• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.704-709
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• 2023

Objective: In tropical, subtropical and arid zones, heat stress is the main cause of productivity reduction in cattle. When climate stressors occur, animals become thermal adapted through differential expression of some genes, including heat shock proteins (HSP) family. The aim of this study was to determine levels of expression of HSP60, HSP70, and HSP90 genes in Simmental cattle raised in tropical environments of Mexico. Methods: In this study, expression of HSP60, HSP70, and HSP90 genes was analyzed in 116 Simmental cattle from three farms with tropical climate located in western Mexico. Animals were sampled twice a day, in the morning and noon. Gene expression was evaluated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction using probes marked with fluorescence. The MIXED procedure of SAS with repeated measures was used for all statistical analysis. Results: HSP60 gene expression differences were found for sex (p = 0.0349). HSP70 gene differences were detected for sampling hour (p = 0.0042), farm (p<0.0001), sex (p = 0.0476), and the interaction sampling hour×farm (p = 0.0002). Gene expression differences for HSP90 were observed for farm (p<0.0001) and year (p = 0.0521). HSP70 gene showed to be a better marker of heat stress than HSP60 and HSP90 genes. Conclusion: Expression of HSP70 gene in Simmental herds of the tropical region of western México was different during early morning and noon, but the expression of the HSP60 and HSP90 genes was similar. Identification of resilient animals to heat stress will be useful in the genetic improvement of the Simmental breed.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.833-840
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• 2023

Insect-healing program is designed for farm use, and this study attempted to scientifically investigate its healing effect based on application methods. The insects used in the program are Trypoxylus dichotomus, Papilio xuthus, and Bombyx mori. Insect-healing program was conducted on 61 adults of over 50 years old and at two different farms for 12 weeks. Stress, anxiety, insomnia, and cognitive function were measured through pre- and post-surveys. Result of the analysis showed that cognitive function changed positively in direct experienced group (those that encountered live insects) and indirect experience group (those that encountered insects only through photos and videos). However, psychological variables such as stress and anxiety decreased and sleep time increased significantly only in the direct experienced group. These results demonstrate that an agro-healing program that involve the use of insect must include activities such as raising and taking care of live insect to achieve positive psychological healing effects.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.107-118
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• 2016

This study examined differences in consumers' images of short-term income forest products, preference, willingness to pay prices and purchase behavior according to dietary lifestyle as well as investigated what factors influence the degree of satisfaction when purchasing short-term income forest products and willingness to repurchase. According to dietary lifestyle, the results classified consumers as 'frugal housewife type,' 'convenience-seeking type,' and 'food high-involvement type.' A 'food high-involvement group' is defined as a group that wants high quality products regardless of price. In the 'frugal housewife type,' country of origin and hygiene/safety (considered when purchasing food) had positive influences on the degree of satisfaction. In the 'convenience-seeking type,' country of origin (considered when purchasing food) had a positive influence on the degree of satisfaction while country of origin (checked when purchasing food) had a negative influence on degree of satisfaction. Consumers had a lack of perception for short-term income forest products; subsequently, short-term income forest products had a weakness of low access to consumers. Therefore, farms for short-term income forest products need to divide products into 'high-priced' luxury products and 'low-priced' frugal products according to dietary lifestyle characteristics, improve packaging status to enable consumers to check quality certificates, and clearly indicate country of origin as well as improve distribution processes and increase consumer access to products.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.52-57
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• 2017

As livestock husbandry has broadened from family-scale to enterprise-scale, the number of farming families has decreased in contrast to the increase of the number of livestock, and the amount of livestock manure discharged per household has increased. Livestock manure is difficult to handle and its disposal in the ocean is prohibited. Moreover, facilities that compost and liquefy manure are blamed as sources of soil, ground water, and surface water pollution because the amount of manure generated from husbandry farms causes eutrophication. In this study, livestock manure was utilized as a feedstock of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process to produce biochar for use as an environmental medium. The biochar was tested for iodine adsorption capability and its performance was compared with other adsorbent materials.

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.133-144
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• 2020

Pythium porphyrae is responsible for devastating outbreaks in seaweed farms of Pyropia, the most valuable cultivated seaweed worldwide. While the genus Pythium contains many well studied pathogens, the genome of P. porphyrae has yet to be sequenced. Here we report the first available gene repertoire of P. porphyrae and a preliminary analysis of pathogenicity-related genes. Using ab initio detection strategies, similarity based and manual annotation, we found that the P. porphyrae gene repertoire is similar to classical phytopathogenic Pythium species. This includes the absence of expanded RxLR effector family and the detection of classical pathogenicity-related genes like crinklers, glycoside hydrolases, cellulose-binding elicitor lectin-like proteins and elicitins. We additionally compared this dataset to the proteomes of 8 selected Pythium species. While 34% of the predicted proteome appeared specific to P. porphyrae, we could not attribute specific enzymes to the degradation of red algal biomass. Conversely, we detected several cellulases and a cutinase conserved with plant-pathogenic Pythium species. Together with the recent report of P. porphyrae triggering disease symptoms on several plant species in lab-controlled conditions, our findings add weight to the hypothesis that P. porphyrae is a reformed plant pathogen.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.8_spc
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• pp.1244-1255
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• 2019

Dairy goat production continues to be a socially, economically and culturally important part of the livestock industry in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean islands. Goat milk, cheese and other dairy products offer consumers food products with nutritional, health and environmental benefits. In North America, Mexico produces the greatest volume of goat milk, but most is for family or local consumption that is typical of a mixed farming system adopted by subsistence farmers in dry areas. The United States is not yet a large global goat milk producer, but the sector has expanded rapidly, with dairy goat numbers doubling between 1997 and 2012. The number of dairy goats has also increased dramatically in Canada. Commercial farms are increasingly important, driven by rising demand for good quality and locally sourced goat cheese. In South America, Brazil has the most developed dairy goat industry that includes government assistance to small-scale producers and low-income households. As of 2017, FAO identified Haiti, Peru, Jamaica, and Bolivia as having important goat milk production in the Western Hemisphere. For subsistence goat producers in the Americas on marginal land without prior history of chemical usage, organic dairy goat production can be a viable alternative for income generation, with sufficient transportation, sanitation and marketing initiatives. Production efficiency, greenhouse gas emission, waste disposal, and animal welfare are important challenges for dairy goat producers in the Americas.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.281-293
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• 2020

The Korean thistle (Cirsium setidens) is grown in Gangwon province as a food ingredient called gondre. Based on regular monitoring of Korean thistle cultivation, we detected local outbreaks of a stick insect causing severe damage. Here we report the identification of the stick insect and its ecological characteristics. The survey involved 3 farms located in Jeongeon-gun, Gangwon province and lasted from May 28 to October 1 in 2019. According to morphological and DNA analyses the stick insect was identified as Ramulus koreanus Kwon Ha and Lee. a member of the family Phasmatidae. Its outbreak in the Korean thistle farms was observed from June 11 to August 22 with peak density on July 23. Spatial distribution analyses, using Taylors power law and Greens index showed that R. koreanus was uniformally distributed. Food consumption rate of Korean thistle leaves was estimated as 60.98±4.35 ㎠/day/adult. The main food plants were identified as Juglans mandshurica and Aronia melanocarpa. Further study needs to pursue the mechanism of the outbreak and its possible impact on agricultural and forest ecosystems. Additionally, means to relieve crop damage need to be identified.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.367-386
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• 2020

The significance of this study was to analyze the quality value of organic livestock pork for the first time based on the results of managing and testing the cycling organic farming of black pork and vegetables within farm for two years. The results of analysis could be summarized as follows. First, the pork of experimental group with crop-livestock cycling farming showed the excellent quality and high consumer preference compared to the control group of general pork or pork from non-crop-livestock cycling organic farming. In the content ratio of Omega-3 as a representative essential fatty acid, it was 1.46 that was about 2.8 times more than general pork (0.52). In case of Omega-6, it had about 2.5 times more than general pork. Especially, the U/S ratio value which was the content ratio of Unsaturated Fatty Acid (UFA, U) of Saturated Fatty Acid (SFA, S), was largely shown in pork (2.93) from cycling organic farming. Second, it would be necessary to maintain the economies of scope shown in crop-livestock cycling organic farming, and the high quality value of livestock products. For this, there should be a value chain model that could realize the economies of scope and economies of scale at the same time based on scaling and diversification through cooperative organization between farmers. Through this, it would be possible to establish a cycling model called 'community cooperative agriculture' by forming local internal markets through cooperation of production-processing and integration of distribution-sale-consumption. For the managerial activation of this cooperative organization, the government should promote/support the small crop-livestock cycling organic farming cooperative organization in local unit. For securing the reliability of crop-livestock cycling organic agricultural products and crop-livestock cycling organic livestock products, it would be necessary to review the introduction of Participatory Guarantee System (PGS).

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.143-154
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• 2020

Background: Korean wild boars (Sus scrofa coreanus Heude), because of their adaptability, are a widespread large mammal; however, they sometimes cause problems by invading farms and eating the crops, creating insufficiencies of some foods in South Korea. To understand the diet composition of Korean wild boars according to sex and body size, we collected their feces from Mt. Jeombongsan, Seoraksan National Park, South Korea. The sizes of fecal samples were measured, and genomic DNA was extracted from the samples. We amplified specific loci targeting plants (rbcL and trnL) and animals (COI) to detect the food sources of this omnivore and amplified the ZF and SRY regions to determine the sex. Results: In the wild boar feces, Rosaceae and Bryophyte were the most frequently detected plant food sources at the family level and Diptera and Haplotaxida were the most frequently detected animal food sources at the order level. As a result of sex determination, the sex ratio of wild boars collected in the Mt. Jeombongsan area was approximately 1:1. Our result suggested that there is no significant difference between the diet composition of male and female boars. Based on the average cross-sectional area of the feces, the top 25% were classified into the large body size group and the bottom 25% were classified into the small body size group. The large body size group mainly preferred Actinidiaceae, and the small body size group most frequently consumed Fagaceae. The diet of the large body size group was more diverse than the small body size group. Conclusions: Our results showed that the wild boars preferred Rosaceae, especially Sanguisorba and Filipendula, as plant food sources, and Diptera and Coleoptera of Insecta as animal food sources. Based on the results, the dietary preferences of wild boar appear to be distinguished by not their sex but their body size. Our study could help to elucidate the feeding ecology and population structure of wild boar, as well as address conservation and management issues.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.635-652
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• 2010

In recent time, rural-studying programs have emerged as an alternative to promoting exchange between urban and rural areas. The purpose of this research will be to take a look at such exchange activities through the study of cases involving rural areas using its human and material resources. The research will also consider the implications resulting from the possibility of its application in Korea. According to a Japan's rural-studying program, there was a whole family participation and there was cooperation between the school, village and the local government. There are some domestic places that applied this program, but only a few are successfully being implemented. To increase the possibility of successful application, building network systems between rural-studying schools will be vital. So will be the building of critical infrastructure to induce the return to farming and the establishment of assistance institutions. Also, visible assistance towards farms in rural area and conversion of recognition upon exchange activities between urban and rural will be necessary. Legislation of rural-studying program, establishment of local government assistance ordinance and continual education to local inhabitants will be central to the role of central and local government.