The Rural Development Administration (RDA) in a first in the country has developed Irum, a wheat variety for bread, through a method of "speed breeding." Shown are bread made from Irum (right) and the ingredient Baekkang. (RDA)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova
Photos = Rural Development Administration

A domestically developed variety of wheat for making bread allows up to four harvests per year.

The Rural Development Administration (RDA) on Nov. 19 announced its invention of Irum, a wheat type for baking customized for the country's southern region, through "speed breeding" technology, a first in the country.

The method slashes the cultivation period by artificially controlling the temperature and day length of crop growth. This allows ears to emerge 55-60 days after sowing and allows harvesting after 88 days, enabling four harvests per year.

Irum is grown in the provinces of Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsang-do and Jeju Island, three regions where the average January temperature is minus 6 degrees Celsius or higher. The heading time is April 11 and maturity period May 29, similar to the wheat type Geumgang, making Irum highly adaptable to cropping with rice and beans.

Resistant to falling, Irum also boasts a yield of 432 kg per 10 acres, or 15% more than that of Geumgang.

Irum also contains half a percentage higher protein and six-tenths of a point more gluten than Baekkang, another wheat type, and 4%-10% bigger volume.

The RDA plans to begin the distribution of Irum as early as 2028.

Irum seeds