On September 2, an observation tour of new millet variety was held at Yu County. More than 60 people attended the tour, including leaders and experts from HAAFS, relevant government departments and business entities. Attendees visited the ‘Jigu 168’ demonstration field of drip irrigation under plastic film and fertigation, and food processing companies.

The observation tour is hosted by Li Shunguo, the deputy director of Institute of Millet Crops of HAAFS. Wang Yuexiang, the chief planner of the millet industrial cluster from Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hebei Province, introduced the the strategic layout, development direction and task objectives of provincial high-quality millet industrial cluster, and affirmed the work of Yu County in millet industrial cluster as a core demonstration county. The general manager of Hebei Xianyou Seed Industry Co. Ltd., Hua Xianzhong briefed the characteristics of ‘Jigu 168’ variety and its performance at other parts of China. Wang Guoyin, director of the Achievement Transformation Division of HAAFS, introduced the construction of new crop varieties and new technology demonstration base in northwest Hebei, pointed out that the millet demonstration base in Yu County is the key base of HAAFS "14th five-year plan", driving the development of coarse cereals industry in northwest Hebei.

‘Jigu 168’ is a new millet variety released by Institute of Millet Crops and it was registered at Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2019. The weight of a thousand grains is 2.8 grams, and the grain is bright yellow, with good palatability. ‘Jigu 168’ is resistant to Sethoxydim, moderately resistant to rust disease, blast disease, banded sclerotial blight, highly resistant to drought and lodging. During the countrywide variety adaptability test in the year of 2020, it was the only one that showed superiority in the five ecological zones of millet in China. In the 13th Quality Millet Evaluation held by Millet Crops Committee of Chinese Crop Society, ‘Jigu 168’ was rated as national first-class quality millet.It is also the key recommended variety of 2021 provincial high-quality millet industry cluster. With outstanding performance in Yu County this year, the yield is expected to be 7500kg/hectare in fields with drip irrigation under plastic film.