Research and development and social implementation of results will be carried out to address various issues centering on plant protection, such as increasing the risk of invasion of new pests and weeds from overseas, reducing the burden on the environment and workers associated with pest and weed control, and pest control in accordance with export partner country standards.

The tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) can cause great damage to tomatoes. The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) has revealed for the first time in the world that not only seeds of tomato but also seeds of bell peppers can transmit ToBRFV. It is also demonstrated that ToBRFV accumulates in the seed coats of tomatoes and bell peppers. This result highlights the importance of strict quarantine measures to prevent ToBRFV invasion via seeds and may lead to improvements in testing technology by identifying the infection site.
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The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) has revealed that it is possible to quickly identify three parasitic alien longhorn beetle species by analyzing the chemical substances contained in the "frass" excreted outside the tree by longhorn beetle larvae (a wood-boring pest) that infesting trees by making holes and weakening the tree. The regions/areas damaged by the alien longhorn beetle are expanding every year. Hence, with this research result, it is possible to minimize damage to infested trees and also it is possible to implement effective control measures tailored to each species at an early stage, which has been difficult until now because the insecticides applied differ depending on the species.
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National Agriculture and Food Research Organization(NARO) has developed a selective medium for isolating pathogenic bacteria that cause seed-borne bacterial leaf spot and leaf blight disease, which is a major global problem in cruciferous vegetable production. This technology can be used as an accurate and efficient seed inspection method, contributing to the stable production of cruciferous vegetables and the export of vegetable seeds, which is an important industry in Japan.
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National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) in collaboration with MEMS CORE Co., Ltd. and Kyoto Prefectural Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Technology Center has established a pest control method using ultrasound that repels moth pests. Many moths, including noctuid moths, escape the ultrasound generated by predatory bats to avoid being eaten by them. This research result is based on this behavioral maneuver. Therefore, it is possible to prevent noctuid moths from flying into crop fields for laying eggs by irradiating a wide area around the field with ultrasound. This can greatly reduce the number of insecticide applications for noctuid larvae that damage crops.
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National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) in collaboration with Utsunomiya University and Kyoto University, has developed a statistical model to estimate allele frequencies in field populations by means of expressing the variation in the amount of DNA derived from each individual contained in the DNA sample extracted from multiple organisms at once as a probability. It is possible to accurately grasp the prevalence of drug-resistant pests and alien species with fewer inspections than individual diagnosis, by applying this result to genetic diagnostic techniques such as quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and quantitative DNA sequencing.
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