The goals of this research project are to identify the genes controlling plant architecture through the establishment of foundation for molecular breeding and to develop new rice varieties with useful characters associated with high yield leading to its commercialization. The research subjects of this project are as follows: improvement of plant architecture including tiller angle and number associated to harvest-index, construction of genetic and QTL map related to plant architecture and isolation of target genes, development of molecular markers with high efficiency, and further study for the mechanisms of recombination event and reproductive barrier occurring from cross between subspecies, development of new elite rice varieties with high yield and its commercialization. The isolated genes and products of this research project will be patented and molecular markers for those genes will be applied to breeding procedure. The breeding materials produced as outcomes will be provided to other breeders for further breeding programs. The developed varieties will be patented and registered to the national list of varieties, and will be distributed to our agricultural industries for the increase of its competitiveness and farmer’s income. The patents for genes, molecular markers, and varieties will be licensed out to uphold the agricultural biotechnology industries.

Maize breeding is mainly divided by two steps; line development and hybrid selection. Line development is very important procedure to make good hybrids and this line development in Korea is fully depend upon conventional methods like pedigree selection, back-cross, etc. For development of pure line, we have to do self-pollination for at least seven cycles. This line development system is tedious, labor-intensive, and time-consuming procedure. Doubled Haploid technology for maize is a new system to develop inbred lines within short period and many maize research institutes in foreign advanced countries have been actively using this technology. Using Doubled Haploid technology, we can greatly reduce the period of line development and strengthen maize research ability in Korea. Key requisite for Doubled Haploid breeding is possession of inducer lines which can produce haploid when source population is crossed with them. Maize Research Institute in Gangwon Province secures the right of using inducer lines and is trying to introduce Doubled Haploid breeding in Korea. Doubled Haploid breeding system is as follows; crossing between population and inducer, separation haploid seeds from F1 seeds, chromosome doubling, doubled plant management, self-pollination, seed multiplication, and assessment. We expect our breeding capacity will be progressed by introduction of Doubled Haploid technology. When this technology comes to combine with marker assisted selection, we can increase competitiveness against global institutes.