Some vegetable seeds that journeyed into space have taken root and started bearing fruit in Yanggao county of Datong, a major vegetable production area in Shanxi province.

In a greenhouse at the Hualian Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center, the space vegetables include tomatoes, okra, eggplant, giant pumpkins and red peppers.

Wang Shouming, a technical staff member at the center, said the space vegetable seeds were ordinary seeds that had been carried into orbit with a satellite.

Subjected to extreme environmental influences, such as weightlessness and oxygen deprivation, their internal structures underwent mutations, Wang said.

Upon returning to Earth, they were cultivated by agricultural experts for years.

"The vitamin content of space vegetables is more than twice that of ordinary vegetables, and beneficial trace elements for the human body also increased," Wang said, adding that the space crops have made breakthroughs in yield and disease resistance compared with ordinary earthbound varieties.

"This is the first time in our county that variety innovation research activities have been carried out with space seeds," said Tian Qiuli, the office director of Hualian Agricultural Development (Yanggao) Co.

Using the space seeds, excellent varieties with strong stress resistance, high yield and wide adaptability have been selected, helping to increase farmers' income and agricultural development, Tian added.

Ma Jingbo and Song Jiaye contributed to this story.