• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.2
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• pp.244-250
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to investigate relationship among seed viability and enzymes activities involved in scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), and catalase (CAT). In other respects, osmopriming has been demonstrated to reinvigorate aged seeds. Various viabilities of seeds that were ranged from 80 to 100% of germination rate could be produced using osmopriming and accelerated aging treatments. Priming treatment of Pinus thunbergii seeds for 3 days at $15^{\circ}C$ with a polyethylene glycol solution at -1.2 MPa improved their subsequent germination at $25^{\circ}C$. Accelerated aging (3, 6, 9, and 12 days at $41^{\circ}C$ and 100% relative humidity) decreased seed germination percentage depending on aging treatment duration. Electrolyte conductivities of seeds were measured as assay of membrane integrity. The conductivity from electrolyte leakage of P. thunbergii seed was also correlated with seed germinability. Conductivity for control seeds that had 95% of germination percentage was 3.48 ${\mu}S\;g^{-1}$, but jumped as doubled (7.98 ${\mu}S\;g^{-1}$) in 12-day-aged seed that had 80% of germination percentage. Our results demonstrate that aging of P. thunbergii seeds is associated with changes in the electrolyte leakage, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant defense system. Priming of aged seeds progressively restored the initial germinative ability and resulted in a marked decrease in the levels of MDA and conductivity of seed leachate. These effects of priming were also well recovered of GR and CAT activities in aged seed. The improved seed quality by priming treatment appears at least partly attributable to reduced lipid peroxidation, resulting from enhanced antioxidative enzyme activities that are suggesting the antioxidant defense systems play a key role in seed vigor.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2019

Pterocarpus erinaceus is a multipurpose tree species indigenous to semi-arid and Guinean-savanna woodlands of Africa. Natural regeneration on the savanna is being hampered by higher fire frequencies and other land use changes. Simultaneously, demand for timber from the species on the international market is on the rise, raising conservation concerns. To ensure sustainability, good quality seeds, sources of which have not received much research focus, are needed for afforestation. This study investigated how seed quality, germinability and initial seedling growth of P. erinaceus might be influenced by land-use type, mother tree size as well as source and timing of fruit harvest, using both correlational and experimental approaches. The results showed that up to 94.6% of all harvested fruits contained seeds, with no differences found between fruits harvested from cultivated and non-cultivated lands. Percentage of (sound) unblemished seeds was found to be higher for fruits harvested early March (47.3%) than fruits from late April (39.5%). Percentage sound seeds was 41.4% for dispersed fruits (i.e. detached fruits picked from under mother trees) which was not found to differ from undispersed fruits (i.e. fruits harvested while still attached to mother trees) at 45.5%. Also, the influence of fruit harvest time was not found to be different for dispersed and undispersed fruits. Correlations between seed set (proportion of fruits containing seeds) and mother tree size (both tree height and DBH) were found to be very low and non-significant for both dispersed and undispersed fruits. Across mother trees, mean emergence percent was 79.7%, and mean seedling height at three weeks following emergence was 5.32 cm. Both emergence percentage and seedling height were not found to differ among mother trees, but seeds from dispersed fruits had a higher emergence percent (85%) than seeds from undispersed fruits (74%). Implications of findings are discussed.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2016

Purpose: New low-cost oilseeds are needed to meet an ever-increasing demand for oil for food, pharmaceutical, and industrial applications. African oil bean seed is a tropical crop that is underutilized and has high oil yields, but there have been no studies conducted on its mechanical oil expression up to now. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of moisture content and seed dimensions on mechanical oil expression from the seeds. Methods: Fresh oil bean seeds were procured, de-hulled, and cleaned. Initial seed moisture content, obtained in accordance with the ASAE standard, was 12% dry basis (db). The seeds were further conditioned by dehydration and rehydration prior to oil expression to obtain four other moisture levels of 8, 10, 14, and 16% db. The major diameter of the seeds was measured using digital vernier calipers, and the seeds were classified into size dimensions (< 40, 41-45, 46-50, 51-55, and > 55 mm). The oil yield and expression efficiency were obtained in accordance with standard evaluation methods. Results: The highest oil yield and expression efficiency (47.74% and 78.96%, respectively) were obtained for a moisture content of 8% db and seed dimensions of < 40 mm, while the lowest oil yield and expression efficiency (41.35% and 68.28%, respectively) were obtained for a moisture content of 14% db and seed dimensions between 51-55 mm. A mathematical model was developed to predict oil yield for known moisture content and seed dimensions, with a coefficient of determination $R^2$ of 95% and the confidence level of the predictive model of 84.17%. The probability of prediction F ratio showed that moisture content influence was more significant than seed dimensions. Conclusions: The higher the moisture content and larger the seed dimensions, the lower the oil yield from African oil bean seeds.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2017

Dhup (Canarium resiniferum) is an economically and aesthetically important rare native tree species of Bangladesh. In natural condition 78.5-98.7% seeds do not germinate due to inhibition by hard seed coat, seed predation and unfavorable environmental conditions. A study was conducted in the Seed Research Laboratory and nursery of Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Chittagong University, Bangladesh in 2013 to find out appropriate pre-sowing treatments for maximizing germination and initial seedling growth. Eleven pre-sowing treatments were provided in both the seeds sown in polybags and seeds sown in propagator house. Results revealed that, germination started at first (after 20 days of seed sown) in seeds immersed in water at room temperature for 24 hours and germination completed within 38 days. Significantly higher (p<0.05) germination percentage (33%), germination energy (16.7%), plant percent (33%) and germination value (0.4) was found with seeds immersed in water at room temperature for 24 hours. Seedling height measured at three, four and five months after the seed germination in case of seeds treated by immersion in water for 24 hours was also greater than others. Therefore, pre-sowing treatment by immersion in water at room temperature for 24 hours was more effective in germination and production of quality vigor seedlings of Dhup.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2004

Germination and emergence habits of Chinese milk vetch (CMV) were examined to obtain the basic information for the effect of environmental conditions and cultural practices on the seedling density. Seed germination tests with different water potentials, temperatures, and soil and water depths showed the environmental effects on the characters related to seed germination in CMV. Imbibition under different temperatures reflects that initial velocity was rapid at higher temperature, however, the times to full imbibition were not different between 15 and $25^{\circ}$. The optimal germination temperature for CMV germination was ranged from 15 to 20 and the germination was highly affected by water potential of media at relatively high temperature above $20^{\circ}$. When the seeds were sown in flooded condition the germination was not proportionally affected by water depth. In addition, there was no correlation between water depth and oxygen concentration. The germination of seeds flooded by 2cm water depth were poorly germinated compared to other depths. Results indicated that the germination of submerged seeds was more highly influenced by flooding depth than the temperature, it was also affected more strongly at 10 than $20^{\circ}$. Emergence of CMV depending on the thickness of covered soil was poor when the soil layer was greater than 5cm. In the experiment with seeds collected between 22 days after flowering (OAF) and 52 DAF, the highest germination ability of CMV seeds was observed at 39 DAF and germinability was decreased subsequently as seeds became mature. The lower germinability may be due to the enhanced seed dormancy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.10a
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• pp.312-312
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• 2017

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4677-4683
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• 2015

When there is no sampling frame within a certain group or the group is concerned that making its population public would bring social stigma, we say the population is hidden. It is difficult to approach this kind of population survey-methodologically because the response rate is low and its members are not quite honest with their responses when probability sampling is used. The only alternative known to address the problems caused by previous methods such as snowball sampling is respondent-driven sampling (RDS), which was developed by Heckathorn and his colleagues. RDS is based on a Markov chain, and uses the social network information of the respondent. This characteristic allows for probability sampling when we survey a hidden population. We verified through computer simulation whether RDS can be used on a hidden population of cancer survivors. According to the simulation results of this thesis, the chain-referral sampling of RDS tends to minimize as the sample gets bigger, and it becomes stabilized as the wave progresses. Therefore, it shows that the final sample information can be completely independent from the initial seeds if a certain level of sample size is secured even if the initial seeds were selected through convenient sampling. Thus, RDS can be considered as an alternative which can improve upon both key informant sampling and ethnographic surveys, and it needs to be utilized for various cases domestically as well.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 2018

Background: Revegetating landfills can be a challenging task as the reclaimed soils are typically dry and have low nutrient content. Therefore, selecting suitable plant species is important for initial revegetation. The issue with current practices (in Korea) is that alien plant species have been typically selected for revegetation projects. In this context, this study selects and tests a set of native plant species for landfill revegetation, accompanied by the assessment of the landfill soils. Results: The soil of the landfill (landfill location) was in a very poor condition with high bulk density and low organic matter and nutrient contents. Among 10 tested species, only Brassica campestris showed high coverage and a sufficient number of individuals in study quadrats sown with seeds. Results suggest that plant species with heavy seeds are the only ones that can adapt to the environment of a typical landfill due to the site's aridity and low nutrient content. The reason is due to such species' superior wind resistance and the capacity to provide sufficient energy for the initial growth of the plants for survival in such landfill environment. Conclusions: This study recommends selecting plant species (1) with arid-adapted features and (2) whose seed weight is sufficiently heavy for survival at landfills or areas with a similar condition for future revegetation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.4
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• pp.442-450
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• 2023

This study sought to determine the desiccation tolerance and storage behavior of Sarcandra glabra seeds to assist in the establishment of an ex-situ conservation strategy for the species. The basic germination characteristics of S. glabra seeds were investigated. Subsequently, the seeds were dried to various desiccation levels to allow for analysis of their germination characteristics and seed integrity. In addition, the seeds were subjected to germination tests after being stored for different durations. The initial seed moisture content following the removal of the fleshy fruit was 32.8%, and the fresh seeds maintained their seed viability even after a decrease in the seed moisture content to 4.8%, while the germination percentage was 81.0%. The germination percentage of the seeds decreased to 55.0% and 30.0% when they were desiccated to moisture contents of 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively. By contrast, when the stored seeds were desiccated, they maintained their seed viability and vigor at a moisture content of 18.6%; however, when the moisture content decreased below 5.0%, both the seed viability and vigor significantly declined and the germination percentage fell below 20.0%. Furthermore, analysis of the seed leachate revealed that the decrease in the seed viability and vigor was associated with both increased electrical conductivity and increased concentrations of inorganic compounds such as potassium and calcium. In conclusion, the findings of this study show S. glabra seeds to possess desiccation tolerance that falls somewhere between the recalcitrant and intermediate seed types, with the observed variations depending on the degree of deterioration.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2015

Pennisetum aloperculoides is a key revegetation species mixed with other plants species and used for revegetating cut-slopes. The purpose of this research is to identify the effects of mixed seeding of revegetation plants on cut-slope revegetation with respect to the quantity of Pennisetum aloperculoides seeds. The coverage ratio and appearance frequency of Pennisetum aloperculoides, and other revegetation species were measured to assess the cut-slope revegetation. We divided Pennisetum treatments into four groups with different Pennisetum seed quantities of $0g/m^2$, $5g/m^2$, $10g/m^2$, and $15g/m^2$. For each treatment group, we mixed identical quantities of seeds from herbaceous flowers (bird's-boot trefoil, aster, chrysanthemums, golden coreopsis and china pink), cool-season turfgrasses, and woody plants (korean lespedeza, indigo and silk tree). The increase in the quantity of the Pennisetum seeds resulted in the higher coverage ratio for Pennisetum, but in the lower coverage ratio for herbaceous flowers, cool-season turfgrasses, and woody plants. We observed a short-term succession process in which the dominant species shifted in the following order: the initial species Pennisetum, herbaceous flowers, and then lastly woody plants. In case of the appearance frequency, we also observed the higher appearance frequency for Pennisetum and the lower appearance frequency for the other plants due to the increase in the quantity of Pennisetum seeds. Pennisetum, bird's-foot trefoil and china pink showed the tendency to decrease the appearance frequency from one month after seeding while cool-season turfgrasses became extinct due to summer drought. In the woody plants, the appearance frequencies of korean lespedeza and indigo were high due to the decrease in quantity of Pennisetum seeds. The silk trees were damaged from winter frost and none emerged at all in 2013 (the following year after the seeding). Korean lespedeza and indigo appeared to have the short-term rapid dominance over other treated revegetation plants.