• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.2_spc
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• pp.16-27
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• 2020

Nitrate contamination has received much attention at local as well as regional scales. The domestic situation is not out of exception, and it has been reported to be very serious, particularly within agricultural areas as a result of excessive usage of nitrogen fertilizers. Meanwhile, nitrate can be naturally attenuated by denitrification in subsurface environments. The denitrification occurs through biotic (biological) and abiotic processes, and numerous previous studies preferentially focused the former. However, abiotic denitrification seems to be significant in specific environments. For this reason, this study reviewed the previous studies that focused on abiotic denitrification processes. Firstly, the current status of nitrate contamination in global and domestic scales is presented, and then the effect of geological media on denitrification is discussed while emphasizing the significance of abiotic processes. Finally, the implications of the literature review are presented, along with future research directions that warrant further investigations. The results of previous studies demonstrated that several geological agents could play a vital role in reducing nitrate. Iron-containing minerals such as pyrite, green rust, magnetite, and dissolved ferrous ion are known to be powerful electron donors triggering denitrification. In particular, it was proven that the rate of denitrification by green rust was comparative to that of biological denitrification. The results indicate that abiotic denitrification should be taken into account for more accurate evaluation of denitrification in subsurface environments.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.8-19
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• 2021

In this study, the evaluation standard for nitrate nitrogen contamination degree (WELCUP) was established using six factors that influence the groundwater quality in Jeju Island. To do this, weightings, ranges, and ratings were assigned for each factor and the relative possibility of nitrate nitrogen contamination degree was evaluated using WELCUP index for each well. As a result of calculating the WELCUP index using groundwater quality data of 5,112 wells in Jeju Island for 27 years (1993-2019), all 61 wells with the WELCUP index value higher than 100 are distributed in Daejung and Hangyung watershed with relatively large area of farmland in Jeju Island. In particular, as the ratio of private wells is more than 64%, it is necessary that systematic management is needed for private wells in terms of nitrate nitrogen contamination. Consequently, based on the results of applying the WELCUP evaluation standard, it is necessary to select the prioritization of nitrate nitrogen contamination pathways project for groundwater wells in Jeju Island.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.96-108
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• 2011

Several methods of in-field measurements of Nitrogen and other soil properties using cores extracted by a hydraulic soil sampler were evaluated. A prototype core scanner was built to accommodate Veris Technologies commercial Vis-NIRS equipment. The testing result for pH, P and Mg were close to RPD (Ratio of Prediction to Deviation = Standard deviation/RMSE) of 2, however the scanner could not achieve the goal of RPD of 2 on some other properties, especially on nitrate nitrogen ($NO_3$) and potassium (K). In situ NIRS/EC probe showed similar results to the core scanner; pH, P and Mg were close to RPD of 2, while $NO_3$ and K were RPD of 1.5 and 1.2, respectively. Correlations between estimations using the probe and the core scanner were strong, with $r^2$ > 0.7 for P, Mg, Total N, Total C and CEC. Preliminary results for mid-IR spectroscopy showed an $r^2$ of 0.068 and an RMSE for nitrate (N) of 18 ppm, even after the removal of calcareous samples and possible N outlier. After removal of calcareous samples on a larger sample set, results improved considerably with an $r^2$ of 0.64 and RMSE of 6 ppm. However, this was only possible after carbonate samples were detected and eliminated, which would not be feasible under in-field measurements. Testing of $NO_3$ and K ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) revealed promising results, with acceptable errors measuring soil solutions containing nitrate and potassium levels that are typical of production agriculture fields.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2022

BACKGROUND: Kiwifruit is a fruit tree with relatively small cultivation area in Korea and researches on its soil and physiology are very limited compared to those on cultivar development. Therefore, there are limited information for farmers to cope with the reduction in productivity due to various physiological disorders and premature aging. This study was conducted to investigate the soil and leaf chemical properties, and fruit characteristics, which will be used as basic data for stable kiwifruit orchard soil management. METHODS AND RESULTS: The soil and leaf chemical properties, and fruit characteristics were investigated for two years in 16 kiwifruit orchards growing 'Hayward' (Actinidia deliciosa) in Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnam-do. Soil and leaf samples were collected in July and fruit quality was investigated by harvesting fruits about 170 days after full bloom. The average soil chemical properties of kiwi orchards were generally higher than the recommended level, except for pH, and especially, the exchangeable potassium reached about 300% of the recommended level. The proportions of orchards that exceeded the recommended level of soil chemical properties were 63, 31, 100, 69, 94, 88 and 69% for pH, EC, organic content, available phosphate, and exchangeable potassium, calcium and magnesium, respectively. Thirty-three percent of orchards had more than 100 mg/kg of nitrate nitrogen in soil. Available phosphate in soil showed a significantly positive correlation with leaf nitrogen, phosphoric acid and calcium content, but showed a significantly negative correlation with leaf potassium content. The magnesium content in the leaves was significantly correlated with soil pH. The highest fruit weight was observed in about 25 g/kg of leaf nitrogen content which could be attained when plants were grown on the soil containing about 100 mg/kg of nitrate nitrogen content. The average soluble solids content among 16 orchards was 9.58 °Brix at harvest and 13.9 °Brix after ripening, which increased about 45%, and the average fruit weight was about 110 g. CONCLUSION(S): For fruit quality, fruit soluble solids (sugar compounds) content was significantly correlated with leaf potassium content, fruit hardiness with leaf total nitrate, calcium and magnesium, and fruit titratable acidity with leaf magnesium; however, leaf calcium and magnesium negatively affect the soluble solids contents in fruits.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.139-145
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• 1986

In order to study the influence of nitrate reduction to ionic balance in tissue of tobacco plant, differneces in amounts of those cations and anions were determined and these balances were compared with contents of organic acids and activities of nitrate reductase, while they were fertilized with different nitrogen sources ($NO_3-N$, $NH_4-N$, $NO_3+NH_4-N$) in water culture. The results of studies are summerized as follows; 1. Total uptake of inorganic cations was the highest in nitrate-fed plants, whereas that of inorganic anions showed the highest level in the plants grown with the mixture ($NO_3+NH_4$). The amounts of inorganic cations and anions were comparable in two treatments containing $NH_4-N$, but in plants treated with nitrate only had much higher level of inorganic cations than others. 2. Deficiency in the amount of inorganic anions in nitrate-fed plants was balanced with organic acids, dominantly with malic acid among them. But another two $NH_4-N$ fed plant sustained equilibrium between inorganic cations and anions. 3. Reduction of nitrate was raised in tissues of nitrate-fed plants. By the results of nitrate reduction, cations maintained equilibrium with nitrate ion were let loose. The replacement of inorganic anions with organic anions could be a compensation process for the loss of uptaken nitrate ions which must be reduced to be incorporated into organic N compounds.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.37-46
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• 2022

As the amount of livestock wastewater increases, ammonia contamination in surface water and groundwater is also increasing, and its treatment is urgently needed. In this study, indigenous soil bacteria was utilized for ammonia removal in artificial wastewater and associated removal mechanisms and efficiencies were evaluated. Two batch reactors were configurated to contain natural soil and artificial wastewater at 1:10 mass ratio, and incubated for 84 and 168 hours, respectively. The results showed that ammonia was completely removed within 48 and 72 hours in the first and second reactors, respectively. There were no significant changes in ammonia concentrations in the control groups without soil. Nitrate was formed in the reactors, indicating that the main removal mechanism of ammonia was nitrification by nitrifying bacteria. Nitrate was further converted to nitrogen gas by denitrification in the anaerobic environment, which was caused by consumption of oxygen during the nitrification process.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.361-369
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• 1997

A microbiological nitrate determination method by E. coli is modified in Korea, using K12 wildtype, KCTC 1116, for the quantitative reduction of $NO_3{^-}$ to $NO_2{^-}$. The nitrate in plant, soil or water sample is determined spectrophotometrically after being diazotized with sulfaniamide and N-(1-naphthl)-ethlenediamine. The modified E. coli cell method and principle for nitrate determination using Korean wildtype E. coli strain is described, and cell culture and preparation of stock suspension for E. coli as well. This modified E. coli cell method can be managed simply and fast, it is suitable for the investigation of the large serials, it can be also automated and has a high degree of sensitivity up to 0.01ppm $NO_3{^-}-N$ in the sample solution. The applicability of the modified E. coli cell method has been tested for plant, soil and water analysis on a wide range of different samples. Recovery rates of added nitrate have been determined and comparisons with other standard nitrate analytical procedures have been carried out. The results with the modified E. coli cell method show high correlation ($r^2=0.98$) with those gained by the standard analytical procedures. The advantages and disadvantages of the method are also discussed to other nitrate determination methods.

• 한국생태학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1998.05a
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• pp.81-81
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• 1998

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 1987

In order to improve effectiveness of rhizobia- legume symbiotic nitrogen fixation, ecological and physiological characteristics of indigenous rhizobia distributed in Korea, that is, symbiotic effectiveness of indigenous soybean rhizobia, nitrate reductase activities of the soybean bacteroid from five different soils, and differences of host-infection abilities among the soybean cultivars under population densities of the same indigenous soybean rhizobia, were investigated. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The number of indigenous soybean rhizobia was ranged from $9.2{\times}10^2$ cells per gram of soil in calcareous soil II to $42.4{\times}10^3$ cells per gram of soil in calcareous soil I in Danyang. 2. The symbiotic effectiveness of indigenous soybean rhizobia from five different soils was high in the case of soybean continuously cultivated, and calcareous soil I that population densities of indigenous soybean rhizobia were observed highly. 3. Inverse relationship was observed between total nitrogenase activity (TNA) and nitrate reductase activity (NRA) from the soybean bacteroids ($r=-0.502^*$), but the correlation between nitrate reductase and specific nitrogenase activities (SNA) could be devided into two groups. It was classified into group I which is high in SNA and low in NRA, and group II which is low in SNA and high in NRA. 4. The infection ability of the indigenous soybean rhizobia in the same soil conditions showed the reciprocal difference among each soybean cultivars. In Kwangkyo and Jangyeup, the symbiotic effectiveness appeared by infection of indigenous soybean rhizobia was higher than it of the other soybean cultivars.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2001

In order to find out the effect of nitrogen fertilizers on soil pH, EC, $NO_3-N$ and lettuce growth, this study was conducted by pot experiment in plastic film house condition. The square-pot which was $42{\times}54.5{\times}22cm$ in length, width and height, respectively, was filled with two kinds of soils in different soil EC as $0.20dS\;m^{-1}$ and $1.13dS\;m^{-1}$. Seven kinds of nitrogen fertilizers (urea, potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulphate, complex fertilizer A(11-10-10) and complex fertilizer B(12-12-12)) were treated in same standard rate of nitrogen for lettuce, transplanted the six lettuce seedlings of 10 days grown per pot, and have been grown for 38~44 days with three times harvesting. Soil pH was increased with the potassium and calcium nitrate treatments and decreased with ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulphate, complex fertilzer A and B, and the pH of urea treatments was kept the same value as the pH of before experiment. The growing status of lettuce seedling were surveyed during the early period after transplanting and withering of seedling was occured in all treatments. The withering rates were 10% in soil of EC $0.20dS\;m^{-1}$ and 44% and 42% in complex fertilizer and ammonium sulphate treaments, respectively, in soil of EC $1.13dS\;m^{-1}$. $NO{_3}^-$ contents of lettuce were about $1,000{\sim}2,000mg\;kg^{-1}$ based on fresh weight and these contents were considered to be lower to compare the $NO{_3}^-$ level of EU countries.