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Early advocate of leaf-based polyploid breeding and endosperm culture for Eucommia triploids.

Story

Before polyploid breeding became a focus, Professor Li Junming of China Agricultural University argued that abundant, easily collected, low-cost leaves are the best feedstock for Eucommia gum and medicine, and that culturing the seed’s naturally triploid endosperm — polyploid breeding — was the ideal route to raise leaf gum content and yield.

His group long pursued Eucommia endosperm callus induction and regeneration, regenerating whole plants from mature-seed endosperm. It was during a postdoc under him that Kang Xiangyang first encountered Eucommia — Li’s strategic judgment pointed the way to the later triploid breakthrough.

Milestones

• Led long-term Eucommia endosperm-culture research
• Mentored Kang Xiangyang’s first work on Eucommia

Key Contributions

• Framed the leaf-based polyploid-breeding strategy
• Studied Eucommia endosperm callus induction & regeneration
• Regenerated whole plants from mature-seed endosperm
• Pointed the way to Kang Xiangyang’s triploids