M. pruinosa has been found on 98 families and 345 species of plants, indicating a wide host range. Since its first report in a persimmon orchard in Gimhae in 2009, it had spread to 126 municipalities over 12,429 ha. Because of powerful dispersal ability, it’s difficult to control with insecticides. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the population density through the release of M. pruinosa’s natural enemy, N. typhlocybae. N. typhlocybae females prey on or externally parasitize the nymphs of M. pruinosa. This natural enemy was introduced from Italy in 2017 through an international cooperative project between National Institute of Agricultural Sciences and University of Padova for controlling the sporadic pest, Metcalfa pruinosa. This study reported the results of mass rearing N. typhlocybae indoors and releasing them outdoors from 2020 to 2023 in 21 regions nationwide, showing an average parasitism rate of 27.3% and an average production of 7.9 cocoons per host, suggesting the possibility of their establishment in Korea.

We performed a survey for flavivirus infection and distribution of Aedes albopictus that known as Zika and Dengue virus vector using black–light trap and BG-sentinel trap around urban area in Korea. Mosquitoes were collected in 27 cities during March to November (twice a month) year 2016. Total numbers of mosquitoes collected 102,102 including 19 species 8 genera during collecting period. Total 21,467 Ae. albopictus was collected that 20,961(24.3%) by BG-sentinel trap and 506 (3.2%) by Black-light trap in urban area. Trap index(trap/night) of Ae. albopictus was showed highest in Hamyang (TI:992.3) and lowest in Taebaek (TI:0.3) there was only collected by Black-light trap. A total of 894 pools from all collecting Ae. albopictus were performed a Flavivirus detection. Flavivirus was not detected during study period. This study may provide basic information for surveillance of imported diseases (include Zika virus) and vectors in Korea.

Mungbean (Vigna radiata) is a fast-growing, warm-season legume crop that is primarily cultivated in developing countries of Asia. We constructed a draft genome sequence of mungbean to facilitate genome research into the subgenus Ceratotropis and to enable a better understanding of the evolution of leguminous species. The draft genome sequence covers 80% of the estimated genome, of which 50.1% consists of repetitive sequences. In total, 22,427 high confidence protein-coding genes were predicted. Based on the de novo assembly of additional wild mungbean species, the divergence of what was eventually domesticated and the sampled wild mungbean species appears to have predated domestication. Moreover, the de novo assembly of a tetraploid Vigna species (Vigna reflexo-pilosa var. glabra) provided genomic evidence of a recent allopolyploid event. To further study speciation, we compared de novo RNA-seq assemblies of 22 accessions of 18 Vigna species and protein sets of Glycine max and Cajanus cajan. The species tree was constructed by a Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo method using highly confident orthologs shared by all 24 accessions. The present assembly of V. radiata var. radiata will facilitate genome research and accelerate molecular breeding of the subgenus Ceratotropis.

A new black seed coat soybean variety, “Socheong” was developed at the Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute (YARI) in 2006. The goal to breed the black seed coat soybean is to develop the cultivar with high yield, lodging tolerance, resistant to disease such as soybean mosaic virus (SMV), and bacterial pustule and seed size. Socheong was selected from the cross between Milyang 78, which was late maturing, susceptible to lodging and SMV and with large seed size and green cotyledon, and Peking which was tolerant to lodging and with small seed size. The preliminary, advanced and regional yield trials for evaluation and selection of this variety were carried out from 2002 to 2006. It has determinate growth habit, white flower, brown pubescence, brown pod color, black seed coat, green cotyledon, elongated flattened seed shape, oval leaf shape and small seed size (15.7 grams per 100 seeds), and it was 3 days later in maturity than the check cultivar Cheongjakong. Socheong was higher, in the seed quality of sucrose and total sugar contents (6.8 and 8.2%) and isoflavone contents (1,754 ㎍/g) than the check cultivar. Futhermore, it has good characteristics for mechanical harvest, such as lodging tolerance, pod shattering and stem diameter. It also has been identified to have resistance to soybean mosaic virus symptom which was the troublesome soybean diseases. The average yield of Socheong was 2.21 ton per hectare in the regional yield trials carried out in four locations of Korea among seven locations from 2004 to 2006, which was 5 percent lower than the check cultivar Cheongjakong.

A new black seed coat soybean cultivar, “Heugmi” was developed at the Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute (YARI) in 2006. The goal to breed the black seed coat soybean is to develop the cultivar with high yield, lodging tolerance, resistant to disease such as soybean mosaic virus (SMV), and bacterial pustule and seed size. Heugmi was selected from the cross between Milyang 78, which was late maturing, susceptible to lodging and SMV and with large seed size and green cotyledon, and Milyang 68, which was middle maturing, resistant to lodging and SMV and with middle seed size and yellow cotyledon. The preliminary, advanced and regional yield trials for evaluation and selection of this cultivar were carried out from 2001 to 2006. It has determinate growth habit, purple flower, brown pubescence, black pod color, black seed coat, green cotyledon, spherical seed shape, oval leaf shape and middle seed size (24.8 grams per 100 seeds), and it was 2 days earlier in maturity than the check cultivar Cheongjakong. Heugmi was better in the seed quality of crude protein contents, sucrose and total sugar contents than the check cultivar. It also has been identified to have resistance to SMV which was the troublesome soybean diseases. The average yield of Heugmi was 2.53 ton per hectare in the regional yield trials carried out in seven locations of Korea from 2004 to 2006, which was 8 percent higher than the check cultivar Cheongjakong.