The Agriculture Research Institute of the Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences (TAAAS) traces its origins to Xizhi Farm, founded in 1952 by the Northwest Detachment of the 18th Army of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. In 1963, it was formally established as Tibet Lhasa Agricultural Sciences Research Institute. The institute focuses on the development of plateau-specific industries through comprehensive evaluation and innovation of germplasm resources, with crop genetic improvement as the core and high-yield, efficient integrated demonstration as a priority. It aims to enhance crop quality and efficiency while promoting the sustainable and healthy development of agriculture in Tibet.
Addressing major challenges in the cultivation and production of key specialty crops, the institute works on issues such as limited resource exploration, low utilization, unstable variety resistance, low yield, insufficient quality traits, lack of high-quality specialty varieties, incomplete original seed propagation systems, and mismatched high-yield and efficient cultivation technologies. By applying molecular biology, bioinformatics, crop genetics and breeding, and crop cultivation research, the institute evaluates germplasm resources, identifies and analyzes valuable genes for breeding and industrial use, and combines molecular design breeding with conventional breeding to establish a molecular-assisted breeding technology system. Research on green, high-yielding, and efficient cultivation technologies in different ecological zones contributes to the development of a cultivation technology model.
Through these efforts, the institute aims to build a scientific innovation platform for crop resource evaluation, gene discovery, modern molecular breeding, and high-yield cultivation, leading advancements in Tibet and across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The institute has seven research laboratories and 113 employees. It supports two national-level innovation teams focusing on highland barley genetic breeding and the highland barley industry chain, as well as three academy-level innovation teams in crop cultivation, plant protection, and germplasm resource identification.
More information (in Chinese): http://www.taaas.org/jgsz/gyjs/nyyjs.htm.
