• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.38-51
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• 2024

Although the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) is a crop with a cultivation history of about 10,000 years in the Old and New Worlds, archaeological considerations on the cultivation and use of bottle gourds on the Korean Peninsula are extremely rare. Accordingly, we reviewed previous reports on bottle gourds and examined the morphological characteristics of seeds and rind fragments from the Korean Peninsula. The investigation yielded several conclusions. First, bottle gourd cultivation likely began during the Bronze Age alongside the introduction of so-called southern crops. Evidence suggests that bottle gourd remains were more prevalent during the Three-Kingdoms period, indicating its significance as a crop during the historical era. Second, bottle gourd seeds from the Three-Kingdoms period exhibit characteristics of both African and Asian subspecies, showcasing a high level of morphological diversity. Third, rind thickness indicates that bottle gourds found at the Bongseon-ri site were of varieties with large fruits. Taken together, it is concluded that the bottle gourd was introduced to the Korean Peninsula during the Bronze Age, and people cultivated a range of bottle gourd varieties during the Three-Kingdoms period.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.413-434
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• 2023

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an ancient oilseed crop, which is usually cultivated for its seeds. Sesame breeding aims to achieve high seed yield and quality, along with resistance to biotic or abiotic stresses. It is estimated that sesame is originated from Asia or Africa continent. In this study, we characterized 10 agronomic traits and evaluated lignan contents in 165 sesame germplasm originated from Asia or Africa, to select high-yield or high-lignan content accessions. Sesame germplasm showed diverse phenotypes and highly variable lignan contents (sesamin: 0.5-12.6 mg/g, sesamolin: 0.1-3.5 mg/g, lignan: 1.1-16.1 mg/g). Based on originated continent, there are significant difference in agronomic traits, but no in lignan content. Correlation analysis revealed that yield-related agronomic traits were negatively related with lignan contents. Also, PCA analysis showed that most agronomic traits and lignan contents were principal components explaining diversity of whole sesame germplasm. Sesame germplasm was clustered into three groups based on agronomic traits and lignan contents. Finally, we selected high-yield (IT29416, IT167042, K276848, K276849) and high-lignan candidate accessions (IT169254, IT170031, IT169250, IT154876, IT170034), respectively. These accessions are expected to be valuable resources for breeding of high-yield and high-lignan contents functional cultivars.