Abstract:

Native grass species serve as the core germplasm foundation for maintaining the stability of grassland ecosystems and supporting the development of grass-based livestock husbandry. Although China is rich in grass germplasm resources, the development of its native grass seed industry is still lagging behind. There are challenges such as insufficient resource conservation, limited breeding innovation, and low industrialization. This has resulted in long-term dependence on imported seeds for both ecological restoration and industrial use, posing potential risks to national ecological and food security. This paper systematically reviews the current status and bottlenecks of China’s native grass seed industry in the fields of resource collection and conservation, evaluation and breeding, and industrial promotion. The study indicates that the current preservation volume in the national grass germplasm bank accounts for less than 30% of the total amount of our country, with a utilization rate of below 3%. Breeding techniques still rely primarily on conventional methods, with insufficient integration of modern biotechnology, leading to a scarcity of independently developed elite cultivars. Although the grass seed production system has been initially established, but the production capacity is far from meeting the national annual demand of 70000 tons, and the import dependence remains high. To address these issues, this paper proposes a holistic, chain-wide collaborative development framework: strengthening the resource base through systematic collection and precise identification to improve conservation and utilization efficiency; enhancing breeding innovation by integrating genomics and other cutting-edge technologies to establish a high-efficiency breeding system; and promoting industrial upgrading by optimizing regional production layouts and the integrated “breeding, multiplication, and promotion” model. Finally, the study emphasizes that overcoming these industrial bottlenecks requires sustained policy support and the establishment of industry-university-research collaboration platforms. Implementing this pathway is crucial for achieving the strategic goal of 75% domestic self-sufficiency for seeds used in ecological restoration and forage by 2030 and for securing the foundation of national ecological security.

Key words: native grass species, germplasm resources, resource collection and conservation, evaluation and breeding, industrialization