‘Tsuyakirari’ was selected from a population derived from a cross between ‘Izumi 1801’ (a promising line later renamed ‘Saikai 258’), with good grain appearance and lodging resistance, and ‘Kanto 222’ (registered name ‘Akidawara’), with early heading, high yield, and good eating quality. ‘Tsuyakirari’ headed and matured a few days later than ‘Kinumusume’. Its maturity is classified as “moderately early” in warm regions. Culm length was almost the same as that of ‘Kinumusume’, panicle length was slightly longer, and it had fewer panicles. The plant type was classified as “panicle weight type”. ‘Tsuyakirari’ had stronger lodging tolerance (classified as “strong”) than ‘Kinumusume’. Grain yield was 8% higher than that of ‘Kinumusume’ with standard fertilization, 14% higher with high fertilization, and 8% higher in direct-seeding. Grain appearance was better than that of ‘Kinumusume’. ‘Tsuyakirari’ had undetermined resistance to leaf blast; susceptible to rice stripe disease; “slightly weak” resistance to bacterial leaf blight; “strong” sprouting tolerance; and “moderately strong” high temperature tolerance during the ripening period. The genotype of blast resistance is Pii and Pik. The eating quality of the cooked rice was rated equivalent to that of ‘Kinumusume’. ‘Tsuyakirari’ can be expected to find use in warm and temperate regions in Japan because of its good eating quality, high grain yield, lodging resistance, and high temperature tolerance during ripening.

‘Akiakane’ is a late-maturing, high-yielding variety with excellent palatability of cooked rice, developed at the Hokuriku research station, NARO from a cross between the high-yielding, good-grain-quality line ‘Shu 7388’ and the line ‘Chubu 109’, which has good grain quality, good palatability and resistance to blast disease. The heading and maturing date are both classified as ‘late’ in the Hokuriku region, and maturing date is more than 10 days later than ‘Koshihikari’. When cultivated with standard fertilizer, the yield is 14% more than ‘Nipponbare’ and almost the same as ‘Akidawara’. The 1000-grain weight is about 0.8 g more than ‘Nipponbare’, and the grain size is classified as ‘slightly large’. The appearance quality of the brown rice is as good as ‘Nipponbare’, and the palatability of the cooked rice is as excellent as ‘Koshihikari’. The genotype of blast resistance is estimated to be ‘Pii, new gene (Pik locus)’. Resistance to leaf blast is ‘medium’ and resistance to panicle blast is ‘medium to strong’. Resistance to bacterial leaf blight is ‘medium’. It is ‘susceptible’ to rice stripe disease, sprouting resistance is ‘medium’, and high temperature tolerance is ‘medium to strong’. ‘Akiakane’ is expected to be used as a variety suitable to produce commercial rice, which requires high yield that lead to reduced production costs and a certain level of brown rice appearance quality.

‘Yukisayaka’, a new rice cultivar with middle-low amylose and protein content in the endosperm, was bred from a cross between ‘Satsukei 97100’ and ‘Kuiku 160’ at the Hokkaido Agricultural Research Center, NARO. ‘Yukisayaka’ is a moderate maturing cultivar, and its heading date is almost the same as that of ‘Hoshinoyume’. The culm and panicle length of ‘Yukisayaka’ is slightly longer than that of ‘Hoshinoyume’, and the panicle number per area of ‘Yukisayaka’ is smaller than ‘Hoshinoyume’. The yield of ‘Yukisayaka’ is about 8% higher than that of ‘Hoshinoyume’. The tolerance to cold temperature at the booting stage of ‘Yukisayaka’ is at the same level as ‘Hoshinoyume’. ‘Yukisayaka’ has the true resistance gene Pia, Pii, Pik for the rice blast disease. Field resistance to leaf blast disease of ‘Yukisayaka’ is at the same level as that of ‘Hoshinoyume’. The attacked degree of the sheath brown rot of ‘Yukisayaka’ is higher than ‘Hoshinoyume’. The grain quality of brown rice of ‘Yukisayaka’ is almost the same level of that of ‘Hoshinoyume’. The amylose content in the endosperm of ‘Yukisayaka’ is slightly lower than ‘Hoshinoyume’. The protein content in the endosperm of ‘Yukisayaka’ is slightly lower than that of ‘Hoshinoyume’. The eating quality of cooked ‘Yukisayaka’ rice is higher than that of ‘Hoshinoyume’. ‘Yukisayaka’ is considered to be adaptable to major rice cultivating areas of Hokkaido.

‘Oonari’ is a high-yielding, shattering-resistant rice cultivar developed from the high-yielding but susceptible ‘Takanari’ following gamma irradiation. ‘Oonari’ has similar heading time to ‘Takanari’, which is considered “slightly early” in the region where it was bred. Its culm length (classified as “short”) and panicle length (“slightly long”) are similar to those of ‘Takanari’. It has slightly more panicles than ‘Takanari’. ‘Oonari’ inherits the thick culm and the very strong lodging resistance of ‘Takanari’. Shattering habit is improved from “easy” in ‘Takanari’ to “medium” in ‘Oonari’. As a result, yield loss at harvest is reduced, giving a high coarse brown rice yield of 940 kg/10a with early planting and high fertilizer treatment, about 7% higher than ‘Takanari’. It has top-class productivity in Japan, and is widely grown in the northern Kanto region and other areas, primarily for animal feed and processing. When growing ‘Oonari’, close attention must be paid to its deep seed dormancy and sensitivity to 4-HPPD-inhibiting herbicides.

Soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., varieties with high resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines Ichinohe, are essential in the Tohoku region of Japan because of the emergence of SCN populations capable of parasitizing race 3-resistant varieties. In 2022, the Tohoku Agricultural Research Center of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) developed a novel soybean variety ‘Ryoyu’ that is resistant to SCN races 1 and 3. ‘Ryoyu’ was developed using ‘Ohsuzu’—a major variety in the northern part of Tohoku region—as a recurrent parent and ‘Kariko 1908 F₁’—a hybrid with resistance to multiple diseases and pests—as a donor parent. Trial cultivation tests were conducted in Daisen, Akita, Japan (39°32’ N, 140°22’ E). The date of maturation, plant height, and other agronomic traits of ‘Ryoyu’ were similar to those of ‘Ohsuzu’, making it suitable for cultivation in cool climatic areas, such as the northern part of the Tohoku region. Its seeds have a yellowish-white coat with yellow hila, and its hundred-seed weight was approximately 32–36 g. It is suitable for tofu and boiled bean processing. ‘Ryoyu’ is resistant to SCN, soybean mosaic virus strains (A, A2, B, C, and D), and peanut stunt virus. Growing the SCN race 1-resistant variety ‘Ryoyu’ is anticipated to reduce SCN damage in fields where other SCN race 3-resistant varieties have been affected by the highly parasitic SCN.

We investigated fattening techniques that utilize self-sufficient roughage such as grazing and rice whole crop silage (rice WCS). We used six Japanese Black steers that were born and raised on pasture until 13 months of age. The fattening feeding program consisted of feeding 12-13 kg/day of rice WCS. As a result, the ratio of TDN derived from rice WCS to the total TDN fed during the fattening experiment was 31.8%. The average body weight at the end of the fattening trial was 917.5 kg. The carcass grades were A-5 (four heads), A-4 (one head), and A-3 (one head). These results show that the fattening program using cattle raised on pasture, in which rice WCS was fed approximately 30% of the TDN basis, has the potential to produce weight gain and meat quality comparable to conventional methods.