The signing ceremony of jointly establishing China -UK Plant Phenomics Centre

Prof. Zhang Xianlong, vice president of HZAU, is making a speech.

On March 24, Huazhong Agricultural University, Nanjing Agricultural University and other five academic bodies from the UK signed memorandums for establishing China­UK plant phenomic center jointly in Nanjing, which was aimed at strengthening international cooperation in phenetic technology and related disciplines, developing breakthrough ideas and enabling technologies to advance crop breeding and functional genomics. The academic bodies from the UK included Aberystwyth University, University of Nottingham, Rothamsted Research, Earlham Research Institute and University of East Anglia.

Our vice president Zhang Xianlong attended the signing ceremony and made a speech. He said that plant phenomics is an emerging and promising interdisciplinary field. The research and application of theory and technology needs the integration of disciplines such as crop science, information technology, engineering technology. As one of the earliest research units in China to carry out phenotypic studies, HZAU would spare no effort to support the establishment of China--UK Plant Phenomic Centre to jointly promote the development of phenomic techniques and related disciplines.

The 2rd Asia-Pacific Plant Phenotyping Conference was held alongside the signing ceremony in Nanjing, gathering nearly 450 experts home and abroad to discuss the latest research achievement in plant phenomic. Prof. Xiong Lizhong from HZAU delivered a keynote report ---“Combining phenomics and genomics to reveal genetic basis of drought resistance in rice”. Associate Prof. Yang Wanfu, gave a report entitled “Latest improvements in crop phenotyping platform (HZAU): quantify novel traits using high-throughput micro-CT, high-throughput hyperspectral imaging, field-plot phenotyping and deep learning”. The two reports introduced our university’s latest research progress and direction for future development of plant phenomic in detail. There will be an exhibition held alongside this meeting

At the closing ceremony of the meeting, it was discussed and decided by the organizing committee of the Chinese Plant Phenotypic Research Group that the 3rd Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Plant Expressions will be held in our university in the spring of 2020. Zhang Xianlong addressed the closing remarks, introducing the history and the scientific research achievements of our university, and warmly inviting every attendee to attend the 2020 APPP Con.

Translated by: Chen Xiaoxue

Proofread by: Wang Xiaoyan