The JIRCAS Research Highlight 2018 is 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. This issue focuses on (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 PDF version is available at https://www.jircas.go.jp/en/publication/research_highlights/2018
Contents
Program A : Environment and Natural Resource Management
- Prediction of enteric methane emission from beef cattle in Southeast Asia
- Cassava pulp is suitable as beef cattle feed and shows less variation in chemical contents among seasons and factories
- Improvement of rice grain yield by predicting the optimum sowing period for rainfed rice areas in the Asian monsoon region
- Ground-penetrating radar can predict the soil depth at which the petroplinthic horizon starts in the Sudan Savanna, West Africa
- Conservation agriculture without intercropping component can adequately control water erosion in the Sudan Savanna, West Africa
- Simplified surge flow with improved furrow irrigation reduces infiltration loss and saves water
- Countermeasures against freshwater lens pollution on atolls should consider the groundwater residence time
Program B : Stable Agricultural Production
- Non-destructive shoot biomass evaluation for field-grown staking yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir)
- A farm management model for assisting smallholder farmers in Africa
- Identification of a quantitative trait locus associated with development of lateral roots in rice employing a genome-wide association study
- Development of wild soybean chromosome segment substitution lines for genetic studies of important traits
- Accelerating soybean breeding in a CO2-supplemented growth chamber
- Development of intergeneric F1 hybrids between sugarcane and Erianthus arundinaceus as a new sugarcane breeding material
- Spatiotemporal distribution patterns of the desert locust in Africa
Program C : Value-adding Technologies
- Estimation of rice grain yield by canopy hyperspectral sensing of paddy fields at the booting stage
- Herbivorax saccincola A7, a novel alkaliphilic and thermophilic anaerobe, effectively degrades xylan-rich lignocellulosic biomass
- Climbing perch aquaculture is realizable in rice paddies under non-feeding conditions by rearing at low stocking densities
- Increasing rainy season lowland rice and dry season crop yields in the semi-mountainous villages of Laos using stored water intended for aquaculture