• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.83-91
• /
• 2015

Mine soil contamination by high levels of metal ions that prevents the successful vegetation poses a serious problem. In the study presented here, we used the microbial biocatalyst of urease producing bacterium Sporosarcina pasteurii or plant extract based BioNeutro-GEM (BNG) agent. The ability of the biocatalysts to bioremediate contaminated soil from abandoned mine was examined by solid-state composting vegetation under field conditions. Treatment of mine soil with the 2 biocatalysts for 5 months resulted in pH increase and electric conductivity reduction compared to untreated control. Further analyses revealed that the microbial catalysts also promoted the root and shoot growth to the untreated control during the vegetation treatments. After the Sporosarcina pasteurii or plant extract based BNG treatment, the microbial community change was monitored by culture-independent pyrosequencing. These results demonstrate that the microbial biocatalysts could potentially be used in the soil bioremediation from mine-impacted area.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.314-320
• /
• 2008

During the summer season, more than half of the annual precipitation in Korea occurs during the summer season due to the geographical location in the Asian monsoon belt. So, this causes severe soil erosion from croplands, which is directly linked to the deterioration of crop/land productivity and surface water quality. Therefore, much attention has been given to develop accurate estimation tools of soil erosion. The aim of this study is to assess the performance of using the empirical Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and the physical-based model of the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) to quantify eroded amount of soil from agricultural fields. Input data files, including climate, soil, slope, and cropping management, were modified to fit into Korean conditions. Chuncheon (forest) and Jeonju (level-plain) were selected as two Korean cities with different topographic characteristics for model analysis. The results of this current study indicated that better soil erosion prediction can be achieved using the WEPP model since it has better power to illustrate a higher degree of spatial variability than USLE in topography, precipitation, soils, and crop management practices. These present findings are expected to contribute to the development of the environmental assessment program as well as the conservation of the agricultural environment in Korea.

• International Journal of Railway
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.1-4
• /
• 2011

In this study, the feasibility of using bioremediation to treat lubricant-contaminated soil around railroad turnouts was investigated. Lubricants used during the maintenance of railroad turnouts can drip onto the ground causing soil contamination. In the laboratory experiments, the residual TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) concentration in soil gradually decreased after microorganisms degrading the lubricants were added. Generally, the soil around railroad turnouts is covered by a layer of ballasts. In the column experiments that were designed considering field sites, the removal efficiency of TPH was about 11% after 60 days of cultivation time. In the field experiments, microorganisms were added into the soil periodically, and finally the residual TPH concentrations were reduced to less than 1,700 mg/kg-soil on average. These results indicate that the lubricant in the contaminated soil around railroad turnouts could be efficiently removed through bioremediation method.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.104-112
• /
• 2015

In this study, several factors which can have an effect on soil during strategic environmental assessment (SEA) are analyzed against a total of 86 administrative plans and development basic plans of the SEA. Other factors which could have influences on soil are also analyzed after examining contents and rules required for preparing the SEA statement. Then, we propose assessment factors on soils during the SEA procedure. We think that this study could give baseline data to set up assessment items, criteria, and techniques that are highly necessitated in preparation of the SEA statement in the near future.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 1988

A field experiment was conducted in the arid interior of British Columbia, Canada to assess the seasonal soil temperature and moisture regimes in an American ginseng garden. As a consequence of the man-modified microclimate (elevated shade canopy and surface covering of mulch), the growing environment of the crop was fundamentally altered when compared to adjacent agricultural growing environments. In the ginseng garden, soil temperatures were found to remain low throughout the growing season whereas soil moisture remained high when compared with the outside garden environment. These results indicate that even in the hot, arid environment of the interior of British Columbia, the growing of ginseng is undertaken in sub-optimal conditions for the major part of the growing season. This poses challenges for the producers of the crop to modify the architecture of the gardens to enhance the soil regime without creating a deleterious aerial environment.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.143-153
• /
• 2018

Soil characteristics along with various container lengths have an important role in the early survival rate and growth of seedlings by influencing the seedling quality. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of container length and different soil mixtures on the growth of poplar in a greenhouse. Two types of soil, homogeneous vs. heterogeneous, were used along with two container lengths (30 vs. 60 cm). The heterogeneous soil was made by dividing 50% vermiculite from a mixture of 25% vermicompost and 25% nursery soil in volume. For the homogeneous soil, the above three soil types were mixed together. Populus euramericana clone cuttings were planted in late April, and then, the growth height, root collar diameter (RCD) and biomass were measured in August. The height of the poplar was not significantly affected by container length and soil type, but the RCD was significantly affected by soil type. Leaf and root biomass was higher at the long container than at the short container for both soil treatments, but stem biomass was lower at the heterogeneous soil than at the homogeneous soil treatment. Root to shoot biomass ratio was higher at the heterogeneous soil treatment than at the homogeneous soil treatment by 12%. In conclusion, heterogeneous soil along with a long container is suitable to increase the carbon allocation into the root.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.48 no.5
• /
• pp.372-378
• /
• 2015

Growing crops under different soil textures may affect crop growth and yield because of soil N availability, soil N leaching, and plant N uptake. The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of three different soils (sandy loam, loam, and clay loam) on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) yield, nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE), and water use efficiency (WUE) by subsurface drip fertigation in the greenhouse. Three different soil textures are sandy loam, loam, and clay loam with 3 replications. The dimension of each lysimeter was $1.0m(W){\times}1.5m(L){\times}1.0m(H)$. Cucumber was transplanted on April $8^{th}$ and Aug $16^{th}$ in 2011. The subsurface drip line and tensiometer was installed at 30 and 20 cm soil depth, respectively. An irrigation with $100mg\;NL^{-1}$ concentration was automatically applied when the tensiometer reading was 10 kPa. Volumetric soil water content for cucumber cultivation was the highest in 30 cm soil depth regardless of soil texture and was lowered when soil depth was deeper. The volumetric soil water contents at soil depths of 10, 30, 50, and 70 cm were the highest at clay loam, followed by loam, and sandy loam. The growth of cucumber at the $50^{th}$ day after transplanting was the lowest at sandy loam. Cucumber fruit yields were similar for all three soil textures. The highest amount of water use at sandy loam was observed. Nitrogen and water use efficiencies for cucumber were higher for clay loam, followed by loam and sandy loam, while the amount of N leaching was the greatest under sandy loam, followed by loam, and clay loam. Overall, growing cucumber on either loam or clay loam is better than sandy loam if subsurface drip fertigation is used in the greenhouse.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 1998.11a
• /
• pp.221-224
• /
• 1998

Environmental pollution is continuously increasing with the economic growth and industrial development. With this trend, soil and groundwater pollution problem has been surfaced as important social issues. Recently, Korean government promulgated the Soil Environment Conservation Act. But there are many problems to control sound soil quality management. Anthropogenic source of pollution such as waste landfill, pesticides, fertilizer, underground storage oil tanks is important as well as natural source such as acid rain and forest fire. The regulation should be expanded to include groundwater preservation as well as soil quality, because soil pollution is closely related to groundwater pollution. Therefore, legal regulations must be expanded to these facilities and take into account technical feasibility and finance.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2019

The feasibility of using hydrated lime ($Ca(OH)_2$) was assessed in reducing soil loss in sloped land under field condition. During 6-month monitoring from May to October, amendment of hydrated lime (3%, w/w) to a test plot decreased soil loss by 76% as compared to the unamended plot. However, the growth of natural vegetation was hampered by hydrated lime addition due to pH increase. Hydrated lime can be used as an effective agent to prevent soil loss in sloped land, but additional treatments are needed to preserve vegetation growth, especially in crop fields.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.93-111
• /
• 2005

Defining soil quality in scopes and applications is one of the prerequisite for the sustainable management of soil environment to orient researches, strategies and policies. However, definition of soil quality is controversial depending upon a viewpoint of soil science or soil environment. Soil quality can be, irrespective of the disciplines, defined as the capacity of a soil to function within ecosystem boundaries to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality and promote plant and animal health. Common to all of the soil quality concepts can be summarized as the capacity of soil to function effectively at present and in the future. The OECD includes soil quality as one of the agri-environment indicators. This article intends to i) summarize the current soil quality research, and ii) provide information on protocol of soil quality assessment. A framework for soil quality was divided into three steps: indicator selection as minimum data set (MDS), scoring of the selected indicators, and integration of scores into soil quality index. Korean government suggested possible physical and chemical indicators such as bulk density and organic matter for paddy and upland soils to OECD. The framework of soil quality assessment is not yet implemented in Korea. Countries such as USA, Canada and New Zealand have constructed the framework on soil quality assessment and developed a user-friendly version of soil quality assessment tools to evaluate the integrated effects of various soil management practices. The protocol provided in this review might help policymakers, scientists, and administrators improve awareness about soil quality and understand the way of soil environment management.