Chapter 297: Northwest Barley No. 1

This time, Gao De was somewhat disappointed with the extra effect of 【Tidal Capture Net+】 after adding points to Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.

【Tidal Capture Net】 is a control spell, which has miraculous effects in restricting enemy actions for a short time in battle.

At the same time, for the Snowfield Guardian, it is also an excellent beast-catching spell, after all, they are inherently good at beast taming.

Beast taming, the first step is to catch the beast, and only after catching it can there be subsequent taming and riding.

Although 【Tidal Capture 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 huge or larger are also very rare on the snowfield.

And although the strength of a creature is not necessarily proportional to its size, in general, the strength of a large creature will not be too weak.

From this level, huge creatures have at least Second Circle strength or above. A First Circle spell, even if it can be cast on it, I am afraid it will not have any effect.

So looking at it this way, the strengthening of 【Tidal Capture Net+】 seems a bit chicken rib.

However, with the convenient and sufficient acquisition of origins, Gao De's mentality is very good.

Better than nothing.

Kastela, volcanic land.

In front of a neat Jin Hui Wheat field, all the core figures of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe gathered here.

Including the King of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, Gao De, War Mother Su Nai, Phoenix Ministry of Agriculture Minister Fu Luo La, Deputy Minister Grant, and the other three Fourth Circle elders, not one missing.

Because today will be the first hybrid barley cultivation attempt of the Ministry of Agriculture.

For the current Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, and even the northern realm, this may be an experiment that changes the world.

As long as you know the significance behind this experiment, there is no reason not to come and witness it with your own eyes.

The Jin Hui Wheat in the wheat field in front of them is in the flowering stage—the first step of hybridization is to adjust the flowering period so that the flowering periods of the father plant and the mother plant meet, so as to carry out hybridization.

Under normal circumstances, it is generally necessary to take methods such as light control, staggered sowing, and temperature management to adjust.

At the same time, in order to avoid pollution by foreign pollen, it is also necessary to physically isolate the selected mother plants and cover the ears that are about to bloom.

But in Phoenix, it is not so troublesome: Su Nai personally took action, cast "Art of Nature" to catalyze it, and catalyzed this small piece of Jin Hui Wheat to the flowering period suitable for hybridization, directly skipping the long growth preparation period.

It happened to be when the Jin Hui Wheat ears were extracted, the stem under the ear was exposed about two centimeters from the leaf sheath, and the anthers and ovaries were not fully mature.

"After adjusting the flowering period, the next step is to select ears. You must choose main stem ears or large tillering ears that are well-developed, sturdy, and free of pests and diseases as the mother..." Gao De guided from the side, Ministry of Agriculture Deputy Minister Grant was responsible for recording, and those Ministry of Agriculture apprentices were responsible for checking and selecting ears.

To be honest, this step does not require such trouble for the experiment itself, because with Fu Luo La's ability, she can completely select high-quality mothers at once.

It's just that Gao De understands that although he can rely on Fu Luo La in the early stage, he cannot rely on Fu Luo La's ability forever.

It is necessary to ensure that even without Fu Luo La, the Ministry of Agriculture has the ability to independently carry out hybrid cultivation, so it must be done according to standards from the beginning, forming records and specifications for later reference.

"After selecting ears, it is ear trimming."

"The so-called ear trimming is to remove the small ears that develop late on the upper and base of the wheat ear, and keep the small ears in the middle of the wheat ear that are best developed and sturdy..."

Under Gao De's command, the apprentices had already operated carefully.

To be honest, the precision of the whole process is not particularly high, but the gaze of so many big figures in the tribe still made the apprentices very nervous.

Plus it was the first time to do this kind of work, so everyone's movements were very slow.

But fortunately, it was completed smoothly.

The busy apprentices let out a sigh of relief, wiped the non-existent sweat on their foreheads, looked up at Gao De, and waited for the next order.

"After ear trimming, you must immediately carry out emasculation, clamp out the stamens in each small ear, and be careful not to hurt the pistil."

As for how to distinguish stamens and pistils, these apprentices had already been taught before this.

This step is much more delicate than ear trimming.

However, after the operation of ear trimming, the nervous mood of the apprentices eased a lot, and their mentality relaxed a little.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the experiment, Gao De also drew the spell model before this and took a 【Guidance+】 for each of these apprentices.

With the blessing of 【Guidance+】, the apprentices entered the state at once, took out special tools, and began to work.

Gao De opened his Third Circle Mandella Magic Eyes silently and observed with long-distance and magnification capabilities.

Even with the blessing of 【Guidance+】, the whole process was not smooth sailing, and it was inevitable that apprentices would have their hands shaking and damaging the pistils.

However, these were all expected situations, and after the apprentices saw that their operational errors did not cause Gao De to blame, the hanging heart was completely relaxed.

After more than half an hour of busy work, emasculation was all completed.

Gao De waved his hand, and Elder Grant, who was responsible for observing and recording the whole process on the side, immediately understood and took out more than a dozen ice crystal bottles.

Inside were fresh and mature pollen collected from cold-resistant barley plants.

"Generally, pollination is carried out on the second or third day after emasculation of mother barley. The main thing is to observe when the pistil stigma matures. The sign of maturity is that it is feathery, branched, and shiny, secreting mucus. At this time, the pollination success rate is the highest." Gao De continued.

To be honest, he was a mathematics major in his previous life, not an agricultural major, so he only knew about the hybridization process.

Now he can say so many details and such specific operations because he summarized the experience under Fu Luo La's guidance when cultivating cold-resistant barley during this period.

According to reason, the next pollination work has to wait for a day or two.

But that is under normal circumstances. Now it is an experimental process, so naturally, it is fast.

So Su Nai took action again, cast the Art of Nature, and catalyzed these emasculated mother barleys to the time when the pistil stigma matured.

After catalysis, the apprentices stepped forward one by one, took the ice crystal bottle from Grant, used a hair brush to dip the pollen in the bottle and gently applied it to the stigma of the mother barley, ensuring that every point of pollen could be evenly distributed.

Of course, this is a small experiment, and higher requirements can be placed on the precision.

If it is a larger-scale hybridization experiment, artificial pollination is generally carried out directly by the broadcasting method.

Pollination, before this, the apprentices had already started working when cultivating cold-resistant barley original seeds, and they were already familiar with it, so there was no need to specifically explain anything.

In order to ensure pollination success, these apprentices who had worked in the Jin Hui Wheat field for many years usually need to pollinate multiple times.

Even if Fu Luo La can see whether pollination is successful at a glance, this experiment is not only to successfully cultivate the first generation of hybrid barley, but also to formulate standards and specifications, so Gao De would rather waste some time.

"After pollination is completed, the mother plants must continue to be kept in isolation until the seeds are mature, and the growth situation after pollination must be closely monitored, and any abnormal phenomena must be recorded..."

That's what is said, the actual operation is still Su Nai's action, catalyzing these pollinated Jin Hui Wheat mothers.

The Jin Hui Wheat field, which was in the flowering stage not long ago, turned golden under the catalysis of the "Art of Nature," hung with wheat grains, and hung down heavily.

"Generally, at this step, these wheat grains can be collected as the first generation of seeds."

Gao De said slowly. The next steps are actually very simple. Even if he is not a professional, he can infer how to operate.

"Hybridization is to cultivate seeds that have both the cold resistance of cold-resistant barley and the high yield and cold-repelling shape of Jin Hui Wheat, so after harvesting the seeds, you must sow this first generation of seeds on the snowfield and carry out screening."

"Those that can naturally sprout and grow on the snowfield indicate that they have inherited the cold resistance of the father. The next step is to observe their yield and whether the harvested wheat grains have cold-repelling properties, so as to judge whether they have inherited the excellent traits of the mother Jin Hui Wheat, thereby screening out individuals with ideal traits."

"Now, let's skip this step for the time being and let Fu Luo La carry out the screening." Gao De said.

"Leave it to Lady Fu Luo La!" Fu Luo La held her head high.

Fu Luo La's ability allows her to know the traits of these seeds just by touching them—this is where supernatural power is better than technology. Sometimes, supernatural power is indeed a bit "unreasonable."

The apprentices of the Ministry of Agriculture were immediately busy, harvesting the wheat grains from this Jin Hui Wheat field.

This process can be a bit generous, so they no longer stick to the traditional manual harvesting method, but cast spells one after another.

Magic power fluctuations rose, ice blades passed, and wherever they passed, pieces of barley fell in response, but did not hurt any wheat ear, and then rubbed with the Mage Hand, and the wheat grains fell off.

Gao De looked at this scene, with a sharp light in his eyes, but he didn't know what he was pondering in his heart.

After collecting all the wheat grains, the next step is the screening process for which Fu Luo La is responsible.

Looking at the wheat seeds that were about to pile up into a small hill, Fu Luo La couldn't help but frown.

In the version without any mistakes!

Although it is said that she only needs to touch it to know the traits of these seeds, the problem is that the number of barley seeds in front of her is really a bit too much... Fu Luo La looked up and stared at Gao De, without saying a word.

But Gao De understood everything.

"Does Lady Fu Luo La still remember what a Minister is?"

"It's the boss, people in the department must listen to the Minister!"

"Then does Lady Fu Luo La still remember what the Ministry of Agriculture is?" Gao De looked down at the little person, and the little person looked up at Gao De.

"It's the department responsible for everyone's food, it's the sky of Phoenix!"

"Lady Fu Luo La has a good memory, really has wisdom."

"Have wisdom!"

"Then what is the Ministry of Agriculture going to do..."

"Cultivate excellent barley seeds and let the people of Phoenix eat barley!" Fu Luo La answered.

"Yes, although Lady Fu Luo La is now the Minister of Agriculture, this job is what Lady Fu Luo La should do, but it is still very hard for Lady Fu Luo La to check so many barley seeds, so I still have to say to Lady Fu Luo La..."

Gao De looked at Fu Luo La, whose eyes were clear and pure.

Gao De suppressed the "guilt" in his heart, saluted with his fists, and said: "Hard work, Lady Fu Luo La!"

The little person's expression changed a little, but she was still a little confused, and felt that it was a bit strange.

But before she could figure it out.

"Hard work, Lady Fu Luo La!" Su Nai, who had been watching for a long time, took the conversation at the right time, and made the same fist-salute action as Gao De to Fu Luo La.

Gao De looked at Su Nai in surprise, but the latter didn't look sideways, maintaining "coldness," as if what she did was just a normal thing.

"Hard work, Lady Fu Luo La!"

"Hard work, Lady Fu Luo La!"

Others also reacted, and they all saluted Fu Luo La with their fists.

"Not hard!" Surrounded by so many people, where did Fu Luo La remember what she was pondering, and looked up: "This is Lady Fu Luo La's duty!"

"Lady Fu Luo La is really a responsible Minister!" Gao De said.

"Of course!"

"Later, multi-generational selection must be carried out, the selection process must be gradually implemented from the second generation of seeds, and outstanding single plants must be selected to carry out regional experiments in multiple locations to evaluate their stability and adaptability."

Gao De said sincerely: "This process will take a lot of time. If Lady Fu Luo La can directly screen the seeds, it can save a lot of effort."

"Of course, I know I don't need to say it. As the Minister of Agriculture, Lady Fu Luo La will naturally take the initiative."

"No need for the Mage to say, Lady Fu Luo La will take action herself!"

"Lady Fu Luo La not only has wisdom, but also a sense of responsibility~"

"Yes!"

"It's just that there will be so many barley seeds for Lady Fu Luo La to screen in the future, will Lady Fu Luo La feel tired?"

"No!"

After answering the Mage's question firmly, Fu Luo La flapped her small wings without hesitation, came to the "Barley Mountain," and reached out her small hand to pick up a wheat grain that looked like a fruit to her.

The next moment, she made a judgment:

"This one is okay."

"This one is not."

"This one is not."

"This one is okay."

"."

Fu Luo La's clear and thin voice echoed in the Jin Hui Wheat field, and beside her were apprentices who classified the seeds according to her judgment.

This busy work lasted for half a day.

Finally, the number of seeds with cold resistance, high yield, and cold-repelling traits accounted for 80% of the total barley seeds.

Under normal circumstances, the first generation of seeds will show a high degree of consistency and excellent growth potential.

Because they come from carefully selected parents, they usually show hybrid vigor, so almost all seedlings should show ideal traits.

But the proportion of ideal traits in the end was only 80%. According to the scientific statement, it is highly likely that cold resistance is a trait controlled by multiple genes.

However, it is not a big problem. Just continue to screen in the second generation and subsequent generations until the proportion of seeds with ideal traits is infinitely close to 100%.

"Is this okay?" Grant looked at the seeds Fu Luo La picked and couldn't help asking: "It looks like it's about the same as Jin Hui Wheat seeds?"

The barley seeds in front of him, just looking at them with his eyes, seem to have nothing special at all? And, just by operating like this, can you cultivate barley that has both the characteristics of Jin Hui Wheat and cold-resistant barley? He naturally did not doubt Gao De and Fu Luo La, but felt it was too incredible and exceeded his cognition.

Gao De smiled slightly.

He knew that Grant's question was also the question of others present.

"It just looks about the same, but it is no longer Jin Hui Wheat, but a new wheat variety that has never existed before..." Gao De thought for a while and named the new wheat variety on the spot: "Let's call it Northwest Barley No. 1."

"Next, let's take the Northwest Barley No. 1 seeds to the reclaimed farm for trial planting."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 298 =====