Breeding, economic traits evaluation, and commercial cultivation of a new Saccharina variety “Huangguan No. 1”

New variety breeding is very significant for Saccharina japonica cultivation industry. In this paper, we reported the breeding process, evaluation of economic traits, and commercial cultivation of a new Saccharina variety “Huangguan No. 1” (variety approval number: GS-01-006-2011). The sporophytes with best performance were screened out from varieties cultivated throughout Fujian Province, China, and mixed together as the parent population. The “Huangguan No. 1” variety was bred successfully from 5 years of targeted selection of objective traits and continuous progeny selfing/inbreeding. This new variety has a much longer, wider, and thicker blade; faster growth rate; heavier individual weight; and stronger resistance to high temperatures compared to the control variety (p < 0.05). Cultivation tests showed that the economically important traits remained steady in different years and sea areas, implying that “Huangguan No. 1” has the stable genetic basis for its excellent performance. Compared to the control variety, the yield and final product rate of “Huangguan No. 1” increased 30 and 25 %, respectively. Nutritional constituent analysis indicated that “Huangguan No. 1” could be used as a healthy food because of its higher protein (6.85 %) but lower fat content (0.2 %). Heavy metal (As, Cd, Pb) content was lower than the standard content for food safety. The suitability of “Huangguan No. 1” as a food source rather than a raw material for the chemical industry was increased due to the low algin (10.2 %) and iodine content (0.32 %). “Huangguan No. 1” variety was welcomed by farmers and has been commercially cultivated about 13,293 ha.