breeding process of "Guangming No. 2" at the base. Photo by Zhao Lixin, reporter of Beijing News

The pure white-feathered broiler is produced in . The broiler variety has the advantages of high feed conversion efficiency, high meat production rate and high intensive production. Thanks to this, fast food restaurants use white feathered broiler as raw materials. Fast food restaurant brands in some Western countries quickly occupy the global market.

"Since the early 20th century, companies from Western countries have conducted white-feathered broilers, and have been selected for a hundred years. We started breeding of white-feathered broilers late, and the breeding of 'Guangming No. 2' has only been ten years." Zhao Guiping said.

On August 12, Zhao Guiping was in the chicken coop of "Guangming No. 2" Pengpu Town, Maile City, Yunnan Province. Photo provided by the interviewee

Chicken seedlings rely on imports and loses bargaining power

At noon on August 10, the sunlight in Maitreya City, Yunnan Province was fierce. In a chicken coop under construction, Liang Shanggen, nearly 70, was wearing a safety helmet and walked steadily in the corridor. "I participated in the design of this chicken coop. It used a positive pressure ventilation and filtration system and a back-end dust removal system, and also built the Internet of Things. Temperature control, ventilation, and egg collection are all automatic." Those who saw the onlookers were a little confused. Liang Shanggen said in Mandarin with a strong Guangdong accent, "It took us 40 years to design these chicken coops."

1976, Liang Shanggen, a " Workers, Peasants and Soldiers college student" graduated, and then entered the local agricultural department to do administrative work. In 1993, Xinguang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry was established, and Liang Shanggen was the main person in charge. He recalled to reporters, "Singuang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry has been doing breeding since its establishment. At the end of 1993, we introduced three batches of white-feathered broiler chicken seedlings from abroad."

"At that time, the hidden white-feathered broiler chicken seedlings were sold for US$10 at that time. What is the concept of ten US dollars? It was 80 yuan if it was exchanged for RMB. At that time, the salary of an ordinary employee in Guangdong Province was only more than 200 yuan a month. We had already thought it was very expensive, but later, the bargaining power was all in the hands of others. They sold as much as they wanted." Liang Shanggen said.

Before December 2021, there was a gap in China's independent breed of white-feathered broiler. Two international companies, Anweijie and Kebao, occupy more than 90% of the global market share, including China's white-feathered broiler market of about 150 billion yuan.

"Under normal circumstances, the ancestor chickens we import every year are between 800,000 and 1.2 million sets, and the regular price of each set is about 300 yuan." Zhao Guiping introduced that the ancestor breeder chickens were introduced from chicks to elimination, only about one and a half years. After that, the production performance has decreased and must be updated. Therefore, the ancestor breeder needs to be introduced and updated every year. "That is to say, if we have never had independent breeds of breeders, we always need to import."

"Guangming No. 2" was born in the deep mountains and became famous nationwide

Li Peng, who is in his early forties, is the first master's student to be recruited by Zhao Guiping. He recalled the teacher's work, "It's like an ancient imperial examination. It's unknown for ten years, but it's known to everyone in the world."

Those who care about the development of China's white-feathered broiler industry will hardly forget the day on December 3, 2021. On the same day, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued Announcement No. 498, 18 new livestock and poultry varieties (supporting series) and 18 livestock and poultry genetic resources industries were approved and approved by the National Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources Commission. Three fast-sized white-feathered broiler varieties, including " Shengze 901", "Guangming No. 2", and "Ward 188".

"We have been waiting for this day for too long. Chinese people have never had Chinese artificial chickens. How can this be done? The emergence of the three independent white-feathered broiler varieties in China has brought China's white-feathered broiler industry into a new era." Li Xiaobo, a salesperson who has been engaged in broiler sales in Shandong Province for more than ten years, said.

In August this year, Hebei Jiuxing Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Development Co., Ltd. specially pulled banners and set off firecrackers to welcome the entry of "Guangming No. 2" into the factory. "People in the industry are somewhat excited about this national product," said Zhao Guiping.

Liang Shanggen introduced that agricultural enterprises in Shandong, Hebei and Liaoning have now completed the introduction of 200,000 sets of breeders. The Xinguang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry White-feathered Broiler Cultivation Base can raise 300,000 sets of ancestor breeders and 700,000 sets of parents breeders. "By 2025, we will achieve the goal of providing 9 million sets of parents breeders to the society in the year."

, ten years of breeding, and the funds cost hundreds of millions of yuan

In the office building of the breeding base in Pengpu Town, Mile City, Xinguang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, dozens of furry chicks chirping in cardboard boxes. "This is the ancestral chicken of Guangming No. 2. We took out dozens of them for sightseeing." Liang Shanggen said that under normal circumstances, ancestral chickens cannot be directly in contact with the outside environment. Once they come into contact, they will no longer be breeding.

The furry chick in Zhao Guiping's hand is the ancestor chicken of "Guangming No. 2". Photo provided by the interviewee

"Guangming No. 2" breeding work was started in 2010. Xinguang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry is the first company in China to carry out white-feathered broiler breeding. The breeding work is arduous and a person in charge of a breeding farm in Xinguang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry told reporters that he was repeatedly raising, selecting and recording chicken seedlings in the breeding farm, and there were millions of chicks circulating in his hands.

Zhao Guiping introduced that it is difficult to cultivate pure line of white-feathered broiler breeds, difficult to determine performance, and difficult to raise and manage. "First of all, we need to find chickens that have certain properties, such as fast-growing or good resistance, and then hybridize these resources. Among the hybrid offspring, we will once again choose those with excellent characteristics and continue to cross. This process is very long. Generally speaking, in the mature breeding field, it takes about 5 years to breed a new broiler breed."

"More than 3,000 high-quality chickens can be screened out from ten thousand chickens, but we can only select one thousand at that time. Moreover, the three indicators of selected chickens, the growth rate, egg laying performance, and feed remuneration are also lower than those of foreign products. Therefore, the workload of screening alone is huge." Liang Shanggen said.

"In this deep mountain, 'Guangming No. 2' has experienced layers of twists and turns before it appeared." On the afternoon of August 10, Zhao Guiping looked at the laboratory in the distance on the hill of Pengpu Town, Maitre City. Young scientific researchers in blue uniforms hurriedly walked in and out, "This base has invested 350 million yuan. The cost has not been recovered yet."

On August 12, in the chicken coop of "Guangming No. 2" in Pengpu Town, Maitre City, Yunnan Province, Zhao Guiping (first from left) and scientific researchers. Photo provided by the interviewee

The "core" of independent chickens is still the starting point, and the breeding industry is always on the road

A sentence Wen Jie often said is "Breeding is like sailing against the current, if you don't advance, you will retreat." He told reporters that breeding is a process of continuous selection, elimination and replacement. Once innovation stops, it will soon be left behind by the market. "We are now developing a broiler breed with local Chinese blood ties, aiming to be more in line with the Chinese people's habits of eating chicken."

8 On August 10, Wen Jie shared and exchanged the breeding process of "Guangming No. 2" at the base. Photo by Zhao Lixin, reporter of Beijing News

The chicken breeding team of Beijing Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (hereinafter referred to as "Absal Husbandry and Medical Institute") established a close scientific and enterprise cooperation model with Xinguang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in 2014 to jointly carry out the cultivation of new white-feathered broiler varieties. From then on, the breeding of "Guangming No. 2" white-feathered broiler has ushered in a major breakthrough. In 2017, the Animal Husbandry Institute applied the first genome selection technology system based on the "Jingxin No. 1" breeding chip to the "Guangming No. 2" white-feathered broiler breeding at the first time. Xinguang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry became the first breeding chicken enterprise in China to use gene chip breeding.

Traditional breeding technology requires the naked eye to judge the production performance. Performance observations between generations can only wait for white-feathered broilers to lay eggs, grow, and lay eggs again before they can screen out groups with excellent growth performance. It took more than a year to cultivate one generation, and the breeding process was slow.

With biochip, researchers can use data to screen out excellent offspring when the breeding materials are still chickens. Zhao Guiping introduced that this has achieved the genetic progress of white-feathered broiler twice the speed of conventional breeding, and saved 2-3 breeding generations.

In addition to the identity of a researcher at the Institute of Pastoral Medicine, Zhao Guiping is still responsible for genetic breeding in Xinguang Agriculture and Animal Husbandry. "The successful experience of 'Guangming No. 2' is that scientific research institutions work closely with enterprises and adopt a commercial breeding model mainly based on enterprises to truly realize the combination of industry, education and research." Mu Shanqi, the mayor of

Pengpu Town , told reporters that Pengpu Town is a town with a total population of more than 50,000 and an agricultural population of more than 46,000. With the support of modern enterprises and first-class research institutions, it can play a demonstration and promotion role in the development of local industries. "Of course, 'Guangming No. 2' is famous nationwide, and our town can also be known to more people, which is beneficial to the sales of agricultural products and leisure tourism in the town."

Liang Shanggen plans that in the next three years, the market share and annual output of merchandise broilers will steadily increase. "After all, the government and scientific research institutions are very supportive, and we have sufficient confidence in the future market." He told his colleagues that the current goal is actually conservative.

Beijing News reporter Zhao Lixin

Editor Tang Zheng Proofreading Zhao Lin