• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.322-326
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• 2012

Recently, researches related to plant factory system has been activated and production of Ssam-vegetables using artificial lighting has been increasing. In South Korea, Ssam-vegetables are very popular and the consumption is increasing every year. Because leaf vegetables cultivated under hydroponic systems are more preferable rather than those cultivated by soil culture in Korea, the plant factory system would be more effective in production of Ssam-vegetables. Therefore, this study was carried out in order to analyze the yield and vitamin C contents in red mustard (Brassica juncea L.) and pak-choi (Brassica campestris var. chinensis), which are used a lot for the Ssam-vegetables in South Korea, as influenced by different concentrations of the nutrient solution in a plant factory system. As a results, there was no significant differences in the plant height among the treatment of EC in the nutrient solution, but for red mustard plants, the number of leaves tended to decrease in the treatment with higher EC. Leaf area of pak-choi plants was significantly increased in the higher EC, while the fresh weight had a tendency to increase along with increasing EC in the nutrient solution for both crops. The photosynthetic rates did not show a distinct tendency by EC levels for red mustard plants, but for pak-choi plants, it tended to be higher at the high EC. The contents of ascorbic acid in leaves were higher with decreasing EC concentration in the nutrient solution for red mustard plants, while the content was the highest at EC $2.0dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ for pak-choi plants. In summary, considering the marketable yields and vitamin C at different nutrient concentrations in a plant factory, the optimal concentration for red mustard and pak-choi plants was thought to be EC $2.0{\sim}2.5dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$.

• Nutritional Sciences
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.141-147
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• 2003

Fruits and vegetables reportedly have a protective effect against hyperlipidemia and oxidative disease. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the lipid-lowering effect and antioxidative capacity of persimmon leaf extract (PLE) in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet. Male rats were fed a high-cholesterol (1% wt/wt) or high-cholesterol diet supplemented with Lovastatin (0.02% wt/wt) or PLE (0.2% wt/wt) for 5 weeks. The concentration of plasma total cholesterol was significantly lower in the PLE group than in the lovastatin group. However, the concentration of plasma HDL-cholesterol and the ratio of HDL-cholesterol/total-cholesterol (%) were significantly higher in the PLE group than in the control group. The PLE supplement also significantly lowered the contents of hepatic cholesterol and triglyceride. In comparing fecal sterol contents, the PLE group saw a significant increase of both neutral and acidic sterol compared to the other groups. The PLE supplement significantly lowered plasma GOT and GPT activity, which ave indices of hepatic toxicity. Plasma TBARS concentration was significantly lower in the PLE group than in the control group, while hepatic TBARS level was not significantly different between the groups. In a comparison of hepatic antioxidant parameters, SOD, catalase and GSH-Px activity were significantly higher in the PLE group than in the control group. However, the PLE supplement significantly towered antioxidant enzyme activity in the erythrocyte. Furthermore, these results suggest that supplementation of PLE promoted the excretion of fecal sterols, thereby leading to decreased absorption of dietary cholesterol. In addition, PLE may play an important role in regulating antioxidative capacities by altering SOD and ChT activity.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2013

Ten major residual biogenic amines including toxic histamine and tyramine were investigated in the plant-based minor Korean fermented food. From the analyses of pickled vegetables, fermented vegetable extracts, fermented tea, black garlic and herbal rice wines, more than 100 mg/kg of histamine were found in pickled soy leaf and pickled mulberry leaf, and also over 1,000 mg/kg of total biogenic amines were found in pickled soy leaf. No sample was found over in black garlic, fermented tea, fermented vegetable extracts and herbal rice wine, less than 100 mg/kg of histamine and/or 1,000 mg/kg of total biogenic amines were observed. Interestingly, all the tested rice wines were found to be over 100 mg/kg of agmatine residue.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2015

Many studies on broccoli have analyzed the functional components and their functionality in terms of antioxidant and anticancer activities; however, these studies have focused on the florets of different varieties. Investigation of the functionality of broccoli by-products such as leaves, stems, and leaf stems from different cultivars and harvest dates might be valuable for utilizing waste materials as useful food components. Total phenolics and sulforaphane contents, and antioxidant and anticancer activities were measured in the leaves, leaf stems, and stems of early-maturing (Kyoyoshi), middle-maturing (Myeongil 96), and late-maturing broccoli (SK3-085) at different harvest dates. Total phenolics in the leaves of Kyoyoshi were about 1.8-fold to 12.1-fold higher than those in all of the other cultivars and parts. The sulforaphane content of Kyoyoshi was 2.8-fold higher in the stems than in the florets. Antioxidant activities using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity and oxygen radical absorbance capacity were highest in Kyoyoshi, followed by Myeongil 96 and SK3-085, most notably in the leaves harvested at the immature stage. Inhibition activity of cell growth against the NCI-H1299 cell lines was highest in the leaves of all cultivars in decreasing order of florets, leaf stems, and stems. The leaves harvested in October (nonflowering stage) had the highest inhibition activity, while those harvested in January (mature broccoli) showed the lowest. The results of this study demonstrate that broccoli leaves and stems contain high levels of total phenolics, and high antioxidant and anticancer activities and can provide opportunities for early-maturing broccoli as functional fresh raw vegetables.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.1
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• pp.68-74
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• 2010

The present study was conducted to investigate growth performance and ascorbic acid contents of Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum, Ligularia fischeri, and L. stenocephala growing under four different light intensity regimes (full sun, and 64~73%, 35~42%, 9~16% of full sun). The leaf area and total biomass of Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum were highest in 35~42% of the full sun. However, the leaf area and total biomass were highest in 64~73% of the full sun in Ligularia fischeri, and L. stenocephala. The leaf thickness decreased with increasing shading in all three wild vegetables. The growth of root comparing to that of shoot decreased as shading increased, and as the result, the ratio of shoot biomass to root biomass increased. Ascorbic acid contents were higher in Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum than in Ligularia fischeri and L. stenocephala. Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum showed the highest contents of ascorbic acid in 35~42% of full sun. Whereas Ligularia fischeri and L. stenocephala showed the highest in 64~73% of full sun.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.556-563
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• 2015

Chinese cabbage is one of the most important vegetables in Korea and a target crop for market stabilization as well. Remote sensing has long been used as a tool to extract plant growth, cultivated area and yield information for many crops, but little research has been conducted on Chinese cabbage. This study refers to the derivation of simple Chinese cabbage growth prediction equation by using RapidEye derived vegetation index. Daesan-myeon area in Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea is one of main producing district of Chinese cabbage. RapidEye multi-spectral imagery was taken on the Daesan-myeon five times from early September to late October during the Chinese cabbage growing season. Meanwhile, field reflectance spectra and five plant growth parameters, including plant height (P.H.), plant diameter (P.D.), leaf height (L.H.), leaf length (L.L.) and leaf number (L.N.), were measured for about 20 plants (ten plants per plot) for each ground survey. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) for each of the 20 plants was measured using an active plant growth sensor (Crop $Circle^{TM}$) at the same time. The results of correlation analysis between the vegetation indices and Chinese cabbage growth data showed that NDVI was the most suited for monitoring the L.H. (r=0.958~0.978), L.L. (r=0.950~0.971), P.H. (r=0.887~0.982), P.D. (r=0.855~0.932) and L.N. (r=0.718~0.968). Retrieval equations were developed for estimating Chinese cabbage growth parameters using NDVI. These results obtained using the NDVI is effective provided a basis for establishing retrieval algorithm for the biophysical properties of Chinese cabbage. These results will also be useful in determining the RapidEye multi-spectral imagery necessary to estimate parameters of Chinese cabbage.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.384-393
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• 2021

Recently, due to environmental and toxicity issues, there has been increasing attention on research regarding natural products that can reduce the use of chemical fertilizers. Wood extracts derived from the biorefining process contain various fertilizer ingredients. HPLC analysis revealed that wood extract contains approximately 5.2% hemicellulosic sugar. The growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) upon treatment with wood extract (extract obtained from steam-exploded pine) or water-soluble fertilizers containing different nutrients was analyzed in this study. After two weeks, the growth characteristics of lettuce as affected by wood extract or water-soluble fertilizers were significantly different. The effect of water-soluble fertilizers containing ascorbic acid, magnesium sulfate, citric acid, potassium nitrate, amino acids, or seaweed extract was less desirable than that of wood extracts regarding plant height (18.6 cm), number of leaves (10), leaf length (14.1 cm), shoot fresh wight (9.8 g/plant), root fresh weight (0.8 g/plant) and shoot dry weight (0.6 g/plant). The plant height, number of leaves, leaf length, shoot fresh wight, root fresh weight, shoot dry weight of water-soluble fertilizers containing wood extract were significantly different compared to the control (plant height :13.5 cm, number of leaves : 7, leaf length : 9.4 cm, shoot fresh wight : 5.3 g/plant, root fresh weight : 0.7 g/plant, shoot dry weight : 0.4 g/plant, root dry weight : 0.07 g/plant). From these results, it was concluded that wood extract can be used as a potential water-soluble fertilizer to increase the yield of leafy vegetables.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.250-257
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to evaluate microbiological contamination of leafy vegetables. Total aerobic bacteria and coliforms were monitored to get the contamination levels and Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni to detect pathogens with risk of foodpoisoning from fresh vegetables. The colony count of total aerobes and coliforms was also performed to determine the efficacy of washing with tab water by common consumers. 124 samples which are divided into 8 kinds of vegetables - Sesame leaf, Dropwort, Chinese cabbage, Korean leek, Lettuce, Crown daisy, Pimpinella brachycarpa, Chicory were sampled in 2 wholesale markets in Incheon. Mean counts of total aerobic bacteria for individual vegetables ranged from $2.2\times10^6\;CFU/g\;to\;6.0\times10^7\;CFU/g$ and total coliforms were from $4.1\times10^5\;CFU/g\;to\;9.8\times10^6\;CFU/g$. Both show the peaks in summer on this study from March to September. Decrease rates after washing with tab water averaged 81.0% and 82.5% in total aerobic bacteria and coliform counts respectively. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated 8.1%, Bacillus cereus 14.5%, Clostridium perfringens 5.6%, Escherichia coli 18.5%. 11 samples showed overlapped bacterial contamination. For respective vegetables Staphylococcus aureus isolated from 0.0% to 22.2%, Bacillus cereus from 0.0% to 29.4%, Clostridium perfringens from 0.0% to 23.1 %, Escherichia. coli from 0.0% to 35.0%. Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni were not isolated. This study is expected to be available as the reference for the basal data of pathogens in fresh vegetables.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.spc
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• pp.4-7
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• 2009

Agricultural soils contaminated by cadmium (Cd) are common problems in Asia due to rapid industrial development, so the risks of Cd exposure from food crops consumption are concerned by public and authorities. The latest data on Cd concentration in plant-based food and the dietary intakes of Cd around the world are presented in this review. In general, Cd concentrations in major plant-based commodities seldom exceed 0.05 mg/kg fresh weight and decline in the order as: cereals > pulses > vegetables > roots and tubers > fruits in Far Eastern region. In Middle Eastern and European regions, the order is vegetables > cereals > roots and tubers > pulses > fruits. Rice has the highest Cd levels among cereals in Asian countries, but in Middle Eastern and European region the highest level of Cd occurred in leaf vegetables. The dietary intakes of Cd from plant-based commodities around the world declined in the order as: cereals > vegetables > roots and tubers > fruits > pulses. Rice is the largest contributor to total dietary Cd intake (58%) in the Far Eastern region and contributed 36% of Provisional Tolerable Daily Intake (PTDI). For high foodstuffs consumers, intake of Cd from all diets may exceed PTWI, especially for high rice consumers in Asian countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) conducted impact assessment of different maximum levels (MLs) of Cd and demonstrated that each of the four possible MLs for rice had little impact on dietary Cd intake. Since many Cd-contaminated soils in Asian countries still producing crops due to the growing population, the cost-effective techniques for reducing Cd contents in crops especially rice grain are absolutely required.