China's smart breeding industry blossoming in glow of AI-driven tech

BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- AI-driven technologies are invigorating China's smart breeding sector, propelling the digital and intelligent transformation of the seed industry.

During the ongoing spring farming season, a surge of AI-driven innovative applications has emerged. The Nanfan smart breeding platform, which focuses on breeding data processing, recently unveiled two key technological tools: a gene-environment interaction algorithm tool and a breeding simulation tool.

The gene-environment interaction algorithm tool integrates crop genetic information with environmental data, such as meteorology and soil conditions, to analyze crop traits, which can reduce computation time compared to traditional statistical models and quantify the impact of genetics and environment on crop characteristics.

The breeding simulation tool features wide applicability and can simulate breeding processes with various reproductive methods. By simulating processes like parental matching and offspring selection before field trials, it enables the precise prediction of hybridization outcomes and screening of optimal breeding schemes.

"It represents a 'rehearsal' before the actual breeding work, which can significantly reduce the field trial workload while enhancing predictability and efficiency," said Li Huihui, vice president of the National Nanfan Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).

Jointly developed by the National Nanfan Research Institute, the Institute of Crop Sciences under the CAAS and Alibaba's DAMO Academy, the platform integrates the whole breeding process, including data management and analysis, identification of suitable parents and AI-powered variety prediction.

Notably, a newly operational agricultural intelligence hub for breeding, jointly unveiled by Yazhouwan National Laboratory in Sanya, a coastal city in Hainan, and tech giant Huawei, now serves as a smart assistant for breeders. By efficiently integrating massive multi-dimensional data, the hub is expected to shorten the breeding cycle from eight to ten years to just three to four years.

Innovative technologies are increasingly being adopted to support agricultural production. GEAIR, the world's first full-process intelligent breeding robot, attracted considerable attention at the 2026 Seed Congress and Nanfan Silicon Valley Forum in late March.

Developed by the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), GEAIR highlights the deep integration of biotechnology and AI technology in the agricultural intelligent breeding sector.

A scene once seen only in science fiction movies has now become a reality in a greenhouse, where GEAIR is able to accurately identify a flower and extend its robotic arms to gently complete hybrid pollination. It can shuttle effectively among the flowers and precisely carry out the whole breeding process.

According to the CAS research team, this robot pioneered the "crop-robot" collaborative design concept, deeply integrating biotechnology with AI to enable automated hybrid pollination powered by AI. Now in stable commercial operation, it has greatly reduced breeding costs and shortened breeding cycles.

The deep integration of AI, big data and other digital technologies is delivering profound transformation to traditional breeding.

Li Jiayang, a CAS academician and head of the Yazhouwan National Laboratory, noted that China's breeding sector is currently at a critical juncture of transformation from the era of "molecular marker-assisted selection" to that of "molecular design breeding."

"Breeding has shifted from the screening of 'taking a chance' to 'blueprint-guided' assembly, enabling the on-demand customization of ideal crop varieties," Li said.

Looking ahead, Li expects the next decade to usher in an era of "intelligent breeding," characterized by the cultivation of "intelligent varieties" that actively perceive environmental changes and regulate their physiological states, as well as the realization of "intelligent cultivation" by driving the deep integration of AI and big data with biotechnology and traditional breeding.