GIES Case Study on Chinese Cherry Apple in Low Mountains and Hills in Baoshan Town, Panshi City, Jilin Province of China

Chen, S. B.¹  Ye, Y. H.^1*  Fu, J. Y.²  Zhang, M. J.³  Qiao, Y. B.⁴  Yao, L. P.⁵  Luan, R. S.⁶  Zhu, X. G.⁷  Chen, C. H.⁴  Wu, L. G.⁵  Qi, Z. M.⁶  Liu, C.²

1. College of Geo-exploration Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, China;

2. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100010, China;

3. Fruit Tree Research Institute, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130033, China; 

4. Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Panshi City, Panshi 132300, China;

5. Baoshan Town, Panshi City, Panshi 132300, China;

6. Jilin Province Panbao Agricultural Products Co., Ltd., Panshi 132300, China;

7. Beijing TianhangHuachuang Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing 100085, China

Abstract: The Chinese cherry apple is a cultivated variety of apple from Rosaceae (Malus domestica). It is mainly distributed in Northeast China and has adapted to the cold climate. Its fruit is small in size, bright in color and rich in flavor. It has a certain competitive advantage in the segmented fruit market. The case of study area is located in Mt. Guokui area, Baoshan town, Panshi city, Jilin province. The terrain of the case area is a gentle slope in the transition zone from Changbai mountain to Songnen plain. The soil is loamy black soil and chernozem associated with sand and gravel. The irrigation water source is pollution-free mountain spring water, with a quality better than the urban drinking water. These superior natural conditions have produced Chinese cherry apple with unique geographical characteristics. In 2020, the planting area of this fruit in Baoshan town was 650 ha. Due to the stable natural conditions, the total fruit output will be basically stable. The future work of the case area will focus on building fruit production and circulation standards, improving infrastructure, transforming the resource and product advantages into market advantages, creating more employment opportunities for local residents, attracting population return, and supporting rural revitalization. This case dataset includes the ecological data (geographical location, DEM, climate, hydrology, soil); product characteristics data; social, economic and management data; and tradition data. The case dataset were archived in .shp, .tif , .xlsx , .docx , .png, and .jpg formats with a data size of 69.8 MB.

Keywords: high-quality geographical products; Chinese cherry apple; Baoshan; Panshi; low mountains and hills; GIES Cases 6

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3974/geodp.2021.04.02

CSTR: https://cstr.escience.org.cn/CSTR:20146.14.2021.04.02

Dataset Availability Statement:

The dataset supporting this paper was published and is accessible through the Digital Journal of Global Change Data Repository at https://doi.org/10.3974/geodb.2021.12.41.V1 or https://cstr.escience.org.cn/CSTR:20146.11.2021.12.41.V1.

1 Introduction

The Baoshan town is affiliated with Panshi city, Jilin province of China. It is located between 125°53¢00² E–126°11¢00²E and 42°46¢00²N–42°56¢00²N. Baoshan town is located in the southwest of Panshi city, bordering the Panshi Economic and Technological Development Zone and Niuxin town in the east, Huinan town in the south, and Niuxindingzi town and Xinghua town in Meihekou city across the Liangzi river in the north. It is positioned at the junction of Chaoyangshan town and Fu’an street, covering an area of 241.75 km² (Figure 1).

Figure 1  Geographical location of Baoshan town, Panshi city

Because of the transition zone from the Changbai mountain to Songnen plain, the town is characterized by low mountains and hills^[1,2]. The highest mountain in the territory, Guokui mountain, is 650 m a.s.l., and the lowest point is Dangliangzi river, 276 m above sea level. The case area belongs to the north temperate continental monsoon climate, the water resources in the territory are very rich, and the water quality is good. The river water quality indicators meet the national standards, and the ambient air quality is excellent. The four seasons are distinct, and the temperature and humidity seasons rotated^[3,4]. The area has typical mountain agricultural climate characteristics, making it very suitable for fruit growth^[5,6] (Figure 2, 3).

2 Metadata of the Dataset

The metadata of the case dataset^[7] is summarized in Table 1.

Figure 2  Altitude classification of Baoshan town, Panshi city

Figure 3  Landscape of Guokui mountain in Baoshan town (650 m above sea level)

3 Ecological Data

The ecological data collected for this case study were from ecological stations, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, drone), meteorological station, field survey and lab analysis of soil or water, and hydrological stations.

3.1 Data from Automatic Ecological Monitoring Station and Meteorological Station

In order to better trace the fruit growth environment, in November 2021, an automatic ecological station in a Chinese cherry apple orchard was installed. This station was developed by Beijing Tianhang Huachuang Technology Co., Ltd., and composed of low-power IoT sensors that had passed the quality calibration and inspection of Shenzhen Tiansu Metrology and Testing Co., Ltd. (Figure 4–6). Its functions included automatic acquisition, identification, and transmission of data on ecological elements, such as air, soil, water quality, vegetation phenology, pests and diseases. Baoshan town was responsible for the operation (Figure 7). In addition, the aerial images of the fruit plantation was collected using a drone with a multi-spectral camera (Figure 8); the images can clearly show the field conditions, such as the scattered stones on the ground surface (Figure 9). Together with long-term climate data from traditional stations (Figure 10, 11), these observation data can be better used to assist the decision-making of orchard management.

3.2 Soil Physicochemical Analysis Data

Soil samples were collected from two orchards. The soil types were mainly black soil and chernozem soil. The color of the surface soil was darker, the color gradually became lighter downward, and the soil color was brown near the depth of 50 cm. The soil sampling depths were in 5 layers: 0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–40, and 40–50cm. The soil texture is loamy soil associated with sand and gravel, which is conducive to the rooting and growth of fruit trees as well as the water permeability.

Table 1  Metadata summary of Panshi Baoshan Chinese cherry apple case datasets

Figure 10  Annual precipitation and monthly average precipitation of Panshi city from 2000 to 2019

Figure 11  Average temperature, surface air temperature, relative humidity, evaporation, wind speed, and sunshine hours of Panshi city from 2000 to 2019

(Data source: National Meteorological Data Center Jilin Panshi site monitoring data; site number: 54263)

The nitrogen content percentage (N%), carbon content percentage (C%), and carbon– nitrogen ratio (C/N) of the soil samples were tested. Among the 10 samples of the two types of soil tested, the nitrogen (N) content was about 0.07% to 0.57%, the carbon (C) content was about 0.55% to 6.24%, and the C to N ratio was 8.44 to 12.21 (Table 2). Among these, the soil carbon and nitrogen contents at the site 126°2′26.8″E, 42°50′26.48″N were generally higher than those at site 126°2′26″E, 42°50′21.8″N. From a longitudinal comparison, it could be determined that the carbon and nitrogen contents gradually decreased from the topsoil down, which was related to the mountainous terrain where the trees were planted. The C and N ratios of the soils at the two sites were very close, with little change. The heavy metal contents of the soil were better than the national standard about pollution content required value[1] (Table 3).

Table 2  Soil carbon and nitrogen content in the case area

Table 3  Element contents of soil samples at Site 1

3.3 Irrigation Water Quality in Baoshan Town

The irrigation water sources in the fruit tree planting area of Baoshan town were precipitation and runoff. The case datasets contained the water quality data of 5 samples in the case area (Table 4), and 25 elements and ions were analyzed such as Al, As, and B. The water sample testing results were compared with the urban drinking water supply standards and the drinking water sanitation standards, and it was found that all indicators of water quality near Guokui mountain were excellent.

Table 4  Irrigation water quality in Guokui mountain region

4 Chinese Cherry Apple

4.1 The Biological Characteristics of Chinese Cherry Apple

Chinese cherry apple is a cultivar of apple species in the genus Malus of Rosaceae. This variety is mainly distributed in Northeast China and adapts to the cold climate. Locals also call it “chicken-heart-shaped apple” due to the looks of its fruit. The Chinese cherry apple tree is tall and has a rounded crown. It sprouts in mid-April and blooms in early May, with 5 to 8 flowers per inflorescence. Each flower has 5 petals adjoining, with the petals being oval and separate, and the diameter of the corolla is 3.2 cm (Figure 14). The fruit swells in late May and begins to color in late August. The fruit matures in the middle of the month, becoming long and conical, with an average weight of about 60 g (Figure 15). The fruit development period is 120 days. It takes a cultivation period of 3 to 4 years for the tree to yield fruit, and 7 to 8 years for the tree to enter the high-yield period. Normally, per plant yields 10 kg in the third year, 50 kg in the fourth year, and 75 kg in the fifth year after high head replacement (Figure 16).

               Figure 14  Chinese cherry apple: flowering      Figure 15  Chinese cherry apple: fruiting

            Figure 16  Chinese cherry apple: crown    Figure 17  Chinese cherry apple: orchard

The fruit of the Chinese cherry apple has 17.22% of sugar and 0.467% of acid, with 98% being edible. The fruit is fragrant and palatable, and its fragrance exceeds that of quality apples. It contains a lot of juice; has crispy, fragrant, yellow-white flesh; and excellent sensory qualities. The harvest period of Chinese cherry apple in Panshi is mid-to-late September. The surface of the fruit is bright red, the fruit does not drop easily, and it is resistant to storage and transportation. The harvest period can be extended to the period after October 1st to before the first frost. The fruit development period is 120 days. It can be stored at room temperature for 1 to 2 months or refrigerated for 3 to 4 months^{[ 9–12]} . Baoshan town has a fruit tree planting area of 650 ha, the annual yield of the fruit is about 30,000 tons (Figure 17).

4.2 Elemental Measurements of Chinese Cherry Apple Tree Root, Branch, and Leaf

We selected two Chinese cherry apple fruit tree samples, conducted carbon and nitrogen content detection, and calculated the carbon–nitrogen ratio for their roots, branches, and leaves (Table 5). In addition, the contents of 23 elements were tested (Table 6[2]). The test results in Table 5 and Table 6 suggest that the Chinese cherry apple at Baoshan town, Panshi is safe in terms of its carbon–nitrogen ratio and heavy metal contents.

Table 5  C and N content of Chinese cherry apple trees at Baoshan town

Table 6  Contents of 23 elements in roots, branches, and leaves of Chinese cherry apple tree at Baoshan

5 Social, Economy and Business Management in Case Study

5.1 The Resident Population has Decreased Significantly in the Past 20 Years

Baoshan town covers an area of 242.09 km², with 14 administrative villages, 72 natural villages, and 102 villager groups. According to the fifth (2000), sixth (2010), and seventh (2020) censuses, the number of permanent household and permanent resident have declined in Baoshan town in the past two decades. The number of permanent households decreased from 7,505 in 2000 to 5,519 in 2020, a decrease of 26%. Meanwhile, the permanent population decreased from 28,506 in 2000 to 13,669 in 2020, a drop of 52% (Figure 18). Another phenomenon is that the number of registered households and the total registered population are far greater than the number of permanent households and the number of permanent residents. In 2020, the number of permanent resident households was only 62.56% of the total registered households, while the permanent resident population was less than half of the registered population, at only 49.34%.

Table 7  Households and population in Baoshan town (as of December 18, 2021).

In Baoshan town, the actual residents have been decreasing for the past 20 years. Taking the statistics of 2021 as an example, it can be seen from Table 7 and Figures 19–21 that, among the 14 villages in Baoshan, there are fewer actual residents and households than registered. Regarding the number of actual households, the town average is 63.09%, the highest proportion is 83.5% of the registered households, and the lowest proportion is 59.66%. Regarding the number of actual residents, the village with the highest proportion has 59.83% and the lowest has only 36.98%. The birth/death ratio in Baoshan town is also a concern (Figure 21).

The per capita land of the registered resident in Baoshan town increased from 12.74 mu in 2000 to 26.64 mu in 2021 (Figure 22，1 mu=667 m²). Judging from the data in 2021, the number of non-resident households accounted for 36.91% (3,259 households) of registered households, while the proportion of non-resident population (immigrant) was 50.67% (14,001 people) (Table 7). If no effective measures are taken, the problem may continue to worsen.

5.2 Economy of the Case Area

According to incomplete statistics, the GDP of Baoshan town in 2020 was 97 million CNY (Chinese Yuan). Calculated by the actual resident, the per capita GDP was 7,096 CNY. The contribution to the GDP mainly comes from rice, poultry, aquatic products, and food. Due to the low degree of marketization of Chinese cherry apples, relevant statistics are still missing.

5.3 Fruit Harvest, Storage, and Transportation Needs to be Improved

At present, the management of Chinese cherry apple in Baoshan town is in traditional stage. As natural conditions are favorable, the yield is relatively stable. However, these fruits need to be picked, sorted and transported to the destination market in time to get ideal benefits. Unfortunately, we cannot fully meet these needs at present, and these deficiencies prevent these quality fruits from obtaining the benefits they should have. In the future, we will gradually improve these infrastructures.

5.4 Standardization, Specifications, and Marketing

The standards and specifications related to orchard management, fruit grading and preservation have been incorporated into the local development plan. The marketing of Chinese cherry apple is run by Jilin Panbao Agricultural Products Co., Ltd., and Xinyu Fruit Tree Planting Professional Cooperative. The protection of the Chinese cherry apple habitat in Panshi is jointly managed by the village collective registered enterprise and the Xinyu Fruit Tree Planting Professional Cooperative. Unified planting and operation are key components of the supervision of the Baoshan town government.

5.5 Brief History and Development of Panshi Chinese Cherry Apple

Guokui (helmet) Mountain region is the core area of Chinese cherry apple in Panshi city. This area started to be reclaimed in 1874, and was renamed Panshi（Monolith）in 1882. Chinese cherry apple started to be planted in Guokui mountain region in 1960s; and Guokui village became a specialized fruit village in 1992; in 2010, Guokui village was named “the first red fruit village in Northeast China”^[13]. In 2021, Panshi Fruit Modern Agricultural Industrial Park was settled in Baoshan town. This industrial park will benefit 1,280 households, equivalent to 22.98% of the actual permanent households in Baoshan in 2021.

6 Discussion and Conclusion

The Panshi Chinese cherry apple low mountains and hills case lies in the transitional area from the Changbai mountains to Songnen plain, with Baoshan town as its core. Thanks to its superior natural conditions, especially its clean and pollution-free water source, the region has produced high-quality Chinese cherry apple with geographical characteristics. In the future, the advantages of natural resources and products can be transformed into market advantages by strengthening infrastructure, so as to promote local economy, create more employment opportunities for local people, promote population return and revitalize the countryside.

Author Contributions

Chen, S. B. and Ye, Y. H. designed the dataset and wrote the first draft of the paper; Liu, C. and Fu, J. Y. revised the development plan of the datasets and the first draft of the paper; Ye, Y. H. tested samples of soil, water, and fruit trees; Yao, L. P., Wu, L. G., Qiao, Y. B., Chen, C. H., and Zhu, X. G. provided monitoring data; Yao, L. P. provided socioeconomic and demographic data; Zhang, M. J., Luan, R. S., and Qi, Z. M. collected fruit management data; Liu, C. finalized the paper.

Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the following people for their help in completing this case: Fu, B. J., Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; He, C. C., former Deputy Director- General of FAO, Academician of the Eurasian Academy of Sciences; Wang, Z. B. and Zhang, M. of Cooperation Division of IGSNRR/CAS; Wang, Z. X. and Shi, R. X. from Global Change Research Data Publishing and Repository; Yu, J. Q., Secretary of Panshi Municipal CCP; Wang, P. P., Mayor of Panshi city; Qi, W., Vice Mayor of Panshi city; Wang, Z. W., Director of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Panshi city.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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