抄録
Global warming in recent years has become an extremely serious environmental issue. It has also had a major impact on agriculture. Koshihikari is Japan's top elite rice variety in terms of good taste, and its cultivation accounts for more than 30% of the total rice cultivation area. However, due to the extreme heat and drought in the summer of 2023, the quality of Koshihikari brown rice in Niigata Prefecture, a rice-producing region, dropped significantly, with the ratio of grade 1 rice plummeting to single digits. Based on knowledge from basic research on the control of rice starch metabolism, we have developed a heat-tolerant Koshihikari mutant, Shindai Koshihikari (variety name: Koshihikari Niigata University NU1), using a culture mutation method. NU1 looks exactly like Koshihikari because it has the genes of Koshihikari itself, but it has been recognized to have the characteristics of deepening dormancy and strong high-temperature ripening. The high quality and good taste of NU1 have been evaluated by producers, retailers and general consumers, and sales performance has been progressing smoothly.
In branding the new rice variety “Shindai Koshihikari” developed by Niigata University, the brand value has been nurtured through value co-creation among three entities: producers, consumers, and BIT (Brand Incubation Third Party), utilizing knowledge of marketing research (various parties can be listed for each brand, such as distributors, retailers, mass media, local governments, and certification agencies). By promoting initiatives that utilize the integrated knowledge of natural science and social science, we hope that “Shindai Koshihikari” will be able to fully realize its potential into the future and grow into a brand that will continue to be loved for many years, just like the great brand rice “Koshihikari”.
