• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.50-57
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• 2020

BACKGROUND: Biochar is used in various environmental fields, such as water quality and soil restoration, and affects soil fertility and nutrient cycling. Also, when crops are grown on biochar-applied soil, their characteristics may be affected. Biochar is used especially with commercial vegetable seedlings. METHODS AND RESULTS: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of biochar content in seeding mixes on early growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), Chinese cabbage (Brassica rapa L.), and red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Treatments consisted of a control (0: 10, ratio of biochar to seeding mixes (w/w)), 1: 9 (biochar 10%), 3: 7 (biochar 30%), 5: 5 (biochar 50%), and 7: 3 (biochar 70%). The biochar was made from risk husk and had a C/N ratio of 104. As the mixing ratio of biochar increased, pH increased whereas EC and nitrogen content decreased. The highest phosphorus content was with the treatment of 30% biochar, while there were significant increases in the weight of lettuce seedlings and concentrations of T-N, P₂O₅, K₂O, MgO, and Na with the treatments of 30% and 50% biochar. Although the weight of Chinese cabbage seedlings increased with the treatment of 10% biochar, the increase was not statistically significant. Also, there was an increase in the weight of red pepper seedlings with the treatment of 30% biochar, but the increase was not statistically significant. With increases in the biochar mixing ratio, the K₂O concentration of red pepper seedlings increased, but the concentrations of P₂O₅, CaO, MgO, and Na decreased. It was believed that this was because of absorption inhibition by calcium-phosphate formation in the seeding mixes owing to increased pH. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, adding biochar to seeding mixes is considered to be an important mean for growing healthy vegetable seedlings. More field experiments are needed to verify the effect of biochar on vegetable crop growth over the entire growing season.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.spc
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• pp.57-61
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• 2009

To clarify the impact of the rice-duck farming system on the regional environment and the surrounding, a case study was carried out at Hongdong Reservoir valley of Hongdong-myeon and Janggok-myeon, Hongseong-gun, Chungcheongnam-do where the density of livestock grazing is the highest and rice cultivation with the rice-duck farming system is extensively practiced. The soil characteristics and water qualities at paddy fields were compared between two rice cultivation methods of rice-duck farming system and conventional farming system. The organic matters and available phosphate contents in soil of paddy fields where the rice-duck farming system was practiced were higher than those of paddy fields where conventional farming system was practiced. However, the available phosphate content was lower than the optimum for rice cultivation and the mean concentration of paddy soil in Korea. The surface water quality of the paddy field with the rice-duck farming system was practiced had higher EC (137 %), $COD_{Cr}$ (220 %), T-N (172 %), and T-P (226 %) contents than that with the conventional farming system was practiced. Especially, $COD_{Cr}$ and T-P were more than 2 times higher, which tells that the possibility of water pollution by drainage water of paddy field is higher in the paddy fields with the rice-duck farming system practiced than in those with the conventional farming practiced. The higher contents of T-P and $COD_{Cr}$ in surface water at the paddy field of rice-duck farming system practiced were directly caused by soil particles in the muddy water. Consequently, it is necessary to thoroughly manage the irrigation and drainage system of rice-duck farming system practiced to prevent outflow of surface water from paddy and pollution of surrounding water system.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.495-502
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• 2016

Italian Ryegrass (IRG), which is known as high yielding and the highest quality winter annual forage crop, is grown in mid-south area in Korea. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for the monitoring IRG growth. Unmanned aerial vehicle imagery obtained from middle March to late May in Nonsan, Chungcheongnam-do. Unmanned aerial vehicle imagery corrected geometrically and atmospherically to calculate normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). We analyzed the relationships between $NDVI_{UAV}$ of IRG and biophysical measurements such as plant height, fresh weight, and dry weight over an entire IRG growth period. The similar trend between $NDVI_{UAV}$ and growth parameters was shown. Correlation analysis between $NDVI_{UAV}$ and IRG growth parameters revealed that $NDVI_{UAV}$ was highly correlated with fresh weight (r=0.988), plant height (r=0.925), and dry weight (r=0.853). According to the relationship among growth parameters and $NDVI_{UAV}$, the temporal variation of $NDVI_{UAV}$ was significant to interpret IRG growth. Four different regression models, such as (1) Linear regression function, (2) Linear regression through the origin, (3) Power function, and (4) Logistic function were developed to evaluate the relationship between temporal $NDVI_{UAV}$ and measured IRG growth parameters. The power function provided higher accurate results to predict growth parameters than linear or logistic functions using coefficient of determination. The spatial distribution map of IRG growth was in strong agreement with the field measurements in terms of geographical variation and relative numerical values when $NDVI_{UAV}$ was applied to power function. From these results, $NDVI_{UAV}$ can be used as a new tool for monitoring IRG growth.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.60-76
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• 2021

The concept of resilience seems applicable for sustainable groundwater management. The resilience is broadly defined as the ability of a system to resist changes by external forces (EFs), and has been used for disaster management and climate change adaptation, including the groundwater resilience to climate change in countries where groundwater is a major water resource, whereas not yet in the geological society of South Korea. The resilience is qualitatively assessed using the absorptive, adaptive, and restorative capacity representing the internal robustness, self-organization, and external recovery resources, respectively, while quantitatively using the system impact (SI) and recovery effort (RE). When the groundwater is considered a complicated system where physicochemical, biological, and geological components interact, the groundwater resilience can be defined as the ability of groundwater to maintain the targeted quality and quantity at any EFs. For the quantitative assessment, however, the resilience should be specified to an EF and measurable parameters should be available for SI and RE. This study focused on groundwater resilience to two EFs in urban areas, i.e., pollution due to land use change and groundwater withdrawal for underground structures. The resilience to each EF was assessed using qualitative components, while measurements for SI and RE were discussed.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.698-703
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• 2012

This survey was conducted to obtain basic data of the quality of groundwater for agriculture in Gyeongnam province. Groundwater samples from paddy 15, upland 15, and plastic film house 30 sites were collected on April, July, and October in every two years from 2002 to 2008. According to the result of water quality analysis, groundwater quality was suitable for irrigation purpose averagely. The $NO_3$-N contents by land use were in the order of plastic film house > upland > paddy field and its contents were 6.53, 4.80, and $3.68mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively. In annual changes of water quality, pH was no significant change in paddy, upland, and plastic film house by 6.6~6.9. EC was increased in upland and plastic film house in 2008 and majors factors were $NO_3$-N and $Cl^-$. In upland and plastic film house, $NO_3$-N contents were 4.72 and $6.52mg\;L^{-1}$ in 2002, respectively, whereas they were 5.63 and $8.70mg\;L^{-1}$ in 2008, respectively. Of the investigated sites, $NO_3$-N was exceeded water quality standards for agriculture by 3.3~15.0% in plastic film house and $Cl^-$ was exceeded water quality standards for agriculture by 2.2% in upland of 2004. The $NO_3$-N contents were decreased with well depth and their contents were $5.38mg\;L^{-1}$ from 3~10 m, $4.87mg\;L^{-1}$ from 10~20 m, and $2.58mg\;L^{-1}$ from above 30 m. The $NO_3$-N contents by soil texture were highest in sandy loam by $5.73mg\;L^{-1}$ and lowest in clay loam by $4.13mg\;L^{-1}$. The $NO_3$-N contents by crops category were in order of fruit vegetables > leaf vegetables > rice > fruits > beans, contents of fruit vegetables and leaf vegetables were 5.81 and $5.30mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.277-285
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• 2014

The usage of efficient microorganism (EM) is increasing in concern for server purposes including odor removal during carcasses degradation. In this study, we have studied the type of soil and its effect on efficient microorganisms for the removal of odorous gases during buried carcasses degradation in lab-scale reactor. The carcasses are buried in the reactor with various soil types such as normal soil, 20% sandy and 20% clay soil with the efficient microorganism KEM. The efficient microorganisms KEM have the ability to stabilize the degradation of carcasses of the burial site. We have focused on the analysis of odorous gases such tri-methylamine (TMA), hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$), methyl mercaptan (MM), dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), carbon dioxide ($CO_2$), and methane ($CH_4$) along with the changes of microbial community changed during complete degradation of buried carcasses for a year. The results suggested that the 20% sandy soil contain lesser level of $H_2S$ and MM (0.09 and 0.35 mg) but 20% clay has higher nitrogen compound removing effect and leave only less amount of ammonia and TMA (0.31 and 2.06 mg). The 20% sandy soil also has the ability to breakdown the carcasses more quality compared with other types of soil. Based on the data obtained in this study suggesting that, the use of 20% sandy soil can effectively control sulfur compounds whereas 20% clay soil controls nitrogen compounds in the buried soil. Depending on the type of the soil, the dominant of microbial communities and the distribution was change.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.471-477
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• 2013

Biochar amendment to agricultural soil is regarded as a promising option to mitigate climate change and enhance soil quality. It could sequester more carbon within the soil system and increase plant yield by changing soil physicochemical characteristics. However, sustainable use of biochar requires comprehensive environmental assessment. In this sense, it is important to measure additional greenhouse gas emission from soils after biochar addition. We investigated emissions of $CO_2$, $N_2O$, and $CH_4$ from incubated soils collected from rice paddy and cultivated grassland after amendment of 3% biochar (wt.) produced from rice chaff. During incubation, soils were exposed to three wet-dry cycles ranging from 5~85% soil gravimetric water content (WC) to investigate the changes in effect of biochar when influenced by different water levels. The $CO_2$ emission was reduced in biochar treatment compared to the control at WC of 30~70% both in rice paddy and grassland soils. This indicates that biochar could function as a stabilizer for soil organic carbon and it can be effective in carbon sequestration. The $N_2O$ emission was also reduced from the grassland soil treated with biochar when WC was greater than 30% because the biochar treated soils had lower denitrification due to better aeration. In the rice paddy soil, biochar addition resulted in decrease in $N_2O$ emission when WC was greater than 70%, while an increase was noted when WC was between 30~70%. This increase might be related to the fact that available nutrients on biochar surface stimulated existing nitrifying bacterial community, resulting in higher $N_2O$ emission. Overall results imply that biochar amendment to agricultural soil can stabilize soil carbon from fast decomposition although attention should be paid to additional $N_2O$ emission when biochar addition is combined with the application of nitrogen fertilizer.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.481-495
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyze the relationship between meteorologicalclimatic factors and fruit property data from Aronia sampling points during May to August 2016 in the Danyang area. For this purpose, we investigated the meteorological factor, the physicalchemical property of fruit and soil, and the property change of fruit according to the setting of rain and daylight shielding from Aronia sampling points. The result indicate that first, meteorologicalclimatic factors such as the maximum air temperature, the accumulated precipitation, the relative humidity, and daylight hours are a positive influence on products and maintenance of quality of Aronia as well as a suitable field for cultivating Aronia in the Danyang. However, a strong wind in April and May deeply affects the falling phenomenon of the flowering and blooming season. Second, the quality and products of Aronia show the high correlation coefficients of more than 0.9 with agricultural meteorologicalclimatic factors such as daily maximum temperature, daily soil temp, daily soil pH, cumulated precipitation, and daily soil humidity. Also, they can be predicted by the regression equations using these factors. Third, it is necessary to maintain the rain shielding in these fields because antocyanin and saccharinity components within Aronia decreased in case of heavy rainfalls. And, the result of regression analysis saccharinity and antocyanin within aronia from normal fields and rain shieldingfields at Aronia sampling points show a high correlation, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.313-321
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• 2021

BACKGROUND: Ammonia is a causative substance for the fine particulate matters (PM_2.5) and generates dust through atmospheric reactions. Agricultural sector accounts for 79.3% of ammonia emissions in Korea. Urea and composted organic fertilizer (COF) are used in the soil for the purpose of supplying nutrients in grapevine orchards. This study was conducted to investigate estimates of ammonia emission and examine fruit quality from the rain proof cultivation of the 'Beni Balad', applied by urea and COF to the soil. METHODS AND RESULTS: Urea, COF1, and COF2 were applied at the rates of 119, 135, and 271 kg ha^-1 respectively. Ammonia emissionwas measured using a dynamic flow-through method. CONCLUSION(S): Ammonia emissions by urea and COF treatments to 'Beni Balad' soils under rain proof cultivation were calculated to be 2.63, 12.95, 2.05, and 3.97 kg NH₃-N ha^-1 day^-1, respectively for the control, urea, COF1, and COF2. Urea soil application increased soluble solids, firmness, and anthocyanin content in fruits at harvest, and COF1 application increased the soluble solids and anthocyanin content. For all the treatments, acidity increased in the harvested fruits.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.83-91
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• 2015

Few studies have investigated soil management policy and soil erosion measurement, whereas the occurrence of climate change requires the establishment of robust soil management systems and appropriate control of soil erosion. In this study, we developed a smart sensor for real-time quantitative measurements of soil erosion at the watershed scale. The smart sensor consists of an ultrasonic sensor, a rainfall meter, a solar cell, an RTU (remote terminal unit),and a CDMA (code division multiple access) and it was programmed to take a measurement every 30 minutes. The depths measured by the smart sensor were compared with data from terrestrial LiDAR. Experimental results showed a strong correlation in the depth of soil erosion between LiDAR and the ultrasonic sensor for the period from 22 August to 11 October 2013. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient between soil erosion depth (mm) and soil erosion volume (m³) was 0.9063 in the lower region of the watershed and is 0.9868 in the upper region. The proposed ultrasonic sensor technique can provide high-quality data for soil conservation and management systems in the future.