“Resilient crops”
Development of resilient crops and production technologies
2022-01-11
Background
The frequent occurrence of extreme weather events due to global climate change, environmental degradation caused by rapid population growth, and crop production in marginal areas are destabilizing crop production and threatening global food and nutrition security. Global warming and rapid population growth are further aggravating the global-scale issues, making it difficult to respond to them with conventional breeding strategies. In anticipation of the increasing and accelerating impacts of climate change, it is highly desirable to accelerate the resolution of global-scale issues through new technologies that integrate synthetic bioengineering and big data.
Objectives
We will pave the way for the production of resilience-enhanced crops by developing the necessary technologies to create or produce resilient crops that are resistant to various external disturbances, such as poor environments, mainly targeting major crops such as rice and soybean, and the orphan crop quinoa.
Research Themes
- Development of technology for resilience enhancement production of high nutrient crops using genetic resources
- Development of basic technologies for resilience-enhanced crop design
- Development of breeding infrastructure utilizing untapped genetic and physiological mechanisms related to improved resource use efficiency
- Development of disease control technology with low environmental impact by utilizing disease resistance
Target Countries
Bolivia, Vietnam, China, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina
Target Beneficiaries
Researchers, producers and consumers of rice, soybean, quinoa and other crops, people in developing regions vulnerable to increased food supply insecurity
Project Leader
FUJITA Yasunari (Biological Resources and Post-harvest Division)
JIRCAS Report
Julio César García-Rodríguez, Yamanaka Naoki and Colleagues Receive Honorable Mention for the PhytoFrontiers Best Student Paper Award 2021
The paper “Virulence Diversity of Phakopsora pachyrhizi in Mexico” by Julio César García-Rodríguez of Mexico's National Institute for Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research (INIFAP), Yamanaka Naoki, Senior Researcher in the Biological Resources and Post-harvest Division of JIRCAS, and their colleagues received honorable mention for the PhytoFrontiers Best Student Paper Award 2021 of the American Phytopathological Society.
Project Leader FUJITA Among Most Highly Cited Researchers in 2021 Clarivate Listing
In November 2021, Dr. FUJITA Yasunari, Project Leader of the Bioresources and Post-harvest Division of JIRCAS, has been selected by Clarivate Analytics of the USA as a Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Plant and Animal Sciences for the eighth consecutive year.
Tochigi Prefectural Senior High School Students Visit JIRCAS
A group of 40 first year students and 2 teachers from Tochigi Prefectural Senior High School visited JIRCAS through the "Tsukuba Science Tour" program on November 11, 2021. This was the second visit from the school since November last year. As a safety measure against COVID-19, the students were divided into two groups for introduction of JIRCAS research activities (indoor lecture) and introduction of rice samples at the Hachimandai Experimental Field (outdoor lecture).
Field Information
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Pick Up
532. Changes in Virulence of Asian Soybean Rust Pathogen in Bangladesh
Asian soybean rust is a serious problem in soybean production in tropical and subtropical regions. This disease is also a problem in Bangladesh along with the expansion of domestic production. In this study, we investigated the virulence of the Asian soybean rust against known resistance genes in order to control this disease through the introduction of resistant varieties. The results showed that while the virulence of the pathogenic samples in 2016 was weak and many of the known resistance genes were effective, the virulence of 2018 and 2019 samples changed strongly. They included a strongly virulent rust samples for which seven known resistance genes were completely ineffective. While the introduction of resistant varieties is effective from a cost and environmental impact perspective, the development of resistant varieties using gene-pyramiding to deal with highly virulent rusts is needed to achieve a stable effect of control.