• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2013

BACKGROUND: Plant factory system of an artificial light type using Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs), fluorescent light, or metal halide lamp instead of sun light is an ultimated method for plant production without any pesticides regardless of seasonal changes. The plant factory is also completely isolated from outside environmental conditions such as a light, temperature, or humidity compared to conventional greenhouse. Light-environment control such as a quality or quantity in the plant factory system is essential for improving the growth and development of plant species. However, there was little report that the effects of various light qualities provided by LEDs on Ledebouriella seseloides growth under the plant factory system. METHODS AND RESULTS: Ledebouriella seseloides seedlings transplanted at urethane sponge were grown in the plant factory system of a horizontal type with LED artificial lights for 90 days. Yamazaki solution for hydroponic culture of the seedlings was regularly irrigated by the deep flow technique (DFT) system on the culture gutters. Electrical Conductivity (EC) and pH of the solution was recorded at 1.4 ds/m and 5.8 in average, respectively during the experimental period. Number of unfolded leaves, leaf length, shoot fresh and dry weight of the seedlings were three times measured in every 30 days after beginning of the experiment. Blue LEDs, red LEDs, and fluorescent lights inside the plant factory were used as light sources. Conventional fluorescent lamps were considered as a control. In all the treatment, light intensity was maintained at $100{\mu}mol/m^2/s$ on the culture bed. Fresh weight of the seedlings was 3.7 times greater in the treatment with the mixture radiation of fluorescent light and blue+red LEDs (1:3 in energy ratio; Treatment FLBR13) than in fluorescent light treatment (Treatment FL). In FLBR13 treatment, dry weight per seedling was two times greater than in FL or BR11 treatment of blue+red LEDs (1:3 in energy ratio; Treatment BR11) during the culture period. Increasing in number of unfolded leaves was also significantly affected by the FLBR13 treatment comparing with BR11 treatment. CONCLUSION(S): Hydroponic culture of Ledebouriella seseloides seedlings was successfully achieved in the plant factory system with mixture lights of blue, red LEDs and fluorescent lights. Shoot growth of the seedlings was significantly promoted by the FLBR13 with the mixture radiation of fluorescent light, blue, and red LEDs under 1:3 mixture ratio of blue and red LEDs during the experimental period compared to conventional light conditions.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.340-345
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• 2006

A potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Superior) cultivar was grown in aeroponic cultivation system to investigate the effect of root zone cooling in summer. Based on their nutrient uptake, growth responses, and tuberization, the possibilities for potato seed production were determined. Although shoot growth and early tuberization increased in the conventional non-cooling root zone system (root zone temperature of $25\pm2^{\circ}C$), stolen growth, photosynthesis, transpiration rate and number of tubers produced were higher in the cooling root zone system ($20\pm2^{\circ}C$) than in the non-cooling system. Increasing root zone temperature above $25^{\circ}C$ stimulated absorption of K more than T-N, P, Ca, Fe and Mn. On the other hand, root zone temperatures in the range of $20^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$ did not affect Mg contents. The lower uptake and supply to leaves of T-N, Fe and Mn at the high root zone temperature promoted early tuberization and advanced haulm senescence. The results stress the importance of keeping root zone temperature to as low as below 20, particularly in summer under temperate Bone.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.347-349
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• 1998

Slow sand filtration was modified and applied for the determination of eliminating efficacy of various fungi and for recommending an easy approach to growers. After 1,500 liter filtration, Fusarium oxysporum was eliminated by several substrates such as activated charcoal (92.5% elimination), silica (90.8%), vermiculite (90.5%), sand (82.3%), perlite (50.4%), and hydroball (21.2%). Silica was able to eliminate several fungi by maximal ratio, which was corresponded to Fusarium oxysporum 120 cfu/mL. Collectotrichum lagenarium 98 cfu/mL. Phytophthora capsici 82 cfu/mL, Botrytis cinerea 62 cfu/mL, Pythium spp. 42 cfu/mL, and Sclerotinia ssp. 52 cfu/mL. In this case, the change of EC was minor and pH was maintained to about 7. In deep flow culture of 'Ddooksum Cheokchookmyeon' lettuce and 'Seokwang' tomato, silica-, activated charcoal-, and vermiculite-based filtration system successfully eliminated Fusarium oxysporum and Phytophthora capsici from the nutrient solution. As a result, these plants were not diseased by ten weeks after inoculation. With this system, growers can easily control the root-zone fungi in the recirculating hydroponic system.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.365-372
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• 1998

This study was carried out to develop a nutrient-solution mixing-and-supplying system, which used a low-cost metering device instead of expensive metering pumps and a fuzzy logic controller. A low cost and precise overflow-type metering device was developed and evaluated by testing the flow discharge for the automatic nutrient-solution mixing-and-supplying system for snail-scale hydroponic sewers. The fuzzy logic controllers, which could predict and meet the desired values of EC and supply rate of nutrient solution were developed and verified by simulation and experiment. this fuzzy logic controller, whose algorithm consists of four crisp inputs, two crisp outputs and nine rules, was developed to predict the desired value of EC and supply rate of nutrient solution and two crisp inputs, one crisp output and nine rules used to control EC to the desired values. The nutrient-solution mixing-and-supplying system showed satisfactory EC control performance with the maximum overshooting of 0.035 mS/cm and the maximum settling time of 15 minutes in case of increasing 0.7 mS/cm. also, the accuracy of the overflow-type metering device in terms of the full-scale error was 2.29% when using solenoid valve only and 0.2% when using solenoid valve and flow control valve together.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.251-258
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• 2014

In order to set up the basic environmental control systems which the new concept greenhouses have to equip, greenhouse characteristics, environmental management and control systems in domestic glasshouses and plastic houses were investigated and analyzed comparatively. Survey results on the width, length, eaves height, and the number of spans etc. showed that glasshouses were bigger than plastic houses significantly. New concept greenhouses claim to be plastic houses, but it will be reasonable to follow the specifications of the glasshouse. Specifications to be applied to new concept greenhouses were proposed as follows; hot water heating systems, aluminum screens as the thermal curtain, evaporative cooling systems, roof vents on the ridge, circulation fans, $CO_2$ enrichment, hydroponic systems, and automatic irrigation control systems. Environmental measurement systems for the indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, light, wind speed and indoor $CO_2$ concentration have to be fully equipped. The automatic control system has to be as a complex environmental control system, not a single item control system. Also, for stable dissemination, domestically producing complete greenhouse control system should be made as soon as possible.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.197-203
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• 2011

This experiment was carried out to investigate the growth characteristics of virus-free sweetpotato in hydroponic bag culture. The rooted one-node and upper-shoot cuttings of 'Yeonhwangmi' and 'Mannamiwere' transplanted into the plastic bag (0.5 mm of thickness, $W300{\times}L1,200{\times}H120mm$) culture system filled with commercial horticultural media (TKS-2, Flora Gard Co.) and cocopeat + perlite (3 : 7, 5 : 5, 7 : 3, (v/v). Nutrient solution of National Horticultural Research Station in Japan was separately irrigated $3times{\times}30minutes$ per day (10:00, 14:00 and 20:00 with timer control) by the drip irrigation. The growth of two varieties was not significantly different among four substrates in 15 days, but it was excellent in commercial horticultural media (TKS-2) and cocopeat 3 : perlite 7 (v/v) in 20 days. The growth in 'Yeonhwangmiwas' promoted than that in 'Mannami', and the upper-shoot cuttings of 'Yeonhwangmi' and 'Mannami' showed a significant vine elongation (over 10 and 2 cm, respectively) compared to the one-node cuttings. Fresh weight and dry weight in cocopeat 3 : perlite 7 (v/v) were significant increased than that in cocopeat 7 : perlite 3 (v/v). Therefore, the bag culture system filed with cocopeat 3 : perlite 7 (v/v) was successfully applied on propagation of virus-free sweetpotato seedling, and the result expected that the bag culture system could be commercialized without high financial costs for farmers.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2018

Potassium in vegetables is known to have an adverse impact on a patient with chronic kidney desease. However, since vegetables also contain many other nutrient, consumption of vegetables by these patients is inevitable. The objective of this study was conducted to develop a fresh lettuce which contains low level of potassium for nephropathy in a closed-type plant factory system. Lettuce of "Charles" was used for experiment. The plants were cultivated in hydroponic system with a 16-h photoperiod at $15-21^{\circ}C$, 65% RH, $200{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$(LED W:R, 9:1) and $600-650mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ $CO_2$ during 28 days. Nutrient solution which contains 1%, 5% and 10% potassium compared to conventional composition were supplied at 1 week and 2 weeks before harvest. The content of potassium and macro elements in leafy vegetables were analyzed by ICP emission spectroscopy after harvest. The potassium content in leaf of the 2 weeks before harvest treatment was significantly lower at than control. There were no significant differences between control and treatments in fresh weight and number of leaves. But there were differences among treatments. Considering the vegetable amounts consumed by nephropathy patients, the supply of nutrient which contain 1% and 5% potassium at 2 weeks before harvest was suitable for low potassium lettuce production. This study indicated that low potassium lettuce could be produced by developed nutrient composition and supply method.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2010

For the energy-saving production of fresh vegetables in poor environment such as the Antarctic, a container-type plant factory was designed and developed. To maximize space usage of the 20 feet container ($L5.9m{\times}W2.4m{\times}H2.4m$), a three-level hydroponic cultivation system was installed and the nutrient solution was supplied by bottom watering. Using this system, 3 lettuce cultivars were grown under different the light source (light intensity). After 2 weeks from the transplanting, fluorescent lamp ($145\;{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) showed the best fresh weight of top part and leaf area. However, After 4 weeks, fluorescent lamp plus metal halide lamp ($150\;{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) led to the optimum growth of the each lettuce cultivar. The cultivar, 'Cheongchima', showed the best fresh weight of top part and leaf area, followed by 'Jeokchukmyeon' and 'Lollo rosa'. The chlorophyll concentrations (SPAD) showed no significant difference among the sources of lights. However, 'Cheongchima' showed relatively high chlorophyll concentration. With the above results, we found that the growth of lettuce is depend on light intensity and even at same intensity, the growth is different among the cultivars. Therefore, the selection of optimum cultivar should be considered in the plant factory system that has only weak light density.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.297-300
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• 2017

Plant factory can control artificially the environments for crop cultivation, so they can produce high quality agricultural products all year round. This study was carried to select suitable kohlrabi cultivar for hydroponics in a closed-type plant factory system. We used three cultivars of red kohlrabi, 'Asac kohl', 'Kolibri', and 'Purple king' as plant materials. The artificial light source was LED light, light intensity and photoperiod were $249{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ and 12/12 hours (day/night period), respectively. Hydroponic cultivation type was used circulating deep flow technique. At 43 days after transplanting, fresh weight of whole plant and tuber and leaf area were not significantly different among cultivars. Shoot dry weight and tuber dry weight were highest in 'Asac kohl' cultivar, and number of leaves was highest in 'Purple king' cultivar. Sugar content and yield were highest in 'Asac kohl' cultivar. Considering the growth and marketable yields, 'Asac kohl' was the optimal kohlrabi cultivar for hydroponic cultivation in a closed-type plant factory system.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2019

Recycling of drained nutrient solution in hydroponic cultivation of horticultural crops is important in the conservation of the water resources, reduction of production costs and prevention of environmental contamination. Objective of this research was to obtain the fundamental data for the development of a recirculation system of hydroponic solution in semi-forcing cultivation of 'Bonus' tomato. To achieve the objective, tomato plants were cultivated for 110 days and the contents of inorganic elements in plant, supplied and drained nutrient solution were analyzed when crop growth were in the flowering stage of 2nd to 8th fruiting nodes. The T-N content of the plants based on above-ground tissue were 4.1% at the flowering stage of 2nd fruiting nodes (just after transplanting), and gradually get lowered to 3.9% at the flowering stage of 8th fruiting nodes. The tissue P contents were also high in very early stage of growth and development and were maintained to similar contents in the flowering stage of 3rd to 7th fruiting nodes, but were lowed in 8th node stages. The tissue Ca, Mg and Na contents in early growth stages were lower than late growth stages and the contents showed tendencies to rise as plants grew. The concentration differences of supplied nutrient solution and drained solution in $NO_3-N$, P, K, Ca, and Mg were not significant until 5 weeks after transplanting, but the concentration of those elements in drained solution rose gradually and maintained higher than those in supplied solution. The concentrations of B, Fe, and Na in drained solution were slightly higher in the early stages of growth and development and were significantly higher in the mid to late stages of growth than those in supplied solution. The above results would be used as a fundamental data for the correction in the inorganic element concentrations of drained solution for semi-forcing hydroponic cultivation of tomato.