A total of 5,700 space-bred tomato seedlings were recently planted in Zhongtian Modern Smart Facilities Agricultural Park, which is located in Juungar Banner, Ordos in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. It is the first of its kind to be planted in the banner.

Zhongtian Modern Smart Facilities Agricultural Park. [Photo provided to investordos.goinnermongolia.com.cn by He Run]

At the park's space-bred tomato planting base, workers are currently planting tomatoes under the guidance of technical staff from the Inner Mongolia Academy of Science and Technology, with those seedlings showing vigorous growth.

Workers plant the space-bred tomatoes at the base. [Photo provided to investordos.goinnermongolia.com.cn by He Run]

"The 5,700 seedlings are of two varieties: Hangfen No 1 and Hangfen High-sugar No1. Bred in outer space, they are no ordinary tomato seedlings, boasting excellent qualities such as strong durability, high yield and good taste. Having gone through three years of successful trial planting in other places, these two varieties have been introduced in Ordos with high expectations: to make greater use of space breeding, facilitate agricultural production and increase the incomes of farmers," said Fu Yulian, a technician from the Inner Mongolia Academy of Science and Technology.

The seedlings are not planted using traditional techniques, but instead using a "sand cultivation" model – a sort of soilless culture technique. In green houses, air permeable cotton quilts are laid on the ground as shields against soil. With sand placed over them, after ridging and digging holes, the seedlings can be planted.

There are also intelligent integrated facilities inside the green houses to achieve automated control of temperature, humidity, and water and fertilizer supply.

"Sand cultivation" for space-bred tomato seedlings. [Photo provided to investordos.goinnermongolia.com.cn by He Run]

"As plastic film and repeated ridging are unnecessary in the 'sand cultivation' model, the crop root system can breathe easily. The model has many other merits: low cost, environmental friendliness, reduced risk of soil infection and an improved taste of products. Meanwhile, with intelligent technologies, we can accurately water and fertilize," said Fu.

In order to guarantee that the first batch of the "Space Tomatoes" successfully hits market at the end of October, the Inner Mongolia Academy of Science and Technology will continue its technological tracking management of the seedlings, covering every section of the process, including pollination, fruiting and harvesting.

The integrated intelligent technology supplies water and fertilizer for the "Space Tomatoes".  [Photo provided to investordos.goinnermongolia.com.cn by He Run]

Zhongtian Modern Smart Facilities Agricultural Park is dedicated to developing itself into an intensified vegetable seedling center with an annual production capacity of 50 million seedlings and a pilot base for the realization of modern agricultural equipment technologies in Inner Mongolia.

"The trial planting of the 'Space Tomatoes' in Juungar Banner brings great changes to the local seedling industry. This year alone saw the introduction of 10 varieties of vegetables, including tomatoes and cucumbers, into the park. All of them are now under experimental cultivation, and some achievements are expected to be seen before the Spring Festival. Next, we will put efforts into areas such as space breeding, economic nurturing and importation of advanced seedling technologies, so as to bring earth-shattering changes to the structure of seedling industry of Juungar Banner or even all of Inner Mongolia," said Yang Changsheng, operation manager of Zhongtian Modern Smart Facilities Agricultural Park.

Reporter: He Run and Cui Kai