The MAFF Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council in collaboration with the agricultural technology association selects 10 research achievements every year with high-impact and significant contribution to society. The high-impact research achievements are selected from research outputs of national research institutes, public research institutes, universities and private enterprises published in newspapers. Eight researches from NARO were among the ten research achievements selected for 2023.
Estimation of chilling hours of fruit trees
- Aids forcing cultivation management of fruit trees on smartphone -
Deciduous fruit trees such as peaches and pears must be exposed to a certain range of low temperatures for a certain period in the preceding fall and winter for their bud breaking.
In forcing cultivation, where early harvesting can be profitable, smartphone can display the chilling hours accumulated by using the system developed by NARO. This will support the farmers to determine appropriate time for covering and heating of plastic houses of fruit trees, which will lead to improvement of the flowering rate and unifying the flowering period. It is also expected to improve the productivity by eliminating unnecessary heating costs.
Related Press Release
https://www.naro.go.jp/english/laboratory/nifts/press/fruitforecast/index.html
Safety sowing of seeds even after rainfall!
- Development of a dry paddy field direct seeding technology that performs ridge-making simultaneously -
In the northern Kyushu region, where a double cropping system of barley-paddy rice and wheat-soybean is practiced, it was necessary to develop a dry paddy field direct seeding technology that would allow rapid sowing of barley after harvest and prevention of water leakage simultaneously. NARO and I-OTA LLC have jointly developed a "Ridge-forming direct seeder'' that allows paddy rice to be directly sown in dry field even after rainfall. It has a direct sowing section that prevents soil from adhering to it and has a structure in which seeds are sown on top of hard ridges. This technology helps to achieve rapid sowing of seeds, prevention of moisture damage, and is expected to contribute to the spread of stable double cropping.
"Benihinata" a sweet potato foot rot resistant cultivar for table use
- Contributes to stable production of sweet potatoes in southern Kyushu -
NARO has developed a new sweet potato cultivar for table use "Benihinata" which is highly resistant to foot rot disease. In a field severely infested with foot rot, the proportion of apparently healthy tubers was less than 10% of the total tubers harvested, whereas in "Benihinata", more than 80% were apparently healthy. "Benihinata" is expected to be a promising cultivar in Miyazaki & Kagoshima prefectures, and can contribute to reduce the damage caused by foot rot and stable production of sweet potatoes.
Development of pest control technique using high-power laser
- New technology that uses laser beam to shoot down pests -
By zapping of a blue semiconductor laser, Osaka University and NARO have successfully shot down the tobacco cutworm Spodoptera litura, known as one of the notorious moth pests, that some populations develop chemical pesticide resistance in Asia. The research team discovered that the thorax and head are the vital points of the moth and also developed a technology for tracking and predicting flight position and sniping at the flying moth. This technology is expected to be able to control pests without using chemical pesticides.
Related Press Release
https://www.naro.go.jp/english/laboratory/nipp/press/3d/index.html
Remote monitoring of insect pest occurrence
- Development of an IoT-based monitoring device that automates investigation of insect pest occurrences -
NARO has developed a monitoring device that combines an IoT camera and a pheromone trap to automatically collect insect pest occurrence data remotely on a daily basis. The developed device would contribute to improving agricultural production by providing prompt information on insect pest occurrences to farmers to carry out efficient spraying pesticide at the right time.
Related Press Release
https://www.naro.go.jp/english/topics/laboratory/wenarc/160989.html
Accelerated degradation of biodegradable plastic products with enzyme treatment
- Aids in waste reduction and minimize the mulch film processing effort -
NARO has demonstrated the accelerated degradation of biodegradable mulch film using an enzyme derived from yeast, which lives in rice. We have already developed a method to produce this enzyme in large quantities. In future we aim to produce enzyme with more efficiency at affordable cost and its practical application by spraying on mulch film in open vegetable fields.
Related Press Release
https://www.naro.go.jp/english/laboratory/niaes/press/degradation/index.html
New fluffy sweet potato cultivar "Himeazuma"
- Successor of "Beniazuma", suitable for both greengrocery and confectionery processing -
NARO has developed new sweet potato cultivar "Himeazuma". "Himeazuma" has similar flavor and texture to popular cultivar "Beniazuma", and it is suitable for both greengrocery and confectionery. "Himeazuma" is better than "Beniazuma" due to the special traits such as disease resistances, storability, root shape and root uniformity. Hence, "Himeazuma" is expected to be the successor of "Beniazuma", and it has been supplied through private seed companies, mainly in the Kanto region from FY 2023.
Breeding of a novel stem blight resistant asparagus cultivar "Asutama J"
- Innovative disease resistant cultivar with high yield potential even in stem blight-infected fields -
NARO in collaboration with Kagawa Prefecture, Tohoku University, and Kyushu University has developed "Asutama J", the first Japanese asparagus cultivar resistant to stem blight disease which is very difficult-to-control. Even in fields where the conventional cultivars cannot sustain due to stem blight disease, "Asutama J" can grow well, and stable yield is possible without fungicide application. We plan to begin the seed and seedling supply around FY 2028 through the development of suitable cultivation techniques and the propagation of parent stocks.
