Korea-IRRI collaboration multiplies benets

s part of the Top Rice Project of the Republic of Koreas Rural Development Administration (RDA), 25 tons of high-quality rice seed were harvested in February-March at the Philippine headquarters of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The seed was transported in a eet of trucks to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, on 31 March and has since made its way to the RDAs National Institute of Crop Science in Suwon, Korea. The Top Rice Project, launched in 2005, aims to develop and popularize high-quality rice in Korea. As part of this drive, RDA and IRRI initiated the Large-Scale Korean Seed Multiplication Project in 2005-06. Through this seed multiplication project, newly developed premiumquality varietiesknown as Gopumbyeo and Unkwangbyeoare being multiplied at IRRI before transport to Korea and distribution to Korean rice farmers. Multiplication of Korean rice seed at the IRRI farm in the Philippines has been an important part of Koreas rice production for almost four decades. The countrys achievement

IRRI Senior Scientist Hung-Goo Hwang (center), Visiting Research Fellow Kyu-Seong Lee (right), and IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler inspect one of the seed-laden trucks before its departure.

ARIEL JAVELLANA (2)

of rice self-sufciency through the Green Revolution of the 1970s was made possible through similar past collaboration between IRRI and RDA. The rst Korean Seed Multiplication Project, for rapid dissemination of the popular Tongil variety, occurred in the 1969-70 dry season. Multiplication of Korean rice seed in the Philippines has also enabled Korea to accelerate its research programs. Since 1970, Korea has sent its rice breeding nurseries and advanced lines to the Philippines for seed multiplication during the winter, thus cutting years off the time required to develop new rice varieties. This practice has also helped Korea protect its farmers against production threats. In 1980-81, for example, Korean rice breeders used

A eet of trucks loaded with 25 tons of high-quality rice seed leaves IRRI headquarters for Manilas Ninoy Aquino International Airport on 31 March 2006 enroute to Korea. Rice Today July-September 2006

the Philippine-grown winter crop to gain time in a gene rotation program to retain blast resistance in Koreas rice crop. In November 1980, 305 kilograms of Korean seed were multiplied at IRRI into 120.5 tons. Once back in Korea, that seed was further multiplied on 2,544 hectares during the Korean summer of 1981. The following year, it was used to plant 130,000 hectares of Koreas then 1.2 million hectares of rice land, so providing a genetic barrier to the spread of rice blast. The most recent Korean rice seed multiplication was performed in a 14-hectare upland eld at IRRI under the supervision of Hung-Goo Hwang, a senior Korean scientist seconded from RDA currently working in IRRIs Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Biotechnology Division, and Kyu-Seong Lee, visiting research fellow and RDA senior rice breeder. I am very happy that we reached our target production and we nished our project successfully, said Dr. Hwang.
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