• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.420-425
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• 2007

This study was conducted to find out the effect of vitamin C treatments on the storability of several baby vegetables; endive, green romaine lettuce, pak-choi, red romaine, lollo rosa, and ssamchoo. The vitamin C was treated by the foliar spray which was carried out 3 times before harvest or dipping in vitamin C solution for 5 minutes after harvest. The vitamin C contents of 6 different baby vegetables were higher in vitamin C treatments than control, whereas the difference of vitamin C content between treatments was disappeared after storage. The fresh weight of ssamchoo and lollo rosa lettuce treated by vitamin C was maintained higher than that of control. There was not significant difference in visual quality among treatments, though some of baby vegetables treated by washing with vitamin C showed better visual quality than the others. The contents of carbon dioxide, oxygen and ethylene in MAP with baby vegetables did not show any difference among treatments. As the result, high concentrated vitamin C treatment, such as the foliar spray and washing (dipping) had a role of increasing functionality, but the enhanced functionality, high vitamin C, did not affect storability in baby vegetables.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.180-185
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• 2012

The objective of this study was carried out to elucidate the effect of LEDs (light emitting diodes) irradiation in relation to early growth and inorganic elements in leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. 'Rollo Rosa'). In morphological changes of leaves, shoot elongation and hypocotyl length showed poor growth in red light irradiation, while the red + blue light irradiation induced shorter plant height and much greater leaf numbers resulting in increased fresh weight. In change of the Hunter's color and SPAD values, lettuce seedlings grown under in red + blue and fluorescent light irradiation had a higher $a^*$ value, otherwise SPAD values were not changed in these light irradiations. Interestingly, relative chlorophyll contents showed 1.8 times increased redness in the treatment of red + blue light irradiation. Inorganic element (N, Ca, Mg, Mn, and Fe) and ascorbic acid contents were increased in lettuce plants grown under LEDs light irradiation compared to those of lettuce grown under the fluorescent light which showed higher P and Mn contents. In conclusion, it is considered that red + blue light irradiation which stimulates growth and higher nutrient uptake in leaf lettuce could be employed in containers equipped with LEDs.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.333-342
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• 2010

For the energy-saving production of fresh vegetables in poor environment such as the Antarctic, a container-type plant factory was designed and developed. To maximize space usage of the 20 feet container ($L5.9m{\times}W2.4m{\times}H2.4m$), a three-level hydroponic cultivation system was installed and the nutrient solution was supplied by bottom watering. Using this system, 3 lettuce cultivars were grown under different the light source (light intensity). After 2 weeks from the transplanting, fluorescent lamp ($145\;{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) showed the best fresh weight of top part and leaf area. However, After 4 weeks, fluorescent lamp plus metal halide lamp ($150\;{\mu}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}$) led to the optimum growth of the each lettuce cultivar. The cultivar, 'Cheongchima', showed the best fresh weight of top part and leaf area, followed by 'Jeokchukmyeon' and 'Lollo rosa'. The chlorophyll concentrations (SPAD) showed no significant difference among the sources of lights. However, 'Cheongchima' showed relatively high chlorophyll concentration. With the above results, we found that the growth of lettuce is depend on light intensity and even at same intensity, the growth is different among the cultivars. Therefore, the selection of optimum cultivar should be considered in the plant factory system that has only weak light density.