• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.175-185
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• 2012

The problems caused by synthetic pesticides have led the need for effective biodegradable pesticides with greater selectivity. Botanical pesticides are generally recognized as safe in agriculture systems. Thus, they have been regarded as attractive alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides for the pest management. Both lower efficacy and higher costs of production make botanicals more expensive to use than conventional pesticides. Moreover, only a small portion of plant-derived metabolites among a number of bioactive metabolites are in use because commercialization of botanicals is inhibited by several problems such as toxicity, or high production cost. However, with the growing acceptance of botanical pesticides as an efficient crop protection alternative resulting in increasing demand, plant-based pesticides will play a significant role in achieving sustainable agriculture in future.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.398-404
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• 2010

Complementary and alternative medicines are considered as a promising research field to develop new therapies for various allergic diseases. In this study, we investigated the anti-allergic effect of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb (AP) by using passive cutaneous anaphylaxis in mice and its mechanism of action in mast cells. The extract of AP reversibly inhibited degranulation in RBL-2H3 cells and bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMCs). AP also suppressed the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis inducing by IgE and antigen (Ag) in a dose-dependent manner. In the study to find its mechanism of action, AP inhibited the phosphorylation of Syk kinase, a pivotal protein which is regulated by Src-family kinase for activation of mast cells. In addition, AP also suppressed activation of Akt and Erk1/2 that are critical for the production of cytokines in mast cells. The results strongly suggest that AP exerts anti-allergic activity in vitro and in vivo through the inhibition of activation of Syk in mast cells.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1049-1051
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• 2003

This study investigated the use of airborne image data to provide estimates of within -field variability in soil properties and crop growth as an alternative to extensive field data collection. Hyperspectral and multispectral images were acquired in 2000, 2001, and 2002 for central Missouri experimental fields. Data were converted to reflectance using chemically-treated reference tarps with known reflectance levels. Geometric distortion of the hyperspectral pushbroom sensor images was corrected with a rubber sheeting transformation. Statistical analyses were used to relate image data to field-measured soil properties and crop characteristics. Results showed that this approach has potential; however, it is important to address a number of implementation issues to insure quality data and accurate interpretations.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.166-175
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• 2022

Current food system has developed with the agricultural innovation to feed the increasing population of the world, but with high costs such as environmental contamination and inequality with low sustainability. Human has developed long history of mutualistic interaction with honey bee. This manuscript describes the multi-functionality of honey bee for food production. Firstly honey bee produces honey, bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis which are rich in functionality. Second honey bee serves as the main pollinator for crop production which is worth for 28% of total crop production values in Korea. Lastly honey bee can be an alternative meat produciton system with lower energy, carbon costs but higher nutritional security. This manuscript described those parts and discussed the multi-functionality of honey bees for eco-friendly food security pursuing lowered environmental cost and carbon-zero strategies in the climate change era.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.317-323
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• 2018

The demand for crop production is increasingly becoming steeper due to the rapid population growth. As a result, breeding cycles should be faster than ever before. However, the current breeding methods cannot meet this requirement because traditional phenotyping methods lag far behind even though genotyping methods have been drastically developed with the advent of next-generation sequencing technology over a short period of time. Consequently, phenotyping has become a bottleneck in large-scale genomics-based plant breeding studies. Recently, however, phenomics, a new discipline involving the characterization of a full set of phenotypes in a given species, has emerged as an alternative technology to come up with exponentially increasing genomic data in plant breeding programs. There are many advantages for using new technologies in phenomics. Yet, the necessity of diverse man power and huge funding for cutting-edge equipment prevent many researchers who are interested in this area from adopting this new technique in their research programs. Currently, only a limited number of groups mostly in developed countries have initiated phenomic studies using high throughput methods. In this short article, we describe the strategies to compete with those advanced groups using limited resources in developing countries, followed by a brief introduction of high throughput phenotyping.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.254-254
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• 2022

Astragalus membranaceus (A. membranaceus) has traditionally been used as a medicinal plant in East Asia for the treatment ofvarious diseases. A. membranaceus belongs to the legume family and is known to be rich in substances such as flavonoids and saponins. Recent pharmacological studies of A. membranaceus have shown that the plant has immunomodulatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory effects. However, knowledge of major biosynthetic pathways in A. membranaceu is still lacking. Recently developed sequencing techniques enable high-quality transcriptome analysis in plants, which is recognized as an important part in elucidating the regulatory mechanisms of many plant secondary metabolic pathways. However, it is difficult to predict the number of transcripts because plant transcripts contain a large number of isoforms due to alternative splicing events, which can vary depending on the assembly platform used. In this study, we constructed three unigene sets using Pac-Bio isoform sequencing, Trinity and rnaSPAdes assembly for detailed transcriptome analysis mA. membranaceus. Furthermore, all genes involved in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway were searched from three unigene sets, and structural comparisons and expression profiles between these genes were analyzed. The isoflavone synthesis was active in most tissues. Flavonol synthesis was mainly active in leaves and flowers, and anthocyanin synthesis was specific in flowers. Gene structural analysis revealed structural differences in the flavonoid-related genes derived from the three unigene sets. This study suggests the need for the application of multiple unigene sets for the analysis of key biosynthetic pathways in plants.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2013

The world demand of renewable bioenergy as an alternative transportation fuel is greatly increasing. Research for bioethanol production is currently being progressed intensively throughout the world. Therefore it will be necessary to develop bioethanol production with cellulosic materials. In this study, the yield of ethanol production was evaluated by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) using sodium hydroxide pretreated sorghum ${\times}$ sudangrass hybrids. Composition analysis of 11 varieties of sorghum ${\times}$ sudangrass hybrids was performed for selection of excellent variety to efficiently produce bioethanol. The content of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and ash of these varieties were 32~39%, 19~24%, 17~22% and 6~11%, respectively. Among these varieties, 4 varieties of sorghum ${\times}$ sudangrass hybrids were selected for the evaluation of ethanol yield and those were pretreated with 1 M NaOH solution at $150^{\circ}C$ for 30 min using high temperature explosion system. After pretreatment, samples were neutralized with tap water. It contained 52~57% of cellulose. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) was carried out for 48 h at $33^{\circ}C$ by Saccharomyces cerevisiae CHY1011 using Green star variety. The yield of ethanol was 92.4% and the amount of ethanol production was estimated at 6206 L/ha.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.182-196
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• 2023

Accurate and timely estimation of crop yields is crucial for various purposes, including global food security planning and agricultural policy development. Remote sensing techniques, particularly using vegetation indices (VIs), have show n promise in monitoring and predicting crop conditions. However, traditional VIs such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) have limitations in capturing rapid changes in vegetation photosynthesis and may not accurately represent crop productivity. An alternative vegetation index, the near-infrared reflectance of vegetation (NIRv), has been proposed as a better predictor of crop yield due to its strong correlation with gross primary productivity (GPP) and its ability to untangle confounding effects in canopies. In this study, we investigated the potential of NIRv in estimating crop yield, specifically for corn and soybean crops in major crop-producing regions in 14 states of the United States. Our results demonstrated a significant correlation between the peak value of NIRv and crop yield/area for both corn and soybean. The correlation w as slightly stronger for soybean than for corn. Moreover, most of the target states exhibited a notable relationship between NIRv peak and yield, with consistent slopes across different states. Furthermore, we observed a distinct pattern in the yearly data, where most values were closely clustered together. However, the year 2012 stood out as an outlier in several states, suggesting unique crop conditions during that period. Based on the established relationships between NIRv peak and yield, we predicted crop yield data for 2022 and evaluated the accuracy of the predictions using the Root Mean Square Percentage Error (RMSPE). Our findings indicate the potential of NIRv peak in estimating crop yield at the county level, with varying accuracy across different counties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.163-165
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• 1998

The use of synthetic pesticides in crop production, brings the possibility of a nonselective toxicity and accumulation of toxic compounds in the environment. As an alternative, bioactive compounds from actinomycetes can provide a rich source for biodegradable pesticides. A variety of biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, herbicidal, insecticidal and anticoccidial are associated with these microbial metabolites. Studies on the production of bioactive compounds from marine-derived actinomycetes have been very few, compared to the terrestrial actinomycetes. With their unique metabolic and physiological capabilities, the marine actinomycetes can be useful producers of novel metabolites.

• 한국약용작물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.248-249
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• 2008