Soil consists of various inorganic chemicals. Most of the inorganic chemicals are vital nutrients for plant growth. However, plants absorb not only nutrients but also hazardous inorganic chemicals that exists in only trace amounts in soils. Among hazardous inorganic chemicals in food, arsenic and cadmium in rice have particularly attracted worldwide attention. Since rice, staple food in Japan, is a dominant source of arsenic, there is a need to reduce arsenic concentration during rice growth. The Inorganic Chemicals Group conducts a wide range of research on arsenic mitigation in rice, from genetic and molecular level to field scale.
Our ongoing projects are as follows.
- Identification of genes and elucidation of their mechanisms in controlling arsenic absorption and accumulation in rice
- Development of rice lines by transferring useful genes to reducing arsenic in grain
- Development of smart water management system for arsenic mitigation
- Development of management practices with the application of amendments for arsenic reduction while improving grain yield and quality
Our group is also developing a method to rapidly predict crop pollution by airborne radionuclides to prepare for an unexpected nuclear disaster.
