Laos People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) is a country selected by Korea’s priority foreign policy – New Southern Policy. It is also one of Korea’s 24 priority partner countries. The objective of this study was to understand the current status of rice industry and recommendations for improving rice productivity in Laos based on “Agriculture Development Strategy to 2025 and Vision to the Year 2030” published by the Lao government. In Laos, major crops are rice, vegetables, maize, coffee, cassava, sugar cane, and others. Laos achieved rice self-sufficiency in 1999. Its rice production reached up to 3,580,000 tons in 2018. It aims to harvest a total of 5 million tons of paddy rice with a target yield of approx. 1.5 million tons in 2025. Rice consumption per capita totals 160 kg/year in Laos, the highest in the world. The national nutrient program sets its targets as follows: of 2,600 kcal, a recommended daily calorie intake for adults, it aims to lower rice and starch, while increasing calories from meat, vegetables, fat, and so on. This shows that the rice policy is formulated with consideration of improving health of people in Laos as well as boosting rice exports. Based on the agricultural policy and strategy of Laos, it is viewed that the rice industry in Laos can advance further and produce results only when rice industry is linked to the following areas: economic development, farm size expansion, higher productivity through novel varieties and cultivation technologies, scaling-up of agricultural mechanization, greater efficiency in processing, and infrastructure expansions such as roads and reservoirs. If an ODA (Official Development Assistance) project takes a tailored approach considering its actor-specific characters and tasks, it is believed that the project can contribute to the goal of securing sustainability for the rice industry.
This study was performed to select the optimum combinations of a cropping system by using kenaf and four forage crops on the reclaimed land, Saemangum, in Korea. First, kenaf was cultivated for 168 days from May to mid October, and then, four forage crops, such as barley, Italian ryegrass (IRG), rye, and triticale, were cultivated from late October to May next year. The agronomic performances and physiochemical analyses of kenaf and four forage crops were investigated. The kenaf yield on the reclaimed land was 2.4 t/10a compared to the upland field’s yield of 3.25 t/10a. The germination percentage of IRG was the highest in the solution of 0.3% NaCl in comparison with the other forage crops. The agronomic performances of forage crops were estimated twice during the vegetative period. A significant difference in dry weight was observed in barley at 30 days of sowing. On second investigation at 160 days of sowing, the highest plant height was found in rye and the dry weight of IRG was the lowest. At harvest time, rye showed a significant difference in the plant height of 159.8 cm and fresh weight was the highest in IRG. At this time, there was a big difference in the dry weight of rye and IRG compared to barley and triticale. With respect to the K+/Na+ ratio, rye showed the highest increase in the K+/Na+ ratio over the other crops when cultivated on the reclaimed land. With respect to the effect of the kenaf extract on the four winter crops, the extract from kenaf reduced the germination of IRG by 81.7%. With respect to the silage quality estimation, there was no increase in barley in terms of total digestible nutrient (TDN). Taken together, IRG would be useful for the silage and rye would be useful for green manure on the reclaimed land after cultivating kenaf.
‘Buddybell’ is a promising crabapple variety developed as a pollinizer at the Apple Research Institute, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Korea, in 2019. This variety was selected from seedlings obtained by natural crossing of Malus baccata. It was collected from Mt. Jeombong, Inje-gun, and Gangwon-do. Line selections were conducted from 2009 to 2016, and characteristic evaluations were performed from 2009 to 2010. Tree vigor and tree form of ‘Buddybell’ were medium and upright, respectively. The first flowering time was early, around April 16, and the flowering period was as long as 14 days. The flowers of ‘Buddybell’ were pink in the balloon stage and white in full bloom. ‘Buddybell’ has a high fruit setting rate with major apple varieties(‘Fuji’, ‘Hongro’, and ‘Tsugaru’). The amount of pollen weight per 1,000 inflorescence of ‘Buddybell’ was 2.5 times higher than that of 'Maypole'; hence, it is highly useful as a pollinizer in apple orchard. ‘Buddybell’ was officially applied for variety protection on Korea Seed & Variety Service in 2020 (Application no.2020-237).
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of summer green manure crops as an alternative for imported expeller cake fertilizer on environment-friendly lettuce production. Sunnhemp, soybean, sudangrass, and sorghum, as summer green manure crops, were evaluated under the condition of a plastic film house. In the amount of nitrogen supplied through cultivation of green manure crops, soybean plot, which supplied 187 kg ha-1, was the highest, followed by sorghum plot, 156 kg ha-1. Since all green manure plots supplied more nitrogen than that required by soil testing, it was possible to replace the nitrogen supply of expeller cake fertilizer with the amount of nitrogen produced by green manures for autumn lettuce cultivation. N nutrient balances in sunnhemp, sudangrass, soybean, and sorghum plots were 13 kg ha-1, 28 kg ha-1, 30 kg ha-1, and 38 kg ha-1, respectively. The initial yield and total yield of lettuce showed no significant difference in green manure plots compared to the expeller cake plot, but . It was thought that all green manure crops could be substituted for expeller cake fertilizer used as nitrogen fertilizer, but it would be necessary to adjust the cultivation period and reduction point according to the type of green manure in order to maintain the C/N ratio, nitrogen supply, and nitrogen balance suitable for lettuce production.
The purpose of this study is to present the future policy direction in terms of sustainability through the diagnosis of trends related to the domestic and foreign agricultural development cooperation between Korea and Myanmar, considering the internal and external situation of Myanmar, such as military coup and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Agriculture accounts for the third largest share of Myanmar's entire industry, after the service industry and manufacturing industry. In fact, agriculture accounts for more than 22% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Myanmar, and the agriculture industry employs 68% of the total labor population, making agriculture one of the national infrastructure industries representing Myanmar. However, sluggish production structure and sluggish agricultural modernization have hindered the competitiveness of Myanmar's agricultural development projects. In this study, the following directions were derived based on the existing policy trends and current status from the perspective of cooperation in agricultural development projects between Korea and Myanmar: First, it is necessary to take into account the long-term policies and strategies that fully consider Myanmar's internal and external conditions. Second, technical discussions following the Fourth Industrial Revolution need to be performed not only at the government level, but also at the private level. Finally, the impact of political instability in Myanmar requires continuous diplomatic monitoring, research on agricultural technology transfer, and establishment of cooperative governance with universities.
‘Roko 20’ is high-yielding, medium-maturity japonica rice variety adaptable to Romania and Turkey. It was developed and registered (Registration Nr. 6578 in ISTIS, Romania) from a cross between ‘Haedamssal’ and the salt resistant Romanian cultivar ‘Polizesti 28’ in 2021. The vegetation period of ‘Roko 20’ was 121 days in Turkey and 136 days in Romania. The culm length of ‘Roko 20’ was 80 cm, and the 1,000-grain weight of paddy rice was 31.0 g. The ripening ratio was similar to that of the control cultivar ‘Polizesti 28’ at 81%, and the proportion of amylose content of brown rice was 18.5%, which was slightly lower than that of the control cultivar ‘Polizesti 28’ (20.2%). The paddy rice yield was 18% higher than that of the control cultivar with 8,535 kg/ha. The proportion of brown rice and milled rice recovery was 81.6% and 65%, respectively. However, the head rice was slightly lower (44% in Turkey and 49% in Romania) than that in ‘Polizesti 28’ (52%).
The annual consumption of kiwifruit in Korea is about 50,000 tons, and the gold-fleshed cultivar has increased to about 30% among cultivated ones, but the green-fleshed kiwifruit is still the most at about 60%. The green-fleshed kiwifruit, which was introduced in the late 1970s, is relatively sour and tasteless for consumers compared to the gold-fleshed one. This acts as an obstacle to the increase in domestic kiwifruit consumption. Therefore, to promote kiwifruit consumption by breeding green-fleshed kiwifruits that are not sour and are delicious. ‘Garmrok’, bred in 2013, is a green-fleshed variety that was officially registered as No. 6038 according to the Plant Variety Protection Act by the Commissioner of the Korea Seed and Variety Service in 2016, and it is being distributed through contracts with the Rural Development Administration (RDA). Field crossing was conducted in 2003 at the Namhae branch of the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, and the maternal parent was germplasm collection IT233199 (Actinidia deliciosa) introduced in China, and the paternal parent was germplasm collection IT233198 (A. deliciosa) also introduced in China. The 2003-3-152 line with high soluble solid content (SSC) and good taste was first selected in 2009, and it was finally selected in 2013 by a detailed characteristic observation and evaluation through trunk-graft proliferation. It is a variety with less sour taste and higher sweetness compared to the existing dominant green-fleshed cultivar ‘Hayward’. It weighs 80 to 120 g, has a SSC of 14 to 18 °Brix, and has a low acid content of 0.3 to 0.7%. The full blooming is May 15-20, and the harvest season is 160-170 days after anthesis, which is expected to relieve the risk of frost damage during the harvest season.
Chinese cabbage or pakchoi (Brassica Rapa subsp. Chinensis) is one of the most popular vegetables in Korea. It is grown and consumed throughout the year because it has many benefits. This study reports on the growth performance of pakchoi grown in the hydroponic system using a Food Juke Box (FJB) under different light compositions. The chlorophyll content (CC), root fresh weight (RFW), and shoot fresh weight (SFW) were measured. Further, various vegetation indices (VIs), such as modified chlorophyll absorption in reflectance index (MCARI1), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), optimized soil-adjusted vegetation index (OSAVI), and structure insensitive pigment index (SIPI), were employed to predict SFW. The study results indicated a significant increase in the CC of pakchoi with different light treatments compared with the control. The CC was highest under treatment with 70% white light, 20% blue light, and 10% red light (T1) than under treatment with 50% white light, 30% blue light, and 20% red light (T2). All used VIs showed significant differences with different light combination treatments. There was no significant change in RFW and SFW between the control and T1. However, a significant reduction in RFW and SFW was observed in T2 compared with the control. A comparison between T1 and T2 demonstrated that RFW and SFW were increased by 23% and 25%, respectively, compared with those in T2. The correlation result showed that SFW had a significant positive correlation with RFW (0.76***). Further, a significant negative correlation was observed with OSAVI (−0.25*), MCARI1 (−0.54***), and CC (−0.19*). In conclusion, our findings implied that different light combinations in pakchoi affected the photosynthetic pigments although they did not improve SFW. This research will pave the way for pakchoi production in hydroponics using smart farming FJB. This will further promote plant development, especially for domestic consumption, and help fulfill the growing demand for leafy vegetables.
This study aimed to develop a questionnaire that is suitable for the resident-participatory ODA evaluation to minimize the bias and insufficient scientific rigor in the self-made questionnaire developed by evaluators. A modified Delphi survey was conducted twice with 16 ODA experts who had experience in international cooperative development in the fields of rural development, education, health, and poverty. Sixty-two questions were finally selected for resident-participatory ODA evaluation: 7 questions on relevance, 8 questions on efficiency, 9 questions on effectiveness, 11 questions on impact, questions on for sustainability, 4 questions on gender mainstreaming and environmental impact, and 17 questions on spillover effect on the community. A resident survey with the newly developed questionnaire will generate high-quality data that can empirically analyze the causal-effect relationship between ODA activities and performance, and community changes, and it can also contribute to the development of a quantitative ODA evaluation tool at a local level of recipient countries.
This study was conducted at the National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) from 2010 to 2017 to develop a late-maturing variety with high productivity for cultivation in the southern region of South Korea. The new variety of Italian ryegrass, ‘IR901’, was a late-maturing variety, and its heading date was 22 May, 17 days later than that of the control variety ‘Kowinearly’. ‘IR901’ had a flag leaf width of 11.2 mm, flag leaf length of 31.8 cm, and plant length of 103 cm on its heading date. The combined average dry matter yield of ‘IR901’ in all three adaptability evaluation regions (Cheonan, Pyeongchang and Haenam) was 7,747 kg/ha, which was similar to that of the ‘Kowinearly’ variety (7,734 kg/ ha). However, the average dry matter yield over three years in Cheonan and Pyeongchang was 82% and 96%, respectively, compared to that of the control, which was most likely because of the poor cold tolerance of ‘IR901’. By contrast, in Haenam, in the southern region, the average dry matter yield of ‘IR901’ was 19% higher than that of the ‘Kowinearly’ variety. The proportions of crude protein (CP), total digestible nutrients (TDN), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in ‘IR901’ were 8.6%, 59.7%, 36.9%, and 54.8%, respectively; the proportions were 0.2% lower, the same, the same, and 2.5% lower than those in the ‘Kowinearly’ variety. The determined in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of ‘IR901’ was 72.2% higher than that of ‘Kowinearly’ (67.2). In general, of the two varieties, the forage quality of ‘IR901’ was marginally superior to that of ‘Kowinearly’.