The discipline Forest Genetic Breeding was initially founded in 1958 and is one of the five key disciplines of the State Forestry Administration. It obtained the right of conferring master’s degree in 2005. The academic leader of the discipline is Professor Tong Zaikang. There are six professors, 10 doctors, 15 master tutors and two first-level talents from the “151” Program in Zhejiang Province for the discipline.

This discipline and the discipline Silviculture jointly share the National Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for Subtropical Silviculture. The laboratory covers a dedicated area of 7,600 square meters, has instruments and equipment worth more than 30 million Yuan and total assets valued at more than 47 million Yuan, providing first-class experimental conditions in China. After years of development, a public basic condition platform for forest germplasm resource conservation and utilization in Zhejiang Province, Institute of Biotechnology and Natural Drug Research and Development Center, Institute of Biotechnology of Zhejiang A & F University and Natural Drug Research and Development Center have been established, and three research directions with distinctive features and obvious advantages were formed. They are: Forest Genetic Breeding, Medicinal Plant Genetic Breeding, and Landscape and Ornamental Plants Genetic Breeding. In the past three years, it has taken charge of 13 state-level projects, 12 major and key projects at ministerial and provincial level, 20 projects for the provincial Natural Science Foundation and the Special Foundation for Talent Cultivation, with scientific research funds totaling more than 20 million Yuan; obtained three awards at the ministerial and provincial level or above; and published more than 100 papers, of which many have been collected by SCI and EI.