• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.326-330
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• 2014

Flowering characteristics and acorn production of Quercus acuta were studied in a Quercus acuta forest at Wando island, Korea. Three sample trees were cut and measured to investigate flowering characteristics during flowering season. Eight $20m{\times}25m$ quadrats were set up and three $1m{\times}1m$ seed traps were established within each quadrat to investigate acorn production. There were no significant differences in number of female and male inflorescence per bearing shoot among crown positions, but these values decreased from the upper part to the lower part of crown. The number of female flowers was 5,025 flowers/tree, and of the total number, 60.3% was in the upper part, 28.4% was in the middle part and 11.3% was in the lower part of crown. The number of male flowers was 7,063 flowers/tree and increased from the lower part to the upper part of crown. Acorn production of total 24 seed traps was 947 acorns/$24m^2$, and of total acorn production, 11.0% was sound, 61.9% was damaged, 25.1% was decayed and 2.0% was empty. Monthly acorn production was 240 acorns/$24m^2$ in August, 632 acorns/$24m^2$ in September, 56 acorns/$24m^2$ in October, 17 acorns/$24m^2$ in November and 2 acorns/$24m^2$ in December. Acorns fallen in October showed higher mean length, diameter and weight than those of other months.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.377-380
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• 2001

Herbivory is an important selective forces on plants by reducing the ability of the plant to compete with its neighbors and to produce offspring. Oak nut weevil(Mechoris ursulus Roelofs) females lay eggs in unmatured acorns and cut off the branch of oviposited acorns. To investigate the influences of branch-cutting behavior of oak nut weevils on oak production, we surveyed the horizontal and vertical distribution ranges of damaged oaks and depth of sites of overwintering larvae and quantified the amounts of biomass and acorn removed by the weevils on deciduous oak species. All of the endemic oak species in Korea were damaged by oak nut weevils in all of the study sites including Mt. Halla and Mt. Seorak. The upper limit of vertical distribution of damaged oaks by the weevils raried from 700 m to 900 m. Mostly their larvae were found in soil from 8.1 cm to 10.0 cm depth in winter. Percentage of annual net primary productivity($720g{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}day^{-1}$) of oak species removed by the weevils was about 7%, which is higher than the percentage removed by all the herbivores in typical temperate forest(5%) and equivalent to that by all the herbivores in tropical forest. The predation percentage of annual acorn production by oak nut weevil was 27% in Q. mongolica and 33% in Q. acutissima. This results indicate that the branch-cutting behavior of oak nut weevil may be the most important factor regulating oak population and affecting other predators dependent on acorns.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 2010

Acorns have been used as a traditional remed as well as food source. However, few studies on their immunomodulating effects have been reported. In this study, the combined immunomodulative effect of a water extract of acorns was tested on seven to eight weeks old mice(balb/c). The mice were fed ad libitum on a chow diet, and a water extract of the plant mixture was orally administered every other day for four weeks at two different concentrations(50 and 500 mg/kg B.W.). The production of cytokine(IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, IL-2, IL-10, IFN-$\gamma$), secreted by macrophages stimulated with LPS or not, detected by ELISA assay using cytokine kit. After 48 h of incubation with mitogen(ConA or LPS) ex vivo study showed that cytokine (IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, IL-2, IL-10, IFN-$\gamma$) was detected in both of the 50 and 500 mg/kg B.W. supplementation groups with LPS stimulation. The results of this study may suggest that supplementation with acorn water extract increase immune function by regulating cytokine production capacity by activated macrophages.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.522-529
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• 2021

This study was conducted to analyze the antioxidant and antidiabetic activities of acorns according to the types of Quercus serrata Thunb (QST) and Q. acutissima Carruther (QAC). The total polyphenol contents of the extracts from QST and QAC were 220.59 and 320.96 mg GAE/g, respectively. The content of total polyphenol of QAC was higher than that of QAC (p<0.001). DPPH (2,2 Diphenyl 1 picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity, reducing power and superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity were increased in a concentration-dependent manner by both acorn extracts, and QAC showed high activity in all antioxidant experiments (p<0.05). The inhibitory activities of α-glucosidase and α-amylase were also increased in a concentration-dependent manner, and QAC showed higher inhibitory activity than QST (p<0.05). Our study indicates that QST and QAC are functional food materials with high antioxidant and antidiabetic activities. In addition, QAC has a higher physiological activity than QST.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.843-848
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• 2009

This experiment was conducted to compare the effects of oak acorns and corn on broilers growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat fatty acid (FA) composition according to different ages of broilers. Two separate groups of 400 male broilers, reared for six weeks, were fed diets containing 33.5% green oak acorns (GO) and 67% of corn (C), respectively. At day 35, the body weight of the chickens fed the GO diet was 12% lower (p<0.05) compared with controls (C). However, at day 56 birds reached similar final weights. Abdominal adipose tissue (AAT) was 78% higher in the controls compared to those fed the oak acorn-based diet. The total lipids (TL) of thigh muscle were higher in the controls compared to dietary treatment GO (3.1 against 2.5 g/100 g of muscle). There were significant differences in fatty acid (FA) composition of the muscle between two groups. The broilers fed oak acorn exhibited more C18:2, as well as a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and PUFA:SFA (saturated fatty acid) ratio than those on the control diet, but no significant differences were observed among groups for the age of birds. There was a higher proportion of linolenic acid in broilers fed the oak acorn compared to the controls (0.8 vs. 0.6%). Furthermore, linolenic acid content decreased with age (p<0.001) in both groups. The results indicated no significant differences in FA with the age of birds. In conclusion, the meat fatty acids provided by the GO diet appeared to improve the nutritional quality preferred by the consumer.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.199-206
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• 1998

Comparative effects of gamma irradiation and methyl bromide (MBr) fumigation on disinfestation and some physicochemical attributes of acorn seeds were investigated. Insects in domestic acorns were identified to be Curculio dentipes Roelofs and Dichocrocis punctiferalis Guenee, which were easily disinfestated immediately after commercial MBr fumigation. Irradiation also showed similar effects on mortality of the insects in different post-irradiation periods; at 3rd day with doses of 1-3 kGy and at around 30th day 0.5-1 kGy. MBr fumigation caused the decrease in lightness (Hunter L value), total phenolics and reducing sugars and the increase in yellowness (Hunter b value) and browning intensity for the subjected samples, as compared with the nontreated control and irradiated ones at 0.5-2 kGy. Furthermore, MBr fumigation resulted in decay for the most part of samples during storage at 5-10 $^{\circ}C$ for 6 months in a PVC box packaging with nets. As a result, optimum levels of irradiation is expected to be roe of the alternatives to chemical fumigants.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.266-272
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• 2009

Morphological characteristics of leaves, trichomes and acorns were investigated in 6-year-old artificial hybrids of Q. aliena ${\times}$ Q. mongolica var. crispula and Q. serrata ${\times}$ Q. mongolica var. crispula. Leaf shapes of Q. aliena ${\times}$ Q. mongolica var. crispula $F_{1}$ were obovate and resembled to that of Q. aliena. But several characters including the size of leaf and petiole and the shape of leaf base resembled to those of Q. mongolica var. crispula. In F1 hybrids, small stellate hairs distributed sparsely on the abaxial surface and their lay length was intermediate between both parents. There were no big differences on characters of nuts and cupules between both parents and $F_{1}$ hybrids. Leaf shapes of Q. serrata ${\times}$ Q. mongolica var. crispula $F_{1}$ were obovate-elliptic, and the leaf shape and leaf base and the length of petiole resembled to those of Q. mongolica var. crispula, but leaf size and serration resembled to those of Q. serrata. The number of serration in a leaf was intermediate between both parents. Small stellate hairs distributed sparsely and large single hairs were mixed on the reverse side of leaves. there were no big differences on the number and size of stellate hairs between $F_{1}$ hybrid and Q. serrata. It is able to distinguish $F_{1}$ hybrids from both parents by the size leaf size and shapes, leaf base and serration, petiole length and trichome type in the leaf.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.326-332
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• 1983

Acorn wine was manufactured experimentally with koji inoculated the strain producing acorn tannin hydrolyzing enzyme in order to apply fungal tannase to food processing. Starch value of several Korean acorns was found to be 72.84 and the acorns were worthy of use as a carbohydrate food. Mixed koji was prepared by combination of rice and acorn powder at a ratio of 50to 50 and inoculation of Aspergillus oryzae producing amylase and Aspergillus sp. AN-11 producing tannase into the mixture in order to hydrolyze efficiently acorn tannin inhibiting alcohol fermentation in the medium, and then the mixed koji was used as a suitable koji to manufacture acorn wine. Acorn wine brewed with medium of the acorn powder treated with water and cooked and the mixed koji prepared was superior about two times to that brewed with medium of untreated acorn powder and general koji with respect to the rate of alcohol production and sugar fermentation during the 1st and 2nd brewing.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2012

Acorn production of some oak species from 2008 to 2010 in Mt. Jiri national park(Pia, Bitjeom, Jangdang, Baemsa, Hansin, and Chilsun) was measured and compared among study area, altitude and aspect because acorns are an important wildlife food resources. Acorns were produced the most in Jangdang and Bitjeom area at year of good fruiting, and those of Bitjeom and Hansin area were produced the most at bad fruiting year. In terms of altitudinal characteristics on acorn production, acorn production in 1000 and 900 m was the most at good fruiting year, and 800 and 900 m at bad fruiting year showed the most production of acorn. Throughout the study period, acorn production on southern slopes was larger than that of northern slopes.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.734-737
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• 1998

The hexane fractions from methanolic extracts of Anetheum graveolens L. (Umbelliferae) and Acorus gramineus Soland. (Araceae) revealed potent inhibitory activities against the resistance of multi-drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus SA2 when combined with ampicillin (Am) or chloramphenicol (Cm). As active principles, carvone and the liquid mixture containing carvone from Anetheum graveolens L. and a liquid mixture mainly consisting of benzoic acid phenyl-methyl ester (benzyl benzoate) from Acorus gramineus Soland. were identified. They showed resistance inhibition at the level of 20-50${\mu}g$/ml when combined with 100 or ${\mu}g$/ml of Am or Cm, respectively.