MONITORING REGIONAL RICE DEVELOPMENT AND COOL-SUMMER DAMAGE

Development Stage and Spikelet Sterility Models were used to develop a monitoring and forecasting system of rice development and spikelet st erility in the Tohoku district, Japan in 1993. Actual crop data were p rovided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). Daily meteorological data (real-time and at 1 km x 1 km grid-mesh) an d land-use information of the monitored area were provided through the Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS) and the Geo graphic Information System (GIS), respectively. The mesh-weather data and crop data inputted into the 2 models led to the monitoring and for ecasting of rice development stages across the Tohoku district under c limatic normals and actual weather conditions. Based on the informatio n on the rice varieties planted in the monitored area, spatial distrib ution of mean air temperatures, their deviation from climatic normals, and spikelet sterility due to cool temperature were determined. The i nitial results show the importance of the 2 models as tools for monito ring and forecasting the rice development stages and spikelet sterilit y on a wide scale.