• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.453-461
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• 2008

This study was conducted to develop a root-removed splice grafting system for cucurbitaceous vegetables, mainly watermelon and cucumber seedlings, for the seedlings factories where currently most of seedlings grafting works are carried out by manual works. The major results of the study are as follows. The dimensions of rootstocks and scions, except cotyledon width, of root- removed splice grafting of watermelon and cucumber were shown to be varied within the 2.5-fold range. The growth status of seedlings were not consistent in terms of cotyledon sprouting direction and angle which were considered as one of the important factors for in root-removed splice grafting. The grafting work of root-removed splice for grafted watermelon and cucumber could be divided by four sub-operations: seedling supplying, cutting, clipping and potting, while a part or all root of the rootstock was removed in the seedlings supplying operation. The cutting angles of the rootstock and scion were $34-45^{\circ}$ and $20-45^{\circ}$, respectively, while the stem length of the scion varied from 6 mm to 12 mm. The splices of rootstock and scion were heaped up in parallel and then fixed by a clip. It indicated that the ideal grafting system, adopting conventional grafting processes of seedlings specifications as well as conventionally manual root-removed splice grafting method, performed very well for seedlings gripping and transporting, supplying clip, clipping and discharging grafted seedlings while workers supplied seedlings to the semi-automatical system.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.56-62
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• 2005

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of grafting methods on plug seedling quality, growth after transplanting, and yield of oriental melon that those seedlings were raised in the 32 hole plug tray for protected cultivation. Number of leaf and leaf area in approach grafting were higher until 15 days after grafting but lower on 20 days after grafting. Plant height, stem diameter and content of chlorophyll were nearly the same of each grafting methods on 20 days after grafting. Growth of top part, that is, plant height, leaf number, and leaf area on root removed single cotyledon ordinary splice grafting was the highest among the grafting methods. In the underground part, dry weight of root was high and T/R ratio was the lowest. Seedling quality of root removed single cotyledon ordinary splice grafting was the highest among grafting methods before transplanting. Plant height, number of leaf, leaf area and dry weight of root removed single cotyledon ordinary splice grafting in the growth of field were the highest on 30 days after grafting among grafting methods and days required for first flowering was also shorter, 38.4 days among grafting methods. But Fruit weight, content of soluble solids, fruit hardness, and color characteristics in fruit quality were insignificant among each grafting methods. Consequently, grafting methods influenced on the seedling quality, of oriental melon early growth after transplanting and yields. It was concluded that root removed single cotyledon ordinary splice grafting was the best methods in present study. It will be needed to convert grafting methods. Thus new grafting method should be applied.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.343-346
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• 2005

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.383-390
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• 2014

This study was conducted to investigate the growth characteristics of cucumber scion and pumpkin rootstock under different levels of light intensity (photosynthetic photon flux, PPF) and plug cell size in a closed transplant production system with artificial lighting. Cucumber scion and pumpkin rootstock seedlings were grown under the combinations of three levels of PPF (PPF 165, 248, and $313{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) and five types of plug tray (50, 72, 105, 128, and 200 cells in the tray) for nine days. The shoot dry weight and relative growth rate increased with increasing PPF and plug cell size. As PPF increased, cucumber scion and pumpkin rootstock seedlings had higher dry matter, lower specific leaf area, and lower hypocotyl length. The first true leaf of cucumber scion and pumpkin rootstock unfolded at eight and seven days after sowing, respectively, except the treatment using 200-cell plug tray. The unfolding of first true leaf of seedlings grown in 200-cell plug tray was delayed by one day. Accordingly, it was considered that the use of small cell size such as 200-cell plug tray would require more time for the production of scion and rootstock. Based on the results, we suggest that cucumber scion and pumpkin rootstock be grown in 105-cell to 128-cell plug tray for eight days and 72-cell to 105-cell plug tray for seven days, respectively, when using splice grafting method with root-removed rootstock. Additionally, higher PPF is suggested to improve the growth and quality of scion and rootstock.