"Sunny Gold", an Asiatic lily variety was released by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), in 2006. A cross was made between a yellow colored Asiatic lily variety "Mona" and a light yellow colored Asiatic lily variety "A93-15(Sunray x Foxtrot)" in 1996. Selection was made in the natural cultivation condition from the progenies derived from the cross between "Mona" and "A93-15" in 1998. The flower characteristics and performance of "Sunny Gold (line name was Wonkyo C1-88)" were investigated from 2000 to 2005. Although its flowering time is middle of the June, year-round cut flower production was possible by storing the bulbs at -1 or -2℃. It has unspotted, upward facing, and yellow petals with no fragrance. The plant height is 87.3 cm. The width of flower is 14.2 cm. The weight and circumstance of bulb are 15.2 g and 10.9 cm, respectively. For forcing culture, it is necessary to add calcium to the fertilizer or remove side scales to prevent leaf scorch. Botrytis disease should be properly controlled especially in wet season.

"Pinky Smile", an Asiatic lily variety was released by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI), in 2006. A cross was made between a light pink colored Asiatic lily variety "Marlene" and a white colored Asiatic lily variety "Pinguin" in 1998. Selection was made in the natural cultivation condition from the progenies derived from the cross between "Marlene" and "Pinguin" in 2000. The flower characteristics and performance of "Pinky Smile (line name was Wongyo C1-82)" were investigated from 2001 to 2005. Although its flowering time is early June, year-round cut flower production was possible by storing the bulbs at -1 or -2℃. It has unspotted, upward facing, and ivory-pink (RP62A+W155B) petals with no fragrance. The plant height is 107 cm. The width of flower is 13.9 cm. The weight and circumstance of bulb are 39.3 g and 15.4 cm, respectively. For forcing culture, it is necessary to add calcium to the fertilizer or remove side scales to prevent leaf scorch. Botrytis disease should be properly controlled especially in wet season.

A new gerbera variety 'Claret' was released by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2006. A cross was made between 'Rako' with pink and semi-double and 'Sessile' with orange and single in 2000. After investigation of the characteristics for 6 years (from 2000 to 2006), it was selected specially for the use of cut-flower. 'Claret' is vigorous cultivar with purple and semi-double. It produces a large yield with continuous supply of flowers and has adequate peduncle height and brilliant color. We believe that 'Claret' has a great potential for expanding cultivated area of domestic mini-gerbera cultivar and increasing farmers-income.

A new gerbera variety 'Peach Honey' was released by the National Horticultural Research Institute (NHRI) in 2006. A cross was made between 'Ansofie' with white and semi-double and 'Lilabella' with pink and semi-double in 2000. After investigation of the characteristics for 6 years (from 2000 to 2006), it was selected specially for the use of cut-flower. 'Peach Honey' is vigorous cultivar with salmon and semi-double. It produces a large yield with continuous supply of flowers and has adequate peduncle height and brilliant color. We believe that 'Peach Honey' has a great potential for expanding cultivated area of domestic gerbera cultivar and increasing farmers-income.

Magnaporthe oryzae is a causal pathogen of the rice blast, the most destructive disease of rice worldwide. This ascomycete fungus has been intensively studied as a model organism in plant-pathogen interactions. Recently, the genome sequence of M. oryzae 70-15 was published by International Rice Blast Consortium. This led us to investigate comparative and functional analysis of this pathogen at genome-wide level. As a first step, sequencing project of M. oryzae Korean strain KJ201 was launched to face practical interests on diversity of plant pathogens. We constructed a fosmid library with a copy number controllable pCC1 vector. Over 13,000 end reads from 6637 fosmid clones were generated and anchored on genome sequence of the strain 70-15. Currently, 9,793 end reads, in which 2.684, clones with both ends and 1,757 clones with on end matched, are aligned to the sequence of strain 70-15. In the next step, shotgun sequencing of fosmid clones was conducted for fine scale comparative analysis of chromosome 7 that is well defined in genome sequencing of 70-15. Totally 119 fosmid clones were pooled in region and analyzed. For reasonable intra-species comparison in genome of M. oryzae, two strains, KJ201 and Guy11, were chosen for whole genome shotgun sequencing analysis with GS454 FLX system. About 8X genome coverage sequences were obtained for each strain and being merged for comparative analysis. Genome information of other strains is being also available from China and Japanese research groups and could be joined together for extended comparative analysis and the results give more detail in genome diversity in species level.

An effective rapid propagation method was established through in vitro cultures of the medicinal plant, Cudrania tricuspidata. In vitro plantlets were obtained from in vitro germinated seeds. The various levels of cytokinins (BAP, Kinetin and TDZ) were tested on multiple shoot formation from plantlets. BAP (1.0 mg/l) treatment induced highest number of multiple shoots. Single shoot cultures gave higher initial shoot numbers than 5 shoots per culture. Among the various culture media, the shoot elongation was optimal on 2 MS basal medium without growth regulators. The IAA (2.0 mg/l) treatment induced highest number of roots. IBA (2.0 mg/l) treatment more promoted in vitro root growth than other concentrations. Rooted shoots were transferred directly to small pots with an artificial soil and successfully acclimatized.

‘Seohong’ was bred within the potato breeding program of National Institute of Highland Agriculture (NIHA). It was originated from a cross made in 1997 between ‘Jashim’ as a female and 93K65-1 as a male parent. Seohong was evaluated as a seedling number 97S05-1 for tuber characteristics, growth and yielding ability from 2001 to 2002, and than this clone was renamed as Daegwan 1-82. This clone was evaluated in the regional yield trial and the disease resistance in the five locations for three years. Finally, this clone was named as ‘Seohong’ and registered a new recommended potato cultivar in 2006. This cultivar has a round, shallow eye depth, light red-skinned tuber characteristics and low to medium dry matter content. It showed high resistance to common scab (Streptomyces scabies) and potato leaf roll virus (PLRV), however it was susceptible to potato virus Y (PVY) and late blight (Phytophthora infestans). Its mean tuber yields from the regional yield trial and winter cropping trial were 12 and 49 percent higher than that of ‘Superior’, respectively.

Hopyeongbyeo is an anther culture derived Japonica rice (Oriza sativa L.) cultivar from the cross between Hitomebore and Hwajinbyeo by the rice breeding team of Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA, in 2003. This cultivar has a about 126 days growth duration from transplanting to harvesting. The short and round grain shape of Hopyeongbyeo is translucent with non-glutinous endosperm. Amylose content of rice grain is about 17.8% and high palatability of cooked rice compared with Nampyeongbyeo. This cultivar shows resistant to bacterial blight pathogenes of K1. The milled rice yield of Hopyeongbyeo is about 5.13MT/ha at ordinary transplanting culture in the local adaptability test. Hopyeongbyeo would be adaptable for the southern plain area of Korea.