Shandong Agricultural University (SDAU) signed a contract with Shandong University (SAU) to jointly build the State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, and jointly contribute wisdom and strength to guarantee national food security and promote scientific and technological innovation in agricultural field.

Fan Liming, president of SAU, Xu Jianbo, party secretary of SDAU, and Wang Zhongwei, director of the Basic Research Office of Shandong Science and Technology Department addressed the ceremony respectively. Zhang Xiansheng, president of SDAU and director of the laboratory, presided over the signing ceremony. Li Xiangdong, vice president of SDAU, and Yi Fan, vice president of SAU signed the contract on behalf of both sides.

Zhang Xiansheng introduced the development of the laboratory. It was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2003 as one of the first state key laboratory breeding bases jointly built by the province and the Ministry of Science and Technology, and was approved as a state key laboratory in 2007. At present, there are three research directions, namely crop physiology and ecology, crop germplasm innovation, and crop molecular biology. Since its establishment, the laboratory has actively been integrating into national and regional strategies. To solve the delicate problems such as the stark contradiction between high yield and quality and efficient utilization of resources, the narrow genetic basis of crop germplasm, and the rare excellent germplasms in the production of such staple crops as wheat, corn and apple in Huang-Huai-Hai region, the laboratory made clear its research direction, built several outstanding teams, spared no efforts to solve the problems, and produced lots of landmark scientific research achievements. Since 2006, the results of three laboratory evaluations were all good. In 2020, one of its achievements was selected by Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering into China's Annual Top Ten Scientific and Technological Progress News, and ranked first among the Top Ten Scientific and Technological Achievements in Shandong Province.

According to the agreement, the two sides will strengthen cooperation in scientific research, platform construction, talent cultivation, academic exchanges, and social services. Meanwhile, to improve the crop genetics, the two sides will also give full play to their advantages respectively, increase the opening and sharing of resources, jointly carry out project declaration and scientific research, constantly improve the scientific and technological innovation ability, the comprehensive production capacity and the market competitiveness of grain production in Shandong Province, and provide continuous scientific, technological and talent support for the continuous and steady increase in grain production in Shandong Province or even in the whole Huang-Huai-Hai region.