Chapter 295 Northwest Barley No. 1
This time, Gaode was a little disappointed with the additional effect of [Tidal Net+] after adding points to Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.
【Tidal Net】is a control spell, which is very effective in temporarily restricting the enemy's movement during combat.
At the same time, it is also an excellent beast-catching spell for the guardians of the snowfield. After all, they are good at controlling beasts.
To control an animal, the first step is to capture it. Only after you capture it can you tame it and control it later.
Although [Tidal Net] can only be used on creatures of large size and below, it is enough in most cases.
After all, creatures that can be called giant or larger are rare in the snowfields.
And although the strength of a creature is not necessarily directly proportional to its body size, generally speaking, the strength of a creature with a larger size will not be much weaker.
From this perspective, giant creatures have at least the strength of level 2 and above. Even if a level 1 spell can be cast on it, it may not have much effect.
So from this point of view, the enhancement of [Tidal Net+] seems a bit useless.
However, when the origin is convenient and sufficient, the moral mentality is very good.
It’s better than nothing.
Castella, volcanic land.
In front of a neat golden wheat field, all the current core figures of the Zhenbing tribe gathered here.
Including Gaode, the King of the Zhenbing Tribe, Sunaifa the War Mother, Flora, the Phoenix Agriculture Minister, Grant, the Deputy Minister, and the other three Fourth Ring Elders, none of them are missing.
Because today will be the Ministry of Agriculture’s first attempt at breeding hybrid barley.
For the current Zhenbing Tribe, and even the Northern Territory, this may be an experiment that changes the world.
As long as you know the meaning behind this experiment, there is no reason not to come and witness it with your own eyes.
The golden wheat in the wheat field in front of them are all in the flowering stage - the first step in hybridization is to adjust the flowering period so that the flowering periods of the male and female plants meet for hybridization.
Under normal circumstances, it is generally necessary to adopt methods such as light control, sowing in stages, and temperature management for adjustment.
At the same time, in order to avoid external pollen contamination, the selected mother plants also need to be physically isolated to cover the ears that are about to bloom.
But in Phoenix, it was not that troublesome: Sunaifa personally took action and used the "art of nature" to promote the growth of this small piece of golden wheat to the flowering stage suitable for hybridization, skipping the long growth preparation period.
It happens to be the time when the golden wheat ears are coming out, the stems under the ears are exposed about two centimeters from the leaf sheaths, the anthers are green, and the anthers and ovary are not yet fully mature.
"After adjusting the flowering period, the next step is to select ears. You must choose well-developed, strong, disease-free and pest-free main stem ears or large tiller ears as the female parent." Gaode guided from the side. Deputy Minister of Agriculture Grant was responsible for recording, and the apprentices of the Ministry of Agriculture were responsible for inspecting the ear selection.
To be honest, this step does not need to be so troublesome in terms of experimentation alone, because with Flora's ability, she can select a high-quality female parent at once.
It’s just that Gothe understands that although you can rely on Flora in the early stage, you cannot rely on Flora’s ability forever.
It is necessary to ensure that the Ministry of Agriculture has the ability to carry out cross-breeding independently even without Flora. Therefore, standards must be followed from the beginning to form records and specifications for future reference.
"After the ear selection, it is the whole ear."
"The so-called whole ear is to remove the late-developing spikelets at the upper and base parts of the wheat ear, and retain the best-developed and strong spikelets in the middle of the ear."
Under the command of Gaode, the apprentices have been operating carefully.
In fact, the precision of the whole process is not particularly demanding, but the attention from so many important figures in the clan still makes the operating apprentices very nervous.
In addition, it was the first time to do this kind of work and my hands were very weak, so everyone moved very slowly.
But at least it was completed smoothly.
The apprentices who had been busy for a long time breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the non-existent sweat on their foreheads, looked up at Gothe, and waited for the next order.
"After the whole ear is completed, it must be emasculated immediately, and the stamens in each spikelet should be pinched out. Be careful not to damage the pistil."
As for how to distinguish stamens and pistils, these apprentices have been taught before.
This step is much more delicate than the whole ear.
However, after the ear-trimming operation, the apprentices' nervousness was relieved a lot and their mentality was slightly relaxed.
In order to ensure that the experiment goes smoothly, Gothe also activated the spell model and took a [Divine Guidance +] shot for each of these apprentices.
With the blessing of [Divine Guidance +], the apprentices suddenly entered the state, took out special tools, and began to work.
Gothe silently opened the third-level Mandela Magic Eye, using his farsightedness and magnification abilities to observe.
Even with the blessing of [Divine Guidance +], the whole process is not smooth sailing, and it is inevitable that the apprentice's hands will shake and damage the pistil.
However, these are all foreseeable situations, and after the apprentices saw that their mistakes were not blamed by Gothe, they were completely relieved.
After more than half an hour of work, the castration was finally completed.
Gaode waved his hand, and Grant, the deputy minister of agriculture who was responsible for observing and recording the whole process, immediately understood and took out a dozen ice crystal vials.
Contains fresh and mature pollen that has just been collected from cold-resistant wheat plants.
"Pollination is generally carried out on the second or third day after the female parent barley is emasculated. The main purpose is to observe when the pistil stigma matures. The sign of maturity is that it becomes feathery and shiny, and secretes mucus. At this time, the pollination success rate is the highest." Gaude continued.
To be honest, he was a math major in his previous life, not agriculture, so he only had a rough idea of the hybridization process.
The reason why I can tell so many details and such specific operations now is the experience gained under Flora’s guidance when cultivating cold-resistant wheat during this period.
Logically speaking, the next step of pollination work will have to wait for a day or two.
But that was under normal circumstances, now it is an experimental process, and of course we want to go fast.
So Sunaifah took action again and used the magic of nature to promote all the emasculated female barley until the pistil stigma matured.
After the birth was completed, the apprentices stepped forward one by one, took the ice crystal vial from Grant, and used a brush to dip the pollen in the bottle and gently apply it on the stigma of the female barley to ensure that every bit of pollen was evenly distributed.
Of course, this is a small experiment, and the level of precision can be higher.
If it is a larger-scale hybridization experiment, artificial pollination is generally carried out directly by broadcasting.
Pollination, before this, the apprentices had already mastered it when cultivating cold-resistant wheat original seeds. They were already familiar with it and did not need any special instructions.
In order to ensure successful pollination, these apprentices who have worked in Jinhui wheat fields for many years usually need to pollinate multiple times.
Even though Flora could tell at a glance whether the pollination was successful, this experiment was not only to successfully breed the first generation of hybrid barley, but also to establish standards and specifications, so Gothe would rather waste more time.
“After pollination is completed, the mother plant must continue to be kept in isolation until the seeds develop and mature. At the same time, the growth after pollination must be closely monitored and any abnormalities recorded.” Having said that, the actual operation is still carried out by Sunaifa to ripen all the successfully pollinated golden wheat mother plants.
The golden wheat fields that were still in flowering stage not long ago, under the influence of the "art of nature", have all turned golden, and are covered with wheat grains, hanging down heavily.
"Generally at this step, these wheat grains can be collected as first-generation seeds."
Gothe said slowly that the next steps are actually very simple. Even if he is not a professional, he can deduce how to operate.
"The purpose of hybridization is to breed seeds that have both the cold tolerance of cold-resistant wheat and the high yield and cold-repelling shape of golden wheat. Therefore, after harvesting the seeds, the first generation seeds must be sown on the snowfield and screened."
"Those that can sprout and grow naturally on the snowfield mean that they have inherited the cold tolerance of the father's parent."
< br/> "The next step is to observe their yield and whether the harvested wheat grains have cold-repelling properties, so as to determine whether the excellent traits of the female golden wheat are inherited, so as to screen out individuals carrying ideal traits."
"Now, we will skip this step for the time being and let Lady Flora do the screening." Gothe said.
"Leave it to Lady Flora!" Flora held her head high.
Flora's ability allows her to know their characteristics just by touching them without planting these first-generation seeds - this is where extraordinary power is better than technology. Sometimes, extraordinary power is indeed a bit "unreasonable".
The apprentices of the Ministry of Agriculture immediately got busy, harvesting the wheat grains produced in this golden wheat field.
This process can be more lavish, so they no longer stick to the traditional manual harvesting method and cast spells one after another.
The magic power rippled, and the ice blade slashed across it. Wherever it passed, pieces of barley fell down without damaging any ears of wheat. When the mage's hands were rubbed again, the grains of barley fell off.
Gothe looked at this scene, a light flashed in his eyes, but he didn't know what he was thinking about in his heart.
After all the wheat grains have been collected, the next step is the screening process that Flora is responsible for.
Looking at the barley seeds that were about to pile up into a hill, Flora frowned unconsciously.
Although she could tell the characteristics of these seeds just by touching them, the problem was that the number of barley seeds in front of her was really too much
Flora raised her head and stared at Gothe without saying anything.
But Gaode understood everything.
"Do you remember, Flora, what a minister is?"
"Even the boss, everyone in the department must listen to the minister!"
"Then do you still remember what the Ministry of Agriculture is?" Gothe looked down at the little man, and the little man looked up at Gothe.
"It's the department in charge of everyone's meals. It's Phoenix's God!"
"Flora-sama has a really good memory and is really wise."
"Have a wise heart!"
"Then what should I do as the Minister of Agriculture?"
"Create excellent barley seeds so that the people of Phoenix can eat barley!" Flora answered quickly.
"Yes, although Ms. Flora is now the Minister of Agriculture, and this is what Ms. Flora has to do, it is still very hard for Ms. Flora to check so many barley seeds, so I still have to say something to Ms. Flora"
Gothe looked at Flora, whose eyes were clear and pure.
Gothe suppressed the "sense of guilt" in his heart, and solemnly saluted with cupped fists: "Thank you for your hard work, Flora!"
The little man's expression changed a little, but he was still a little confused, and he always felt a little strange.
But before she could figure it out.
"Thank you for your hard work, Flora!" Sunaifa, who had been watching for a long time, answered at the right time and made the same fist-clasping salute as Gothe to Flora.
Gothe looked at Sunaifa in surprise, but the latter looked straight away and remained "cold", as if what he was doing was just a normal thing.
“Thank you for your hard work, Flora!”
“Thank you for your hard work, Flora!”
Everyone else also reacted, and they all saluted Flora with fists in their hands.
"It's not hard work!" Surrounded by so many people, Lady Flora still didn't remember what she was thinking about, and raised her head: "This is Lady Flora's duty!"
"Ms. Flora is really a responsible minister!" Gao De said.
"Of course!"
"Multi-generation selection will be carried out later. The selection process will be gradually implemented starting from the second generation seeds. Individual plants with outstanding performance will also be selected and regional trials will be conducted in multiple locations to evaluate their stability and adaptability."
Gaode's tone was sincere: "This process will take a lot of time. If Lady Flora can directly screen the seeds, a lot of effort can be saved."
"Of course, I know it, and there is no need for me to tell you that as the Minister of Agriculture, Lady Flora will naturally take the initiative."
"You don't need the mage to tell you, Lady Flora will take action of your own accord!"
"Sir Flora not only has a wise heart, but also a sense of responsibility~"
"Yes!"
"There will be so many barley seeds for Flora to sift in the future, will Flora be tired of it?"
"No!"
After firmly answering her mage's question, Flora flapped her little wings without hesitation, came to the "Barley Mountain", stretched out her little hand, and picked up a grain of wheat that looked like a fruit to her.
The next moment, she made a judgment:
"This one is okay."
Flora’s clear voice echoed in the golden wheat field, and beside her were the apprentices who followed her judgment and sorted the seeds.
This busy work only takes half a day.
Finally, the number of seeds with the three characteristics of cold resistance, high yield, and cold resistance accounted for 80% of the total number of barley seeds.
Generally, the first generation of seeds will show a high degree of consistency and excellent growth potential.
Because they are crosses from carefully selected parents and usually show hybrid vigor, almost all seedlings should exhibit the desired traits.
But in the end, the proportion of ideal traits was only 80%. According to scientific terms, there is a high probability that cold resistance is a trait controlled by multiple genes.
But it’s not a big problem. You can continue to screen in the second generation and even subsequent generations until the proportion of seeds with ideal traits is infinitely close to 100%.
"Is this enough?" Grant watched Flora pick out the seeds and couldn't help but ask, "Do they look similar to golden wheat seeds?"
The barley seeds in front of me, just looking at them, there seems to be nothing special at all?
Moreover, by just doing this, can we cultivate barley that has the characteristics of golden wheat and cold-resistant wheat?
Of course he didn't doubt Gothe and Flora, he just thought it was too incredible and beyond his own knowledge.
Gaode smiled slightly.
He knew that Grant's question was also the question of everyone else present.
"It just looks similar, but it is no longer Golden Wheat, but an unprecedented new wheat species." Gaode thought for a moment and gave the new wheat species a name on the spot: "Let's call it Northwest Barley No. 1."
"Next, let's take Northwest Barley No. 1 to the farm that has been reclaimed for trial planting."