• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.443-452
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• 2014

Feces contain nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphate, potassium and research of the impact on the environment from feces is very diverse. However, despite the importance of mammals to environment, studies of mammals into the terrestrial ecosystems are rare. Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is an endemic species of Korea and China, and we conducted on factor of plant growth in relation to feces of Korean water deer depending on land use patterns. The analysis of growth, biomass and C/N ratio of Zea mays, amount of feces and land use patterns are strongly affecting the C/N ratio and growth of the Zea mays. The quantity of the feces also influences the growth of plants instead of the land use patterns. Furthermore, the feces of Korean water deer have a lower C/N ratio than that of other animals' feces. Being the process of composting, it is able to serve a suitable fertilizer for a crop growth. In this study, we investigated the impact of feces into the environment in the terrestrial ecosystems and we were able to provide the basic data to the resources of an efficient scheme of animal feces. Further research is needed to quantify the materials amongst the plant, soil and animal, and to understand the relationship ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.284-289
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• 1994

A nutrient solution culture experiment was conducted in the greenhouse of Suwon Campus, Kyung-Hee University from May 23 to July 11, 1994, to determine the effects of phosphorus application on seedling growth of Kwanganok and Hwengsungok cultivars of corn. Plants were harvested at weekly interval for seven weeks, at which time plant height, leaf area and dry matter yield of corn seedling were measured. The major results obtained are as follows. In without phosphorus pot, seedlings of Kwanganok and Hwengsungok cultivars have hardly been growing from planting to harvesting time. Plant height, leaf area and dry matter yield of both cultivars were increased more in the seedlings grown under complete treatment compared with the other phosphorus treatments. The total plant height, leaf area and dry matter yield during the whole period of Kwanganok and Hwengsungok cultivars were decreased in order of C>2P>3P>-P application pot. The crop growth rates of seedlings of both cultivars with in all treatments were slow until the 4th week after planting. Kwanganok with 2P and 3P treatment pot and C pot of Hwengsungok reached the maximum CGR at the 5th to 6th week after planting and showed declined CGR's thereafter, but Kwanganok C and Hwengsungok 2P treatment pots maintained a steady increase in CGR's until the end of the experiment period.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2015

The photochemical characteristics were analyzed in the context of sowing time and different levels of fertilized nitrogen during the maize (Zea mays L.) growth. When maize was early sawn, the fluorescence parameters related with electron-transport, in photosystem II (PSII) and PSI, were effectively enhanced with the higher level of fertilized nitrogen. Highest values were observed in maize leaves grown in double N-fertilized plot. The photochemical parameters were declined in the progress of growth stage. In early growth stage, the fluorescence parameters were highest, and then reduced to about half of the parameters related with electron transport on PSII and PSI at middle and late growth stages. In 1/2 N plot, the photochemical energy dissipation was measured to 13% in term of active reaction center per absorbed photon resulting in decrease in performance index and driving force of electron. This decrease induced to lower the photochemical effectiveness. In 2 N plots, the electron transport flux from $Q_A$ to $Q_B$ per cross section and the number of active PSII RCs per cross section were considerably enhanced. It was clearly indicated that the connectivity between photosynthetic PSII and PSI, i.e. electron transport, was far effective.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1323-1334
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• 2010

The effect of nitric oxide (NO) on antioxidant system and protective mechanism against oxidative stress under UV-B radiation was investigated in leaves of maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings during 3 days growth period. UV-B irradiation caused a decrease of leaf biomass including leaf length, width and weight during growth. Application of NO donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), significantly alleviated UV-B stress induced growth suppression. NO donor permitted the survival of more green leaf tissue preventing chlorophyll content reduction and of higher quantum yield for photosystem II than in non-treated controls under UV-B stress, suggesting that NO has protective effect on chloroplast membrane in maize leaves. Flavonoids and anthocyanin, UV-B absorbing compounds, were significantly accumulated in the maize leaves upon UV-B exposure. Moreover, the increase of these compounds was intensified in the NO treated seedlings. UV-B treatment resulted in lipid peroxidation and induced accumulation of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) in maize leaves, while NO donor prevented UV-B induced increase in the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and $H_2O_2$. These results demonstrate that NO serves as antioxidant agent able to scavenge $H_2O_2$ to protect plant cells from oxidative damage. The activities of two antioxidant enzymes that scavenge reactive oxygen species, catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in maize leaves in the presence of NO donor under UV-B stress were higher than those under UV-B stress alone. Application of 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4, 4, 5, 5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3- oxide (PTIO), a specific NO scavenger, to the maize leaves arrested NO donor mediated protective effect on leaf growth, photosynthetic pigment and free radical scavenging activity. However, PTIO had little effect on maize leaves under UV-B stress compared with that of UV-B stress alone. $N^{\omega}$-nitro-L-arginine (LNNA), an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), significantly increased $H_2O_2$ and MDA accumulation and decreased antioxidant enzyme activities in maize leaves under UV-B stress. This demonstrates that NOS inhibitor LNNA has opposite effects on oxidative resistance. From these results it is suggested that NO might act as a signal in activating active oxygen scavenging system that protects plants from oxidative stress induced by UV-B radiation and thus confer UV-B tolerance.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.710-713
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• 2017

This study evaluates the ability of corn silk (Zea mays L.) extract to function as a natural anti-inflammatory and anti-atopic therapeutic agent. The anti-inflammatory effects of corn silk were evaluated by measuring the inhibitory activities of nitric oxide (NO) and production of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$. Anti-atopic effects were assessed by measuring the repression of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC). These results indicated that NICS-1 (corn silk ethanol extract) and NICS-3 (high maysin corn silk ethanol extract) functioned as anti-inflammatory agents by down-regulating LPS-induced NO and TNF-${\alpha}$. Additionally, two extracts showed weak repression of TARC expression levels in tumor necrosis factor TNF-${\alpha}$ plus IFN-${\gamma}$ induced HaCaT cells, respectively. These results suggest that corn silk extracts have anti-inflammatory and anti-atopic activities, and thus have the potential to reduce and alleviate the symptoms associated with atopic dermatitis.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.365-370
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• 2010

The pollen dispersal by wind can make an important to understanding the viability and evolution of plants in ecological and agricultural science. Modelling can be applied to evaluate concerns about the spread of engineered pollens from genetically modified (GM) crops. Here, we are using gamma model to estimate the level of dispersal distance of pollen in the cross-pollination between two different maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars in GMO field of Korea University during the year 2010. The result of estimation of model indicates maximum pollen dispersal distance of estimated proportion of cross-pollination of maize was reached to 0.1% in 525 meter northwest due to the wind. We identify further measurements necessary to improve the accuracy of the model predictions.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.184-190
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• 2016

We investigated the antioxidative and protective effects of corn silk (Zea mays L.) ethanol extracts on human HaCaT cells and erythrocytes. The NICS-2 fraction, extracted from corn silk, exhibited favorable 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activities with $IC_{50}$valuesof$13.3{\pm}0.3{\mu}g/mL$ and $14.2{\pm}0.1{\mu}g/mL$ when compared with those of ${\alpha}$-tocopherol, a positive control, with $IC_{50}=10.4{\pm}02.2$ and $22.2{\pm}3.6{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. In addition, we investigated skin protection effects of NICS extracts of corn silk in HaCaT keratinocytes. To investigate the pharmacological potential of NICS-1 and NICS-2 extracts of corn silk on UV-B-induced damage in HaCaT cells, we measured the activity of interleukin (IL) 1a. Our results showed that all the corn silk extracts inhibited the UV-B-induced activity of IL-1a. In particular, NICS-1 extracts of corn silk significantly suppressed IL-1a activity in a dose-dependent manner without inducing cytotoxicity. These results indicate that the ethanol extracts of corn silk (Zea mays L.) could function as natural cytoprotective agents and antioxidants in biological systems, particularly the skin exposed to UV radiation, by protecting cellular membrane against reactive oxygen species (ROS).

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.58-63
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• 1987

Laboratory and greenhouse studies were conducted to evaluate effects of spray volumes and surfactants, L-77 and Triton CS-7 on leaf retention of glyphosate in Zea mays, Hordeum vulgare, Artemisia princeps, Trifolium repens and Equisetum arvense. Leaf retention was increased when glyphosate with L-77 or Triton CS-7 was applied in a spray volumes of 10-20 l/10a in Zea mays and 40 l/10a in Artemisia princeps but decreased when spray volumes were higher than above volumes and 40-80 l/10a in Trifolium repens. Hordeum vulgare leaves retained more spray when glyphosate with L-77 or Triton CS-7 was applied in all spray volumes tested. Equisetum arvense retained higher amount of spray by application of glyphosate with L-77 compared with Triton CS-7 and no surfactant treatments.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.341-346
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• 1998

In this paper we describe the cloning and expression of the genes encoding the flavonoid-biosynthetic enzyme dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) in Matthiola incana R. Br. A heterologous cDNA probe from Zea mays was used to isolate full-size DFR cDNA clone from a corolla-specific cDNA library. Comparison of the coding region of this DFR cDNA sequence including the sequences of Zea mays, Anthirrinum majus, Petunia hybrida, Callistephus chinensis, Dianthus caryophyllus and Rosa hybrida reveals a identity higher than 61% at the nucleotide level. The DFR transcript is G/C rich in monocotyledonous plants show a strong codon bias preferring codons with a G or C in the third position. The function of this nucleotide sequences were verified by comparison with amino acid sequences of the amino-terminus and tryptic peptides from purified plant enzyme, by northern blotting with mRNA from wild type and mutant plants and by in vitro expression yielding an enzymatically active reductase. Genomic southern blot analysis showed the presence of one gene for DFR in Matthiola incana. Northern blot analysis of the DFR wild type and mutant lines showed that the lack of DFR activity in the stable acyanic mutant k17b is clearly by a transcriptional block of the DFR gene.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.77-82
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• 2018

In South Korea, LM crops are not allowed to grow locally, but have been allowed to be imported as food and feed purposes. Currently, the typical LMO imports are continuously increasing in the region of South Korea. In 2014, we carried out a review of the environmental release monitoring of LM maize (Zea mays L.) in Gyeonggi-do of South Korea, and analyzed volunteer samples using strip test kits and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods. We thereby collected 44 volunteers of released LM maize in 169 locations around ports, from roadsides, feed factories and stockbreeding farmhouses. We found 4 positive samples at 3 sites using strip test kits. Based on the PCR analysis, the LM maize plants were found using event-specific primers. These results suggested that our monitoring is necessary to detect the presence of released LM maize in the natural environment of South Korea.