• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 1999

This study was to test whether the viability of bovine hatched blastocysts (HBs) can be maintained after vitrification and thawing. The HBs were produced in vitro at Day 9 and Day 10 after IVF, and they were classified to small (S-HBs; ø$\leq$300 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$) and large(L-HBs; ø＞300 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$) on the basis of embryo diameter using eyepiece micrometer. As freezing solution, we used EFS35 which consisted of 35% ethylene glycol (EG), 18% ficoll, 0.3 M sucrose and 10% FBS added in mDPBS. Vitrification was taken by two-step method, the HBs were equilibrated in 10% EG for 5 minutes and then shortly exposed in EFS35 and plunged into L$N_2$for 30~45 sec. After thawing, the survival rates were assessed by the re-expansion of the blastocoel during 2 h and 16 h of culture. The results obtained in these experiments were summarized as follows; 1) When the blastocysts(40.8%) recovered at Day 8 after IVF were further cultured for 24 h(Day 9 after IVF) and 48 h(Day 10 after IVF), the rates of HBs were 20.5% and 6.7%, respectively. Also, the total cell number of HBs on Day 9 was significantly higher than that of HBs on Day 10 (p＜0.01). 2) When the effects of freezing solution to the survival of Day 9 L-HBs were examined, the rate of vitrified group (75.7%) was significantly lower than 100% of control and exposed group(p＜0.05). 3) When the survival rates of vitrified HBs according to size and developmental age were examined, the data of L-HBs (75.5%) and S-HBs(63.6%) on Day 9 were slightly higher than those of L-HBs(64.3%) and S-HBs(60.7%) on Day 10. 4) Also, when the in vitro survival of Day 9 HBs was evaluated under different culture condition after thawing, the result in culture medium only (79.3%) was significantly higher than 43.2% in co-culture group (p＜0.05). These results demonstrated that bovine HBs can be successfully cryopreserved by two-step vitrification method using EFS35.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.418-428
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• 2007

Physical and chemical properties of the aggregate by-products including sludge and crushed dust samples collected from the 21 private companies throughout the country were analyzed to evaluate possible usage of the by-products as artificial soil materials for plantation. The pH of the materials ranged from 8.0 to 11.0. The organic matter content was $2.85g\;kg^{-1}$, and the total nitrogen content and available phosphate content were low as 0.7 percents and $12.98mg\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Exchangeable $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $K^+$, and $Na^+$ were 2.29, 0.47, 0.02 and $0.05cmol\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Heavy metal contents were lower than the limits regulated by environmental law of Korea. Textural analysis showed that most of the materials were silt loam with low water holding capacity ranged from 0.67 to 7.41 percents, and with low hydraulic conductivity ranged from 0.4 to $2.8m\;s^{-1}$. Mineralogical analysis showed that the aggregate by product materials were mostly composed of silicate, alumina and ferric oxides except calcium oxide dominant materials derived from limestones. The primary minerals were quartz, feldspars and dolomites derived from granite and granitic gneiss materials. Some samples derived from limestone material showed calcite and graphite together with the above minerals. According to the result, it can be concluded that the materials could be used as the artificial soil material for plantation after proper improvement of the physico-chemical properties and fertility.