The aim of this study was to isolate chicken feather-degrading bacteria with high keratinolytic activity and to investigate cultural conditions affecting keratinolytic enzyme production by a selected isolate. A chicken feather-degrading bacterial strain CH3 was isolated from poultry wastes. Isolate CH3 degraded whole chicken feather completely within 3 days. On the basis of phenotypical and 16S rDNA studies, isolate CH3 was identified as Bacillus thuringiensis CH3. This strain is the first B. thuringiensis described as a feather degrader. The bacterium grew with an optimum at pH 8.0 and 37℃, where maximum keratinolytic activity was also observed. The composition of optimal medium for keratinolytic enzyme production was feather 0.1%, sucrose 0.7%, casein 0.3%, K2HPO4 0.03%, KH2PO4 0.04%, MgCl2 0.01% and NaCl 0.05%, respectively. The keratinolytic enzyme had a pH and temperature optima 9.0 and 45℃, respectively. The keratinolytic activity was inhibited ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, and metal ions like Hg2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+. The enzyme activated by Fe2+, dithiothreitol and 2-mercaptoethanol.

“Hwanggeumchal”, a new covered waxy cultivar derived from the cross between “Chalssalbori” and “Milyang 65” with waxy endosperm and early maturing cultivars, respectively was developed at Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA, 2006. The origin of “Hwanggeumchal” is “Suwon 403” (SB942090-B-B-B-42-1). The initial cross was made in 1994 and the selected line showed a high yield and good quality characteristics under yield trial test in 2003. “Suwon 403” consistently performed well for three years (2004-2006) from the four locations of regional yield trial (RYT) in Korea and released as “Hwanggeumchal”. The characteristics of “Hwanggeumchal” were the following: rate I growth habit, green leaf and stem, compact spike and with long rough awns. The heading date was April 30 in upland and April 28 in paddy field, which was 1 and 4 days later than that with check cultivar, “Seodunchalbori”. The culm length was 81 cm which was 3 cm shorter than those with check cultivar. It showed spike length of 4.5 cm and 633 spikes per m2, 64 grains per spike, 27.6 g of 1,000-grain weight and 632 g of test weight. It showed stronger winter hardiness and higher resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) than those with check cultivar. It had yellow aleurone and showed higher water absorption, expansion rate and total phenol content than those of check cultivar, but lower protein, β-glucan content and pearling rate. The average yield of the pearled grain in the RYT was 4.04 ton ha-1 in upland and 4.12 ton ha-1 in paddy field, which was 10% higher and 4% lower than that of the check cultivar, respectively. This cultivar would be suitable for the area above the daily minimum mean temperature of -8℃ in January in Korean peninsula.

“Hyemi”, a new covered cultivar derived from the crosses between “Suwon 298” and “Milyang 34/Albori//Dongbori” developed at the Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), NICS, RDA in 2006. The origin of “Hyemi” is “Suwon 400” (SB951032-B-B-B-28). The initial cross was made in 1995 and the selected line showed a high yield and good quality characteristics under yield trial test in 2003. “Suwon 400” consistently performed well for three years (2004-2006) from the four locations of regional yield trial (RYT) in Korea and released as “Hyemi”. The characteristics of “Hyemi” were the following: rate Ⅳ growth habit, green leaf and stem, compact spike and with long rough awns. The heading date was April 29 in upland and April 23 in paddy field, which was similar and 2 days earlier than that with check cultivar, “Olbori”. The culm length was 81 cm which was 4 cm shorter than those with check cultivar. It showed spike length of 4.1 cm and 646 spikes per m2, 52 grains per spike, 33.4 g of 1,000-grain weight and 672 g of test weight. It showed similar winter hardiness and higher resistance to barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) than those with check cultivar. It showed higher protein content, whiteness and total phenol content than those of the check cultivar, but lower β-glucan content and pearling rate. The average yield of the pearled grain in the RYT was 3.95 ton ha-1 in upland and 4.38 ton ha-1 in paddy field, which was 13% and 16% higher than that of the check cultivar, respectively. This cultivar would be suitable for the area above the daily minimum mean temperature of -8℃ in January in Korean peninsula.

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.

A new six-rowed naked waxy barley variety, ‘Saehanchal’, was developed by the barley breeding team of the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), R.D.A. This variety was derived from a cross between ‘SB7803G-BC6-B-B-47-2’ and ‘Suwon262’ in 1989. The fi

‘Taegang’ is a new six-rowed covered barley cultivar developed by the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), R.D.A. This cultivar is developed from a cross between ‘Suwon287’ and ‘Olbori’ in 1992. An F8 selection was made at NCES in 2000 and it was te

“Daeshin” (Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton), a new cultivar for leaf vegetable, was developed from a cross between YPL5 (Ipdeulkkae1/YCPL187) and Milyang2 at the National Yeongnam Agricultural Experiment Station (NYAES), RDA, in 2002. For the cultivation of leaf vegetable perilla, seeds are sown in narrow spacing of 10 × 5 cm and all branches are removed to harvest uniform leaves from main stem. Because of the narrow planting distance, it is difficult to distinguish seeds from soil in dark brown seed cultivar. Therefore the gray-white size color of “Daeshin” is very useful characteristic for easier sawing in perilla cultivation. “Daeshin” grow vigorously and yield high quality leaf. The fresh leaf yield of “Daeshin” is 9% higher than that of “Ipdeulkkae 1” (4,823 vs. 4,459 kg/10a). For the leaf production, “Daeshin” is adaptable to whole arable land in South Korea. However, the southern parts of Korea such as South Gyeongsang and South Jeolla provinces are appropriate for the seed production.

Soybean seeds contain high amounts of isoflavones that display biological effects and isoflavone content of soybean seed can vary by year, environment, and genotype. Objective of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci that underlie isoflavone content in soybean seeds. The study involved 85 F2 populations derived from Korean soybean cultivar 'Kwangkyo' and wild type soybean 'IT182305' for QTL analysis associated with isoflavone content. Isoflavone content of seeds was determined by HPLC. The genetic map of 33 linkage groups with 207 markers was constructed. The linkage map spanned 2,607.5 cM across all 33 linkage groups. The average linkage distance between pair of markers among all linkage groups was 12.6 cM in Kosambi map units. Isoflavone content in F2 generations varied in a fashion that suggested a continuous, polygenic inheritance. Eleven markers (4 RAPD, 3 SSR, 4 AFLP) were significantly associated with isoflavone content. Only two markers, Satt419 and CTCGAG3 had F-tests that were significant at P<0.01 in F2 generation for isoflavone content. Interval mapping using the F2 data revealed only two putative QTLs for isoflavone content. The peak QTL region on linkage group 3, which was near OPAG03c, explained 14~% variation for isoflavone content. The peak QTL region on linkage group 5, which was located near OPN14 accounted for 35.3~% variation for isoflavone content. Using both Map-Maker-QTL (LOD~geq2.0) and single-factor analysis (P~leq0.05) , one marker, CTCGAG3 in linkage group 3 was associated with QTLs for isoflavone content. This information would then be used in identification of QTLs for isoflavone content with precision

Soybean is a major source of protein meal in the world. Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) protein is responsible for the inferior nutritional quality of unheated or incompletely heated soybean meal. The objective of this research was to identify RAPD markers linked to KTI protein allele using bulked segregant analysis. Cultivar Jinpumkong2 (TiTi) was crossed with C242 (titi, absence of KTI protein) and F. seeds were planted. The F1 . plants were grown in the greenhouse to produce F2 seeds. Each F2 seed from F1 . plants was analysed electrophoretically to determine the presence of the KTI protein band. The present and absent bulks contained twenty individuals each, which were selected on the basis of the KTI protein electrophoresis, respectively. Total 94 F2 individuals were constructed and 1,000 Operon random primers were used to identify RAPD primers linked to the Ti locus. The presence of KTI protein is dominant to the lack of a KTI protein and Kunitz trypsin inhibit protein band is controlled by a single locus. Four RAPD primers (OPAC12, OPAR15, OPO12, and OPC08) were linked to the Ti locus. RAPD primer OPO12 was linked to Ti locus, controlling kunitz trypsin inhibitor protein at a distance of 16.0 cM. This results may assist in study of developing fine map including Ti locus in soybean.

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,