On October 28th, at the invitation of the Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Ding Dewen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and researcher at the No.1 Institute of Oceanography of the State Oceanic Administration, came to Shenyang to participate in the workshop on "Key Mechanism, Technology R&D and Demonstration of Selenium-enriched Functional Agriculture." More than 20 people, including Zhu Jiaojun, director of IAE, Zhuo Junchen, deputy director of IAE, Prof. Wu Zhijie, Prof. Li Peijun, Prof. Zeng Dehui, and researchers from the Soil Pollution Ecology Group attended the workshop, which was chaired by Wang Xugao, head of the Science and Technology Division of IAE. 

At the beginning, Zhu Jiaojun delivered a welcome speech on behalf of IAE and thanked Academician Ding for his long-term support for the development of the institute. He informed Academician Ding about IAE's achievements in three major research areas, i.e., forestry ecological engineering, agricultural ecological engineering, and environmental ecological engineering. Then, Prof. GONG Zongqiang gave a report on the development history, technology R&D, key mechanism, and demonstration research of selenium-enriched functional agriculture, the expert team of the Agro-pastoral Ecotone Functional Agriculture Academician Workstation, the distribution of demonstration areas, the achievements already achieved, and issues concerning project applications and scientific exchanges. 

Ding Dewen made several suggestions on the development of selenium-enriched functional agriculture. He stressed that a mature technology must have a solid theoretical foundation. He suggested that researchers should pay attention to publicize the nutritional value of selenium-enriched agricultural products, clarify the reasons why spraying foliar fertilisers efficiently increase crop yield, and strengthen the research on human selenium intake limits and standards. In addition, he emphasized the importance of artificial ecosystem science in the development of ecological disciplines, and the importance of solving practical problems through human interference with nature. He also recommended IAE to bring marine ecology into the discipline development layout, solve problems of Liaodong Bay and Bohai Bay at regional scale in order to provide scientific and technological support for the development of coastal zone. 

Zhu Jiaojun said that selenium-enriched functional agriculture has an internal connection with IAE's agricultural ecology, soil ecology, fertilizer and environmental disciplines, and the academician workstation can make use of IAE's resources to integrate functional agriculture, green agriculture and slow-release fertilizer research. He suggested that the expert team should conduct technology integration and marketing research, sort out the scientific problems in the research on selenium-enriched functional agriculture, and explore the mechanism how selenium increases crop yield. Zhu Jiaojun expressed his gratitude to Academician Ding for his suggestions on the development of disciplines of the institute, and he said that IAE will combine the institute's 14th Five-Year Planning to carefully consider the layout of the institute's disciplines. 

In addition, other experts participating in the workshop also put forward good suggestions on research or technology transformation issues of selenium-enriched functional agriculture.