BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- China has taken a major step forward in protecting seed industry innovations by releasing a set of documents detailing how it will implement its essentially derived variety (EDV) system, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced Monday.

An EDV refers to a new plant variety bred by modifying an existing original variety, differing from it by only a few specific traits. The EDV system protects intellectual property (IP) by preventing competing breeders from making minor modifications to an existing protected variety and commercializing it without the original creator's permission, thereby encouraging true original breeding.

The ministry released a 10-crop list, including rice, wheat and cotton, to the EDV system. This marks the first crop list under China's EDV system. Four other detailed documents standardizing the identification of EDV were also released, Liu Lihua, an official with the ministry, said at a press conference.

China has been encouraging original innovation in the seed sector for years. According to Wan Jianmin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering specialized in plant breeding, the quality of approved varieties has significantly improved in the last three years.

In May 2025, China unveiled revised regulations to strengthen the protection of rights to new plant varieties and to encourage innovation in the seed industry, stating that authorities would release the EDV implementation scope and assessment guidelines. ■