• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.414-418
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: Plastic mulches widely used in raised-bed culture mainly to conserve water, control weeds and raise soil temperature. The most widely used plastic mulch colour is black. Reflective red and far-red light can affect on growth and yield of various vegetable crops. Objectives of this study were to investigate the characteristics of reflective light of black and red plastic mulches, and to evaluate the reflective red and far-red light on the quality characteristics and yield of the Oriental melon (Cucumis. Melo L.) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.). METHODS AND RESULTS: Oriental melon and tomato were cultivated over the reflective red and black plastic mulches in plastic house. Reflected red and far-red light over the red plastic mulch were 2.6 times higher than those of black plastic mulch. Red to F-Red ratio of black plastic mulch, red plastic mulch and sunlight were 1.14, 0.93 and 1.16 respectively. Intensity of reflected red and far-red light over red plastic mulch were highest at surface height of 30 cm. The higher the height of the surface decrease the intensity of far-red light. Accordingly, Red to F-Red ratio were increased. Reflective red plastic mulch increased the weight of fruit and content of sugar in Oriental melon and tomato. CONCLUSION(s): Yield of Oriental melon over reflective red plastic mulch was higher than that of black plastic mulch. These results suggested that reflected red and far-red light over the red plastic mulch affected allocation of photosynthate in growing Oriental melon.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.55 no.2
• /
• pp.91-97
• /
• 2010

The growth, yield and chemical properties of waxy corn $Sonjajang{\times}KNU-7$ and $Asan{\times}KNU-7$ planted in different dates and mulch types in a converted paddy field was investigated. Experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design in a split split-plot arrangement with four replications. Planting dates (D) [May 16 (D1, early), June 1 (D2, middle), June 6 (D3, late)] represented main plots, plastic mulch (M) [(BM, black mulch; TM, transparent mulch)] for subplots while waxy corn crosses [$Sonjajang{\times}KNU-7$ (‘Sonja’) and $Asan{\times}KNU-7$ (‘Asan’)] for sub-subplots. Results showed that D had a significant effect on growth characters except emergence, ear quality except ear diameter, and yield whereas M showed significant effect on growth characters only. Superior growth and ear quality performance were recorded in D1 and BM. In terms of crosses, ‘Sonja’ had better growth performance than ‘Asan’ regardless of D and M, but performed better at D1 and BM. Highest yield was obtained in D1 for BM (2,131 kg $10a^{-1}$) and TM (1,655 kg $10a^{-1}$) but no significant difference in the yield across V was recorded. In terms of starch and sugar contents, a decreasing trend was observed from D1 to D3 regardless of M and V.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.202-210
• /
• 2016

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to determine effects of ridging systems and plastic film mulch types on growth, yield, and profitability of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in spring cropping using paddy field and to suggest profitable ridging system and plastic mulch type.METHODS AND RESULTS: Two potato cultivars ('Goun', and 'Atlantic') were grown at paddy field located in Gangneung in spring. For treatments, ridging systems were one-row ridge (OR) and two-row ridge (TR). Mulch types were no-mulch (NM), black plastic film mulch (BPM), and transparent plastic film mulch (TPM). Emergence of sprout was affected by the mulch types and the fastest level was shown at TPM treatment. Accumulative soil temperature during sprouting was 16.2℃ higher at TR than at OR and also higher at TPM than at BPM or NM. Stem length was not affected by ridging systems or mulch types. Leaf area index (LAI) was influenced by mulch types, while not by ridging systems. The highest LAI was shown at TR with TPM and OR of BPM. There was no significant difference in specific gravity or dry matter rate by ridging systems and mulch types. Tuber yield was significantly influenced by ridging systems and mulch types. Mean tuber weight was heavier at OR treatment than at TR and also the heaviest at TPM among mulch types. The highest marketable yield was found at OR with BPM. Based on marketable tuber yield and market price, the highest income ratio in two cultivars was found at OR with BPM and it was 20~82% higher than the ratio at TR with TPM.CONCLUSION: In spring potato cropping using paddy field, OR with BPM is better for high yield and is more profitable for farmer's income than the conventional cultivation method, TR with TPM.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.383-389
• /
• 2005

The effect of different mulching materials on mungbean production was studied. The general objective was to assess the ecological effects of mulching materials in sustainable mungbean production. Specifically, the study aimed to determine the effects of different mulching materials on the chemical, physical and biological soil properties, on weed control and yield, and to identify mulching materials that are environmentally friendly in mungbean production. The experiment was conducted at the Fruit and Vegetables Seeds Center, Science City of $Mu/tilde{n}oz$, Nueva Ecija, Philippines from May to July 2004. The initial soil chemical properties were: pH of 6.4, 2.0 percent organic matter content, 0.10 percent total nitrogen, 22 ppm phosphorus, and 370 ppm available potassium. The soil microbial loads were $8\times10^4\;CFU\;g^{-1}$ for bacteria and $14\times10^4\;CFU\;g^{-1}$ for fungi. Mushroom spent mulch increased soil organic matter with an average of 3.13 percent, nitrogen with an average of 0.16 percent and the highest number of bacterial count with $3.4\times10^8\;CFU\;g^{-1}$. Use of mulch, except rice straw mulch, generally increased mungbean yield. The best mulching material for high yield production of mungbean was black polyethylene plastic film, although environmentally unfriendly.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.38-44
• /
• 2003

This work was conducted to estimate amounts of irrigating water during the growing periods of pepper after estimating water consumption in the plastic film house in 1997 and 1998. Evapo-transpiration (ET) under conditions of a black and white PE mulch and sandy or clay loam soil which enhanced the growth and yield of red peppers was greater than that at the bare and sand soil. Average ET of pepper grown in pots accounted for 56.5%∼79.7% of total supplying water in 1997 and 1998. Most of ET was proportioned to the transpiration amount (91∼94%), but there was some difference between amounts of ET and transpiration plus evaporation. Although 57 depended on conditions of the soil texture and plant growth, transpiration for pepper growing periods was amounted to 337.7∼774.3 m in the clay soil,910.6 m in the sandy loam soil, and 253.1 mm in the sandy soil.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
• /
• 2017.04a
• /
• pp.157-157
• /
• 2017

To minimize the damage by wild birds and acquire the benefits such as protection against weeds and maintenance of water content in soil, the mulching black color vinyl after seeding should be carried out. Non-contact and non-destructive methods that can continuously determine the locations are necessary. In this study, a crop position detection method was studied that uses infrared thermal image sensor to determine the cotyledon position under vinyl mulch. The moving system for acquiring image arrays has been developed for continuously detecting crop locations under plastic mulching on the field. A sliding mechanical device was developed to move the sensor, which were arranged in the form of a linear array, perpendicular to the array using a micro-controller integrated with a stepping motor. The experiments were conducted while moving 4.00 cm/s speed of the IR sensor by the rotational speed of the stepping motor based on a digital pulse width modulation signal from the micro-controller. The acquired images were calibrated with the spatial image correlation. The collected data were processed using moving averaging on interpolation to determine the frame where the variance was the smallest in resolution units of 1.02 cm. Non-linear integral interpolation was one of method for analyzing the frequency using the normalization image and then arbitrarily increasing the limited data value of $16{\times}4pixels$ in one frame. It was a method to relatively reduce the size of overlapping pixels by arbitrarily increasing the limited data value. The splitted frames into 0.1 units instead of 1 pixel can propose more than 10 times more accurate and original method than the existing correction method. The non-integral calibration method was conducted by applying the subdivision method to the pixels to find the optimal correction resolution based on the first reversed frequency. In order to find a correct resolution, the expected location of the first crop was indicated on near pixel 4 in the inversion frequency. For the most optimized resolution, the pixel was divided by 0.4 pixel instead of one pixel to find out where the lowest frequency exists.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
• /
• 2017.04a
• /
• pp.156-156
• /
• 2017

Most crop damages have been occurred by vermin(e.g., wild birds and herbivores) during the period between seeding and the cotyledon level. In this study, to minimize the damage by vermin and acquire the benefits such as protection against weeds and maintenance of water content in soil, immediately vinyl mulching after seeding was devised. Vinyl mulching has been generally covered with black color vinyl, that crop seeding locations cannot be detected by visible light range. Before punching vinyl, non-contact and non-destructive methods that can continuously determine the locations are necessary. In this study, a crop position detection method was studied that uses infrared thermal image sensor to determine the cotyledon position under vinyl mulch. The moving system for acquiring image arrays has been developed for continuously detecting crop locations under plastic mulching on the field. A sliding mechanical device was developed to move the sensor, which were arranged in the form of a linear array, perpendicular to the array using a micro-controller integrated with a stepping motor. The experiments were conducted while moving 4.00 cm/s speed of the IR sensor by the rotational speed of the stepping motor based on a digital pulse width modulation signal from the micro-controller. The acquired images were calibrated with the spatial image correlation. The collected data were processed using moving averaging on interpolation to determine the frame where the variance was the smallest in resolution units of 1.02 cm. For this study, the spline method was relatively faster than the other polynomial interpolation methods, because it has a lower maximum order of formulation when using a system such as the tridiagonal linear equation system which provided the capability of real-time processing. The temperature distribution corresponding to the distance between the crops was 10 cm, and the more clearly the leaf pattern of the crop was visually confirmed. The frequency difference was decreased, as the number of overlapped pixels was increased. Also the wave pattern of points where the crops were recognized were reduced.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.492-499
• /
• 2009

Effect of drip irrigation on soil salinity control and growth of vegetable crops was studied in the three reclaimed lands of Korea in 2007. Drip irrigation was done one or two times per month for reduction of salt stress by using vinyl hose with tiny holes laid on ridge surface under black plastic film mulch during growing season of cabbage and chinese cabbage. It was observed that drip irrigation was generally effective to soil salinity control, but soil salinity variation of some place was not fully solved to lower down under level of free salt stress. It is also considered that high salinity of runoff water spilled out from cultivation ridge plays another key role for soil salinity management. Consequentially, this soil salinity variation might be one of factors brought low average yield and low commercial ratio of agricultural products. Relation between soil salinity and head growth of cabbage and chinese cabbage was well expressed as logarithmic function. Surface soil EC to reach at 50% of growth reduction to the heaviest head can be estimated was $6.1dS^{\circ}{\S}m^{-1}$ for cabbage and $5.7dS\;m^{-1}$ for chinese cabbage transplanted at optimum season.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.229-235
• /
• 2001

The thermal and photometric properties of mulching materials modify the radiation and energy balance on the mulched soil surface and thereby change the soil temperature. The soil surface energy balances and soil temperatures under the mulching treatments of non-mulched control, recycled paper (RPM), and black polyethylene film (BPFM) were compared before and after the establishment of potato canopy. On August 30 in 1998 when potato was not emerged yet and solar radiation was 17.9 MJ $m^{-2}$${day}^{-1}$ , the net radiation of the soil surface was estimated as 10.(1, 2. 4, and 1.3 MJ $m^{-2}$${day}^{-1}$ under the control, BPFM, and RPM, respectively. The sensible and latent heat loss from the soil surface was 9.65 MJ $m^{-2}$${day}^{-1}$ in the control, most of the net radiation being lost through evaporation and convection, whereas it amounted only to 1.39 MJ $m^{-2}$${day}^{-1}$ in BPFM and 1.36 MJ $m^{-2}$${day}^{-1}$ in RPM. Therefore, the soil heat fluxes were 0.36 1.02, and 0.06 MJ m$^{-2}$ day$^{-1}$ under the control, BPFM and RPM, respectively. On September 27 when potato canopy was fully developed, the soil surface net radiation in the control was sharply decreased as compared to that of Aug. 30, whereas the net radiation of the mulched soil surfaces showed little changes. The soil heat flux was -0.01, 0.95, and 0.12 MJ $m^{-2}$${day}^{-1}$ at the soil surface under the control, BPFM and RPM, respectively. As the mulching treatments brought about such alteration of energy partitioning into the soil, the highest soil temperature was recorded in BPFM and the lowest in RMP without regard to potato canopy development. However, the soil temperature differences among the treatments become smaller when potato canopy were fully developed.