On October 15th, the live competition of the China International College Students Innovation Competition (2024) came to an end at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The project guided by Professor Fan Jianting from the School of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, titled "Taizhusi Biology - A Breakthrough in Green Prevention and Targeted Prevention Technology," won the gold medal in the Graduate Entrepreneurship Group of the Higher Education Main Track.
Previously, Professor Fan Jianting not only combined his scientific research to contribute his wisdom to ensuring forestry safety, but also led students to carry out scientific research services and subject competitions, using technology to protect green mountains and waters with practical actions.
Focus on major forestry pests in action
Pine forests are the main ecological and timber forests in southern China. Pine wilt disease is one of the most dangerous and destructive diseases in the world, posing a great threat to ecological security and the development of the forestry industry. Since its introduction to China in 1982, the disease has spread rapidly and has infected 19 provinces and 726 counties across the country. The trend of northward expansion and westward expansion is obvious, seriously threatening the national ecological security barrier. Pine wilt disease is also known as the "cancer" of pine trees.
Due to the serious harm and difficulty in prevention and control of pine wilt disease, how to effectively prevent and control major pests and diseases in pine forests, and how to detect early whether pine trees are infected with pine wilt disease, have always been a difficult problem in the prevention and control of pine wilt disease. Since 2006, Fan Jianting and his team members have been focusing on this disease, achieving a series of original results in early detection and early warning, remote sensing intelligent monitoring, vector insect attractants, and injection drying agents, improving the level of disease and pest monitoring and green prevention and control technology system, and promoting large-scale industrialization throughout the country.
In response to the shortage of pesticides and single prevention and control technologies for pine wilt disease, the research team has successfully developed a new trapping technology for pine ink longhorn beetles and a dry injection spraying technology for pine wilt disease. This technology enables the large-scale trapping of vector insects and precise and environmentally friendly spraying of pine wilt disease. It innovatively integrates a green prevention and control technology system for pine wilt disease, with the core of cleaning dead trees and the auxiliary measures of trapping to reduce insect population density and dry injection to prevent infection, effectively curbing the spread of pine wilt disease.
Based on the fact that manual monitoring of pine wilt disease is time-consuming, labor-intensive, inconvenient to transport, difficult to fully cover, and poses safety hazards. Fan Jianting's team explored the use of technologies such as drone data collection, AI recognition, and geographic information systems to monitor forest pests and diseases, and developed a new technology for drone aerial remote sensing monitoring, filling the gap in China; We have identified the factors and prediction models for major pest and disease outbreaks, and have taken the lead in achieving small-scale monitoring and data management informatization. This effectively solves the problems of difficult manual monitoring and time-consuming inspections, truly achieving comprehensive coverage of investigation and monitoring work.
Targeted prevention and control help pine trees achieve remarkable results in "anti-cancer" treatment
In the past five years, the research team of pine wood nematode disease has carried out the promotion and application of achievements in more than 20 provinces across the country, and trained more than 20000 prevention and control technicians. With their technological assistance, the trend of pine wilt disease spreading northward and westward across the country has slowed down. The research team of pine wood nematode disease has developed green prevention and control technology, targeting the vector of pine wood nematode disease - pine ink beetle for precise trapping and control. The trapping effect ranks first in the national forestry prevention and control drug testing, and the related technology has been promoted and applied in 26 provincial-level administrative regions across the country.
As of now, Fan Jianting and his team's related technologies have recovered nearly 800 million yuan in economic losses and achieved social and ecological benefits exceeding 4 billion yuan, effectively ensuring national forest ecological security. The related achievements have won awards such as the first prize for scientific and technological progress in Zhejiang Province and the second prize for scientific and technological progress in Liangxi. The research team on pine wilt disease at Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University is also known as the "guardian god" of pine trees.
Huzhou Anji Baicaoyuan has nearly 2000 acres of pine forests. Under the guidance of teachers and students, the "cleaning dead trees+traps" prevention and control technology model has been adopted, and the number of dead trees has been decreasing year by year. The amount of pine and ink beetle traps has also significantly decreased. Under the guidance of the team, Xin'anjiang Forest Farm in Jiande City uses injection drying and pesticide application technology to prevent pine wilt disease. This method has the advantages of low medication dosage, environmental safety, simple and convenient operation, and significant effectiveness in prevention and treatment.
According to incomplete statistics, Fan Jianting and his team have accumulated 10 national invention patents, formulated 3 standards, published 67 papers, authored 5 textbooks, and included 18 SCI papers. They have made significant breakthroughs in key technologies and theoretical research, and their achievements are at the forefront of international similar research. The cumulative area of related technology prevention and control demonstrations and monitoring prevention promotion has reached 26.507 million mu, protecting key scenic and cultural pine forests in Zhejiang, recovering economic losses of 748.5 million yuan, and achieving social and ecological benefits of 3.825 billion yuan.
Devote oneself to researching and breaking through foreign bottleneck technology
For a long time, the nature and forests that we rely on for survival have been invaded by harmful organisms, and their severity far exceeds our imagination. The American white moth is native to North America and was first discovered in China in 1979. It has the characteristics of fast reproduction, wide spread, and great harm. The epidemic is a command, and prevention and control is a responsibility.
Traditional prevention and control methods mainly use natural enemies, pesticides, and physical control. Bioinformatics induced killing is a new green prevention and control technology that is not only efficient and environmentally friendly, but also has precise targets and is convenient and affordable. However, the current domestic brands of white moth attractants in the United States have poor control effects, and the bioinformatics control market has long been monopolized by Japanese products, resulting in high control costs.
Fan Jianting led a team to go deep into the white moth epidemic area in the United States. After nearly 8 years of unremitting efforts, they finally overcame key technologies such as pheromone synthesis, chemical fingerprinting, and sustained-release technology of the white moth in the United States. They developed a white moth attractant, breaking the 30-year market monopoly of Japanese products and foreign bottleneck technology, which can save the country more than 10 million US dollars in foreign exchange every year.
Yan Jiahe, former deputy director of Shanghe County Forestry Bureau of Shandong Province, gave strong support in the research, development and testing of American white moth attractant. Seeing that the trapping effect of our home-made American white moth attractant exceeded that of Japanese products, he excitedly commented: "Long our countrymen's ambition!"
It is our duty to uphold moral education, cultivate talents, strengthen agriculture, and promote agriculture
In July 2006, Fan Jianting joined the College of Forestry and Biotechnology as a teacher. For 18 years, we have been dedicated to teaching and research in forest conservation, and have won honors such as the Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University Teaching Tree Award, Outstanding Teacher in Ecological Education, and Excellent Mentor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
In terms of teaching, he mainly undertakes professional courses such as "General Entomology" and "Plant Quarantine", combining his own experience with textbook knowledge to enhance the attractiveness and infectiousness of teaching, stimulate students' interest in learning, guide students to firmly establish the concept of ecological civilization, and practice the idea that green mountains and clear waters are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver. I have served as the homeroom teacher for forestry and forestry technology classes multiple times, providing guidance for confused students, helping them find their shining points, and encouraging them to set life goals.
In recent years, our team has always been committed to the front line of pine wilt disease prevention and control, and related technologies have been promoted and applied to key scenic areas and important ecological public welfare forests in more than 20 provinces and cities across the country. However, as a university teacher, we not only need to research and promote scientific research results, but also guide more students to participate in scientific research, continuously innovate better scientific research results through scientific research, guide students to grow and become successful in scientific research, and make greater contributions to the forestry industry in the future, "said Fan Jianting.
To enhance students' practical abilities, Fan Jianting leads them to the front line of forestry in mountainous areas all year round, guiding them to write scientific and technological papers on the new journey of promoting the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. By strengthening practical teaching, setting exploratory investigation and research tasks, improving students' ability to comprehensively apply basic knowledge, guiding students to master the methods and techniques of disease and pest diagnosis and control in production practice, mastering the techniques of plant pathogen isolation and identification, and insect classification and recognition, familiarizing themselves with conventional methods of disease and pest identification and quantitative statistics, and cultivating a group of excellent graduates with the qualities of "willing to work hard, practical, and capable".
In recent years, relying on his experience in forest defense and advantages in the green prevention and control industry, Fan Jianting has actively encouraged and guided students to participate in various scientific research and innovation activities and subject competitions, achieving remarkable results. He has guided students to win one gold prize in the China International Undergraduate Innovation Competition, one silver prize in the China International "Internet plus" Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, two bronze prizes in the "Challenge Cup" China Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Plan Competition and more than 10 provincial awards.