• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.293-305
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• 2020

This experiment was aimed to identify concentrations of mineral nutrients in leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa) grown on hydroball aquaponics and in the water for growing fish by conducting two experiments. The experiment I (Expt. I) was conducted with 12 fishes (F12) with and without filter, hydroball and plants (H12 (12 fishes, hydroball), FHP12 (12 fishes, filter, hydroball, 6 plants) and HP12 (12 fishes, hydroball, 6 plants)), and the experiment II (Expt. II) was with and without plants (FH15 (15 fishes, filter, hydroball), FHP15 (15 fishes, filter, hydroball, 6 plants)). The pH level in the water of all the treatments was decreased during the growing period, and the pH and EC of the water were lower in all the treatment with plants than those without plants in both Expt. I and Expt. II. When compared with adequate nutrient concentrations for hydroponics, nitrate nitrogen (NO₃-N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations in the fish growing water were higher under the FHP15 treatment in Expt. II; however, potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) were only 16, 49, and 82% of hydroponics, representatively, and iron (Fe) was not detected. The fresh weight of lettuce harvested from the FHP15 treatment was 38 g, only a 30% of marketable lettuce yield. The T-N and P contents of the leaf tissue grown under the FHP15 treatment were close to the optimal level; however, the K, Ca, and iron (Fe) contents were less than the optimal with no deficiency symptom.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-30
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• 2015

Ceramic foams are prepared as positive images corresponding to a plastic foam structure which exhibits high porosities (85-90%). This structure makes the ceramic foams attractive as a catalyst in a dry reforming process, because it could reduce a high pressure drop problem. This problem causes low mass and heat transfers in the process. Furthermore, the reactants would shortly contact to catalyst surface, thus low conversion could occur. Therefore, this research addressed the preparation of dry reforming catalysts using a sol-gel catalyst preparation via a polymeric sponge method. The specific objectives of this work are to investigate the effects of polymer foam structure (such as porosity, pore sizes, and cell characteristics) on a catalyst performance and to observe the influences of catalyst preparation parameters to yield a replica of the original structure of polymeric foam. To accomplish these objectives industrial waste foams, polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) foams, were used as a polymeric template. Results indicated that the porosity of the polyurethane and polyvinyl alcohol foams were about 99% and 97%. Their average cell sizes were approximate 200 and 50 micrometres, respectively. The cell characteristics of polymer foams exhibited the character of a high permeability material that can be able to dip with ceramic slurry, which was synthesized with various viscosities, during a catalyst preparation step. Next, morphology of ceramic foams was explored using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and catalyst properties, such as; temperature profile of catalyst reduction, metal dispersion, and surface area, were also characterized by $H_2-TPR$ and $H_2-TPD$ techniques, and BET, respectively. From the results, it was found that metal-particle dispersion was relatively high about 5.89%, whereas the surface area of ceramic foam catalysts was $64.52m^2/g$. Finally, the catalytic behaviour toward hydrogen production through the dry reforming of methane using a fixed-bed reactor was evaluated under certain operating conditions. The approaches from this research provide a direction for further improvement of marketable environmental friendly catalyst production.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.253-257
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• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of different light emitting diode (LED) irradiation on the growth of paprika (Capsicum annuum 'Cupra'). The plants were irradiated by red (660 nm), blue (460 nm) and red + blue (4 : 1) light emitting diodes above 50 cm for 5 hours after sunset. Photosynthetic photon flux (PPF) irradiated by red, blue and red + blue LED were $79{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$, $75{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ and $102{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ respectively. Leaf temperature of paprika grown under blue LED irradiation was the highest of $18.6^{\circ}C$. Fruit temperature was the highest under in the control (no irradiation) but it was lower than leaf temperature. There was influence of LED irradiation on the paprika plants height; under blue irradiation the plant height was the shortest, while under in the control plant height was the highest. The leaf size of under different LED irradiation was bigger than that of in the control. Mean fruit weight under different LED irradiation was significantly increased; however number of fruits and marketable yield per plant were significantly decreased as compared to the control.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2012

This study aimed to investigate the responses of plant growth and blossom-end rot (BER) incidence to calcium (Ca) and its three kinds of antagonistic cations (K, Mg, and $NH_4$-N) with various ratios in nutrient solution for sweet paper (Capsicum annuum L. 'RZ208'). Both Ca to each cation and Ca to a series of cation combinations, such as potassium (K), ammonium nitrate ($NH_4$), or magnesium (Mg) were more influential to the fruit growth and quality than plant growth. Especially, the BER incidence was significantly influenced by the ratio treatments. For examples, when Ca:(K + Mg) or Ca:(K + Mg + $NH_4$) ratio was 1:2 the highest incident rate of BER about 70.3 or 86.3% was observed, lowering the marketable yield to 19 or 13.7% of the total yield, respectively. The correlation coefficiencies (= r) to relationships between the BER and K as well as BER and $NH_4$ were 0.82 (P < 0.05) and 0.65 (P < 0.05), respectively. Combination only with the Mg element was not correlated with the BER incidence. However, when both of the K and Mg concentrations were 0.65 (P < 0.05). The highest correlation coefficiency, 0.92 (P < 0.05), was found to a relationship between the BER and the tree elemental combination.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.408-412
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• 2013

This study was carried out to investigate damp injury caused by tomato coir bag culture and prevent that. The tomato variety was used 'Minichal', and tomatoes were grown in greenhouse. The nutrient solution based on Yamazaki Tomato Standard Solution was irrigated from one hour after sunrise to two hour before sunset. The slits for darainage were made in three types; I, L, and bottom slit type. The coir bag of I and L type had six slits of 15cm length, that of bottom slit type had three slits of 15 cm length. The weight of coir bag in 24 hours after saturation was 14.2 kg in I type, 13.8 kg in L type, and 12.8 kg in bottom slit type, but there was not significant difference. The weight of coir bag after one day irrigation was 14.5 kg, 14.2 kg, and 13.3 kg at L, I, and bottm slit type, respectively. This means that the moisture content of coir bag during cultivation was lowest in bottom slit type. The number of adventitious root on stem was 160, 170, and 53 at I, L, and bottom slit type, respectively. The dry weight of root and root length were highest at bottom slit type, compared to other treatment. The marketable yield was highest 26.5 kg/20 plant in bottom slit type. For increasing yield and preventing damp injury, bottom slit type was most effective at U type bed coir bag culture.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.349-358
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• 2014

This study was conducted to determine the impact of elevated temperature in growing season on the growth and fruit quality of red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) by cultivating pepper in the temperature gradient tunnels. Plant height, stem diameter, leaf number and total leaf area, fresh weight and dry weight increased at ambient $+2^{\circ}C$ temperature, whereas each leaf area decreased as temperature increased. The plants grown under ambient $+2^{\circ}C$ temperature showed the greatest number of flower and fruit. Fruit weight, fruit length and fruit diameter decreased as the temperature increasing gradually. Total fruit number, total fruit weight and total dry fruit weight was the highest at ambient $+2^{\circ}C$ temperature. Major free sugars of red pepper fruit were fructose and glucose. Free sugar content of red pepper according to the differences in harvesting times and in growth temperature showed a little differences. The yield of red pepper fruit at ambient $+2^{\circ}C$ temperature increased by 13% compared with the control. However, the yield of red pepper fruit at ambient $+4^{\circ}C$ temperature decreased by 20% as compared to control. Non-marketable fruits (diseased fruit, malformed fruit and small sized fruit) increased as the temperature rised.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.911-922
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• 2015

This study was carried out to evaluate growth characteristics of Kimchi cabbage cultivated in various highland areas, and to create a predicting model for the production of highland Kimchi cabbage based on the growth parameters and climatic elements. Regression model for the estimation of head weight was designed with non-destructive measured growth variables (NDGV) such as leaf length (LL), leaf width (LW), head height (HH), head width (HW), and growing degree days (GDD), which was $y=6897.5-3.57{\times}GDD-136{\times}LW+116{\times}PH+155{\times}HH-423{\times}HW+0.28{\times}HH{\times}HW{\times}HW$, ($r^2=0.989$), and was improved by using compensation terms such as the ratio (LW estimated with GDD/measured LW ), leaf growth rate by soil moisture, and relative growth rate of leaf during drought period. In addition, we proposed Excel spreadsheet model for simulation of yield prediction of highland Kimchi cabbage. This Excel spreadsheet was composed four different sheets; growth data sheet measured at famer's field, daily average temperature data sheet for calculating GDD, soil moisture content data sheet for evaluating the soil water effect on leaf growth, and equation sheet for simulating the estimation of production. This Excel spreadsheet model can be practically used for predicting the production of highland Kimchi cabbage, which was calculated by (acreage of cultivation) ${\times}$ (number of plants) ${\times}$ (head weight estimated with growth variables and GDD) ${\times}$ (compensation terms derived relationship of GDD and growth by soil moisture) ${\times}$ (marketable head rate).

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 1993

The purpose of this study was to investigate crop growth responses under various rain shelters which were devised to improve the indoor environment in summer season. For developing the proper type of rain shelter, the improved rain shelters with the roof of saw - tooth type(saw-tooth type) and 3 span-arch type(improved arch type) were compared with the conventional one with the roof of single arch type(conventional arch type) and no rain shelter (open field ). The results were summarized as follows ; 1. The air temperature in the improved arch type was 4$^{\circ}C$ and 1$^{\circ}C$ lower than those in the conventional arch type and the saw - tooth type, respectively. 2. The air temperature drop by the evaporative cooling + improved drainage was 1.3$^{\circ}C$ which was 0.9$^{\circ}C$lower than that by the improved drainage only. 3. The effect of labour saving in the saw-tooth type was superior to any other type because its frames were used as props and the labour for ventilation was not needed. 4. The highest marketable yield of tomato was 4,897kg/10a in the improved arch type and the total leaf areas which related to photosynthesis was the largest in the saw - tooth type. 5. The improved arch type was proved to be proper to raise yield potential. The effect of the underground environment treatment on the quality and quantity of vegetable showed to be outstanding in the saw- tooth type with the evaporative cooling + improved drainage, and in the improved and conventional arch type with the trickle improved drainage. 6. In conclusion, the saw - tooth type and the improved arch type were proved to be labour saving rain shelters and the indoor environments in both types were better than that in the conventional arch type.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.248-255
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• 2013

This study examined an automated irrigation technique by a frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensor for scheduling irrigation for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. 'Starbuck F1') cultivation aimed at avoiding effluent from an open hydroponic system with coir substrate containing different ratios of chip-to-dust (v/v) content. Specifically, the objectives were to undertake preliminary measurements of irrigation volumes, leachate volume, volumetric water content and electrical conductivity (EC) in the substrate, plant growth, fruit yield, and water use efficiency resulting from variation in chip content as an initial experiment. Commercial coir substrates containing different percentages of chips and dust (0 and 100%, 30 and 70%, 50 and 50%, or 70 and 30%), two-story coir substrates with different percentages of chips in the lower layer and dust in the upper layer (15 and 85%, 25 and 75%, or 35 and 65%), or rockwool slabs were used. The results showed that a negligible or no leachate was found for all treatments when plants were grown under a technique for scheduling non-drainage irrigation using a frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensor. Daily irrigation volume was affected by chip content in both commercial and two-story slabs. The highest plant growth, marketable fruit weight, and water-use efficiency were observed in the plants grown in the commercial coir slab containing 0% chips and 100% dust, indicating that the FDR sensor-auto-mated irrigation may be more useful for tomato cultivation in coir substrate containing 0% chips and 100% dust using water efficiently and minimizing or avoiding leachate and thus increasing yield and reducing pollution. Detailed experiment is necessary to closely focus on determining appropriate irrigation volume at each of irrigation as well as duration of each individual irrigation cycle depending on different physical properties of substrates using an automated irrigation system operated by the FDR sensor.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.83-87
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to examine the changes in carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) concentration due to application of solid $CO_2$ generator (Tansansol) in plastic greenhouses during winter cultivation of Korean melon. The experimental treatments consisted of four levels, namely, 0 (control) 10, 20 and 30bags with solid $CO_2$ generator per $600m^2$ of plastic greenhouse. $CO_2$ concentration in plots with solid gas generators was higher by 3.0-3.2% compared to control. Fruit weight, sugar content and color parameter were also enhanced due to application of solid $CO_2$ generator. The fraction of fermentated and unmarketable fruits were decreased by 2.9-3.9% and 5.4-7.3%, respectively, in plots where solid $CO_2$ generators were applied. The marketable yield increased by 10.3, 14.8 and 16.2% in plots with 10, 20 and 30bags with $CO_2$ generators, respectively. As a result, $CO_2$ concentration within the greenhouses was increased by applying $CO_2$ generators and it is positively affected the rate of photosynthesis.