• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.115-131
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• 1993

Six nutrient cycles involving terrestrial plants are identified and characterized. Plants affect biotic and abiotic cycles through their effects on soil properties. They determine their internal nutritional status and nutrient concentrations in their environment via internal and external cycles. Contributions of organic matter to mycorrhizal, trophic, and detrital mediated external cycles and alterations of nutrient concentrations by plants can promote positive feedbacks leading to increased availability and retention of soil nutrients in open systems. Recognizing alternative cycles through plants leads to a definition of nutrient use efficiency for ecosystems: the ratio of system production to nutrient content of organic matter. A simple graph model to predict changes of nutrient use efficiency during primary succession is then presented.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.919-926
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• 2022

Fertigation, which has been introduced in agricultural fields since 1990, has been widely practiced in upland fields as well as in plastic film houses as part of the crop production system. In accordance with demands in the agricultural sector, a huge number of scientific studies on fertigation have been conducted worldwide. Moreover, with a combination of advanced technologies such as big-data, machine learning, etc., fertigation is positioned as an indispensable tool to achieve sustainable crop production and to enhance nutrient and water use efficiency. In this review, we focused on providing valuable information in terms of crop production and nutrient/water use efficiency. A variety of fertigation studies have described that enhancement of crop production did not differ relative to conventional method or slightly increased. In contrast, fertigation significantly improved nutrient/water use efficiency, with a reduction in use ranging from 20 to 50%. Water-soluble organic resources such as livestock manure and agricultural byproducts also have been identified as useful resources like chemical fertilizers. Furthermore, the initial irrigation point was generally recommended in a range of -10 - -40 kPa, although the point differed according to the crop and crop growth stage. From this review, we suggest that fertigation, which is closely integrated with advanced technology, could be a leading technology to attain not only food security but also carbon neutrality via improvement of nutrient/water use efficiency.

• Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.57-63
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• 2007

Due to the strong influence of nitrogen(N) on plant productivity, a vast amount of N fertilizers is used to maximize crop yield. Over-use of N fertilizers leads to severe pollution of the environment, especially the aquatic ecosystem, as well as reducing farmer's income. Growing of N-efficient cultivars is an important prerequisite for integrated nutrient management strategies in both low- and high-input agriculture. Taking maize as a sample crop, this paper reviews the response of plants to low N stress, the physiological processes which may control N-use efficiency in low-N input conditions, and the genetic and molecular biological aspects of N-use efficiency. Since the harvest index(HI) of modern cultivars is quite high, further improvement of these cultivars to adapt to low N soils should aim to increase their capacity to accumulate N at low N levels. To achieve this goal, establishment and maintenance of a large root system during the growth period may be essential. To reduce the cost of N and carbon for root growth, a strong response of lateral root growth to nitrate-rich patches may be desired. Furthermore, a large proportion of N accumulated in roots at early growth stages should be remobilized for grain growth in the late filling stage to increase N-utilization efficiency. Some QTLs and genes related to maize yield as well as root traits have been identified. However, their significance in improving maize NUE at low N inputs in the field need to be elucidated.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.304-309
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• 1999

Biomass, tissue (foliage, stem. and root) nutrient concentration, and nutrient use efficiency (NUE) were determined for 1-year-old Pinus densiflora, Larix leptolepis and Betula platyphvlla var. japonica seedlings in a greenhouse under nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization treatments. There were no consistent patterns in the effect of fertilization on seedling growth, however, in most cases the addition of N and P had no stimulating effect on biomass. In general, seedling tissue N and P concentrations increased after fertilization. It appeared that fertilization induced luxury nutrient consumption because uptake was increased without altering biomass. The NUE. calculated as the ratio between total above and belowground production and nutrient content in seedlings, decreased with increasing N and P supply for P. densiflora and B. platyphylla var. japonica while that for L. leptolepisthe did not change. B. platyphylla var. japonica had the highest NUE, L. leptolepis the lowest, with P. densiflora having the intermediate NUE.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.268-274
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• 2010

The aim of our study was to investigate the interactive effects of container size and nutrient supply on plant growth, chlorophyll synthesis, transpiration, $CO_2$ assimilation, water use efficiency (WUE), and nutrient uptake of vinca plant (Catharanthus roseus). A complete experiment utilizing four concentrations of fertilizer and three volumes of containers was conducted. As the container size was increased, the plant height, leaf area, and dry weight of vinca significantly increased regardless of fertilizer level. The leaf area and dry weight of vinca were highly sensitive to the container size. However, the chlorophyll contents of vinca 20 days after the transplant significantly increased with decreasing container sizes and increasing fertilizer concentrations. Significant differences in transpiration and $CO_2$ assimilation occurred with the use of differentfertilizer solutions, but the highest values for transpiration and $CO_2$ assimilation were in plants grown in the 15 cm-diameter containers. The highest water use efficiency was observed in the plants grown in 10 cm-containers with 4 dS/m of fertilizer, and there were no significant differences in WUE values among container sizes with fertilizer concentrations of 0, 1, or 2 dS/m. No significant difference in nutrient uptake was observed among the fertilizer levels or among the container sizes. However, at a fertilizer concentration of 4 dS/m, the uptake of several nutrients, including N, P, K, Ca, Mg, B and Fe, was higher in small containers than in larger ones.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.907-917
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• 2016

This study aimed at improving the method of oil cake application in maize. The experiment was conducted during 2 years at NAS (National Institute of Agricultural Sciences) experimental field, located in Wanju-kun, Jeollabuk-do. Growth factors and nutrient use efficiency were evaluated depending on oil cake application depth, placement, and application rate. Difference in oil cake application method and depth was tested in 2012 and different placements of oil cake application were compared in 2013. Plant height, SPAD value, and dry weight of stem and corn were investigated. SPAD value, dry weight of stem and corn were significantly higher in oil cake banding treatment (OB5, 5 cm depth) as compared to others application methods, i.e. spreading (OS0), deep banding (OB10) and banding + spreading (OB5S). In addition, dry weight of stem and corn of banding treatments (OBL, OBLL) on rhizosphere and in between row (OBR) were higher than spreading treatment (OSP). Furthermore, in case of reduced application rate in additional fertilization did not decrease dry weight of corn and increased nutrient use efficiency. Therefore, it is concluded that banding application in 5 cm-depth and rhizosphere can improve growth and nutrient use efficiency in maize production.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.88 no.2
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• pp.266-272
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• 1999

Aboveground biomass and nutrient contents of a 31-year-old pitch pine(Pinus rigida) and a 31-year-old Japanese larch(Larix leptolepis) plantations were measured in the Chungbu Forest Experiment Station, Kyunggi Province. Aboveground biomass was 170.2ton/ha in the pitch pine and 87.2ton/ha in the Japanese larch plantations. Aboveground biomass difference between both plantations was due to the difference of stand density. Aboveground biomass in both plantations was allocated as follows : stemwood>branch>stembark>needle. The concentrations of all nutrients(N, P, K, Ca, Mg) were generally higher in the Japanese larch needle than in the pitch pine because of high nutrient uptake characteristics of larch compared with pine tree species. The nutrient concentration in different tree tissues in both tree species decreased in the order of needle>branch>stembark>stemwood. Nutrient contents of aboveground biomass were : N, 335.9 ; P, 40.4 ; K, 121.4 ; Ca, 188.6 ; Mg, 93.8kg/ha in the pitch pine plantation, while nutrient contents in the Japanese larch plantation were : N, 226 ; P, 11.5 ; K, 72.9 ; Ca, 75.7 ; Mg, 37.1kg/ha. The nitrogen use efficiency calculated as the biomass produced by one unit of nitrogen was higher in the pitch pine than in the Japanese larch plantations. This result suggests that pine with high nitrogen use efficiency could be adapted in lower site productivity area compared with larch tree species.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.211-220
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• 2012

This study was conducted to evaluate soil nutrient concentrations and N uptake efficiency of paddy rice as affected by nutrient sources from 2009 to 2011. The treatments included chemical fertilizer, compost, oilcake, oilcake 2X, hairy vetch, vetch+rye, and control. Nutrient applications were made at rates equivalent to approximately 90 kg of actual N per hectare. Oilcake had the lowest C:N ratio from the raw materials, but compost had the highest C:N ratio of 34:1. Soil pH and concentrations of C, N, Ca, and Mg were unaffected by nutrient source treatments. N uptake efficiency was the greatest for oilcake-treated rice compared to those treated by NPK, hairy vetch, and compost in 2009 and 2010. Composttreated rice had the greatest N uptake efficiency in 2011 when the high amount of precipitation occurred.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.388-392
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• 2016

The objectives of fertilizer recommendation are to prevent the application of excessive fertilization and to produce target yields. Also, optimal fertilization is important because crop quality can be influenced by fertilization. In this study, yields and fertilizer use efficiency of Taro (Colocasia esculenta Schott) were evaluated in different level of NPK fertilization. N, P and K fertilizer application rates were 5 levels (0, 50, 100, 150, 200%) by practical fertilization ($N-P_2O_5-K_2O=180-100-150kg\;ha^{-1}$), respectively. In the N treatment, the yields of Taro tuber were about $33Mg\;ha^{-1}$ from 90 to $360kg\;ha^{-1}$ N fertilization. However, the ratio of tuber to total biomass decreased with increasing N fertilization rate. In the P and K treatments, yields of Taro tuber were the highest at $150kg\;ha^{-1}$ fertilization. Fertilizer use efficiency was decreased by increase of N and K fertilization. Crude protein of Taro tuber was the highest at practical fertilization. Sucrose content of tuber was influenced by phosphate application.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.825-832
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• 2010

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as "Any technological application that uses biological systems, dead organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use" Biotechnology has made tremendous contributions to improve production efficiency of agriculture during the last century. This article reviews successful examples of application of bio-fermentation in improving swine nutrition efficiency mainly based on the authors'z own research experience. Production of feed grade supplemental amino acids by bio-fermentation allowed nutritionists to formulate accurate feed for optimal lean growth and reduced nitrogen excretion. Recent issues with high feed grain prices caused potential feed quality problems. Bio-fermentation allowed nutritionists to use exogenous supplemental enzymes such as phytase and NSPases in swine diets, thereby improving nutrient utilization and reducing nutrient excretion to the environment. Yeast metabolites are also produced by bio-fermentation and have been repeatedly shown to improve milk production of sows during early lactation even though actual mechanisms are still to be investigated. Bio-fermentation technology also allowed nutritionists to prepare vegetable protein sources with large protein molecules and anti-nutritional factors suitable for feeding newly weaned piglets, as selected microorganisms significantly reduce specific anti-nutritional factors and size of peptides. Preparations of vegetable protein sources suitable for newly weaned pigs will greatly contribute to swine nutrition by providing efficient alternatives to the use of animal protein sources that are often expensive and somewhat against societal preference. Considering the few examples listed above, biotechnology has closely influenced improvement of production efficiency in the swine industry. As we have limited resources to produce meat to satisfy ever-increasing global demands, extensive adaptation of biotechnology to enhance production efficiency should be continued. However, at the same time, wise and careful application of bio-technology should be considered to ensure production of safe food and to meet the expectations of our society.