In order to further deepen Sino-German cooperation on Agricultural Science and Technology, according to the result of the 24^th meeting of the Working Group of Sino-German Agricultural Science and Technology, the project entitled “Screening of High Quality and High Oil Yield of Oil Pumpkin Varieties (Cucurbita pepo subsp. pepo var. styriaca) for Breeding of New Varieties” of researcher Kun Ma and Na Feng of Shanghai Academy of Argricultural Sciences and Dr. Frank Marthe from Julius Kuehn-Institue was approved by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs as Sino-German Cooperation Project.

The Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI) is the Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants in Germany and an autonomous superior federal authority in the portfolio of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. It has 17 specialized institutes complemented by service units, such as library, data processing, field and greenhouse and administration, around 1200 staff members, of whom 350 are scientists and research facilities at currently 10 sites, its main office is located in Quedlinburg (Saxony-Anhalt).

The project aims to jointly develop and cultivation of new germplasm for oil pumpkins with JKI in Germany. Through cooperation with the German side, we can collect and import foreign high-quality oil pumpkin variety resources, and compare cultivation patterns, production and quality of pumpkin seed oil. The project will obtain excellent oil pumpkin variety resources suitable in southern China and new varieties of special processing pumpkins with high yield and high quality seed oil, as well as new varieties of health vegetables suitable for industrial processing.