Professor Yuanwen Teng in the Fruit Science Institute won a National Science and Technology Progress Award (second class) in 2011 by participating in organizing the program "Germplasm innovation and key cultivation technologies with high quality and efficiency in sand pear from southern China". The program aimed to solve the main problems associated with sand pear in southern China, such as lack of high quality cultivars, poor cultivation techniques and fruit quality. The research group launched a long-term systematic research and made a series of achievements. A total of 52 S-loci related to self-incompatibility were approved and genotypes of the S-locus were determined in more than 100 cultivars in Pyrus, solving the technical problems of optimal allocation of pear cultivars and parents selection in cross breeding; genetic map of Pyrus were constructed in which genes and major QTL loci related to fruit quality traits were located, which helped molecular marker assisted breeding in Pyrus; the largest germplasm GenBank of sand pear in the entire world was created, which established a solid foundation for genetic improvement of sand pear germplasm; high quality cultivars were cultivated, introduced and screened to be suitable for different regions in southern China, promoting the upgrade and replacement of old sand pear cultivars; a series of technical systems were developed, including coloration of red sand pear, removal of fruit rust, prevention and control of non-pollution. These achievements were mainly promoted and applied in five provinces including Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Yunnan and Zhejiang. The completion of the program was presided over by Central South University of Forestry and Technology, with Zhejiang University as the 2nd organizer and Professor Yuanwen Teng ranked 3rd in the list of researchers.
