Classification of blast resistance type of 129 Korean rice cultivars was carried out based on reaction pattern to 10 Japanese blast pathogen isolates(Pyricularia oryzae). The cultivars were divided into 11 groups based on the presumed resistance genes as follows; Pia type(19 cultivars), Pita-2 type(4), Pik type(3), Pib type(5), Piz type(11), Pik-s type(8), Pik and Pii type(4), Pia and Pita type(8), Pia and Pik type(6), Pita, Pik and Pii type(4) and no-grouping type(57). These results would provide important information to rice breeding for durable and broad resistance to rice blast.

All accessions of Rehmannia glutinosa show the unique characteristic of intrinsic tolerance to paraquat. The higher level of endogenous superoxide dismutase(SOD) activity and its increase upon paraquat treatment indicated the involvement of SOD in the tolerance mechanism to paraquat in R. glutinosa. In this study, we examined the isoform-specific response of SOD to oxidative stresses and hormones. Six SOD isoforms were found in the leaf, and they were identified as two MnSODs(named MnSOD I and MnSOD II, in order of increasing mobility), one FeSOD and three Cu/ZnSODs(named Cu/ZnSOD I, Cu/ZnSOD II, and Cu/ZnSOD III, in order of increasing mobility). MnSOD I, MnSOD II, FeSOD, Cu/ZnSOD I, Cu/ZnSOD II, and Cu/ZnSOD III, contributed to 4, 11, 7, 15, 30, and 32% of the total SOD activity, respectively. Total SOD activity levels in the leaf were increased by 4, 24, and 21% by paraquat, salicylic acid(SA), and yeast extract(YE), respectively, but little by ethephon. Six SOD isoforms responded differentially to these stresses and hormones. The activities of all the isoforms were increased by YE and SA except that of MnSOD I which was decreased by SA. The activities of MnSOD I, FeSOD, and CuZnSOD I were increased by paraquat. These results suggest that amelioration of oxidative stresses by SOD is fine-tuned by the differential expression of isoforms in R. glutinosa.

Near-infrared spectroscopy(NIRS) was used as a rapid and nondestructive method to determine the fatty acid composition in intact seed samples of rapeseed(Brassica napus L.). A total of 349 samples(about 2 g of intact seeds) were scanned in the reflectance mode of a scanning monochromator, and the reference values for fatty acid composition were measured by gas-liquid chromatography. Calibration equations for individual fatty acids were developed using the regression method of modified partial least-squares with internal cross validation(n=249). The equations had low SECV(standard errors of cross-validation), and high $R^2$(coefficient of determination in calibration) values(>0.8) except for palmitic and eicosenoic acid. Prediction of an external validation set(n=100) showed significant correlation between reference values and NIRS estimated values based on the SEP(standard error of prediction), $r^2$(coefficient of determination in prediction), and the ratio of standard deviation(SD) of reference data to SEP. The models developed in this study had relatively higher values(> 3.0 and 0.9, respectively) of SD/SEP(C) and $r^2$ for oleic, linoleic, and erucic acid, characterizing those equations as having good quantitative information. The results indicated that NIRS could be used to rapidly determine the fatty acid composition in rapeseed seeds in the breeding programs for high quality rapeseed oil.

Glutathione S-transferases(GSTs, EC 2.5.1.18), glyoxalase-I(EC 4.4.1.5) and alliin lyase(alliinase, EC 4.4.1.4) are important enzyme systems in plant bodies. The first two are mainly detoxifying enzymes that utilize glutathione(GSH) in the defense mechanism, and the last one is mainly involved in secondary metabolism and relevant to sulfur compounds derived from GSH. The activities of the three enzymes have been investigated in soluble extracts of vegetable crops, including pumpkin, cabbage, broccoli, radish, carrot, potato, sweet potato, mungbean, and onion. GST activities were detected in all of the vegetables, and the extract of onion bulb exhibited the highest specific activity(648 nmol/min/mgP). The putative GSTs of most of the vegetables were found to be induced by ethanol. The activities of GSTs in onion bulb were found to be markedly inhibited by S-hexyl glutathione and were also inhibited by S-butyl glutathione and S-propyl glutathione. The anti-CmGSTF1 antiserum recognized a thick band for putative onion GST. The estimated glyoxalase-I activity level was also high in onion bulb(4540 nmol/min/mgP), indicating that the thick band detected by Western blot analysis might result from partial recognition of glyoxalase-I by the antiserum. The specific activities for glyoxalase-I were moderate in radish and carrot, and the extracts of other vegetables had rather low levels of activities. The extract of onion also showed the highest specific activity level for alliinase(2069nmol pyruvate/mgP). The extracts of other vegetables also had alliinase activities, although the estimated values were much lower than that of onion.

RAPD, Inter-SSR, and AFLP markers were used to assess the genetic diversity of lettuce cultivars and the phylogenetic relationships in Lactuca spp. A total of 216 polymorphic bands from seven RAPD primers, four Inter-SSR primers, and five AFLP primer combinations were used to elucidate the genetic similarity among lettuce cultivars. Forty-four lettuce accessions were subdivided into discrete branches according to plant type: crisphead, butterhead, and stem type, with some exceptions. The leafy- and cos-type accessions were intermingled in other groups with no discrete branch indicating that these are more diverse than others. Three accessions, including the Korean cultivar 'Cheongchima', the Korean local landrace 'Jinjam', and the German cultivar 'Lolla Rossa' were classified as the most diverse accessions. Twenty bands were unique in specific cultivars. Among these, three were specific in a plant type; one in Korean leafy type, one in crisphead type, and one in cos type lettuce. In the phylogenetic analysis among Lactuca species, L. saligna, L. serriola, and L. georgica clustered in a sister branch of the L. sativa complex. Two L. virosa accessions show the highest intra-specific relationships. L. perennis outlied from all the other Lactuca species at a genetic similarity of 0.53 and clustered with two Cichorium species, C. intybus and C. endivia, with genetic similarity of 0.67. The phylogenetic tree was supported by data from polymorphism of chloroplast genome which was revealed by PCR-RFLP.

Nitrogen management at the panicle initiation stage(PI) should be fine-tuned for securing a concurrent high yield and high quality rice production. For calibration and testing of the recommendation models of N topdressing rates at PI for target grain yield and protein content of rice, three split-split-plot design experiments including five rice cultivars and various N rates were conducted at the experimental farm of Seoul National University, Korea from 2003 to 2005. Data from the first two years of experiments were used to calibrate models to predict grain yield and milled-rice protein content using shoot fresh weight(FW), chlorophyll meter value(SPAD), and the N topdressing rate(Npi) at PI by stepwise multiple regression. The calibrated models explained 85 and 87% of the variation in grain yield and protein content, respectively. The calibrated models were used to recommend Npi for the target protein content of 6.8%, with FW and SPAD measured for each plot in 2005. The recommended N rate treatment was characterized by an average protein content of 6.74%(similar to the target protein content), reduced the coefficient of variation in protein content to 2.5%(compared to 4.6% of the fixed rate treatment), and increased grain yield. In the recommended N rate treatments for the target protein content of 6.8%, grain yield was highly dependent on FW and SPAD at PI. In conclusion, the models for N topdressing rate recommendation at PI were successful under present experimental conditions. However, additional testing under more variable environmental conditions should be performed before universal application of such models.

The effect of inabenfide was investigated in rice seedlings subjected to salt stress in relation to changes in chlorophyll fluorescence(${\Delta}F/Fm'$), lipid peroxidation, salicylic acid(SA) content, and catalase(CAT) activity. A reduction in shoot growth of rice seedlings by 120 mM NaCl treatment was significantly alleviated by pretreatment with 30 ${\mu}M$ inabenfide. Sodium ion content was not affected by pretreatment with inabenfide, suggesting that alleviation was not due to a reduction in sodium ion uptake by the rice seedlings. At three days after NaCl treatment, the rice seedlings pretreated with inabenfide showed a higher ${\Delta}F/Fm'$(30%) and lower lipid peroxidation(28%) compared with the rice seedlings treated with NaCl alone. After NaCl treatment, CAT activity in the third leaf of rice seedlings decreased significantly but alleviated by pretreatment with inabenfide. Furthermore, pretreatment with inabenfide also reduced the level of SA which accumulated drastically in the third leaf of rice seedlings within a day after exposure to salt stress. These results suggest that inabenfide prevents SA accumulation in rice seedlings under salt stress which eventually induces the alleviation of salt stress damage.

Silicon is one of the key elements for healthy growth and development in rice crops. We analyzed the effect of silicon(Si) on some growth parameters, plant mineral contents, and bioactive gibberellins in three rice cultivars. Silicon was applied at the rates of 0 kg/0.1ha(control), 40 kg/0.1ha, and 80 kg/0.1ha throughout the course of experiment. Plant growth parameters were enhanced by the application of elevated Si, though plant height and culm length were more favorably affected than the respective dry weights. The plant mineral contents analyzed also increased in treatments where Si was applied without potassium, demonstrating that Si application promotes the absorption of these minerals in rice crops. The endogenous gibberellins measured in our study showed that $GA_1$ is the only bioactive GA form present in rice seedlings. The endogenous $GA_1$ and its precursor $GA_{20}$ contents increased after Si application. However, this increase in endogenous $GA_1$ and $GA_{20}$ contents, and plant growth parameters were different according to the rice cultivars. Our results indicate that Si is a beneficial element in rice nutrition and that different cultivars of Oryza sativa show differential responses to Si nutrition in terms of their growth and development.

Barley S-adenosylmethionine synthetase1 gene, which was differentially expressed in seed development of extra early barley, was regulated by the phytohormones and abiotic stresses. In order to identify the regulation regions which were involved in transcriptional control of the phytohormones and abiotic stresses, we isolated 1459 bp fragment of HvSAMS1 gene promoter using genome walking strategy and deletion series were constructed. Deleted upstream fragments(-1459, -1223, -999, -766, -545, -301 bp) were fused to the GUS reporter gene and evaluated via Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression assay. Increased GUS activity of HvSMAS1 promoter -301/GUS construct under each of NaCl, $GA_3$, ABA and ethylene application was found. However, GUS activity was negligible in the leaves transformed with the HvSMAS1 promoter(-1459, -1223, -999, -766 and -545)/GUS constructs. No significant induction of GUS activity was observed for the ethionine and spermidine treatments. In order to locate promoter sequence of the HvSAMS1 gene that was critical for the activation of gene expression, deletion and addition promoter derivatives(+, includes 43 bp of 5' ORF) of the HvSAMS1 gene fused to the GUS reporter gene were applied. The tobacco leaves which harbored the additional HvSAMS1 promoter(-1459+, -1459 to -546, -545+ and -301+)/GUS construct did not significantly induce GUS activity as compared to the HvSAMS1 promoter(-1459, -545 and -301)/GUS constructs under each of NaCl, ABA and $GA_3$ treatment. However, the GUS activity was high in the tobacco leaves which harboring the -211 to -141 regions of the HvSAMS1 promoter. This result suggested that HvSAMS1 gene expression might be regulated by this region(from -211 to -141).