Mutant populations generated by ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) have been used for crop improvement and functional genomics. Since pepper is very recalcitrant to be transformed, EMS mutagenesis can be a very useful to generate useful alleles and to characterize the function of genes. We have been developing a mutant population aiming at 5,000 mutants by treating EMS on seeds of C. annuum ‘Yuwolcho’. A total of 4,300 M1 mutants have been developed until now. Among the 4,300 M1 population, almost 800 M2 mutant lines have been phenotyped and evaluated to confirm the effect of EMS. We categorized seven key organ development and subdivided them into twenty secondary categories. Among them, 50 and 72 families have been shown variations in plant growth and leaf development, respectively. In addition, we detected nucleotide variations using HRM analysis in eIF4E and putative aminotransferase genes. These results demonstrated that our mutant population can be very useful for study function of genes in near future.

Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses in agriculture affecting major crops worldwide. Any step taken towards improvement of either crops or its growing conditions which enables the crop to produce comparable yield with less water will help substantially to combat this problem. Water regulating gel-like growth substrate called PRS claims to improve the water use of the plants and helps them to grow better and bigger with less water. To test this claim, we used two crops Pepper and Ficus to grow in pot system with and without PRS. To monitor their growth variation with detailed and precision phenotyping we used the high-throughput, non-destructive digital phenotyping platform- PhenoFab®. The continuous growth information enabled capturing of minor growth variations seen in the plants treated with and without PRS. Results reveal that no significant growth differences were found between PRS treated and non-treated plants, however the PRS treated plants needed 35% less water compared to the non-treated plants. Hence, PRS allows use of less water to grow plants.

Pollen development in flowering plants is regulated by a comprehensive pattern of genes. One way to produce hybrid rice based on nuclear male sterility is to find out firstly the potential promoters that function specifically in anthers since it is a specific site for transcription initiation and play key roles for the spatial and temporal expression of the genes. To implement this objective, we were selected promoter region of 16 genes based on the expression pattern of microarray and then those were introduced into the promoterless final destination vector which containing the GFP and GUS reporters genes. The resulting twelve vectors were transformed into monocotyledonous rice (Oryza sativa L) and a dicotyledonous Arabidopsis as heterologous system. Minimum 20 plants for each vector were analyzed by histochemical GUS assay at the flowering stage in Arabidopsis. 9 vectors out of 12 vectors constructed were expressed exclusively at the anther, especially in pollen, however one vector exhibited expression in stigma. For rice, T-DNA insertion were confirmed with specific primers in each promoter and GFP region. All T0 transgenic plants contained T-DNA insertion in their genome. This study would provide valuable information for biotechnological application for the induction of male sterility in plants.

As genotyping is becoming more of a commodity, the bottleneck in functional marker development is more and more shifted towards phenotyping. For this reason we invested in building a Crop Phenome Center at the KeyGene Wageningen facility at which we investigated various approaches for phenotype quality improvements. The KeyGene Crop Phenome Center focuses on a robust phenotyping platform in a greenhouse setup (PhenoFab) that allows for digital phenotyping as an approach to acquire more precise phenotypic data. The phenotyping is based on imaging technology and uses the potential of a track that moves all plants fully automated through the greenhouse compartment and scanning areas. The plants grow in individual containers and are photographed at pre-set points in time and from different angles. This approach was validated in various projects with diverse sets of crop plants and on both plant and root development. Data and conclusions of these experiments will be presented.

In 2006, 41% of newly-married Korean men living in agriculture or fishery area were married to foreign wives. These foreign wives suffer social, cultural, and psychological maladjustment. They need support in understanding Korean culture & language, economic independence, and mental health. This horticultural therapy program (HT program) was practiced to help the foreign wives gain emotional stability, to help them adapt to rural society, and to help them improve the relationship with their families. The participants of this HT program were 10 foreign wives, 5 Chinese, 2 Vietnamese, 1Japanese, 1 Thai, and 1 Filipina. Total sessions were 12, and each session lasted for two hours. This program started April and ended July in 2007. After this program, selfesteem of participants increased from 29.6 to 33.5, and stress decreased from 77.3 to 64.7. Participants also expressed sense of satisfaction and accomplishment after the program.

An Intergenerational Horticultural Program in a rural community in Korea was tried out to enhance social interaction between elderly citizens and children, to promote the positive self-esteem of the elderly in a rural community, to change the attitude of children towards the elderly, and to create a rural community full of vitality. The clients were 20 elderly (60-80 years old) and 40 preschool children (6-7 years old). The activities in this program included seed of hope, round autumn garden, dish garden, in the vegetable patch, flower decoration for the Chuseok Festival, rainbow flower basket, heart card, fragrance of love, and a kimchi party. The results were a decrease in depression among the elderly from 44.0% to 33.7%. General satisfaction among the elderly was 100%. The desire to rejoin among the elderly was 100%. General satisfaction among the children was 100%. The desire to rejoin among the children was 93.5%.