• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.70-73
• /
• 2003

Nitrate contamination in the aquatic systems is the primary indicator of poor agricultural management. The influence of sewage sludge application rates (0, 10, 25, 50 and 100 dry Mg/ha) on distribution of nitrate originating from the sewage sludge in soil profiles was investigated. Soil profile monitoring of nitrate was carried out with a Lakeland clay soil in 1997. Irrespectively of the sewage sludge application rates up to 50 dry Mg/ha, the concentration of $NO_3$-N at the 120 cm depth was below 10 mg/kg and the difference due to the amount of sewage sludge application was negligible at this depth. There was virtually no $NO_3$-N below 120 cm depth and this was confirmed by a deep sampling up to 300 cm depth. Most of the nitrate remained in the surface 60 cm of the soil. Below 120 cm depth nitrate concentration was very low because of the denitrification even at high sewage sludge rate of 100 dry Mg/ha. The $NO_3$-N concentrations in the soil fluctuated over the growing season due to plant uptake and denitrification. The risk of groundwater contamination by nitrate from sewage sludge application up to high rate of 100 dry Mg/ha was very low in a wheat grown clay soil with high water table ( < 3 m).

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.259-264
• /
• 1995

In the present work, 70 extracts from 23 plants have been determined to induce cytotoxic and antiviral activities of macrophages using both MTT assay and neutral red dye uptake assay. We show that 13 extracts have induced cytotoxic activities and 5 extracts induced antiviral activity in mouse peritoneal macrophages. Among 13 extracts, macrophages treated with extracts from Salvia plebeia have demonstrated significant cytotoxicity but not antiviral activity. The present findings indicate that extracts from plants can stimulate macrophages to become resistant to virus and to kill tumor cells.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2001.11a
• /
• pp.151-162
• /
• 2001

Korea mountain ginseng known as oriental miracle drug is an important medicinal plant. The effect of mountain ginseng adventitious roots extract has been described. The valuable root of mountain ginseng contained several kinds of ginsenosides that have been confirmed to have many active functions for the human body. However, the study of mountain ginseng has a limit because the price of wild ginseng is very expensive and rare. The mountain ginseng adventitious roots were derived from mountain ginseng callus that were induced from mountain ginseng roots. Adventitious roots were separated from callus and grown in solid media(Murachige and stoog media). It was cultured in a 20L bioreactor. After culturing for 40days, adventitious roots were harvested. Afterwards the harvested mountain ginseng adventitious roots were dryed and extracted. We examined the effect on melanogenesis of mountain ginseng adventitious roots extrac. Here, we report the inhibitory effect of melanin biosynthesis on the adventitious roots extract of In vitro test. Also, we assessed the safety of adventitious roots extract. In vitro, cytotoxicity of adventitious roots extract was assessed in mouse fibroblast using two method: The neutral red uptake assay and the MTT assay. In vivo, the allergic and irritant were patch tested in 30 patients. Consequently, extract of mountain ginseng adventitious roots have inhibitory effect on melanin biosynnthesis in B-16 melanoma cell test, tyrosinase inhibitory test and DOPA auto-oxidation test. There were decreased 86%(0.5% concentration), 45%(1% concentration) and 61%(1% concentration), respectively

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.246-253
• /
• 2019

Background: Water use efficiency (WUE) is an indicator of the trade-off between carbon uptake and water loss to the atmosphere at the plant or ecosystem level. Understanding temporal dynamics and the response of WUE to climatic variability is an essential part of land degradation assessments in water-limited dryland regions. Alternative definitions of and/or alternative methodologies used to measure WUE, however, have hampered intercomparisons among previous studies of different biomes and regions. The present study aims to clarify semantic differences among WUE parameters applied in previous studies and summarize these parameters in terms of their definition and methodology. Additionally, the consistency of the responses of alternative WUE parameters to interannual changes in moisture levels in Northeast Asia dryland regions (NADRs) was tested. Results: The literature review identified more than five different WUE parameters defined at leaf and ecosystem levels and indicates that major conclusions regarding the WUE response to climatic variability were partly inconsistent depending on the parameters used. Our demonstration of WUE in NADR again confirmed regional inconsistencies and further showed that inconsistencies were more distinct in hyper- and semi-arid climates than in arid climates, which might reflect the different relative roles of physical and biological processes in the coupled carbon-water process. Conclusions: The responses of alternative WUE parameters to drying and wetting may be different in different regions, and regionally different response seems to be related to aridity, which determines vegetation coverage.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.1 s.88
• /
• pp.96-101
• /
• 2006

Chlorination inhibition on the organic removal activity of activated sludge microorganism was investigated in this study. It is well known that chlorination improves the settleability of filamentous bulking sludge through the selective impediment of filamentous microorganisms. However, it is based on the declination of effluent water quality after actual chlorination in dairy wastewater treatment plant. In case of the activated sludge which was exposed in the suggested concentration of chlorine $7.5\;mgCl_2/gVSS/day$ for the filamentous bulking control, decrease of organic uptake rate of $4.9\~24.0\%$, and dentrification rate of $24.8\~30.3\%$ ware shown in comparison to the control group which was not reacted with chlorine. As a result of comparing floc size of activated sludge microorganism, the average of floc diameter in the chlorine exposed group was $150\;{\mu}m$, which displays $25\%$ decrease compared with the control group.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.6 no.6
• /
• pp.41-48
• /
• 2003

Nitrogen removal rate and emergent plant growth were investigated of a free-water-surface constructed treatment wetland system, whose dimensions were 31m in length and 12m in width. The system was constructed on floodplain in the Kwangju Stream from May to June 2001. Cattails(Typha angustifolia) were transplanted from natural wetlands and their stems were cut at about 40cm height from their bottom ends. Water of the Kwangju Stream were funneled into the system by gravity flow and its treated effluent was discharged back into the stream. The average height of the cattail stems was 45.2cm in July 2001 and 186cm in October 2001. The number of stems averaged 22 stems/$m^2$ in July 2001 and 52 stems/$m^2$ in September 2001. Volume and water quality of inflow and outflow were analyzed from July 2001 through December 2001. Inflow and outflow averaged 40.01 and 39.55 $m^3$/day, respectively. Hydraulic detention time was about 1.5 days. Average nitrogen uptake by cattails was 69.31 $N\;mg\;m^{-2}\;day^{-1}$. Removal rate of $NO_3-N$, $NH_3-N$ and T-N averaged 195.58, 53.65 and 628.44 $mg\;m^{-2}\;day^{-1}$, respectively. The average removal rate of T-N was about 39%.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.247-256
• /
• 1987

The ability of three Echinochloa colona (L.) Link ecotypes to compete with rice (Oryza sativa L.) was evaluated. For all the ecotypes, E. colona was shorter and produced less leaf area and dry matter than rice at 15 days after seeding (DAS), whereas the reverse was observed from 30 to 60 DAS. Neither E. colona nor rice tillered during the first 15 DAS, but E. colona had greater accumulative tiller length than rice from 15 DAS. Rice absorbed more nitrogen than E. colona at 15 DAS. E. colona absorbed greater amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium than did rice between 30 and 60 DAS and increase in its density decreased the nutrients uptake of rice. Differences in the competitive ability of the ecotypes were related to the growth characteristics of the ecotypes and the period of competition between the two species. At the early growth stages the Pangasinan ecotype, which increased plant size rapidly and had a shorter life cycle, was more competitive against rice than the Leyte and South Cotabato ecotypes, which had a longer vegetative growth period. However, the reverse was observed at the later growth stages of the ecotypes.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.221-228
• /
• 2014

The fungal genus Suillus Micheli ex S. F. Gray plays important roles in the survival and growth of plant seedlings. Humans have utilized these ectomycorrhizal fungi to enhance the nutrient uptake and defense systems of plants, particularly in the reforestation of coniferous forests. The genus Suillus is easily distinguishable by its distinctive morphological features, although the morphology of the fruiting body does not facilitate reliable interspecies discrimination. On the basis of micro-morphological features and internal transcribed spacer sequence analysis, we found that 51 of 117 Korean Suillus specimens had initially been misidentified. The list of the 12 Suillus species previously recorded in Korea was re-evaluated and revised to only eight distinct species: S. americanus, S. bovinus, S. granulatus, S. grevillei, S. luteus, S. pictus, S. placidus, and S. viscidus. We provide taxonomical descriptions for six of these species from the sample specimens.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.394-399
• /
• 2006

The transport of putrescine into a moderately salt tolerant cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 was characterized by measuring the uptake of radioactively-labeled putrescine. Putrescine transport showed saturation kinetics with an apparent $K_m$ of $92{\pm}10\;{\mu}M$ and $V_{max}$ of $0.33{\pm}0.05\;nmol/min/mg$ protein. The transport of putrescine was pH-dependent with highest activity at pH 7.0. Strong inhibition of putrescine transport was caused by spermine and spermidine whereas only slight inhibition was observed by the addition of various amino acids. These results suggest that the transport system in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is highly specific for polyamines. Putrescine transport is energy-dependent as evidenced by the inhibition by various metabolic inhibitors and ionophores. Slow growth was observed in cells grown under salt stress. Addition of low concentration of putrescine could restore growth almost to the level observed in the absence of salt stress. Upshift of the external osmolality generated by either NaCl or sorbitol caused an increased putrescine transport with an optimum 2-fold increase at 20 mosmol/kg. The stimulation of putrescine transport mediated by osmotic upshift was abolished in chloramphenicol-treated cells, suggesting possible involvement of an inducible transport system.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.986-989
• /
• 2006

Sweet potato starch noodles prepared without freezing exhibited higher cooking loss and water uptake during cooking and usually resulted in noodles with a softer and stickier texture compared to commercial sweet potato starch noodles manufactured using a freezing process. By utilizing the starches of different plant sources (potato, cowpea, and sago in an equivalent mixture with sweet potato starch), however, the cooking properties and texture of the starch noodles could be improved. Among the starches tested, cowpea starch was most effective in providing cooking and textural properties similar to those of commercial noodles. As an alternative approach, the addition of a minor amount (0.1 % based on total solid weight) of various gums (xanthan, gellan, locust bean gum, curdlan, and carboxymethyl cellulose) was also examined. The addition of curdlan to noodles was effective in increasing the gumminess and hardness, and reducing the stickiness of noodles. Utilizing different starches and gums can improve the overall texture and quality of sweet potato starch noodles produced without freezing.