• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.781-798
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• 2018

Plants have evolved strategies to cope with drought stress by maximizing physiological capacity and adjusting developmental processes such as flowering time. The WOX13 orthologous group is the most conserved among the clade of WOX homeodomain-containing proteins and is found to function in both drought stress and flower development. In this study, we isolated and characterized OsWOX13 from rice. OsWOX13 was regulated spatially in vegetative organs but temporally in flowers and seeds. Overexpression of OsWOX13 (OsWOX13-ov) in rice under the rab21 promoter resulted in drought resistance and early flowering by 7-10 days. Screening of gene expression profiles in mature leaf and panicles of OsWOX13-ov showed a broad spectrum of effects on biological processes, such as abiotic and biotic stresses, exerting a cross-talk between responses. Protein binding microarray and electrophoretic mobility shift assay analyses supported ATTGATTG as the putative cis-element binding of OsWOX13. OsDREB1A and OsDREB1F, drought stress response transcription factors, contain ATTGATTG motif(s) in their promoters and are preferentially expressed in OsWOX13-ov. In addition, Heading date 3a and OsMADS14, regulators in the flowering pathway and development, were enhanced in OsWOX13-ov. These results suggest that OsWOX13 mediates the stress response and early flowering and, thus, may be a regulator of genes involved in drought escape.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

A correlation analysis was performed to investigate differences in the response of surface water and groundwater to drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Water level data of 20 agricultural reservoirs, 4 dams, 2 rivers, and 8 groundwater observation wells were used for the analysis. SPI was calculated using precipitation data measured at a nearby meteorological station. The water storage of reservoirs and dams decreased significantly as they responded sensitively to the drought from 2014 to 2016, showing high correlation with SPI of the relatively long accumulation period (AP). The responses of rivers varied greatly depending on the presence of an upstream dam. The water level in rivers connected to an upstream dam was predominantly influenced by the dam discharge, resulting in very weak correlation with SPI. On the contrary, the rivers without dam exhibited a sharp water level rise in response to precipitation, showing higher correlation with SPI of a short-term AP. Unlike dams and reservoirs, the responses of groundwater levels to precipitation were very short-lived, and they did not show high correlation with SPI during the long-term drought. In drought years, the rise of groundwater level in the rainy season was small, and the lowered water level in the dry season did not proceed any further and was maintained at almost the same as that of other normal years. Conclusively, it is confirmed that groundwater is likely to persist longer than surface water even in the long-term drought years.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.209-215
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• 2020

In order to understand the characteristics of natural droughts, it is very important to interpret the spatio-temporal relationship between different types of droughts. In this study, meteorological and hydrological drought events were defined to account for the overlap between drought duration and spatial extent in three dimensions (i.e., latitude, longitude, and timing). In other words, the spatio-temporal drought propagation characteristics were analyzed based on the drought characteristic factors (duration, area, depth, center). The drought map considering the characteristics of spatio-temporal drought propagation can be used to find the fundamental cause of the hydrological drought which is expected to frequently occur in the future. In addition, the drought map is expected to be useful in preparing an effective drought response plan.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.625-632
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• 2015

Drought is a severe abiotic stress that affects global crop production. A drought model was created for 'Toyonoka' Fragaria ${\times}$ ananassa, and the effects of drought stress on contents of proline, sugars, and antioxidant enzyme activities were investigated. Strawberry transplants with identical growth were chosen for the experiments and the randomized design included four replications (10 plants per block). The experimental sets differed in the moisture level of the culture medium relative to the range of moisture content as follows: control, 70-85%; mild drought stress, 50-60%; moderate drought stress, 40-50%; and severe drought stress, 30-40%. Drought stress was imposed by limiting irrigation. Plants were sampled and physiological parameters w ere measured on 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 days after the commencement of droughts tress. The water potential of strawberry leaves decreased in the plants under mild, moderate, and severe stress during the course of the water stress treatment and exhibited a significant difference from the control. Strawberry leaves subjected to drought stress had higher accumulation of proline, sugars, and malondialdehyde, and higher activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase than leaves of control plants. Malondialdehyde levels increased in parallel with the severity and duration of drought stress. By contrast, antioxidant enzyme activity displayed dynamic responses to drought stress, first increasing and subsequently decreasing as the severity and duration of drought stress increased. These results suggest that strawberry plants respond to drought stress by altering the activities of antioxidant enzymes and the levels of osmotically active metabolites. These biochemical response changes may confer adaptation to drought stress and improve the capacity of plants to withstand water-deficit conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.57-57
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• 2022

In many areas of the world, salt damage and drought have had a negative impact on human survival due to a decrease in agricultural productivity. For instance, about 50% of agricultural land will be affected by salt damage by 2050. Biostimulants such as plant extracts can not only increase the nutrient utilization efficiency of plants, but also promote plant growth and increase resistance to abiotic or biotic stress. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine how selected plant extracts might reduce levels of stress caused by drought and salt and to better understand the physiological response mechanisms of rice plants. In this study, we used Soybean leaves, Soybean stems and Allium tuberosum, Allium cepa, Hizikia fusiforme, and Gracilaria verrucosa extracts were used. These extracts had been used in previous studies and were found to be effective. The materials were dried in a dry oven at 50℃ for 5 days and ground using a blender. Each 50 g of materials was put in 1 L of distilled water, stirred for 24 hours, filtered using 4 layers of mirocloth, and then concentrated using a concentrator. Rice (cv. Hopumbyeo) seeds were immersed and germinated, and then sown in seedbeds filled with commercial soil. In drought experiments, three rice seedlings at 1 week after seeding was transplanted into 100 ml cups filled with commercial soils and grown until the 4-leaf stage. For this experiment, the soil weight in a cup was equalized, and water was allowed to become 100% saturated and then drained for 24 hours. Thereafter, plant extracts at 3% concentrations were applied to the soils. For NaCl treatments, rice plants at 17 days after seeding were treated with either 100 mM NaCl or plant extracts at 1%+ 100 mM NaCl combinations in the growth chamber. Leaf injury, relative water content, photosynthetic efficiency, and chlorophyll contents were measured at 3, 5, and 6 days after treatments. Shoot fresh weight of rice under drought conditions increased 28-37% in response to treatments of Soybean leaf, Soybean stem, Allium tuberosum, Allium cepa, Hizikia fusiforme, and Gracilaria verrucosa extracts at 3% when compared with control plants. Shoot fresh weight of rice subjected to 100 mM NaCl treatments also increased by 6-24% in response to Soybean leaf, Soybean stem, Allium tuberosum, Allium cepa, Hizikia fusiforme, and Gracilaria verrucosa extracts at 3% when compared with control plants. Compared to the control, rice plants treated with these six extracts and subjected to drought conditions had significantly higher relative water content, Fv/Fm, total chlorophyll and total carotenoids than control plants. With the exception of relative water contents, rice plants treated with the six extracts and subjected to salt stress (100 mM NaCl treatments) had significantly higher Fv/Fm, total chlorophyll and total carotenoids than control plants. However, the type of extract used did not produce significant difference in these parameters. Thus, all the plant extracts used in this study could mitigate drought and NaCl stresses and could also contribute substantially to sustainable crop production.

• Mycobiology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.396-405
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• 2021

Cinnamomum migao plants often face different degrees of drought in karst habitats, which can lead to plants' death, especially in the seedling stage. Widespread of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in karst soils have the potential to address this drought, which is a threat to C. migao seedlings. We inoculated C. migao seedlings with spores from Glomus lamellosum and Glomus etunicatum, two AM fungi widely distributed in karst soils, to observe seedling growth response after simulated drought. Our results showed that 40 g of G. lamellosum and G. etunicatum significantly promoted the growth of C. migao seedlings, 120 days after inoculation. Following a 15-day drought treatment, root colonization of the seedlings with G. lamellosum or G. etunicatum had lower the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and increased the accumulation of enzymes and osmotic substances in the seedlings. The relative water content in different organs (roots, stems, and leaves) of the drought-stressed seedlings was higher in plants with G. lamellosum or G. etunicatum than in plants without AM fungi colonization. Our results showed that inoculation with AM fungi was an effective means to improve the drought resistance of C. migao seedlings.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.63-73
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• 2020

Drought is considered as a devastating hazard that causes serious agricultural, ecological and socio-economic impacts worldwide. Fundamentally, the drought can be defined as temporarily different levels of inadequate precipitation, soil moisture, and water supply relative to the long-term average conditions. From no unified definition of droughts, droughts have been divided into different severity level, i.e., moderate drought, severe drought, extreme drought and exceptional drought. The drought severity classification defined the ranges for each indicator for each dryness level. Because the ranges of the various indicators often don't coincide, the final drought category tends to be based on what the majority of the indicators show and on local observations. Evaporative Stress Index (ESI), a satellite-based drought index using the ratio of potential and actual evaporation, is being used as a index of the droughts occurring rapidly in a short period of time from studies showing a more sensitive and fast response to drought compared to Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). However, ESI is difficult to provide an objective drought assessment because it does not have clear drought severity classification criteria. In this study, U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), the standard for drought determination used in the United States, was applied to ESI, and the Percentile method was used to classify drought categories by severity. Regarding the actual 2017 drought event in South Korea, we compare the spatial distribution of drought area and understand the USDM-based ESI by comparing the results of Standardized Groundwater level Index (SGI) and drought impact information. These results demonstrated that the USDM-based ESI could be an effective tool to provide objective drought conditions to inform management decisions for drought policy.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2020

This study assessed the reliability of the agricultural water supply based on future climate change scenarios, and suggested plans to improve the reliability in order to promote the adaptability of irrigation water in agricultural reservoirs to climate change. The assessment of agricultural water supply reliability was performed on reservoirs which had a lower water quantity than their design basis and which had recently been subject to drought. In other words, from the irrigation districts of main intake works among the reservoirs managed by the Korea Rural Community Corporation, 1~2 districts in each province-that is, a total of 13 districts -that were recently designated as a district for securing agricultural water (drought prevention district) were selected. Climate change scenarios were applied to the selected districts to analyze their future water supply reliability compared to the current level. All districts selected showed a drought frequency of 4 years or shorter, which demonstrated the need to establish climate change response plans. As plans for responding to climate change, a plan that utilizes supplemental intake works to reduce the area of the irrigation districts of main intake works, and another one that increases the capacity of main intake works were adopted to reanalyze their water supply reliability. When the area of the irrigation districts of main intake works was reduced by about 30~40%, the drought frequency dropped to more than 10 years, securing the reliability of water supply. To secure the reliability by increasing the capacity of main intake works, it was calculated that about 19,000~2,400,000 tons need to be added to each reservoir. In addition, climate change response plans were suggested to improve the reliability of the water supply in each district based on the results of economic analysis.

• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.213-222
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• 2010

Within their natural habitat, crops are often subjected to drought and heat stress, which suppress crop growth and decrease crop production. Causing overaccumulation of glycinebetaine (GB) has been used to enhance the crop yield under stress. Here, we investigated the response of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) photosynthesis to drought, heat stress and their combination with a transgenic wheat line (T6) overaccumulating GB and its wild-type (WT) Shi4185. Drought stress (DS) was imposed by controlling irrigation until the relative water content (RWC) of the flag leaves decreased to between 78 and 82%. Heat stress (HS) was applied by exposing wheat plants to $40^{\circ}C$ for 4 h. A combination of drought and heat stress was applied by subjecting the drought-stressed plants to a heat stress as above. The results indicated that all stresses decreased photosynthesis, but the combination of drought and heat stress exacerbated the negative effects on photosynthesis more than exposure to drought or heat stress alone. Drought stress decreased the transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conductance (Gs) and intercellular $CO_2$ concentration (Ci), while heat stress increased all of these; the deprivation of water was greater under drought stress than heat stress, but heat stress decreased the antioxidant enzyme activity to a greater extent. Overaccumulated GB could alleviate the decrease of photosynthesis caused by all stresses tested. These suggest that GB induces an increase of osmotic adjustments for drought tolerance, while its improvement of the antioxidative defense system including antioxidative enzymes and antioxidants may be more important for heat tolerance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.111-111
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• 2017

The development and productivity of maize (Zea mays L.) is frequently impacted by water scarcity, and consequently to increased drought tolerance in a priority target in maize breeding programs. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of resistance to drought stress in maize, RNA-seq of the public database was used for transcriptome profiling of the seedling stage exposed to drought stress of three levels, such as moderate, severe drought stress and re-watering. In silico analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 176 up-regulated and 166 down-regulated DEGs was detected at moderated stress in tolerance type. These DEGs was increasing degradation of amino acid metabolism in biological pathways. Six modules based on a total of 4,771 DEGs responses to drought stress by the analysis of co-expression network between tolerance and susceptible type was constructed and showed to similar module types. These modules were discriminated yellow, greenyellow, turquoise, royalblue, brown4 and plum1 with 318, 2433, 375, 183, 1405 and 56 DEGs, respectively. This study was selected 30 DEGs to predicted drought stress response gene and was evaluated expression levels using drought stress treated sample and re-watering sample by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). 23 genes was shown increasing with drought stress and decreasing with re-watering. This study contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of maize seedling stage responses to drought stress and could be useful for developing maize cultivar resistant to drought stress.