• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.265-285
• /
• 2004

Objectives: The acute toxic effects of pesticide are well known. Concern has also been expressed that long-term exposure may result in damage to the central nervous system. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that central nervous system symptoms might occur due to pesticide exposure. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, first, cumulative exposure index (CEI) was estimated. Neurologic symptoms (Q-16 questionnaire) for 541 farmers (exposed to pesticides) were compared with 119 non-exposed persons in spraying season nine rural areas in Korea. Results: The pesticides poisoning rates for last 3 months were 67.2% for orchard farmers, 55.3%for dry field farmers, and 20.5% for husbandry farmers, respectively, showing significant difference (p<0.001). Compared with non-exposure group, exposure groups (especially, orchard farmers) reported significantly more neurologic symptoms and had a higher overall neurological symptoms score (p<0.001). Factors related to the positive neurological symptoms (answers "yes" to six or more of Q-16 questionnaire) adjusted for age, sex, education level, smoking and alcohol drinking were type of farming (OR 3.08, 95% CI 1.50-6.30 in orchard farmers vs non-exposure group), CEI (OR 2.75, 95% CI 1.12-6.78 in Q3 vs Q1), past poisoning (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.21-3.20 vs normal), current mild poisoning (OR 3.03, 9500 CI 1.47-6.22 vs normal) and current moderate poisoning (OR 6.34, 95% CI 3.03-13.25 vs normal), respectively. Conclusions: These results suggest that long-term exposure to pesticides appears to be associated with subtle changes in the central nervous system.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.299-304
• /
• 2012

In this work, we experimented with the two-fluid fogging system that eco-friendly prevents whiteflies in greenhouses in order to find the optimal concentration of oleic acid supplied through the system and to evaluate the control value of three consecutive treatments. The first experiment, which was to find the optimal concentration of oleic acid, used "Dotaerang Gold" tomatoes grown in stand-alone plastic greenhouse at Buyeo Tomato Experiment Station. We tested three levels of concentration of oleic acid, which were 0, 2000, and 4000 ppm. The second experiment, which was to evaluate the control value of three consecutive treatments of oleic acid, used "Rokusanmaru" tomatoes grown in Venlo type glasshouse at Gyeonggi-Do Agricultural Research & Extension Services. In this experiment, oleic acid of 2000 ppm was applied three times with two days intervals. The number of whiteflies was counted 2 two days after the last application of oleic acid. Even when oleic acid was not being applied, the two-fluid fogging system was run from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm whenever the temperature is higher than $25^{\circ}C$ or the humidity is lower than 75%. In the first experiment, the control value was 81.6% with 2000 ppm of oleic acid and 93.6% with 4000 ppm. It means that the higher the concentration is, the greater the control value. In the second experiment, 2000 ppm treatment resulted in 85.8% of the control value, which is higher than the required standard for insecticides. Hence, spraying oleic acid with the concentration of 2000 ppm three times with two days intervals turned out to be a very effective in the eco-friendly prevention of whitefly.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.139-147
• /
• 2021

Livestock manure is used as an organic fertilizer to replace chemical fertilizers after sufficient fermentation in an aerobic bioreactor. On the other hand, liquid manure disposal problems occur repeatedly because soil spraying is restricted during the summer when the crops are growing. To use liquid fertilizer (LF) as an additional nutrient source for crops, it is necessary to reduce the amount of suspended solids (SS) in the liquid fertilizer and secure stability problems against pathogenic microorganisms. This study examined the effects of the simultaneous SS removal and E.coli sterilization in the LF using the microbubble (MB) generator (FeMgO catalyst insertion). The remaining SS were further removed using the integrated microbubble and microfilter system. During the floating process in the MB device, the SS were removed by 57.9%, and the coliform group was not detected (16,200→0 MPN/100 mL). By optimizing the HRT of the integrated system, the removal efficiency of the SS was improved by 92.9% under the 0.1h of HRT condition. After checking the properties of the treated LF, 64.5%, 70.1%, 54.9%, and 51.5% of the TCOD, SCOD, PO4-P, and TN, respectively, were removed. The treated effluent from such an integrated system has a lower SS content than that of the existing LF and does not contain coliforms; therefore, it can be used directly as an additional fertilizer.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.172-180
• /
• 2023

This study was carried out to determine the sprouting period of early and mid-season varieties, which includes 'Atlantic', 'Chubaek', and 'Superior', during the summer storage period in a semi-underground warehouse without cooling system. And also it was investigated the effect of chlorpropham [Propan-2-yl N-(3-chlorophenyl)carbamate, CIPC] treatment on the sprouting inhibition for the varieties. This study was conducted to figure out a sprout inhibitory effect when CIPC was applied to 1kg of the potato tubers at concentrations of 10 mg and 20 mg which are lower than the treatment concentrations of ca 30 mg prescribed by the positive list system (PLS). The internal temperature of the warehouse used in this experiment was lowered by 5℃ or more than the outside temperature. The difference between the lowest and highest temperature during the experiment throughout the day was 5℃. It showed the effect of reducing to 1/2 of the difference in outdoor temperature. As for the sprouting of potatoes, the extremely early variety 'Chubaek' sprouts appeared at the 6th week of storage of control and it was the fastest sprouting potato among the control groups of the varieties. Sprouting began to appear in the Superior at the 6th week of storage, while the 'Atlantic' sprouted at the 8th week of storage. The appearance of sprouts was suppressed in all treatment groups of 'Atlantic' and 'Superior' varieties in CIPC treatments. Sprouts were observed in all treatment groups of 'Chubaek' after the 7th week, but the elongations of the sprouts in tubers were completely inhibited until the 8th week of storage. 'Atlantic' and 'Superior' seemed to have a sprouting inhibitory effect even with a low CIPC concentration of 10 mg·kg^-1, with the exception of extremely early variety 'Chubaek' that breaks out of the dormancy quickly. Although weight loss occurred continuously during storage, it was minor loss of 0.7-1.6%. There was no consistent trend for changes of the loss in the varieties and CIPC treatments. Most common pathological disorder was the dry rot during the experiment, but only few were affected. The use of the tubers treated at 18℃ and 90% RH for 10 days and the rack of refrigeration system which lead to lack of convection seemed to have suppressed the spread of pathogens.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.1-18
• /
• 1997

This study was carried out to reveal the status of health examination among farmers and to attract more attention to the health care system for farmers. Ten pre-trained medical students interviewed the rural residents 18 years of age and older in eight villages which were randomly selected from a county near Taegu city in Korea, in August 1996. Finally 751 persons were interviewed of whom the percentages of male and female were 41.8%, 58.2% respectively. Among the subjects, 361(48.3%) were fully engaged in farming, 184(24.4%) were partly engaged, and the remaining 206(27.3%) were not engaged in farming at all. The overall prevalence of farmer's disease was 23.0% and there was no significant difference between the group of fully engaged in farming(23.3%) and the group of not-fully engaged(22.9%). But the prevalence of farmer's disease in female subjects(27.8%) was significantly higher than that in male(16.2%)(p<0.01). Among the 288 farmer engaged in spraying pesticide, 113(39.2%) had experienced one or more pesticide related symptoms during last one year, but only 18(15.9%) of them had visited medical facilities due to their symptoms. The experience of receiving education about pesticide was significantly correlated with the degree of wearing protectors during pesticide spraying(p<0.001). Among the 736 persons excluding non-respondents, 281(38.2%) received health examination during last one year ; 176(62.6%) of them received free health examination, and 105(37.4%) received charged one. Among the 533 persons 40 years age and older, only 124(23.3%) had received the 'health examination for the elderly' during last one year, which is provided for the 40 years age and older by Korea medical insurance corporation and medical insurance societies. Most of all beneficiaries of self-employed medical insurance thought the imposed contributions as very expensive(77.4%) or moderately expensive(13.2%). The great majority of farmers are exposed to various health risk factors including pesticide, high temperature, overwork etc. comparable to industrial workers. But farmers are excluded from the regular yearly worker's health examination because of not belonging to a company despite they pay relatively more medical insurance contributions compared with the industrial workers and the urban self-employed medical insureds. It is necessary to develop special health management program for farmers such as the special health examination for the industrial workers exposed harmful agents.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.1-19
• /
• 1978

Power tiller is a major unit of agricultural machinery being used on farms in Korea. About 180.000 units are introduced by 1977 and the demand for power tiller is continuously increasing as the farm mechanization progress. Major farming operations done by power tiller are the tillage, pumping, spraying, threshing, and hauling by exchanging the corresponding implements. In addition to their use on a relatively mild slope ground at present, it is also expected that many of power tillers could be operated on much inclined land to be developed by upland enlargement programmed. Therefore, research should be undertaken to solve many problems related to an effective untilization of power tillers on slope ground. The major objective of this study was to find out the travelling and tractive characteristics of power tillers being operated on general slope ground.In order to find out the critical travelling velocity and stability limit of slope ground for the side sliding and the dynamic side overturn of the tiller and tiller-trailer system, the mathematical model was developed based on a simplified physical model. The results analyzed through the model may be summarized as follows; (1) In case of no collision with an obstacle on ground, the equation of the dynamic side overturn developed was: $$\sum_n^{i=1}W_ia_s(cos\alpha cos\phi-{\frac {C_1V^2sin\phi}{gRcos\beta})-I_{AB}\frac {v^2}{Rr}}=0$$ In case of collision with an obstacle on ground, the equation was: $$\sum_n^{i=1}W_ia_s\{cos\alpha(1-sin\phi_1)-{\frac {C_1V^2sin\phi}{gRcos\beta}\}-\frac {1}{2}I_{TP} \( {\frac {2kV_2} {d_1+d_2}\)-I_{AB}{\frac{V^2}{Rr}} \( \frac {\pi}{2}-\frac {\pi}{180}\phi_2 \} = 0 $$ (2) As the angle of steering direction was increased, the critical travelling veloc\ulcornerities of side sliding and dynamic side overturn were decreased. (3) The critical travelling velocity was influenced by both the side slope angle .and the direct angle. In case of no collision with an obstacle, the critical velocity $V_c$ was 2.76-4.83m/sec at $\alpha=0^\circ$, $\beta=20^\circ$ ; and in case of collision with an obstacle, the critical velocity $V_{cc}$ was 1.39-1.5m/sec at $\alpha=0^\circ$, $\beta=20^\circ$ (4) In case of no collision with an obstacle, the dynamic side overturn was stimu\ulcornerlated by the carrying load but in case of collision with an obstacle, the danger of the dynamic side overturn was decreased by the carrying load. (5) When the system travels downward with the first set of high speed the limit {)f slope angle of side sliding was $\beta=5^\circ-10^\circ$ and when travels upward with the first set of high speed, the limit of angle of side sliding was $\beta=10^\circ-17.4^\circ$ (6) In case of running downward with the first set of high speed and collision with an obstacle, the limit of slope angle of the dynamic side overturn was = $12^\circ-17^\circ$ and in case of running upward with the first set of high speed and collision <>f upper wheels with an obstacle, the limit of slope angle of dynamic side overturn collision of upper wheels against an obstacle was $\beta=22^\circ-33^\circ$ at $\alpha=0^\circ -17.4^\circ$, respectively. (7) In case of running up and downward with the first set of high speed and no collision with an obstacle, the limit of slope angle of dynamic side overturn was $\beta=30^\circ-35^\circ$ (8) When the power tiller without implement attached travels up and down on the general slope ground with first set of high speed, the limit of slope angle of dynamic side overturn was $\beta=32^\circ-39^\circ$ in case of no collision with an obstacle, and $\beta=11^\circ-22^\circ$ in case of collision with an obstacle, respectively.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.72-80
• /
• 2016

Gummy stem blight, caused by the fungus Didymella bryoniae, is major disease of watermelons worldwide. The objective of the present study was to establish an efficient screening system to identify watermelon resistant to D. bryoniae. An GSB3 isolate was prepared from a watermelon plant showing typical symptoms of gummy stem blight in Haman-gun and identified as D. bryoniae based on molecular analysis of internal transcribed spacer sequence. A simple mass-production technique of inoculum was developed based on spore production of D. bryoniae GSB3 under several incubation conditions and their virulence on watermelon plants. Resistance degrees of 22 commercial watermelon cultivars to the GSB3 isolate were evaluated. Among them, four watermelon cultivars showing different degree of resistance response were selected for further study. Development of disease on the cultivars according to various conditions including inoculum concentrations, incubation periods in dew chamber, and incubation temperatures was investigated. From the results, we suggest an efficient screening method for resistant watermelon cultivars to gummy stem blight. Seeds of watermelon cultivar are sown and grown in a greenhouse until plant stage of 2-fully expanded leaves. Seedlings are inoculated with D. bryoniae by spraying spore suspension of the fungus at a concentration of $5.0{\times}10^5spores/ml$. The infected plants are incubated in humidity chamber at $25^{\circ}C$ for 48 hours and then transferred to a growth chamber at $25^{\circ}C$ and 80% relative humidity with 12-hour light a day. Three to four days after inoculation, disease severity of the plant are measured using percentage of infected leaf area.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.83 no.3
• /
• pp.311-321
• /
• 1994

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of ground and foliar sprinkling of natural water for control of the pine needle gall midge, Thecodiplosis japonensis, by disturbing the reproductive behavior of adults such as copulation and oviposition. Diurnal ground spray for whole area application and foliar spray for single tree treatment were tested at day time during the period of adult emergence. The results obtained are as follows : 1. The population density of overwintering larvae in soil was not affected by the water spray during the adult emergence period. 2. Spraying the water showed no effect on the whole period and number of adult emergence, but retarded early emergence and facilitated Late emergence. The difference in the emerging time by 50% emergence day was approximately 7 days. 3. Ground spray was significantly different from control in gall formation rates but was not sufficient for effective control. As a single-tree treatment, the foliar spray was found to be highly effective for control of the pine needle gall midge, Average gall formation of spray plots and untreated ones were 2.6% and 38%, respectively ; control value exceeded 90%. 4. Ground spray of water was not effective in reducing larvae in gall of needle. Foliar spray, however, reduced 45% of larval numbers. 5. Foliar spray accelerated shoot growth by 15%-18%. 6. Foliar spray was highly effective for the control of sucking insects, such as mites and aphids on pine trees.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.43-58
• /
• 2008

This research was conducted to determine the alternative tool of chemical spray for rice cultivation using the unmanned helicopter(Yamaha, R-Max Type 2G-remote controlled system) at farmer's field in Korea. The unmanned helicopter tested was introduced form Japan. In Korea the application of chemicals by machine sprayer for pest management in rice cultivation has been ordinarily used at the farmer's level. However, it involved a relatively high cost and laborious for the small scale of cultivation per farm household. Farm population has been highly decreased to 7.5% in 2002 and the population is expected to rapidly reduce by 3.5% in 2012. In Japan, pest control depending on unmanned helicopter has been increased by leaps and bounds. This was due in part to the materialization of the low-cost production technology under agricultural policy and demand environmentally friendly farm products. The practicability of the unmanned helicopter in terms of super efficiency and effectiveness has been proven, and the farmers have understood that the unmanned helicopter is indispensable in the future farming system that they visualized. Also, the unmanned helicopter has been applied to rice, wheat, soybean, vegetables, fruit trees, pine trees for spraying chemicals and/or fertilizers in Japan Effect of disease control by unmanned helicopter was partially approved against rice blast and sheath blight. However, the result was not satisfactory due to the weather conditions and cultural practices. The spray density was also determined in this experiment at 0, 15, 30, and 60cm height from the paddy soil surface and there was 968 spots at 0cm, 1,560 spots at 15cm, 1,923 spots at 30cm, and 2,999 spots at 60cm height. However, no significant difference was found among the treatments. At the same time, there was no phytotoxicity observed under the chemical stray using this unmanned helicopter, nor the rice plant itself was damaged by the wind during the operation.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.163-169
• /
• 2012

We have conducted three experiments to develop a fertilizer-dissolving apparatus used in fertigation or hydroponics cultivation in order to decrease the fertilizer dissolving time and labor input via automation. All of the experiments were conducted twice. In the first experiment, four selected treatments were tested to dissolve fertilizers rapidly. The first treatment was to dissolve fertilizer by spraying water with a submerged water pump, placed in the nutrient solution tank. The water was sprayed onto fertilizer, which is dissolved and filtered through the hemp cloth mounted on the upper part of the nutrient solution tank (Spray). The second treatment was to install a propeller on the bottom of the nutrient solution tank (Propeller). The third treatment was to produce a water stream with a submerged water pump, located at the bottom of the tank (Submerged). Finally, the fourth treatment was to produce an air stream through air pipes with an air compressor located at the bottom of the tank (Airflow). The Spray treatment was found to take the shortest time to dissolve fertilizer, yet it was inconvenient to implement and manage after installation. The Airflow treatment was thought to be the best method in terms of the time to dissolve, labor input, and automation. In the second experiment, Airflow treatment was investigated in more detail. In order to determine the optimal number of air pipe arms and their specification, different versions of 6- and 8-arm air pipe systems were evaluated. The apparatus with 6 arms (Arm-6) that was made of light density polyethylene was determined to be the best system, evaluated on its time to dissolve fertilizer, easiness to use regardless of the lid size of the tank, and easiness to produce and install. In the third experiment, the Submerged and Arm-6 treatments were compared for their dissolving time and economics. Arm-6 treatment decreased the dissolving time by 8 times and proved to be very economic. In addition, dissolving characteristics were investigated for $KNO_3$, $Ca(NO_3)_2{\cdot}4H_2O$, and Fe-EDTA.