[in Japanese]

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Oriental hybrid lily flowers have a nice fragrance. However, the smell, especially in a confined space, is sometimes too strong and therefore unpleasant. We tried to inhibit the scent production in ‘Casablanca’ lilies.
As the result of analysis of scent compounds in ‘Casablanca’, the two compounds belong to benzenoid were thought to be the main cause of the unpleasant odor. The biosynthesis of benzenoid compounds is generally catalyzed by phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL). The total amounts of emitted scent compounds of PAL inhibitor treated flower were reduced to about 15% of the controls. In a sensory assessment, the smell of the PAL inhibitor treated ‘Casablanca’ was said to be pleasurable. This method may be interesting for increasing the market for lilies with rather strong smell.

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Cyclamen cultivars have been bred from wild species of Cyclamen persicum by improving color, size and shape of the flowers, but the scent of the flowers has not been improved. So, we started on breeding to improve the scent of cyclamen. By interspecific hybridization between cultivars of C. persicum and fragrant wild species of C. purpurascens, we developed fragrant cyclamen cultivars, ‘Uruwashi-no-kaori’, ‘Kaori-no-mai’ and ‘Kokou-no-kaori’ that emitted fragrance similar to C. purpurascens. Although the aroma quality of these fragrant cyclamens was greatly improved, the coloration variety of them was decreased, compared with cultivars of C. persicum. So far, we have carried out mutation breeding using ion-beam irradiation technique to increase coloration variety of the fragrant cyclamen.

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Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. and Hiroshima University developed new varieties “Aromum” of the Chrysanthemum that flowers send out very sweet and cute scent. The best feature was the scent expressed as a green apple and thick honey, and we named them “Aromum” from “Aromatic” that showed having sweet smelling and “Mum” that means chrysanthemum.Aromum have unlikely shape of the flower and the leaf as past, general mums,and the absorption capacity of formaldehyde and the nitrogen dioxide that is the causative agent of the sick house syndrome and air pollution is also excellent. Now we are working on the expansion of sales of Aromum in cooperation with the culturist and the floriculture market, I wish to express my gratitude for getting the chance of the Aromum introduction to you.

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Breeding to introduce a new aroma to the cultivated strawberry, F.×ananassa, from a diploid wild strawberry, F. nilgerrensis, was tried. A first interspecific hybrid ‘Kurume No. 1’ resembles F. nilgerrensis in aroma components, and the aroma is peach-like. However, it has not gained popularity for commercial production because the appearance of the fruit is bad and the yield is few. A new interspecific hybrid ‘Tokun’ was developed. The pale yellowish-orange fruit of ‘Tokun’ is a short cone with excellent skin gloss and a superior overall appearance. The fruit has aroma components of caramel, coconuts, and peach. ‘Tokun’ will contribute to new development and expansion of demand for strawberries.

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Installation of emission control equipments treating gaseous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been required to comply with Japanese governmental strategy for VOC emission abatement. In this study, VOC vapor stream from vehicle-painting facility was targeted and the removal characteristics of VOCs mixture of four-layered SFMC (Switch-Feed Multi-Column) biofilter were investigated. First-order removal rate coefficient was in descending order of 3-methoxybutyl acetate, butyl acetate, methylethyl ketone (MEK), ethyl benzene, toluene and xylene. Removal rate was obviously different between hydrophilic and hydrophobic VOCs. Decline of hydrophilic VOCs elimination was observed with drying packing media during operation, therefore the importance of moisture control for packing column in inlet-side at which packing media is primarily dried was pointed out. Oxidant washing could offer improvement of biomass clogging prevention and pressure drops mitigation, caused by high-loading operations.

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