Founded in 1958, the Institute of Vegetable and Flowers (IVF) 蔬菜花卉研究所currently employs 157 scientific personnel. The institute spans an area of 70 hectares and operates five experimental farms. It is structured in the following departments:
- Department of Germplasm Resources: This department serves as the medium-term repository for national vegetable germplasm resources and is the national field genebank for vegetative-propagated vegetable germplasm resources.
- Department of Cruciferous Vegetables Genetics and Breeding: Focuses on genetics and breeding of cabbage, broccoli, and celery cabbage, with two research task forces dedicated to these crops.
- Department of Solanaceous Vegetables Genetics and Breeding: Specializes in the genetics and breeding of fresh tomatoes, processing tomatoes, sweet (hot) peppers, eggplant, and potatoes.
- Department of Cucurbits Genetics and Breeding: Concentrates on the genetics and breeding of cucumber, watermelon, squash, pumpkins, and melons.
- Department of Vegetable Culture and Postharvest Technology: Researches facility cultivation, soilless culture, factory seedling production technology, and vegetable postharvest technology.
- Department of Plant Protection: Dedicated to research on vegetable diseases, insect pests, comprehensive pest control, rapid pest and disease diagnosis in horticultural crops, and early warning systems for invasive alien horticultural pests.
- Department of Flower Research: Focuses on the study of lilies, peonies, and tissue culture. The department works on the collection, conservation, and evaluation of Chinese flower germplasm resources. It also investigates genetic mechanisms for new flower colors, disease resistance, and stress tolerance in important flowers (such as lilies, peonies, roses, chrysanthemums, and anthuriums), along with marker-assisted breeding and transgenic research.
- Department of Biotechnology: Specializes in molecular genetics and functional genomics.
- Vegetable Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Testing Center of MARA: This center oversees the supervision, inspection, and testing of vegetable quality.
The Institute has established extensive international collaborations, including with the International Potato Center and the International Center for Biological Diversity. Additionally, it has set up the Sino-Dutch Department for Genome Analysis on Horticultural Crops.
More information: https://ivf.caas.cn/en/index.htm
