• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.73-86
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• 2004

In order to estimate the post-ingestion bioavailability of heavy metals and to assess the risk of adverse health effects on human exposure to toxic heavy metals, environmental geochemical surveys were undertaken around the Dogok Au-Ag-Cu and the Hwacheon Au-Ag-Pb-Zn mine sites. Human risk assessment of toxic heavy metals was performed with the results of the SBET(simple bioavailability extraction test) analysis for soil and chemical analytical data for crop plant and water. Arsenic and other heavy metals were highly elevated in tailings from the Dogok(218 As mg/kg, 90.2 Cd mg/kg, 3,053 Cu mg/kg, 9,473 Pb mg/kg, 14,500 Zn mg/kg) and the Hwacheon(72 As mg/kg, 12.4 Cd mg/kg. 578 Pb mg/kg, 1,304 Zn mg/kg) mines. These significant concentrations can impact on soils and waters around the tailing dumps. The quantities of As, Cd and Zn extracted from paddy soils in the Hwacheon mine using the SBET analysis were 55.4%, 20.8% and 26.4% bioavailability, respectively, and for farmland soils in the Dogok mine, 40.8%, 37.6% and 33.0% bioavailability, respectively. From the results of human risk assessment, HI(Hazard Index) value exceeded 1.0 for As in the Hwacheon mine and for Cd in the Dogok mine. Thus, toxic risks for As and Cd exist via exposure(ingestion) of contaminated soil, water and rice grain in these mine sites. The cancer risk for As by the consumption of rice and groundwater in the Hwacheon mine area was 8E-4 and 1E-4, respectively. This risk level exceeds the acceptable risk(1 in 100,000) for regulatory purpose. Therefore, regular ingestion of locally grown rice and ground-water by the local population can pose a potential health threat due to long-term arsenic exposure.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.395-402
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: Azadirachta indica Extract(AIE) containing azadirachtin as active ingredient have been used worldwide as environment-friendly organic material having pest control properties. However, the extracts prepared with different solvent and from different plant site is very diverse and have different toxicity. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, the four week repeated oral dose toxicity test of aqueous AIE in Sprague-Dawley rats was carried out to investigate the toxic effect of liver, main toxicity target organ of AIE. The male and female rats were divided into 4 groups, respectively; control(0 g/Kg bw), low-dose group(0.5 g/Kg bw), middle-dose(1.0 g/Kg bw) and high-dose group(2.0 g/Kg bw). As a results, relative liver weight increased with dose-dependent of AIE(p<0.05). Serum LDH in all AIE-treated groups were significantly lower than the control in male rats(p<0.05). However, serum GOT and GPT were significantly increased in all male AIE-treated groups in male rats(p<0.05) and, in particular, increase of serum GPT in dose-dependent manner raise the possibility of liver damage. Even through serum GLU was increased significantly in high-dose group in male rats compared to control, there were no significant differences of urinary GLU among all groups(p<0.05). In addition, histopathological examination of the liver did not reveal any lesions in all AIE-treated groups. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, 4 weeks of the repeated oral administration of AIE 2.0 g/Kg to rats has resulted no toxic response in liver. Therefore, AIE was no indicated to have any toxic effect in the SD rats, when it was orally administrated below the dosage 2.0 g/Kg/day for 4weeks.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.151-161
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• 2014

Sesame lignan, including sesamin and sesamolin has been reported to have various content according to accessions and environmental factors. The objective of this study were to analyze the lignan variation of 143 sesame accessions from core collection in Korea and to test the effects of growing years and locations on lignan and lipid content of Korea sesame elite lines. The results showed that the core sesame germplasm in Korea has broad variation of lignan content from 2.33 to 12.17 mg/g with an average 8.18 mg/g. Among tested sesame accessions, the IT184615 had the highest lignan content of as 12.17 mg/g. So this accession will be a good genetic resource for developing a high lignan sesame variety. The sesamin and sesamolin content for sesame accessions across origin had significant difference. The average lignan content of accessions collected from Russia (10.0 mg/g) and Nepal (9.08 mg/g) were relatively higher than other countries. The sesamin and sesamolin content for sesame accessions across seed coat color had significant difference. The average lignan content of sesame with white, brown and black seed coat color was 8.61, 7.51, and 5.49 mg/g, respectively. The variation of lignan and lipid content was significantly different across elite lines, locations and growing years. Therefore, it is important to find sesame accessions having high lignan content with environmental stability.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.181-188
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• 2014

The objective of this study was to analyze the microbiological hazards of Astragalus membranaceus Bunge on the post-harvest processing. Samples from processing equipments (cleaner, water, cart, table, tray and packaging machine), personal hygiene (hand) and harvested crops (before washing, after washing, after sorting, and after drying) were collected from four farms (A, B, C, and D) located in Chungchengbuk-do, Korea. The samples were analyzed for sanitary indication bacteria and pathogenic bacteria. First, total aerobic bacteria and coliform in processing facilities were detected at the levels of 0.93~4.86 and 0.33~2.28 log CFU/$100cm^2$ and/mL respectively. In particular, microbial contamination in hand (5.43~6.11 and 2.52~4.12 log CFU/Hand) showed higher than processing equipments. Among the pathogenic bacteria, Bacillus cereus was detected at the levels of 0.33~2.41 log CFU/$100cm^2$, 1.48~3.27 log CFU/Hand and 0.67~3.65 log CFU/g in equipments, hands, and plants and Staphylococcus aureus were detected in cleaner, table, hand and harvested crops (before washing and after sorting) by qualitative test. Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella spp. were not detected. These results indicated that personal hygiene and processing equipments should be managed to reduce the microbial contamination of A. membranaceus Bunge. Therefore, management system such as good agricultural practices (GAP) criteria is needed for hygienic agricultural products.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.401-408
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• 2001

The ethanol extract and n-hexane fraction of Commiphora molmol Engl. showed minimum inhibitory concentration of 50 ppm and 25 ppm, respectively, on 5 strains of Listeria monocytogenes at $32^{\circ}C$. The purified substance, C3-3-2 fraction, was isolated by silica gel column and preparative thin layer chromatography from n-hexane fraction of Commiphora molmol Engl. The C3-3-2 fraction showed a strong bactericidal activity on 5 strains of L. monocytogenes at the concentration of 10 ppm in tryptic soy broth medium. At that concentration, the viable count was reduced $5{\sim}6$ log cycle from initial cell number. The n-hexane fraction of Commiphora molmol Engl. showed strong growth inhibition at the concentration of 25 ppm on Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus, at 50 ppm in broth on Salmonella enteritidis, and at 500 ppm on Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The purified antimicrobial substance, the C3-3-2 fraction, was identified as m-nonylphenol by on the basis of the $^1H-,\;^{13}C-NMR$ and EI/MS data. For the application test, the C3-3-2 fraction which was purely isolated from Commiphora molmol Engl. at 100 ppm were applied to minced Alaska pollack and ground beef at $32^{\circ}C$ and $5^{\circ}C$. The antimicrobial substances did not reduce L. monocytogenes ATCC 19113 at $32^{\circ}C$, while they reduced L. monocytogenes ATCC 19113 in viable number at $5^{\circ}C$. However, the antimicrobial effect of C3-3-2 fraction in food system was lower than that of broth condition.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.50-59
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• 1991

Residual period and carry-over effect of some herbicides were determined using a bioassay method in six summer crops(potato, carrot, corn, water melon, soybean, and sesame). The effects were measured at regular time intervals after applying different rates of the herbicides. There were no great differences in residual period and carry-over injury between the soils and kinds of crops used. However, the residual period varied with the herbicides studied and the carry-over injury was dependent upon season and rate of the herbicide application, sampling depth of soil, and kind and seeding date of the test plant. When the residual herbicides were applied, the carry-over injury could be minimized by selecting tolernet crops, delaying seeding of the crops after application of the herbicides, and regulating the cultivation depth. Herbicides which showed no residual effect by the end of the cropping period(100-120 days for summer crops) and no carry-over effect were alachlor, trifluralin, ethalfluralin, metribuzin, and prometryn. When pendimethalin, metolachlor, linuron, methabenzthiazuron, and simazine were applied at the recommended rate or less, there was no carry -over injury at harvesting time. With doubling the recommended rate, however, the carry-over effect was found in sensitive crops. Napropamide applied at the rate of 300 g a.i./10 a brought about carry-over injury for Italian ryegrass and barley at 140 days in summer crops, whereas the injury was not found in Cruciferae (radish, Chinese cabbage). Nitralin applied at the rate of 150-300 g a.i./10a caused the carry-over injury for Italian ryegrass and barley at 140 days in summer crops. However, there was no injury for Cruciferae.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.32-49
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• 1991

Residual period and carry-over effect of some herbicides were determined using a bioassay method in five winter crops (chinese cabbage, radish, spinach, onion and garlic). The effects were measured at regular time intervals after applling different rates of the herbicides. There were no great differences in residual period and carry-over injury between the soils and kinds of crops used. However, the residual period varied with the herbicides studied and the carry-over injury was rate of the herbicide application, sampling depth of soil, and kind and seeding date of the test plant. When the residual herbicides were applied, the carry-over injury could be minimized by selecting tolerant crops, delaying seeding of the crops after application of the herbicides, and regulating the cultivation depth. Herbicides which showed no residual effect by the end of the cropping period (200-240 days for winter crops) and no carry-over effect were alachlor, trifluralin, ethalfluralin and prometryn. When pendimethalin, metolachlor, linuron and methabenthiazuron were applied at the recommended rate or less, there was no carry-over injury at harvesting time. With doubling the recommended rate, however, the carry-over effect was found in sensitive crops. Napropamide applied in winter crops at rate of 150-300g a.i./10a brought about carry-over injury for such Gramineae as Italian ryegrass, direct-seeded rice and barley, whereas the injury was not found in lowland-transplanted rice, Cruciferae, Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae. Long residual herbicide nitralin applied at the rate of 75g a.i./10a caused the carry-over injury for Italian ryegrass, direct-seeded rice, baley and lowland-transplanted rice at 275 days in winter crops. In addition, a slight injury occurred in sesame, perilla and spinach, However, there was no injury for Cruciferae, Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.127-132
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• 2002

Enhanced supply of $Ca^{2＋}$ as well as NO$_3$$^{[-10]}$ is known to restrict the uptake of the Na$^{＋}$ and Cl$^{[-10]}$ ion and ameliorate growth under saline conditions. This test was conducted to investigate the ameliorating effects of Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ or CaCl$_2$ on the growth and yield of NaCl-stressed tomato plants grown in plastic pot filled with soil. All treatments except for the control were supplied with 80 mM NaCl fur two weeks after transporting. The saline solutions with nutrient were supplemented with either 0, 10 or 20 mM Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ and either 0, 10 or 20 mM CaCl$_2$ during harvesting time from two weeks after transporting. Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ or CaCl$_2$ application enhanced the growth such as plant height, fresh weight, dry weight, fruit number, and fruit weight, and yield of NaCl-stressed tomato, and also their effects increased greater as concentration of supplemented Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ or CaCl$_2$increased. Yield increased in 20 mM Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ compared with the others except fur the control. Photosynthetic rate in Ca treatments was lower than that of the control, but higher than that of NaCl treatment. Leaf chlorophyll content was higher in Ca treatments compared with the others, especially in younger leaf, while that was not affected by concentration of supplemented Ca. Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ or CaCl$_2$ supply increased the $K^{＋}$ and $C^{2＋}$ concentration of tomato plants, whereas the Na$^{＋}$ transport to the leaves was inhibited. There was a strong increase in the $K^{＋}$/Na$^{＋}$ ratio in plants treated Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$, or CaCl$_2$. Cl$^{[-10]}$ content of plants was decreased by supplemental Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ but Cl$^{[-10]}$ was increased in plants with CaCl$_2$compared with Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$. N concentration in plants of tomato increased with enhanced Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ or CaCl$_2$supply, In conclusion, our study confirms the potential of Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$ or CaCl$_2$to alleviate NaCl-induced growth reductions in tomato.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2011

Maintenance of adequate soil water potential during the period of crop growth is necessary to support optimum plant growth and yields. A better understanding of soil water movement within and below the rooting zone can facilitate optimal irrigation scheduling aimed at minimizing the adverse effects of water stress on crop growth and development and the leaching of water below the root zone which can have adverse environmental effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using a portable irrigation controller with an Watermark sensor for the cultivation of drip-irrigated vegetable crops in a greenhouse. The control capability of the irrigation controller for a soil water potential of -20 kPa was evaluated under summer conditions by cultivating 45-day-old tomato plants grown in three differently textured soils (sandy loam, loam, and loamy sands). Water contents through each soil profile were continuously monitored using three Sentek probes, each consisting of three capacitance sensors at 10, 20, and 30 cm depths. Even though a repeatable cycling of soil water potential occurred for the potential treatment, the lower limit of the Watermark (about 0 kPa) obtained in this study presented a limitation of using the Watermark sensor for optimal irrigation of tomato plants where -20 kPa was used as a point for triggering irrigations. This problem might be related to the slow response time and inadequate soil-sensor interface of the Watermark sensor as compared to a porous and ceramic cup-based tensiometer with a sensitive pressure transducer. In addition, the irrigation time of 50 to 60 min at each of the irrigation operation gave a rapid drop of the potential to zero, resulting in over irrigation of tomatoes. There were differences in water content among the three different soil types under the variable rate irrigation, showing a range of water contents of 16 to 24%, 17 to 28%, and 24 to 32% for loamy sand, sandy loam, and loam soils, respectively. The greatest rate increase in water content was observed in the top of 10 cm depth of sandy loam soil within almost 60 min from the start of irrigation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.16-23
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• 2005

In order to develop a new microbial fungicide using endophytic bacteria for the control of anthracnoses occurring on various crops, a total of 260 bacterial strains were isolated from fresh tissues of 5 plant species. After they were cultured in broth medium, their antifungal activities were tested for in vivo antifungal activity against cucumber anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum orbiculare. As the results, liquid cultures of 28 strains showed potent antifungal activities more than $90\%$ against cucumber anthracnose. At 3-fold dilutions of liquid cultures, 18 strains inhibited the development of cucumber anthracnose of more than $70\%$. They were further tested for in vivo antifungal activity against red pepper anthracnose caused by C. coccodes and in vitro antifungal activity against C. acutatum, a fungal agent causing red pepper anthracnose. Among 18 strains, a bacterial strain EB215 isolated from cucumber roots displayed the most potent antifungal activity against Colletotrichum species. It was identified as Burkholderia cepacia based on its physiological and biochemical characteristics, Biolog test and 16S rDNA gene sequence. It also controlled effectively the development of rice blast (Magnaporthe grisea), rice sheath blight (Corticium sasaki), tomato gray mold (Botrytis cinerea), and tomato late blight (Phytophthora infestans). Studies on the characterization of antifungal substances produced by B. cepacia EB215 are in progress.