Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Tang Yong) news: On June 14, 2025, inside a smart greenhouse at Alar National Agricultural Science and Technology Park, rows of young poplar seedlings stood neatly in place. Along with her graduate students, Professor Li Zhijun from Tarim University's School of Life Sciences and Technology, was closely examining their growth. These seedlings, which reached 20 centimeters in just three months, are the first successful batch grown using rapid propagation technology in China. Soon, they will be transplanted to the central Taklimakan Desert for ecological restoration.

Photo taken on June 14, 2025 shows Li Zhijun (center), a professor from the School of Life Sciences and Technology at Tarim University, explains key points of poplar seedling cultivation to students in a smart greenhouse of Alar National Agricultural Science and Technology Park in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on June 14, 2025 shows smart sprinkler irrigation equipment supplies water to poplar seedlings in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

By applying smart water and nutrient management techniques, the research team from Tarim University has reduced the poplar seedling cultivation period from two to three years to just one year while greatly increasing survival rates. The team is also growing over 20 other resilient plant species, such as camel thorn, with the goal of creating a near-natural plant community featuring a "main tree with supporting plants." This effort will contribute to building an ecological barrier in the Taklimakan Desert.

Aerial photo taken on June 14, 2025 shows smart greenhouses in Alar National Agricultural Science and Technology Park in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on June 14, 2025 shows stress-resistant plants cultivated by the research team from Tarim University in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Photo taken on June 14, 2025 shows students from Tarim University check the growth of poplar seedlings in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

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