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Source: People's Republic of China in Russian – People's Republic of China in Russian –
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Source: People's Republic of China – State Council News
KUNMING, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) — Behind the swaying onion plants at the botanical garden of the Kunming Institute of Botany under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), there is a story of cross-border cooperation written by scientists from both countries.
Allium plants are extremely common in China and Central Asia, and are indispensable ingredients in the kitchen. However, most people do not know that they are actually a large subfamily, with over 1,000 species worldwide.
Wang Xinrui, an engineer at the above-mentioned institute, said that onion plants also have rich medicinal, ornamental and scientific value, and are also an important material for studying plant evolution, the origin of agricultural crops and responses to climate change.
Uzbekistan is one of the places of origin of onion plants, and also an important natural habitat for garlic and onion. There are 138 species of onion plants in China, 50 of which are endemic. Due to the significant advantages and complementarities of the two countries in the field of onion plants, the Global Allium Garden, jointly created by them, has a unique resource base and scientific value.
The initiative to create a Global Onion Garden was first proposed in 2017 by the Kunming Institute of Botany under the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. The idea soon received a positive response from the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. The parties decided to establish two centers in Kunming and Tashkent, respectively, forming overlapping platforms for scientific research and academic exchanges.
The construction of the China-Uzbekistan Global Onion Garden /Kunming Center/, located on the territory of the Kunming Institute of Botany, began in November 2017. At present, it has become a unique zone that combines scientific research, conservation, and landscape demonstration functions. Walking through it, you feel as if you are in an exquisitely designed park: more than 200 species of onion plants grow on the territory of about 3,700 square meters of natural landscape.
"To date, through field research and international germplasm exchanges, we have collected and preserved 286 introduction numbers and nearly 130 taxonomic units of onion plants, as well as 30 taxonomic units of edible and ornamental onion plants," said Wang Xinrui. The scientists have not only introduced plants in various regions of China, but have also been constantly expanding the resource base through exchanges with international germplasm resource banks and seed requests.
In 2018, the Chinese and Uzbek sides began construction of the China-Uzbek Global Onion Garden /Tashkent Center/. Today, about 200 species of onion plants collected and preserved here not only serve scientific purposes, but have also become the basis for regular educational events. The center has already become an important window through which residents of Uzbekistan can get acquainted with the diversity of the plant world.
To assist the Uzbek side in enhancing its basic research capabilities, the Kunming Institute of Botany provided the National Herbarium of Uzbekistan with two sets of equipment for digitizing specimens, which helped digitize more than 100,000 herbarium specimens. In return, the Uzbek side transferred more than 4,000 valuable specimens to the Kunming Institute of Botany, including endemic plants found exclusively in the Fergana Valley.
“These samples record the distribution of plants over more than half a century ago and are extremely important for studying the migration of species under the influence of climate change,” said the head of the Kunming center construction project.
Over more than a decade, China and Uzbekistan have made significant achievements in the field of onion plants: the joint Chinese-Uzbek expedition conducted more than 10 large-scale studies of the diversity of onion plants and local endemics, as well as sampling, collecting more than 10,000 plant specimens and thousands of germplasm samples; three drought-resistant varieties of onion plants selected by the Chinese and Uzbek side were successfully tested in arid regions of Uzbekistan, achieving a 20% increase in yield compared with local traditional species; Kunming Institute of Botany trained nearly 20 young scientific personnel for Uzbekistan in such fields as plant taxonomy, molecular systematics and genomics, some of whom have become key figures in the local scientific field.
“To protect biodiversity, scientists from different countries need to work together. Scientific cooperation unites us,” said Komiljon Tojibaev, academician of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. According to him, the China-Uzbekistan Global Onion Garden clearly demonstrates the success of scientific cooperation and strong friendship between the two countries.
With the deepening of scientific research cooperation, the interaction between China and Uzbekistan is becoming more and more diverse. A number of cultural and creative products inspired by onion plants, such as silk scarves with delicate onion patterns, hand creams based on natural essential oils of garlic and onion, as well as picture books telling the history of cooperation between the two countries and describing various species, are becoming more and more available and are gradually entering the daily life of people in China and Uzbekistan.
In the future, Chinese and Uzbek scientists plan to significantly expand their work on collecting samples of various species. Their goal is to create a systematic exhibition by 2030 and ensure the long-term preservation of onion plants from around the world. In parallel, work will be intensified to transform scientific achievements into practical applications: it is planned to study and develop new health products, medicines and garden plants based on onions and garlic. -0-
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