ZhongHuang 901 Broadens Soybean Adapted Zone of ICS Varieties

The soybean variety Zhonghuang 901, developed by the Institute of Crop Science (ICS), Chinese academy of agricultural sciences (CAAS), was officially approved by the Inner Mongolian autonomous region variety examination committee recently. This is the first soybean variety developed by the “soybean breeding technology innovation and new variety breeding” Research Team for the Northeast soybean main producing region in China, extending the soybean adapted zone of ICS northward for about 1000 km, up to N50 degree.

The main characterizations of Zhonghuang 901 are：firstly，high yield and yield stability. In the Inner Mongolian autonomous region extremely early-maturing variety regional test of 2011 and 2012, the unit yield of Zhonghuang 901 was 161.5 kg per mu, 20.99% and 9.61% higher than the unit yields of control varieties Neidong 4 and Mengdou 9, respectively. In the soybean production test of 2014, the unit yield was 185.1 kg, 15.07% and 8.17% higher than the unit yields of control varieties Neidong 4 and Mengdou 9, respectively. Secondly, early-maturity. The maturity date of Zhonghuang 901 is 2-3 days earlier than local varieties Keshan 1 and Jiangmodou 1, and its adapted region is in the range of Hulunbeier, the Inner Mongolian autonomous region, which has the  ≥10℃ active accumulated temperature 2100℃ (equates with the third accumulated temperature zone). Thirdly, disease-resistance. Zhonghuang 901 can resist to the main local diseases, soybean grey speck disease, and moderately resist to soybean mosaic virus (SMV) I strain. Fourthly, lodging-resistance, tolerance to dense-planting, adaptation to the mechanical cultivation. Fifthly, good quality. The seed of Zhonghuang 901 is round shape with yellow seed coat, yellow hilum, 19.5 g 100-seed weight, 41.52% crude protein content and 21.31% crude fat content.

Up to the end of June, 2015, ICS has developed 82 soybean varieties, the accumulated promotion area has been more than 100 million mu. Among them, Zhonghuang13 has widely-grown in the Yellow-Huang-Huai River valley, and was adapted to the south part of the Northeast region and some of the Southwest region. Zhonghuang 30 is the main soybean variety in the Northweast region. Zhonghuang 35 has been approved by multiple provincial variety examinations, extended the north border of planting area to Jilin province, and created the national high-yielding record in Xinjiang province for several times. Zhonghuang 37 adapt to plant in the north, mid and south part of the Yellow-Huang-Huai River valley. Zhonghuang 39 has been approved by the variety examination of Tianjin province, Gansu province, the mid-region of the Yellow-Huang-Huai River valley, and tropical and sub-tropical regions. The south border of its adapted region is Xuwen, Guangdong, (near to N20 degree).

The development of Zhonghuang 901 marks that the adapted region of soybean varieties developed by ICS has been extended to Elunchun, Inner Mongolian autonomous region in the North, Xuwen, Guangdong province in the South, Jilin in Jilin province in the East, and Shihezi in Xinjiang autonomous region in the West, which covers most of the Chinese soybean producing areas, providing solid supports for the national soybean development.