• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.13-24
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• 2023

Sewage sludge has been widely used as an organic fertilizer in agriculture. However, sewage sludge can cause serious malodor problems resulting from the decomposition of organic compounds in anaerobic conditions. The malodor of sewage sludge mainly occurs due to a low carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N), high moisture, and low temperature, which are ideal conditions for ammonia emissions. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the reduction of the odor-causing ammonia nitrogen (NH₃-N) in sewage sludge by co-application of microbes and methanol (MeOH). The physico-chemical properties of the municipal sewage sludge showed that the odor was mainly caused by a higher NH₃-N content (2932.2 mg L^-1). Supplementation with MeOH (20%) as a carbon source in the sewage sludge significantly reduced the NH₃-N up to 34.2% by increasing C/N ratio. Furthermore, the sewage sludge was treated with the NH₃-N reducing and plant growth promoting (PGP) bacteria Stenotrophomonas rhizophila SRCM 116907. The treatment with S. rhizophila SRCM 116907 significantly increased the seedling vigor index of Lolium perenne (10.3%) and Chrysanthemum burbankii (42.4%). The findings demonstrate that supplementing sewage sludge with methanol significantly reduces ammonia emissions, thereby mitigating malodor problems. Overall, the study highlights the potential of using a microbial and methanol approach to improve the quality of sewage sludge as an organic fertilizer and promote sustainable agriculture.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.194-203
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• 2022

Cultivation of tomatoes in Korea grown in soil covers 89% of the total area for tomato cultivation. Tomatoes grown in soil often encounter various environment stresses including not only salt stress and soil-borne diseases but also cold stress in the winter season. This study was conducted to comparatively analyze the performance of rootstocks with cold stress by measuring the growth, yield, and photosynthetic efficiency in tomatoes grown in soil. The rootstocks were used 'Powerguard', 'IT173773', and '20LM' for the domestic rootstock cultivars and 'B-blocking' for a control cultivar. The tomato cultivar 'Red250' was used as the scion and the non-grafted tomatoes. Stem diameter, flowering position, leaf length, and leaf width were investigated for the growth parameters. The stem diameter of the non-grafted tomatoes decreased by 15% compared to the grafted tomatoes at 80 days after transplanting when exposed to low temperatures of 9-14℃ for 14 days. The leaf length and width of the non-grafted tomatoes were the lowest with 42.4 cm and 41.8 cm at 80 days after transplanting. The total yield per plant was the highest in tomato plants grafted on 'Powerguard' with 1,615 g and lowest in non-grafted tomatoes with 1,299 g. As the result of measuring the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, PI_ABS and DI₀/RC, which mean the performance index and dissipated energy flux, 'Powerguard' was the highest with 3.73 in PI_ABS and the lowest with 0.34 in DI₀/RC, whereas non-grafted tomatoes was the lowest with 2.62 in PI_ABS and the highest with 0.41 in DI₀/RC at 80 days after transplanting. The stem diameter has positive correlation with PI_ABS, while it has negative correlation with DI₀/RC. The results indicate that can be analyzed by chlorophyll fluorescence parameters can be used for analyzing the differences in the growth of tomato plants grafted on different rootstocks when exposed to cold stress.