• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2001

A total of 120 pigs were used to investigate the effects of yucca extracts on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and excretion of growing pigs fed different levels of dietary protein. Pigs were allotted into $2{\times}3$ factorial design by the supplementation with yucca extract (YE, 0 and 120 mg/kg) and 3 levels of dietary protein (16, 18, 20%). During the whole experimental period (18 to 52 kg body weight), there were no significant differences in ADG, ADFI or F/G by YE addition or different protein levels among treatments (p>0.05). Overall, although addition of YE to the diet and elevation of protein level showed better ADG, there were no significant differences in growth performance among treatments. Pigs fed diets with YE showed significantly (p<0.05) higher dry matter (DM), crude ash (CA) and crude protein (CP) digestibility than did the others during the growing period. Concerning the levels of dietary protein, only the CP digestibility was significantly higher in pigs fed high protein diet. Pig fed the low protein diet without YE showed a significantly low CP digestibility (p<0.05). No significant differences were found in crude fat (CF), calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) digestibilities regardless of YE supplementation or dietary protein levels. Pigs fed YE supplemented diets showed significantly (p<0.05) higher amino acid digestibility. Also, high CP level diets showed a higher amino acid digestibility than low CP diets (p<0.05). DM and N excretion did not show any significant differences among treatments, there was a slightly lower excretion with increase in dietary protein level. Supplementation with YE significantly decreased the DM and N excretion. Interaction (YE$\times$protein) was found in P excretion. Pigs fed a medium protein diet without YE showed the lowest P excretion during the growing period. The NH3-N content in the feces tended to be increased by the increased dietary protein levels and with YE supplementation. During the whole experimental period, the cost for YE supplementation was similar to value of the improvements of performance obtained. The cost of feeding high level protein was significantly higher than that of medium level protein by 10% and low level protein by 9% (p<0.05). It could be concluded that the effects of dietary protein level and yucca extract on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and excretion might play a role to some extent in growing pigs from the aspect of pollution control.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1467-1475
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• 2015

The use of microbial extracts containing plant hormones is a promising technique to improve crop growth. Little is known about the effect of bacterial cell-free extracts on plant growth promotion. This study, based on phytohormonal analyses, aimed at exploring the potential mechanisms by which Enterococcus faecium LKE12 enhances plant growth in oriental melon. A bacterial strain, LKE12, was isolated from soil, and further identified as E. faecium by 16S rDNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The plant growth-promoting ability of an LKE12 bacterial culture was tested in a gibberellin (GA)-deficient rice dwarf mutant (waito-C) and a normal GA biosynthesis rice cultivar (Hwayongbyeo). E. faecium LKE12 significantly improved the length and biomass of rice shoots in both normal and dwarf cultivars through the secretion of an array of gibberellins (GA₁, GA₃, GA₇, GA₈, GA₉, GA₁₂, GA₁₉, GA₂₀, GA₂₄, and GA₅₃), as well as indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study indicating that E. faecium can produce GAs. Increases in shoot and root lengths, plant fresh weight, and chlorophyll content promoted by E. faecium LKE12 and its cell-free extract inoculated in oriental melon plants revealed a favorable interaction of E. faecium LKE12 with plants. Higher plant growth rates and nutrient contents of magnesium, calcium, sodium, iron, manganese, silicon, zinc, and nitrogen were found in cell-free extract-treated plants than in control plants. The results of the current study suggest that E. faecium LKE12 promotes plant growth by producing GAs and IAA; interestingly, the exogenous application of its cell-free culture extract can be a potential strategy to accelerate plant growth.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.440-448
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• 2001

As diverse physiological functions of taurine have been reported, taurine-containing health drinks and products are marketed worldwide for the treatment of various conditions such as improvements of liver, heart and circulatory functions or as an aid to athletic performance. Although animal studies have shown that taurine is fairly safe when supplemented in the diet for an extended period, the effective dose range of taurine for dietary supplements is in controversy. Reports on dietary taurine intakes have been sparse, and would serve as a guideline for determining an appropriate taurine dosage. The present study was aimed to estimate dietary intake level of taurine using the taurine content database of commonly used food stuffs established recently in our laboratory, and also to evaluate plasma concentration and urinary excretion of taurine in adolescents and adults residing in Seoul area. Dietary taurine intakes of the subjects were 219$\pm$16.9mg/day for 16-19 years old(n=123), 177$\pm$18.1mg/day for adults older than 20 years old(n=123). Male subjects(n=115) consumed 216$\pm$21.1mg of taurine/day, while female subjects(n=131) consumed 181$\pm$14.3mg of taurine/day(p<0.05). The level of dietary taurine intake was positively correlated with the levels of dietary intakes of energy, carbohydrate, total lipids, cholesterol, vitamin A, vitamin B$_1$, niacin, vitamin C, calcium, phosphorous, sodium and potassium at p<0.01, and with dietary intakes of iron and animal lipids at p<0.05, respectively. Plasma taurine concentration of subjects were 135$\pm$5.9$\mu$mol/L, which is considered to be within a normal range for healthy subjects. The subjects excreted 1158$\pm$72.7nmol/ of tarine mg creatinine in their urine, which is approximated as 150-170mg of taurine/24hr urine based on the assumption that 18mg creatinine/kg/day is excreted in the urine of healthy adults, and this would be about 80% of the daily taurine intake observed in the same subjects. Dietary taurine intake level was positively correlated with plasma taurine concentration, as well as with urinary taurine excretion corrected by creatinine excretion at p<0.05. The present study was the first report of taurine intake, and plasma concentration and urinary excretion of taurine in a Korean population so far, and these results would serve as an index for the future study evaluating taurine status in a diverse population within and outside Korea. (Korean J Nutrition 34(4) : 440~448, 2001)

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.294-304
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• 2020

Objective: The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of the absorbent (a mixture of activated carbon and hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate) on growth performance, blood profiles and hepatic genes expression in broilers fed diets naturally contaminated with aflatoxin. Methods: A total of 1,200 one-day-old male chicks were randomly assigned to 6 treatments with 10 replicate cages per treatment. The dietary treatments were as follows: i) control (basal diets); ii) 50% contaminated corn; iii) 100% contaminated corn; iv) control+1% adsorbent; v) 50% contaminated corn+1% absorbent; vi) 100% contaminated corn+1% absorbent. Results: During d 1 to 21, feeding contaminated diets reduced (p<0.05) body weight (BW), average daily gain (ADG), and average daily feed intake (ADFI), but increased (p<0.05) feed-to-gain ratio (F/G). The absorbent supplementation increased (p<0.05) BW, ADG, and ADFI. There were interactions (p<0.05) in BW, ADG, and ADFI between contaminated corn and absorbent. Overall, birds fed 100% contaminated diets had lower (p<0.05) final BW and ADG, but higher (p<0.05) F/G compared to those fed control diets. The absorbent addition increased (p<0.05) serum albumin concentration on d 14 and 28 and total protein (TP) level on d 28, decreased (p<0.05) alanine transaminase activity on d 14 and activities of aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase on d 28. Feeding contaminated diets reduced (p<0.05) hepatic TP content on d 28 and 42. The contaminated diets upregulated (p<0.05) expression of interleukin-6, catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), but downregulated (p<0.05) glutathione S-transferase (GST) expression in liver. The absorbent supplementation increased (p<0.05) interleukin-1β, CAT, SOD, cytochrome P450 1A1 and GST expression in liver. There were interactions (p<0.05) in the expression of hepatic CAT, SOD, and GST between contaminated corn and absorbent. Conclusion: The results suggest that the naturally aflatoxin-contaminated corn depressed growth performance, while the adsorbent could partially attenuate the adverse effects of aflatoxin on growth performance, blood profiles and hepatic genes expression in broilers.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.111-123
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• 1988

Neutrophil elastases were purified by a three step procedure consiting of one Sephadex G-75 and two HPLC elutions. The elastases cross-reacted with antibodies to human neutrophil elastase. Three bands with molecular weights between 26,000 and 29,700 were observed by gel electrophoresis. At each stage of purification the quantity of Zn increased, reaching molar ratio of 2:1 with elastase in the most purified samples. Calcium content. was seletively elevated during the earlier stages of purification but decreased to a ratio of 0.25 to 1 with elastase at the final step of purfication. Neutrophil elastase could be inhibited by EDTA, EGTA and 1,10-phenanthroline. EGTA inhbition was noncompetitive inhibition and reversible only if the time of preincubation was relatively short, indicating the instability of the apoenzyme. The concentration of chelator required to show significant inhibition of elastase was also dependent upon the stage of purity and the ionic strength of the reaction mixture. Inhibition by EGTA, followed by the removal of EGTA, could be reversed by Zn. In the presence of EGTA the enzyme could be returened to full activity by the addition of Zn, Mn and Ca, but not Mg or Na. All of the above evidence strongly supports human neturophil elastase could be a metalloenzyme as well as a serine protease.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.10
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• pp.1413-1420
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• 2014

Phytate is an antinutritional factor that impacts the bioavailability of essential minerals such as $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, and $Fe^{2+}$ by forming insoluble mineral-phytate salts. These insoluble mineral-phytate salts are hydrolyzed rarely by monogastric animals, because they lack the hydrolyzing phytases and thus excrete the majority of them. The ${\beta}$-propeller phytases (BPPs) hydrolyze these insoluble mineral-phytate salts efficiently. In this study, we cloned a novel BPP gene from a marine Pseudomonas sp. This Pseudomonas BPP gene (PsBPP) had low sequence identity with other known phytases and contained an extra internal repeat domain (residues 24-279) and a typical BPP domain (residues 280-634) at the C-terminus. Structure-based sequence alignment suggested that the N-terminal repeat domain did not possess the active-site residues, whereas the C-terminal BPP domain contained multiple calcium-binding sites, which provide a favorable electrostatic environment for substrate binding and catalytic activity. Thus, we overexpressed the BPP domain from Pseudomonas sp. to potentially hydrolyze insoluble mineral-phytate salts. Purified recombinant PsBPP required $Ca^{2+}$ or $Fe^{2+}$ for phytase activity, indicating that PsBPP hydrolyzes insoluble $Fe^{2+}$-phytate or $Ca^{2+}$-phytate salts. The optimal temperature and pH for the hydrolysis of $Ca^{2+}$-phytate by PsBPP were $50^{\circ}C$ and 6.0, respectively. Biochemical and kinetic studies clearly showed that PsBPP efficiently hydrolyzed $Ca^{2+}$-phytate salts and yielded myo-inositol 2,4,6-trisphosphate and three phosphate groups as final products. Finally, we showed that PsBPP was highly effective for hydrolyzing rice bran with high phytate content. Taken together, our results suggest that PsBPP has great potential in the animal feed industry for reducing phytates.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.460-466
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• 2014

To evaluate wood charcoal as raw material for mineral water production, dissolution of inorganic ions from charcoal to water, pH and adsorption ability of chlorine in water were investigated as main variables. More potassium ion was dissolved in water as higher temperature manufactured charcoal but other ions showed no difference with different charcoal making temperatures. Highest dissolved cation was potassium followed by calcium and sodium. Among wood species, charcoal from Quercus variabilis and Platanus occidentalis showed significantly higher potassium content in water than that of larch, red pine and white pine. Other cations had similar pattern to the potassium but their difference was not apparent as much as potassium. pH value of water treated with charcoal was higher for wood charcoals from Platanus occidentalis (pH 8.5) and Quercus variabilis (pH 8.4) which contained higher inorganic cations. In chlorine removal in water by charcoal, all wood charcoals showed greater chlorine removal than that of the control, but softwood charcoals resulted in higher removal than those of hardwoods. There was no significant difference in the dissolution of cations and pHs between particle charcoal and whole charcoal. With easy of control, whole charcoal is better for mineral water making raw material than particle charcoal does.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 1991

This study was carried out to obtain the effects of soil environment and characteristics on the growth and yield of young rice seedling. Twenty four rice fields were selected among the labor saving mechanization complex, and the growth statu s and various soil characteristics were investigated The young rice seedling planted soils were located at the range of elevation 5m to 210m, and the average water holding days was 5.1 days, and drainage class were mainly moderately well to imperfectly. The plant height on 30th day after machine transplanting were higher and the tiller numbers were smaller at the higher clay contents at moderately well and imperfectly drained soils. In case of sandy loam soils, the better the drainage class, the higher plant and more tillers. Soil hardness was lower in sandy loam, and the bulk densities of loam, silty clay loam and poorly drained soils were lower than the other fields. There were not differences of soil chemical properties between the soil textural groups but organic matter content were higher in poorly drained soils. The rice yields of young seedling planted fields were negatively correlated to soil bulk density and highly significantly correlated to the exchangeable calcium contents of the soils. The average yield of young rice seedlings was 487kg/10a, 2.5% higher than semi-adult rice seedling of 475kg/10a.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 1996

This survey was conducted to investigate the chemical properties of soils cultivated medicinal plants. The soils were collected at 254 sites(Angelica gigas : 81, Astragalus membranceus : 38, Platycodn glandiflorum : 36, Paeonia albiflora : 34, Codonopsis lanoceolata : 32, Ligusticum chuanxiong : 17. Bupleurum falcatum : 16, respectively) throughout the country by 0-15cm depth. The chemical properties of soils were pH 5.6, O.M 3.0%. Av.$P_2O_5$ : 405 mg/kg, Ex.K : $0.67cmol^+/kg$, Ex.Ca : $6.3cmol^+/kg$, Ex.mg : $1.6cmol^+/kg$. The percentage distribution of pH on the basis of soil sample numbers were much more at the 5.1-6.0 range than any other ranges, especially those of below pH 6.0 were 83-91% for Angelica gigas, Platycodn glandiflorum and Codonopsis lanoceolata. The distribution of OM and Av.$P_2O_5$ in soils were much at the 2.1-4.0% and above 500mg/kg ranges, respectively. And the content of those in soils cultivated with Platycodn glandiflorum were lower than any other medicinal plants. The distribution of exchangeable cations in soils were much at the 0.2-0.8, 2.1-4.0 and $0.5-2.0cmol^+/kg$ of Ex.K. Ca and mg. respectively, and the contents were higher in soils cultivated Astragalus membranceus. and lower in soils cultivated Platycodn glandiflorum and Codonopsis lanoceolata than any other samples.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.293-299
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• 2016

The chemical properties of paddy fields in Gangwon province were monitored every 4 years from 2003 to 2015 in order to provide basic information for soil fertility management of paddy fields. In 2015, the soil chemical properties of paddy fields were 5.9 in pH, $22g\;kg^{-1}$ in organic matter (OM), and $123mg\;kg^{-1}$ in available (Avail.) phosphate $P_2O_5$. Exchangeable (Exch.) potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) were 0.39, 4.8 and $0.9cmolc\;kg^{-1}$, respectively, and Avail. $SiO_2$ was $170mg\;kg^{-1}$. In the long-term analysis, the contents of Avail. $SiO_2$, Exch. K and pH of paddy soils showed increasing tendency. However, Avail. $P_2O_5$, Exch. Ca and Mg tended to decrease, and there were no significant changes in the contents of OM. Soil OM, Avail. $P_2O_5$ and $SiO_2$ were not different among the different topographical sampling sites. However, the mean value of Exch. K and Ca were different among the different topographical sampling sites, and exceeded optimal values in the fluvio-marine plains. Different soil texture resulted in different soil pH, while no difference for OM, Avail. $P_2O_5$ and $SiO_2$. Paddy soil samples within appropriate pH range increased from 65% in 2003 to 77% in 2007, 68% in 2011, and 71% in 2015. In case of Avail. $SiO_2$, soil samples within appropriate range increased from 20% in 2003, to 37% in 2007, 29% in 2011, and 45% in 2015. Meanwhile, Cd and Pb were distributed to less than 5% of soil pollution standards. Cu, As and Zn were distributed to less than 10%, 15% and 20%, respectively. Therefore, paddy soil in Gangwon Province was judged to be safe. As a result, paddy fields with more or less in nutrient level need to be fertilized based on the soil analysis. And the application of silicate fertilizer is strongly recommended to those of paddy fields in need. In addition, soil management including the cultivation of green manure crop or application of rice straw is necessary to increase the organic matter content of paddy soil.