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Wheat Information Service
December 79: 1 - 17(1994)

I. Review

Genetic resources and breeding of wheat and barley in Japan

Toshiaki Yamada

National Agriculture Research Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan


1. Agricultural Research Stations breeding wheat and barley

a) Breeding stations for wheat
At present, breeding of wheat is carried out at five National Agricultural Experiment Stations, i.e., Hokkaido (location: Sapporo City), Tohoku (Morioka), National Agriculture Research Center (Tsukuba), Chugoku (Fukuyama) and Kyushu (Chikugo), and at two Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Stations as part of a national project, i.e., Kitami and Nagano, and at the Gunma and Aichi Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Stations. In Japan, wheat cultivars have been developed only in national and prefectural agricultural experiment stations, and not in universities or private companies (Fig. 1).

b) Breeding stations for barley
At present, breeding of hulled barley is carried out at four National Agricultural Experiment Stations, i.e., Tohoku, Hokuriku (Ojiya), National Agriculture Research Center and Kyushu, and at the Nagano Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station. Breeding of naked barley is carried out at the Shikoku National Agricultural Experiment Station. Breeding of two-rowed malting barley is carried out by three brewing companies, namely Kirin, Sapporo and Asahi as well as at the Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Stations of Tochigi and Fukuoka as part of a national project, and at the Kitami Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station (Fig. 2).


2. Objectives and results of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) breeding

In Japan, only common wheat cultivars among Triticum ssp. are commercially cultivated in farmer's fields and generally these cultivars are sown in, autumn except in a small area in Hokkaido. Therefore, breeding efforts have concentrated on the improvements of common winter wheats.

The main objectives of wheat breeding in Japan are as follows: early maturity, cold resistance including tolerance to deep snow, short strong culm, high-yielding ability, disease resistance (leaf rust, scab, yellow mosaic, powdery mildew, etc.), resistance to preharvest sprouting and high grain quality.

1) Breeding for early maturity, cold resistance, short strong culm and high-yielding ability: These characters have consistently been the major objectives of wheat breeding in Japan and many superior cultivars have been developed.

Breeding cultivars with a short and strong culm, has been achieved by introducing the Rht1 and Rht2 genes derived from Japanese landraces into improved lines. It was reported that more than 70% of 133 Norin varieties tested carried either the Rht1 or Rht2 gene (Yamada 1990). They have made it possible to use large amounts of fertilizer and to practice drill seeding and broadcasting at high seed rates. As a result, national average yields have reached over 3 t/ha since 1981.

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