News from the Ministry of Science and Technology says China's IPR protection has made a breakthrough. The new soybean breed Zhonghuang 13 developed by renowned agronomist and former president of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) Wang Lianzheng has received the official letter from the ROK confirming ROK would handle the application. This is the first time that China applies for right to a new plant variety. The event, experts believe, is of milestone significance.

In April the crop research institute of the CAAS entrusted Beijing SA Hengda PVR Agency Ltd. to apply to the ROK government for the right to the plant variety Zhonghuang 13. This is China's first overseas claim for a plant variety since China implemented the protection of new plant varieties and the first time since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Zhonghuang 13 was developed using Yudou 8 as its female parent and Zhong 90052-76 as its male parent. The advantages of the breed are that it is highly productive, with high content of protein, widely adaptable and highly resistant. It also has the characteristics of lodging, flood and draught resistance as well as great potential for yield growth etc. The breed's yield per mu (an area unit about 1/15 hectare) can be as high as 250-300 kilograms. In 2004 it set the record of 312.4 kilograms per mu in Shanxi's Xiangyuan. Among the 12 new soybean breeds being examined by the national review committee for crop breeds in 2001 Zhonghuang 13 top all in terms of yield growth. The breed is also resistant to mosaic disease, downy mildew as well as root rot. In the last two years the breed has been rapidly promoted in the Yellow River, Huaihe River and Haihe River region.

According to sources applications for right to varieties have surged in recent years in China. Annual applications have jumped to the top five among the members of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). By the end of June the new plant varieties protection office of the Ministry of Agriculture had accepted over 2,300 applications for right to plant varieties, of which applications submitted to the Chinese government by foreign companies and individuals represented 59. However, before this there has been no Chinese application submitted to foreign governments.

By People's Daily Online