Dr. TAKARAGAWA Hiroo (Researcher) and Dr. MATSUDA Hiroshi (Senior Researcher) of the Tropical Agriculture Research Front received the 22nd Japan Crop Science Society Paper Award for their research paper titled "Rapid Photosynthesis Measurement Using a Closed System in Sugarcane."
Photosynthesis is the most fundamental process for plant growth, and improving CO2 assimilation capacity (photosynthesis rate) has been considered to lead to better plant growth. However, measuring this process traditionally required an open system, which is time-consuming and susceptible to environmental factors (time of measurement, weather, etc.), making it less compatible with genetic breeding research that requires multiple measurements. Additionally, in Okinawa, high temperatures and intense sunlight, combined with the large size of sugarcane plants, necessitated less labor-intensive methods for measuring photosynthesis.
In their award-winning research, Drs. Takaragawa and Matsuda demonstrated that the recently commercialized closed-chamber system rapid photosynthesis measurement system, used for small C3 photosynthetic crops such as rice and soybeans in temperate regions, can also be applied with high accuracy to measure the genetic resources of large C4 photosynthetic crops like sugarcane in subtropical regions. As a result, the measurement time, which previously required about 5-7 minutes per point using conventional devices, was reduced to less than 1 minute per point with this system.
Moving forward, it is expected that this system will be applied to rapid measurements targeting multiple points in hybrid and genetic resource populations, utilizing numerous genetic resources. This will enable efficient genetic analysis, including the identification of genetic regions that control photosynthetic capacity.
Takaragawa, H., & Matsuda, H. (2023). Rapid evaluation of leaf photosynthesis using a closed-chamber system in a C4 plant, sugarcane.
Plant Production Science, 26(2), 174-186.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1343943X.2023.2210766
