KARC/NARO | National Agriculture and Food Research Organization

The Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, NARO is one of the R&D regional agricultural centers of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation (NARO) that serves as the frontline in bringing the technology developed by NARO. The center aims to contribute to the development of agricultural technologies, promote related industries and create new food cultures for the Kyushu-Okinawa region. Research activities focus on contributing to the development of stable food resources, improvement of food safety and consumer confidence, development of global warming measures and promotion of biomass use, creation of new demands, and other goals set forth in the 4th mid-term plan of NARO. The KARC/NARO facilitates local agricultural research through the establishment of crop development and utilization, livestock and grassland, production environment, rice cultivation and horticulture, and upland farming.

KARC News

Development of a DNA marker for selecting sugarcane resistant to smut disease

The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) in collaboration with Toyota Motor Corporation, has developed a DNA marker useful to select sugarcane clones resistant to smut disease. This research result will make it possible to promote the efficient breeding of sugarcane varieties resistant to smut disease, a major disease of sugarcane.In collaboration with Toyota Motor Corporation, NARO identified chromosomal regions involved in the resistance to smut disease, a major disease of sugarcane, and developed a DNA marker that enable efficient selection of smut disease resistance in sugarcane, which shows high polyploidy and has been difficult to develop DNA markers. Read more

Breaking rice yielding barrier with the ratooning method under changing climatic conditions

Production area with potential for ratooning is predicted to increase as global warming proceeds. The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) revealed that controlling harvest time and cutting height of the first crop in ratooning method will drastically increase the yield to approximately 15t/ha at an experimental field basis. The novel production technique is expected to contribute to the stable supply of rice in the era of global food issue as well as to meet the demand for the establishment of the low-cost production system of rice. Read more

Breeding of smut-resistant sugarcane variety for forage use derived from native wild species for Nansei islands

The Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, NARO(KARC/NARO) has developed a new sugarcane variety "Yaenoushie" for forage use derived from a native wild species (Saccharum spontaneum) in Japan. This new variety is characterized by its extremely strong resistance to smut disease. It also has a good resistance to lodging thereby it could facilitate shortening of time required for harvesting using combine harvester. This variety could also help in increasing the production and self-sufficiency of feeds for livestock farmers in the Nansei Islands where the land area is limited. Cultivation of the "Yaenoushie" sugarcane variety has already started in Nanjo City, Okinawa Prefecture.Read more

Identification of traits for enhancing rice yield under high carbon dioxide condition

Press release on 10 August 2018

Introducing a gene that increases the number of grains of a high-yielding rice variety into the conventional variety Koshihikari by cross breeding resulted in a significant increase in yield under conditions of high CO2 concentration. This research may contribute to the development of high yielding varieties suitable for cultivation under increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations predicted in the near future.Read more

Analysis of the difference in genome sequence of cultivated and wild sweetpotato

Press release on 10 March 2017

The Kazusa DNA Research Institute and Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, NARO in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China Agricultural University, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology, and Rural Development Administration of Korea established the first high-density genetic map of hexaploid sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) using SNP markers identified by double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing based on next-generation sequencing technology. The sequence reads were aligned onto the reference genome sequence of wild type Ipomoea trifida, a likely diploid ancestor of sweetpotato and were used to detect the difference in the sequence between the two genomes. The results will provide basic information for comprehensive analysis of the hexaploid sweet potato genome and for breeding of improved sweet potato cultivars. Read more.