A total of 41 microsatellite markers were used with 29 genotypes to examine the relationship between SSR polymorphisms and N‐use efficiency related traits with a goal to identify the putative QTLs related to these traits. These primers yielded a total of 183 alleles (average 4.46 alleles per primer), and polymorphism information content (PIC) values of the SSRs ranged from 0.119 to 0.805 with mean value of 0.425. Correlation coefficients were obtained among the four N‐use efficiency traits in the 34 accessions and significant positive correlations of relative ratios between grain yield and harvest index (r=0.3404) and total dry matter (r=0.7976), while N uptake showed a moderate level of correlation with the ratios of the grain yield and total dry matter, respectively. 36.5% (15/41) SSR markers were monomorphic among the 25 japonica accessions out of the 29 accessions. Association between SSR genotypes and phenotypic performances from the total (29) or japonica (25) accessions was tested based on a single point analysis. Three putative QTL regions were detected for the ratio of grain yield. These include the chromosomal region containing the RM283 locus on chromosome 1 and RM25 on chromosome 8 (all and japonica accessions) and the region with the SSR marker, RM206 on chromosome 11 (the japonica accessions). For the total dry matter ratio, two chromosomal regions were identified as the putative QTL region. One is the region with the SSR marker, RM162 on chromosome 6 (all and japonica accessions) and the other was the one with the SSR marker RM25 on chromosome 8 (the japonica accessions). Among these markers, RM25 showed associations with both traits.

A new sprout-soybean cultivar, "Pungwon" was developed at the Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI), and National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) in 2006. "Pungwon" was selected from a cross between S193001 and Suwon 164. The preliminary, advanced, and regional yield trials for evaluation and selection of this line (Iksan 52) were carried out from 2002 to 2006. This cultivar has a determinate growth habit, white flower, grayish brown pubescence, yellow seed coat, yellow hilum, lanceolate leaflet shape and small seed size (10.9 grams per 100 seeds). The maturity date of "Pungwon" is seven days earlier than that of the check variety, "Pungsan". It has a good seed quality for soybean-sprout. The soybean-sprouts grown from "Pungwon" have high isoflavone (5,935 μg/g) and amino acid (160 mg/g) contents. This cultivar has resistance to soybean mosaic virus (SMV), necrotic symptom (SMV-N), and other most troublesome soybean diseases which are bacterial pustule and black root rot. Especially, "Pungwon" has useful characteristics, such as lodging and shattering resistance. The average yield of "Pungwon" was 3.04 ton per hectare, about 7 % higher than the check variety, "Pungsan" at the regional yield trials (RYT) for double cropping.

A new sprout-soybean cultivar, "Jonam" was developed at the Honam Agricultural Research Institute (HARI) in 2006. Jonam was selected from a cross between Eunhakong and Jeonju-I1. The preliminary, advanced, and regional yield trials for evaluation and selection of this line (Iksan 48) were carried out from 2002 to 2006. This cultivar has a determinate growth habit with purple flower, grayish brown pubescence, grayish brown hilum, lanceolate leaflet shape and small seed size (9.6 grams per 100 seeds). The maturity date of "Jonam" is 18 days earlier than that of the check variety, "Pungsan". It has good seed quality for soybean-sprout and resistance to lodging. This cultivar has resistance to soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and necrotic symptom(SMV-N). The average yield of "Jonam" was 2.57 ton per hectare in the regional yield trials for double cropping carried out for three years from 2004 to 2006.

The pollen grain is a unique tricellular structure suitable for the delivery of the sperm cells to the ovule. All nutrients required for microspore and pollen cell growth are derived by passage through the anther locule and secretion by the tapetum lining. During later stages the tapetum degenerates but contributes to produce pigments, waxes, lipids and proteins which form the pollen coat and function in signaling between male (pollen) and female (pistil) tissues. The development of both normal pollen and tapetum is necessary for the fertilization processes in rice and would be exploited for the induction of male-sterility which is very useful to improve economic value of crops. We aredeveloping new approaches using a conditional male-sterility for the F1 hybrid seed production in rice. The conventional three parental systems for F1 hybrid seed production requirethe following three lines: male-sterile line, maintainer line, and restorer line. In this system, a critical requirement is to maintain the male-sterile inbred lines. Here we suggest molecular approaches, in which the engineered male-sterile plants are generated by regulating endogenous hormonal balance through the loss-of-function of genes. We can expect the male-sterility can be restored by exogenous applications of hormones such as gibberellin or jasmonic acid. Based on two parental systems, we will address the answer onfollowing question: how can we maintain a male-sterile line producing 100% male-sterile progenies without a maintainer? This work was supported by grants from Crop Functional Genomics Center of the 21C Frontier Program (CG1517), RepublicKorea.

A new soybean cultivar for soy-paste, “Mansu”, was developed from the cross between ‘Suwon 192’, which was tolerant to disease, late maturing and high yielding, and ‘Suwon 196’ which was early maturing and large seed by soybean breeding team in the Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute (YARI) to make new variety having large seed and high yielding. A promising line, SS97213-2B-3SSD-39-1-1, was selected and designated as the name of ‘Suwon 236’. It was characterized by regional yield trials (RYT) for three years from 2004 to 2006 and released as the name of “Mansu”. It has a determinate growth habit, purple flower, grey pubescence, pale green seed coat, yellow cotyledon, large spherical seed (26.5 grams per 100 seeds). Maturity date is 4 days later than the check cultivar, Taekwang. The average yield of Mansu was 2.93 ton per hectare in the regional yield trials (RYT) carried out for three years from 2004 to 2006 which was 7 percent higher than that of the check cultivar, Taekwang.