Mihyangbyeo, a new japonica aromatic rice (Oryza sativa L.) was developed by National Honam Agricultural Experiment Station (NHAES), RDA in 1998. It was derived from the three-way cross among Seomjinbyeo of the disease resistance and high yielding lines,

“Hoanbyeo” is a new japonica rice cultivar developed from a cross between Kanto149 and Milyang95 by the rice breeding team of National Honam Agricultural Experiment Station (NHAES), RDA, during 1990 to 1998. This cultivar requires about 121days of growth

An efficient system of rice microspore culture could contribute to the production of genetically modified rice. The microspores were isolated by mechanical or shed methods. The number of microspores per 100 anthers isolated at uninucleate stage was higher than (or similar to) those at binucleate stage in isolation method with pestle or spatular, but microspore divisions were not easily observed on both stages. On the other hand, pollen division in shed pollen culture was observed more frequently at uninuclear than at binuclear stage. Cold pretreatment at 10~circC for 10 days resulted in the best multicellular division to produce microcalli at 12.5% efficiency in shed microspores. Heat shock at 33~circC for one hour before or after pollen shedding enhanced cell division and callus formation. Out of twelve green regenerants, two were haploids and ten were diploids based on the chromosome analysis of root tips. The size of stoma was 12m m in haploids and 15 ~mu~textrmm in diploids determined by scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Transgenic plants from hypocotyl segments of buckwheat were produced with the Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 harboring the binary vector pBI121 containing chimeric genes of neomycin phosphotransferase II (npt II) and β -glucuronidase (gus). Two weeks after co-cultivation with Agrobacterium, most of the hypocotyl segments gradually became brown and died on the selection medium containing 100mg/~ell of kanamycin. Plants regenerated from the hypocotyl explants grown on selection medium were GUS-positive in the leaf, stem and vascular tissues by histochemical assay, and varied in gus activity (440-2568 pmol, 4-MU/mg protein) by fluorimetry. The plants showing GUS activity were confirmed of containing GUS and NPT-II genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Within 3 months, transgenic buckwheat plants were able to obtained from the hypocotyl segments.

To select new germplasm for salinity tolerance from new plant type (NPT) breeding lines, the sixty F4 lines selected from the crosses between Korean cultivars and IRRI's NPT lines were evaluated for salinity tolerance at the seedling stage with salinized culture solution (EC=12 dS/m) in the controlled conditions. Two NTP lines derived from a cross between 'Ilmibyeo' and 'IR66152-AC5-1', 'HR15258-7-1' and 'HR15258-27-1', were found to have good tolerance. The salinity tolerance of the lines was compared to their parents and the sensitive ('IR29') and tolerant ('Pokkali') checks in three salinity levels, no salinity (control) and an EC of 12 and 16 dS/m. Visual salinity score, shoot Na+ and Na-K ratio in two NPT lines was significantly low compared with the parents and IR29. Indicating that salinity tolerance of the lines might be derived from a transgressive segregation. The relative water content of the lines was higher than Pokkali, and the dry weight of shoot and root was proportionally decreased to salinity score and salinizing concentration. The visual salinity scores were significantly correlated with shoot Na concentration, Na-K ratio, relative water content, and reduction of dry weight (P<0.01). Their tolerance was attributed to root and shoot characteristics that led to high shoot water content, thus diluting the toxic effect of salts