A villager bundles highland barley in Waba Village of Ra'og Town of Qamdo City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Sept. 4, 2023. (Photo by Tenzin Nyida/Xinhua)

Chinese and German scientists are working closely to promote international collaboration on barley research, according to the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).

Barley, known for its wide adaptability and strong stress resistance, is the world's fourth-largest cereal crop.

Scientists from the Institute of Crop Sciences (ICS) of the CAAS and Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research in Germany have jointly published research into germplasm resource research and utilization, as well as bioinformatics and genomics technology of barley, said Zhou Wenbin, director of the ICS, at the ongoing International Symposium of Barley Adaptation.

These results have effectively aided China's basic research on barley and improved the international influence of Chinese barley researchers, Zhou said.

The China-German cooperation and exchange project on the population genomics analysis of barley adaptation, jointly initiated by the two institutes, has been running well since its launch in November 2022.

Chinese and German scientists have made achievements in the formation law concerning barley adaptation to climate diversity using cutting-edge genomics technology.

The symposium will contribute to exchanges and cooperation between China and Germany in the academic research and industrial application of barley, Zhou said.

The symposium, hosted by the two institutes and held in Beijing, runs from April 22 to 26.