Field and vegetable cultivation in Kyushu-Okinawa region takes advantage of warm and rainy weather conditions to produce a wide range of local specialty crops, such as sweet potato and sugar cane, as well as a wide variety of vegetables such as strawberries,asparagus etc. The export of sweet potatoes and strawberries has been increasing rapidly. However, in the southern Kyushu, the damage caused to sweet potatoes by foot rot disease are enormous, which requires an immediate and prompt solution. For strawberries, the planted area continues to decrease, and further improvement in productivity is strongly desired.
Therefore, in the Division of Field Crop and Vegetable Research, the Sweet Potato and Sugarcane Breeding Group is engaged in breeding cultivars that are resistant to basal rot and disease-resistant sugarcane varieties with high yields. The Field Crop and Vegetable Cultivation Group is engaged on the development of production control technology to control root rot damage and technology to reduce rot during transportation. The Greenhouse Vegetable Production Group is engaged in the development of strawberry productivity improvement technology utilizing strawberry varieties with extended harvest time and disease resistance and local timely CO2 application technology
Through these technological developments, we will contribute to the stable production and export expansion of upland and vegetable cultivation in the Kyushu and Okinawa regions.
