China collected 124,000 new agricultural germplasm resources during the country's third census. Collection work on these resources started in 2015, said a conference on the seed industry held in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province.

Many of these newly collected resources are unique or specific, regarding their significance not only in scientific research but also in the study of local culture and special functions in food and health care, Liu Xu, an academic of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said during the ongoing 2023 China Seed Congress and Nanfan Agricultural Silicon Valley Forum.

"We'll write and publish the work report of the census work for the next step, analyzing the current situation and development trend of agricultural germplasm resources in China and providing scientific suggestions for strengthening the protection and utilization of germplasm resources," said Liu.

China has accelerated the cataloging and storage of germplasm resources in recent years. World-class national crop and marine fishery biological germplasm resource banks have been built in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.