• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2023

Nitrogen fertilizer is an essential macronutrient that requires repeated input for crop cultivation. Excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers can adversely affect the environment by discharging NH₃, NO, and N₂O into the air and leaching into surrounding water systems through rainfall runoff. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a technology that reduces the amount of nitrogen fertilizer used without compromising crop yields. Fertilizer deep placement could be a technology employed to increase the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer use. In this study, a deep fertilization device that can be coupled to a tractor and used to inject fertilizer into the soil was developed. The deep fertilization device consisted of a tractor attachment part, fertilizer amount control and supply part, and an underground fertilizer input part. The fertilization depth was designed to be adjustable from the soil surface down to a depth of 40 cm in the soil. This device injected fertilizer at a speed of 2,000 m²/hr to a depth of 25 to 30 cm through an underground fertilizer injection pipe while being attached to and towed by a 62-horsepower agricultural tractor. Furthermore, it had no difficulty in employing various fertilizers currently utilized in agricultural fields, and it operated well. It could also perform fertilization and plowing work, thereby further simplifying agricultural labor. In this study, a newly developed device was used to investigate the effects of deep fertilizer placement (FDP) compared to those with urea surface broadcasting, in terms of rice and soybean grain yields. FDP increased the number of rice grains, resulting in an average improvement of 9% in rice yields across three regions. It also increased the number of soybean pods, resulting in an average increase of 23% in soybean yields across the three regions. The results of this study suggest that the newly developed deep fertilization device can efficiently and rapidly inject fertilizer into the soil at depths of 25 to 30 cm. This fertilizer deep placement strategy will be an effective fertilizer application method used to increase rice and soybean yields, in addition to reducing nitrogen fertilizer use, under conventional rice and soybean cultivation conditions.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.911-922
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• 2022

To restore reclaimed land, it needs to be supplemented with organic matter; this is especially true for Korea, where organic matter constitutes only one-tenth of conventional agricultural soils. The giant Miscanthus, a perennial grass known for its extensive biomass, shows signs of being an excellent source of organic matter for restoring reclaimed land. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to (i) evaluate the feasibility of using the giant miscanthus as an organic resource within the context of re-using reclaimed land for agricultural purposes (i.e., potato cultivation), and (ii) determine the optimum fertilization rate for the potatoes while the giant miscanthus is being used as an organic resource. Our results show that after 180 days, giant miscanthus lost 23-47% of its original dry weight, with the extent of the loss dependent on soil salinity. Nutrient concentrations (Mg2+, Na+) continued to increase until the end of the study period. In contrast, potassium (K+) and the ratio of carbon to nitrogen (C/N) decreased until the end of the study period. Specifically, after 180 days, low salinity topsoil treatments had the lowest C/N ratio. In the first year, 150 % of standard N rates were required for the potatoes to achieve maximum productivity; however in the 2nd year, standard rates were sufficient to achieve maximum productivity. Overall, this implies that even though the application of giant miscanthus did eventually improve soil quality, increasing crop yields, N fertilization is still necessary for the best outcomes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2022.10a
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• pp.52-52
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• 2022

Recently, PE (polyethylene) film has been used increasingly in com cultivation. However, PE films often cause soil and environment contamination. In order to reduce this problem, many researches have been carrying out studies on biodegradable films (BF) that are easily decomposed by soil microorganisms. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine which BF is optimal for growth and yield of com crops while also having the highest rates of film decomposition. BFs Farmsbio (Farm Hannong), Heulgro Film (Sejin Bio), Vonto Film (Eco-Hansung) as well as a selected PE film were used in this study. For the control, we used crops grown without any kind of mulching. Experimental fields were fertilized according to conventional cultivation methods, tilled, and then covered by either BF or PE. After 1 week, com (cv. MIBECK2ho) at the 3-leaf stage (16 days after seeding) was transplanted. Plant height was measured at 18 and 32 days after transplanting and heading stages. Yield components and yield were also measured at harvest. In addition, pH, EC, and decomposition and light transmittance levels of films were investigated during the experimental period. Daily average temperature, relative humidity and organic matter in soils were also measured during the experimental period. There was no significant difference in plant height, heading date, and silking between crops with BFs and PE, but the crops grown with BFs and PE films reached higher growth parameters in a shorter amount of time than the crops in the non-mulching control. Additionally, there were no significant differences in yield components such as length of ears, ear width, ear weight, and yield in crops that were grown using films or crops in the control plot. Light transmittance and decomposition levels of films generally increased with time after transplanting, and was highest in the Heulgro film than other BFs. Soil pH and organic matter in crops using BFs and PE films were significantly higher than in the control plot at 99 and 113 days after transplanting. In general, the EC contents in the control plot was lower than in crops using BFs and PE films. The average daily moisture in soil was higher when BFs and PE films were used than in the control plot. However, the daily average soil temperature was higher in crops using BFs and PE films than in the control plots at the beginning of the experimental period, but there was no consistent difference in soil temperature towards the later part of the experimental period. Therefore, the BFs used in this study were shown to be helpful without causing negative impacts on the growth and yield of com.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2014

An accurate analysis of nutrient balance in different cropping systems is necessary for improving soil fertilities, causing higher crop yields and quality. This study was carried out to investigate the nutrient balance, changes in soil properties, and their effects on crop yield in long-term field cultivation under mono- and rotation-cropping systems (MCS and RCS, respectively). The analytical results of the soil properties showed that the application of mineral fertilizers alone in the MCS leads the reduction of soil CEC, exchangeable Ca, and microbial biomass C and N. Compared with the MCS of soybean, the RCS of soybean and barley significantly improved the soil properties, which increased crop yield. It might be due to the barley residue added to the RCS soil. Mean nutrient balances for 4 years were -55.9 kg N, +34.7 kg $P_2O_5$, and -0.3 kg $K_2O$ $ha^{-1}$ for the MCS and +19.7 kg N, +107.4 kg $P_2O_5$, and -48.6 kg $K_2O$ $ha^{-1}$ for the RCS, respectively. These nutrient imbalances mean that conventional fertilizer recommendations were inadequate for maintaining soil nutrient balance. From these results, we can conclude that the crop rotation may change comprehensive physical, chemical, and biological soil properties. These changes could affect the nutrient balance and then the crop yield.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.465-470
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• 2017

This paper designs and implements a smart garden system using probabilistic filter algorithm using SLAM that can be used in apartment or veranda. To do this, we used Arduino and environtal sensors, which are open hardware controllers, and designed to control and observe automatic water supply, lighting, and growth monitoring with three wireless systems (Bluetooth, Ethernet, WiFi). This system has been developed to make it possible to use it in an indoor space such as an apartment, rather than a large-scale cultivation system such as a conventional plant factory which has already been widely used. The developed system collects environmental data by using soil sensor, illuminance sensor, humidity sensor and temperature sensor as well as control through smartphone app, analyzes the collected data, and controls water pump, LED lamp, air ventilation fan and so on. As a wireless remote control method, we implemented Bluetooth, Ethernet and WiFi. Finally, it is designed for users to enable remote control and monitoring when the user is not in the house.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.399-407
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• 2013

Organic grape was generally produced in rainshield or plastic greenhouse culture while most of fruits were produced in open field. But little attention has been given to soil properties with different culture facilities in organic grape cultivation. This study was conducted to investigate soil physico-chemical properties of organic grapes farms with different culture facilities and soil management practices. Organic fertilizer was main resource to manage soil at organic grapes farms. Organic grapes farms were applied with total amount of organic fertilizer at one time, either at basal or additional fertilization, whereas conventional grapes farms applied with split fertilization. Bulk density and penetration resistance of soil were lower at both rainshield and green manure-applied plastic greenhouse cultures than those at clean plastic greenhouse culture. Especially, in plastic greenhouse, sod culture with natural weed after green manure application was more effective than general sod culture in improving physical properties of the rhizosphere. The contents of organic matter, available phosphate and exchangeable potassium tended to increase in the soils applied with green manure, and the difference of soil chemical properties were significant between rainshield and plastic greenhouse cultures. The optimum soil management was required in plastic greenhouse because pH, available phosphate and exchangeable cations reached over optimum range. Consequently, the ground cover management is the key factor to affect the chemical properties as well as soil physical properties extensively in plastic greenhouse. It is found that sod culture with natural weed after green manure application resulted in enhancement of utilization efficiency of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potassium in soil in comparison with general sod culture.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.666-670
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• 1994

To increase the yield of acetic acid production, the author developed the bacterial strain which could brow well in high concentration of ehtanol from the seed culture using in conventional vinegar production factory. By attenuation of the isolated strain in the broth media containing 5-10% ethanol, we could get the strain which could grow in the broth medium containing 10% ethanol. This strain was identified and named as Acetobacter sp. FM-10, and it's cultural characteristics were also investigated. The medium containing 10% ethanol, 5% glucose and 1% yest extract was suitable for the acetic acid production with Acetobacter sp. FM-10. Optimum temperature and pH for the growth of Acetobacter sp. FM-10. were $30^{\circ}C$ and 5.0, respectively. The acidity of culture medium was reached to 9.0 % after 20 days static cultivation at $30^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.298-311
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• 2015

Grape is one of the important fruit crops around the world, and exposed to disease and pests, and internal or environmental stresses in the vineyards. Breeding and cultivation of new varieties of high quality-grapes resistant to diseases and pests and tolerant to stresses are the most important steps in the grape production. However, conventional breeding has laborious and time-consuming procedures in maintaining and selecting seedlings in the fields. Development of molecular breeding technology through understanding of molecular mechanism of useful traits can be used as an alternative strategy to improve the efficiency of grape breeding program by cross hybridization in grape development programs. The completion of the grape genome sequencing project provided the way to discover the novel genes and to analyze their functions. Comparative genomics, transcriptomic analysis, and the genome-wide identification and analysis of useful genes as well as development of molecular marker for valuable traits could provide novel insights into fruit quality and the responses to diseases and stresses, and can be used as important information in molecular breeding programs for grape development.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the application effect of Lysobacter antibioticus HS124 (gelatinase and chitinase producing microorganism; GCM) for the improvement of soybean yield and control of stink bug. Our results showed that the yield of GCM-treated soybean increased by 17.0, 20.3, 19.0, and 25.6% in the experimental field sites of Muan-gun, Sunchang-gun, Gwangju 1, and Gwangju 2, respectively, compared to the yield of the soybean obtained by conventional practice treatment (CPT); however in the Gimjae-si, the yield decreased by 10.6%. Results in both pods and seeds $plant^{-1}$ were significantly increased in Gwangju 2 by the GCM cultured broth treatment (GCMT). Ratio of 3 seeds $pod^{-1}$ in Sunchang-gun was statistically significant between GCMT and CPT, however, the result in the other field showed no significance. Germination rate was only statistically improved by GCMT in Gwangju 2 field site. GCMT reduced the appearance of stink bug in all experimental field sites except in Gimjae-si. The soybean seed damage by stink bug was no significance in all of treatments. Therefore, GCMT could improve the productivity of soybean and also control the infestation of stink bug.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.274-281
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• 2002

The competitive quantitative PCR method targeting pcbC gene was developed for monitoring 4-chlorobiphenyl(4CB)-degrading bacteria, Pseudomonas sp. strain DJ-12, in soil microcosms. The method involves extraction of DNA from soil contaminated with 4CB, PCR amplification of a pcbC gene fragment from the introduced strain with a set of strain-specific primers, and quantification of the elec-trophoresed PCR product by densitometry. To test the adequacy of the method, Pseudomonas sp. strain DJ-12 was introduced into both contaminated and non-contaminated soil microcosms amended with 4CB. Pseudomonas sp. strain DJ-12 was monitored and quantified by a competitive quantitative PCR in comparison with 4CB degradation and the result was compared to those obtained by using the conventional cultivation method. We successfully detected and monitored 4CB-degrading bacteria in each microcosm and found a significant linear relationship between the number of 4CB-degrading bacteria and the capacity for 4CB biodegradation. The results of DNA spiking and cell-spreading experiments suggest that this competitive quantitative PCR method targeting the pcbC gene for monitoring 4CB- degrading bacteria appears to be rapid, sensitive and more suitable than the microbiological approach in estimating the capacity of 4CB biodegradation in environmental samples.