• Title/Summary/Keyword: Consumer demand

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Structural Relationships Among Factors to Adoption of Telehealth Service (원격의료서비스 수용요인의 구조적 관계 실증연구)

  • Kim, Sung-Soo;Ryu, See-Won
    • Asia pacific journal of information systems
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    • v.21 no.3
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    • pp.71-96
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    • 2011
  • Within the traditional medical delivery system, patients residing in medically vulnerable areas, those with body movement difficulties, and nursing facility residents have had limited access to good healthcare services. However, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides us with a convenient and useful means of overcoming distance and time constraints. ICT is integrated with biomedical science and technology in a way that offers a new high-quality medical service. As a result, rapid technological advancement is expected to play a pivotal role bringing about innovation in a wide range of medical service areas, such as medical management, testing, diagnosis, and treatment; offering new and improved healthcare services; and effecting dramatic changes in current medical services. The increase in aging population and chronic diseases has caused an increase in medical expenses. In response to the increasing demand for efficient healthcare services, a telehealth service based on ICT is being emphasized on a global level. Telehealth services have been implemented especially in pilot projects and system development and technological research. With the service about to be implemented in earnest, it is necessary to study its overall acceptance by consumers, which is expected to contribute to the development and activation of a variety of services. In this sense, the study aims at positively examining the structural relationship among the acceptance factors for telehealth services based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected by showing audiovisual material on telehealth services to online panels and requesting them to respond to a structured questionnaire sheet, which is known as the information acceleration method. Among the 1,165 adult respondents, 608 valid samples were finally chosen, while the remaining were excluded because of incomplete answers or allotted time overrun. In order to test the reliability and validity of the assessment scale items, we carried out reliability and factor analyses, and in order to explore the causal relation among potential variables, we conducted a structural equation modeling analysis using AMOS 7.0 and SPSS 17.0. The research outcomes are as follows. First, service quality, innovativeness of medical technology, and social influence were shown to affect perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the telehealth service, which was statistically significant, and the two factors had a positive impact on willingness to accept the telehealth service. In addition, social influence had a direct, significant effect on intention to use, which is paralleled by the TAM used in previous research on technology acceptance. This shows that the research model proposed in the study effectively explains the acceptance of the telehealth service. Second, the research model reveals that information privacy concerns had a insignificant impact on perceived ease of use of the telehealth service. From this, it can be gathered that the concerns over information protection and security are reduced further due to advancements in information technology compared to the initial period in the information technology industry, and thus the improvement in quality of medical services appeared to ensure that information privacy concerns did not act as a prohibiting factor in the acceptance of the telehealth service. Thus, if other factors have an enormous impact on ease of use and usefulness, concerns over these results in the initial period of technology acceptance may become irrelevant. However, it is clear that users' information privacy concerns, as other studies have revealed, is a major factor affecting technology acceptance. Thus, caution must be exercised while interpreting the result, and further study is required on the issue. Numerous information technologies with outstanding performance and innovativeness often attract few consumers. A revised bill for those urgently in need of telehealth services is about to be approved in the national assembly. As telemedicine is implemented between doctors and patients, a wide range of systems that will improve the quality of healthcare services will be designed. In this sense, the study on the consumer acceptance of telehealth services is meaningful and offers strong academic evidence. Based on the implications, it can be expected to contribute to the activation of telehealth services. Further study is needed to assess the acceptance factors for telehealth services, such as motivation to remain healthy, health care involvement, knowledge on health, and control of health-related behavior, in order to develop unique services according to the categorization of customers based on health factors. In addition, further study may focus on various theoretical cognitive behavior models other than the TAM, such as the health belief model.

Characterization of a new commercial strain 'Mongdol' by intra-specific hyphal anastomosis in Pleurotus ostreatus (계통간 교잡에 의한 느타리 신품종 '몽돌'의 육성 및 그 특성)

  • Oh, Min-Ji;Kim, Eun-Jung;Jung, Ji-Hoon;Shin, Pyung-Gyun;Kim, Eun-Sun;Oh, Youn-Lee;Jang, Kab-Yeul;Kong, Won-Sik;Yoo, Young-Bok
    • Journal of Mushroom
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    • v.13 no.3
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    • pp.212-216
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    • 2015
  • A new commercial strain "Mongdol" of oyster mushroom was developed by hyphal anastomosis. It was improved with hybridization between monokaryotic strain derived from Pleurotus ostreatus ASI 0627 and dikaryotic strain derived from P. ostreatus ASI 2929. The optimum temperature of mycelial growth and fruiting body development were $25{\sim}30^{\circ}C$ and $12{\sim}18^{\circ}C$, respectively. When two different media including PDA (potato dextrose agar medium) and MCM (mushroom complete medium) were compared, the mycelial growth of this mushroom was faster in MCM than in PDA. Similar result was observed with the control strain P. ostreatus ASI 2504. Analysis of the genetic characteristics of the new cultivar "Mongdol" showed a different DNA profile as that of the control strain ASI 2504, when RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) primer URP3 and URP6 were used. Fruiting body production per bottle was about 106 g using demonstration farms. The color of pileus was blackish gray and the stipe was long. Therefore, we expect that this new strain "Mongdol" will satisfy the consumer's demand for high quality mushrooms.

Study on Environment-friendly Rice Production System by Use of Effective Microorganism (미생물제제를 이용한 친환경 벼 생산체계에 관한 연구 -EM 등 친환경농자재 처리수준이 벼 생육 및 수량에 미치는 영향-)

  • Yoon, Seong-Tak;Park, Sang-Hun;Kim, Young-Whi
    • Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.207-218
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    • 2007
  • Coming with the well-being era, consumer's demand for safe agricultural products is increasing. So, it is urgent to develop an environment-friendly rice production system. Accordingly, this study was conducted to develop an environment-friendly rice production system by using Amo known as EM(effective microorganisms) and also known as being effective in environment-friendly rice production with several other environment-friendly agricultural materials. The highest number of tillers per hill was obtained from level 2 of EM treatment (48.8 tillers per hill), while the lowest was obtained from the control plot (41.0 tillers per hill). Leaf area per hill at heading stage was the highest in level 3 of EM treatment $(3228.5cm^2)$, while control was the lowest leaf area $(2264.7cm^2)$, which is 70.2% compared to the level 3 of EM treatment. The highest effective tillers was obtained from the control (63.7%), while the lowest effective tillers was obtained from the level 3 of EM treatment (55.4%), which were treated with higher amounts of environment-friendly agricultural materials. Level 3 of EM treatment showed the highest number of panicles per hill (20.9), while the control showed the lowest number of panicles per hill (19.3). In the spikelets per panicle, level 2 of EM treatment showed the highest number of spikelets (85.2), while the control showed the lowest number of spikelets (81.9) and there was a statistically significant difference among the three levels and control. The highest grain filling ratio was obtained from the control (85.0%), while level 3 of EM treatment was the lowest grain filling ratio and there were no great difference between treatment levels. Regarding the 1000 grain weight, the control showed the highest 1000 grain weight (21.7g), which is heavier by about 1g compared to treatment levels. Level 2 of EM treatment showed the highest rough rice yield per 10a, while level 3 of EM treatment was the lowest and they also showed a statistically significant difference among treatment levels.

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Temporal and Spatial Variation of Microalgal Biomass and Community Structure in Seawater and Surface Sediment of the Gomso Bay as Determined by Chemotaxonomic Analysis (색소분석을 통한 곰소만 내 해수와 퇴적물 중 미세조류 생체량과 군집구조의 시공간적 변화)

  • Lee, Yong-Woo;Park, Mi-Ok;Yoon, Ji-Hyun;Hur, Sung-Bum
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.87-94
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    • 2012
  • To compare monthly variations of phytoplankton biomass and community composition between in seawater and sediment of the Gomso Bay (tidal flat: approximately 75%), the photosynthetic pigments were analyzed by HPLC every month in 1999 and every two months in 2000. Ambient physical and chemical parameters (temperature, salinity, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, and chemical oxygen demand) were also examined to find the environmental factors controlling structure of phytoplankton community. The temporal and spatial variations of chlorophyll a concentration in seawater were correlated well with the magnitude of freshwater discharge from land. The biomass of microphytobenthos at the surface sediments was lower than that in other regions of the world and 2-3 times lower than phytoplankton biomass integrated in the seawater column. Based on the results of HPLC pigment analysis, fucoxanthin, a marker pigment of diatoms, was the most prominent pigment and highly correlated with chlorophyll a in seawater and sediment of the Gomso Bay. These results suggest that diatoms are the predominant phytoplankton in seawater and sediment of the Gomso Bay. However, the monthly variation of chlorophyll a concentration in seawater at the subtidal zone was not a good correlation with that in sediment of the Gomso Bay. Although pelagic plankton was identified in seawater by microscopic examination, benthic algal species were not found in the seawater. These results suggest that contribution from the suspended microphytobenthos in the tidal flat to the subtidal zone of the Gomso Bay may be low as a food source to the primary consumer in the upper water column of the subtidal zone. Further study needs to elucidate the vertical and horizontal transport magnitude of the suspended microphytobenthos in the tidal flat to the subtidal zone.

Korea and Japan Comparison Study of Distribution Industry: Focus on Input-out Analysis (유통산업의 한일비교 연구 - 산업연관분석을 중심으로 -)

  • Jho, Kwang-Hyun
    • Journal of Distribution Research
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    • v.16 no.5
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    • pp.171-192
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    • 2011
  • This paper focuses on the retail industry of industrial share of the GDP, productivity of distribution industry and input-out analysis between Korea and Japan, also results are summarized as follows. First, the share of GDP in agriculture, forestry and fisheries of the both countries is falling. That of manufacture increases in South Korea, while Japan is falling. While distribution industry shows vice versa. Employed population by industry is falling both countries also. The relative labor productivity shows that agriculture, forestry and fisheries, retail industry needs more labor, while manufacture has been met for both countries. Second, compare to Japan, the retail industry of Korea has been increased since 1990. Likewise, overall productivity of distribution industry in Korea has been increased while almost that of Japan has declined. Third, production inducement effects of Japan are greater than that of Korea. On the other hand, import inducement effects show vice versa. Fourth, as shown from the final demand of distribution industry and the rate of dependence on production inducement, we can see that the “increase in stocks” increases while gross government fixed capital formation shows vice versa. Korea's private consumption expenditure increases while Japan shows versa. South Korea's government consumption expenditure and exports are rising, on the other hand, that of Japan is declining. Fifth, the rate of dependence on distribution industry and import inducement shows the same tendency from both countries. As we can see from the private consumption expenditure, government consumption expenditure, gross government fixed capital formation, gross private fixed capital formation, increase in stocks, the rate of dependence on import inducement is more effective than the rate of dependence on production inducement. While the exports are comparatively ineffective. Sixth, the degrees of influence of retail industry are similar between Korea and Japan, while sensitivity of the Korean industry has been weakened. In this sense, strong policies are needed to boost the industry. Seventh, the investments in the retail industry of Korea showed the public-led trend, while Japan showed private sector-led investment trend. The investment trend of Korea's retail industry will be switched into private sector-led investment step by step in the future. This finding will be an important clue to set the policy direction of Korea distribution industry. Finally, both Korea and Japan are still in need of employment in retail industry. Not addressed in this paper, such as value-added-induced effects, employment inducement effect, will be remaining challenges in the following paper.

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consumers' purchasing behavior of functional cosmetics and Inula based functional cosmetics merchandising research (국내 소비자의 기능성화장품 구매행태 및 선복화 활용 기능성화장품 상품화를 위한 연구)

  • Han, Do-Kyung;Lee, Hyun-Jun;Lee, Eun-Hee;Paik, Hyun-Dong;Shin, Dong-Kyoo;Park, Dae-Sub;Hwang, Hye-Seon;Hong, Wan-Soo
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.17 no.8
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    • pp.236-250
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    • 2016
  • This study was conducted to provide baseline data regarding functional cosmetics so that Inula. based cosmetics can increase its competitiveness in the market as well as to understand current trends to enable anticipation of demands for future product development. For this research, general consumers over the age of 20 residing in Seoul and the Gyeonggi district were surveyed. The results show consumers preferred serum-type products among various types of cosmetics, and that they purchased these once every 1-3 months. Consumers also preferred these products in less than 10-30ml capacity, and at costs of less than 30,000-50,000 KRW. For whitening, functional cosmetics consumers also preferred the serum type, in less than 30-50ml capacity and priced less than 30,000-50,000 KRW. Consumers preferred to purchase functional cosmetics in single units. The major purchasing location, with a high preference rate, was cosmetic stores, and the major sources of information, also with high preference rates, were 'experienced reviews from family, friends and acquaintances' and 'TV advertisements'. Respondents selected 'over 50,000 KRW' the most for all items when responding to 'Purchase Intent for Functional Cosmetics containing Inula', and responded that they were willing to pay 10%-30% more for functional cosmetics containing Inula compared to standard functional cosmetics. These results show that businesses in the cosmetics industry need to take consumer demand into account when developing new functional cosmetic products, as well as establish plans to create specialized spaces that provide better quality service and increase word of mouth effect through better utilization of various types of offline media, social media, and blogs. The study also shows a need for businesses to develop products fully utilizing the Inula flower, which has been shown to be effective as a natural skin whitener, wrinkle reducer and skin moisturizer, to appeal to the increasing number of customers interested in health and beauty.

Economic Effects of Eliminating Trade Barriers under Imperfect Competition (불완전경쟁하(不完全競爭下)에서의 무역장벽(貿易障壁) 완화효과(緩和效果))

  • Lee, Hong-gue
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.29-54
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    • 1992
  • Recent studies on the economic effects of trade liberalization and economic integration have emphasized the significant gains associated with product differentiation and scale economies. Securing access to markets in other countries will make it possible to increase product variety and capture scale economies, thus, expanding the gains from trade. Liberalization is also expected to introduce foreign competition into the previously closed market. Concurrently, the liberalization will improve the competitive market environment for firms selling in the domestic market. Firms will be pressed to either exit or reduce cost. The output per firm, then, will increase due to the exit of rival firms, and the average total cost will decline due to the economies of scale. 'Rationalization' of the production process will eventually follow. This paper addresses the economic effects of (counterfactual) bilateral tariff elimination between Korea and Japan. It computationally assesses the gains from liberalization as well as the resource allocations and welfare effects associated with the tariff reduction. The endogenous determination of the key parameters distinguishes this paper from others. The firm's perceived elasticity of demand and elasticity of substitution in the present model are calibrated to be consistent with the base year data. Korea, Japan, and the rest of the world are modeled explicitly. The sectoral coverage of the model includes twenty-three tradable product categories based on three-digit SITC industries and seven nontradable categories based on one-digit SITC industries. Product categories are also classified into perfectly competitive and imperfectly competitive ones. In the imperfectly competitive industries, product differentiation exists at the firm level, while the perfectly competitive industries are characterized by national product differentiation. The simulation results of bilateral tariff reduction are reported. Tariff elimination tends to increase intra-industry trade flows so that the total amount of exports and imports of both countries expand. Yet, Japan is expected to increase the bilateral trade surplus in the wake of the mutual tariff reduction. Terms-of-trade for Korea will not change, while for Japan it will deteriorate. Equivalent variations reflecting the change in consumer surplus (welfare) will favor Korean consumers. Total output, however, will not change substantially, recording 0.5 and 0.6% for Japan and Korea, respectively. An interesting finding in the analysis is that the gains from increased competition and scale efficiency are not as prevailing as expected in theory.

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Investigation of Requirement and Demand toward for Functional Traditional Hangwa(Korean Cookies) of Tradition (기능성 전통 한과류 요구도 및 수요도 조사)

  • Bok, Hye-Ja;Choi, Soo-Keun
    • Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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    • v.18 no.5
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    • pp.692-701
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    • 2008
  • This study was conducted with 150 adults of 20 years or older, all of whom lived in Seoul. The awareness of traditional Hangwa (Korean cookies) was shown to be relatively low, with 2.9 points on average, and the intake of traditional Hangwa for a month was 2.1 times. For the reason that traditional Hangwa couldn't become popular, and the opinion that the reason was because the price is expensive was the highest, at 3.8. The next highest reasons given were because it is difficult to buy, and because it is inconvenient to eat, at 3.0. The traditional Hangwa was shown to enjoy positive awareness as opposed to negative awareness, while the manufacturing sanitation was also recognized to be relatively clean, with 2.6 points assigned to the opinion that it doesn't taste good, and 2.7 points assigned to the opinion that the manufacturing sanitation is unclean. With regard to the excellence of traditional Hangwa, the response that 'our tradition can be handed down' was the most often encountered, with a score of 3.9. The traditional Hangwa was appraised as excellent, with 3.6 points assigned to the opinion 'it suits our body because it is made with our agricultural products' and 3.4% for each opinion 'safe ingredients are used' and 'all ingredients are good for health'. With regard to the level of agreement for the development of functional traditional Hangwa, the positive group was higher than 25.3% of the negative group, with 27.3% for 'agree very much' and 22.0% for 'agree'. When converted into a 5-point scale for the development of functional traditional Hangwa, the group that was positive toward its development was high, with 3.4 points on average. All categories of excellence awareness were correlated with the level of agreement for the development of a functional food product (p<0.001). Consumer awareness toward the addition of traditional Hangwa functionality was generally positive, with 3.3 points or higher on average, and awareness of the aging suppression and diabetes control effects of Hangwa was also high, with 3.5 points. Next were Hangwa for diet, Hangwa for blood pressure control, Hangwa for mineral supple-mentation and vitamin additive-type Hangwa, with 3.4 for each, and Hangwa for health preservation, with 3.3 in order. With regard to the degree of interest toward functional traditional Hangwa for the treatment of diseases, obese patients cited aging suppression, at 3.2, and vitamin additive Hangwa, at 3.0, while Hangwa for dieting was assigned 2.8 points. Patients with high blood pressure, blood circulation, and diabetes were all shown as having a high degree of interest in all items, while evidencing particular interest toward Hangwa for diabetes control and Hangwa for blood pressure control. With regard to intention to purchase while developing functional traditional Hangwa, the group asserting intention to purchase was higher than 60% for all items except for Hangwa for diabetes control (58.7%). The Hangwa for aging suppression was highest, at 68.6%, and shown as having intention to purchase during development in the order of vitamin additive Hangwa at 68.0%, Hangwa for mineral supplementation at 64.6%, each of Hangwa for health preservation and Hangwa for blood pressure control at 62.7%, Hangwa for diet at 62.6% and Hangwa for diabetes control at 58.7%. The considerations during the development of functional traditional Hangwa were in the following order: storage at 4.1 points, taste and level of function at 3.9 points, size at 3.5 points, and packing at 3.4 points.

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Current Status of the Research on the Postharvest Technology of Melon(Cucumis melo L.) (멜론(Cucumis melo L.) 수확 후 관리기술 최근 연구 동향)

  • Oh, Su-Hwan;Bae, Ro-Na;Lee, Seung-Koo
    • Food Science and Preservation
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.442-458
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    • 2011
  • Among Cucubitaceae, melon (Cucumis melo) is one of the most diversified fruits, with various forms, sizes, pulps, and peel colors, In addition, it is a commercially important crop because of its high sweetness, deep flavor, and abundant juice. In the species, there are both climacteric and non-climacteric melons depending on the respiration and ethylene production patterns after harvest. Ethylene is also considered a crucial hormone for determining sex expression, Phytohormones other than ethylene interact and regulate ripening, There are some indices that can be used to evaluate the optimum harvest maturity. The harvest time can be estimated after the pollination time, which is the most commonly used method of determining the harvest maturity of the fruit. Besides the physiological aspects, the biochemical alterations, including those of sweetness, firmness, flavor, color, and rind, contribute to the overall fruit quality. These changes can be categorized based on the ethylene-dependent and ethylene-independent phenomena due to the ethylene-suppressed transgenic melon. After harvest, the fruits are precooled to $10^{\circ}C$ to reduce the field heat, after which they are sized and packed. The fruits can be treated with hot water ($60^{\circ}C$ for 60 min) to prevent the softening of the enzyme activity and microorganisms, and with calcium to maintain their firmness. 1-methylenecyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment also maintains their storability by inhibiting respiration and ethylene production. The shelf life of melon is very short even under cold storage, like other cucurbits, and it is prone to obtaining chilling injury under $10^{\circ}C$. In South Korea, low-temperature ($10^{\circ}C$) storage is known to be the best storage condition for the fruit. For long-time transport, CA storage is a good method of maintaining the quality of the fruit by reducing the respiration and ethylene. For fresh-cut processing, washing with a sanitizing agent and packing with plastic-film processing are needed, and low-temperature storage is necessary. The consumer need and demand for fresh-cut melon are growing, but preserving the quality of fresh-cut melon is more challenging than preserving the quality of the whole fruit.

The Growth and Physiological Responses of Cacalia firma Seedlings by Shading Conditions in Forest Farming (임간재배 시 병풍쌈 유묘의 차광처리별 생장 및 생리 반응)

  • Yoon, Jun Hyuck;Jeon, Kwon Seok;Song, Ki Seon;Park, Yong Bae;Moon, Yong Sun;Lee, Do Hyung
    • Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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    • v.103 no.1
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    • pp.65-71
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    • 2014
  • Cacalia firma is a perennial plant in Asteraceae, Parasenecio that distributed in Korea, China, and Japan. As dietary style changes for well-being life, consumer's demand of functional food and organic vegetables is getting increased. This study was conducted to investigate the optimum light conditions of P. firmus in forest farming. One year old seedlings were grown under four different light conditions 10%, 20%, 30%, and 50% of sunlight by shading (equals 50%, 30%, 20%, and 10% relative brightness respectively) and non-treated control under full sunlight. They were analyzed for early growth and physiological response. Seedlings grown under 75% shading showed similar height, root growth, and leaf water content to control. However, their leaf length, width, and total leaf area were increased, which caused increased leaf dry weight and total dry weight. Especially, seedlings under 95% shading showed 40% increase in height and more leaf growth and leaf water content, although they had shorter main root length and root collar diameter than control. In addition specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf area ratio (LAR) were higher than control and indicated that they were statistically significant difference from control. Higher SLA refers thinner leaf thickness, higher LAR means larger leaf area. The results indicate seedlings under 95% shading have higher water content, thinner leaf, and wider lightinterception areas. It is plausible that P. firmus is active in chlorophyll activities and carbon dioxide assimilation at even lower light conditions. These results suggest that the optimum light level of P. firmus for artificial cultivation in forest farming ranges from 75~95% shading (20%-10% of relative brightness). When salability as 'sanchae' (wild edible greens) is considered, P. firmus could be cultivated under 75% shading in forest farming and expected to have better taste and higher yield. We suggest these results as basic data of P. firmus for possible forest farming.