Development of an integrated modeling method for designing new cultivars with environmental adaptability

Global climate change and local abnormal weather are causing heavy damage to agricultural production. In this research project, we will develop a modeling method for designing genomic ideotypes of rice and a model-based simulation system. A model predicting phenotypic responses of untested genotypes under untested environments will be developed through the integration of genomic selection prediction models and eco-physiological crop models. To develop the model, we conducted re-sequencing of rice cultivars to determine polymorphisms in genes strongly related to the environmental response (e.g., heading date genes), and measured phenotypes of the cultivars throughout their growth process in early and late cultivation seasons.