The JIRCAS Research Highlight 2017, a compilation of selected R&D achievements for the entire fiscal year promoting the dissemination and wide application of results to academic and non-academic audiences is now available, featuring (1) results in technology development expected to be used in on-site production, (2) results including new methods and knowledge that lead to advancement of science, and (3) results that are extremely effective or helpful in improving administrative measures.

The selected R&D achievements represent major results in Program A (Environment and Natural Resource Management), Program B (Stable Agricultural Production) and Program C (Value-adding Technologies). The research highlights for each fiscal year are selected through an external review of a committee consisting of the directors of administrative and research divisions concerned with the candidate research in order to ensure the validity of the content and the possibility of dissemination. A follow-up survey on the dissemination of results after publication is also conducted.

Program A : Environment and Natural Resource Management

• Continuous application of rice straw compost increases rice yield and contributes to carbon sequestration in paddy fields in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
• Estimation of nitrogen load to groundwater at a sugarcane monocropping area in the Philippines
• Technical manual on building a low-cost, shallow subsurface drainage system for mitigating salinization
• Further insights into underlying mechanisms for the release of biological nitrification inhibitors from sorghum roots

Program B : Stable Agricultural Production

• Genetic variation of blast resistance in rice germplasm from West Africa
• Whole genome sequence of Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata) and development of a DNA marker for sex determination
• Topographical selection and sulfur application enable high grain yields in rice in currently unutilized floodplain ecosystems of northern Ghana
• Reinforcement technology that can be applied by farmers themselves using ground-cover plants for irrigation facilities in paddy fields
• Identification of a gene that promotes ammonium nitrogen (NH4⁺-N) uptake in rice
• Evaluation method of root angle distribution at seedling stage in rice (Oryza sativa L.)
• Overexpression of AtGolS2, an Arabidopsis galactinol synthase gene, increases grain yield in rice under drought stress in the field
• Enhancement of drought tolerance in soybean plants by down-regulation of GmERA1 genes
• Delayed heading technique for early heading Erianthus arundinaceus collected in Japan
• Complete chloroplast genomes of Erianthus and Miscanthus, and phylogenetic relationships within the Saccharum complex
• Characterization of Erianthus arundinaceus collected from Japan based on nuclear DNA content and simple sequence repeat markers
• An effective pesticide against the dominant insect vector of sugarcane white leaf disease
• Genetic variation in resistance in rice germplasm and differentiation of blast races in Bangladesh

Program C : Value-adding Technologies

• Improvement of functionality of broccoli sprouts using slightly acidic electrolyzed water
• pH adjustment of oil palm sap improves lactic acid fermentation
• Forecasting mass synchronized flowering in Southeast Asian tropical forest by analyzing the dynamics of flowering gene expression
• Development of a rearing technique for the free-swimming zoea larvae of the freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium yui from Northern Laos