• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.34-41
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• 2020

Used disposable diapers have been considered for a long time as a type of waste difficult to recycle and valorize due to their composite nature including plastic, cellulose pulp, a super absorbent polymer and either urine, feces or both. Therefore, the fate of disposed diapers often is either incineration or landfill burial which both have various adverse environmental impacts. However, used disposable diapers contain nutrients: cellulose is an organic matter while urine and feces contain non negligible amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which are primary nutrients included in most chemical fertilizers used in agriculture. In a scope of waste recycling and valorization, this study focuses on developing a method to achieve nutrient solution extraction from used disposable diapers. The experiment essentially consists in shredding the diapers and letting them macerate in solutions of sodium hydroxide with various concentrations to allow breaking down of the cellulose and super absorbent polymer and release of urine and feces before sterilizing the solutions in an autoclave to remove potential coliform bacteria. At the end of the experiment, a set of parameters is measured for the final solution to identify concentrations of nutrients as well as presence or absence of harmful substances. Results are discussed and directions for future studies are suggested, which include mechanization of the diapers shredding process or added aeration to enhance nitrification and absorption of extracted nutrients from plants.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.167-173
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• 1996

Laser distance meter and x-y robot employed in the extraction of three dimensional image recognition of muskmelon net and recognized the characteristics of that. All data measured transmitted to the PC/AT in the computer room and programmed with Visual Basic(Microsoft). Alteration of the concentration and application time of nutrient solution modified the net height and width of hydroponically grown muskmelon. Net height and width which are the characteristics of muskmelon depended on the concentration of nutrient solution used. Decreasing with the concentration of nutrient solution lowered the occupying ratio of net and also observed the tendency of widening of muskmelon net.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.118-124
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• 2011

BACKGROUND: Development of water recycle technologies is important for human health and sustainable agriculture. However, few studies have been conducted to examine the purification methods or the water quality of reclaimed wastewater in Korea. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, the different wastewaters including reclaimed wastewater and waste nutrient solution (NS) were evaluated. The changes of water quality in reclaimed wastewater and NS were determined using ultraviolet (UV) treatment and sand filtration with charcoal. Our results showed that one of the most critical limitations of reusing wastewater was the presence of harmful pathogens that possibly cause human health risks. CONCLUSION(s): This study suggests that the application of UV treatment or combined with sand filtration on reclaimed wastewater and waste NS effectively removes the total coliform bacteria below the harmful or acceptable level. For future studies, a long-term field monitoring after applying reclaimed wastewater or NS is needed.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.103-111
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• 2019

Gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea on strawberry plants is an economically significant disease in Korea. The rates for diseased fruits are high during the strawberry harvesting period from December to February, especially in hydroponic cultivation. This study assessed the effect of the nitrogen type in the soil culture and the electrical conductivity (EC) of the nutrient solution in a hydroponic culture on the gray mold incidence in 'Seolhyang' strawberry plants. The nitrogen sources assayed included calcium nitrate tetrahydrate (CN4), calcium nitrate decahydrate (CN10), ammonium sulfate (AS), and commercial fertilizer 213 (213). The effect of the EC was tested at 0.5, 0.8, 1.0, and $1.5dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. The occurrence of gray mold varied according to the nitrogen type. The disease incidence and nitrogen content for the main nitrogen type were higher compared to the non-treated control. The AS treatment showed the highest occurrence of tipburn and gray mold. The incidence of gray mold as well as the nitrogen and phosphorus content of the leaves increased as the EC level was increased. These results indicate that the incidence of gray mold in strawberry plants is related to the nitrogen content of the leaf and the EC of the nutrient solution.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.973-979
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• 2010

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of electrical conductivity (EC) of nutrient solution on the growth, nutrient uptake of potted kalanchoe plants ($Kalanchoe$ $blossfeldiana$ 'New Alter') and the nutrient accumulation at the growing media with growth stage in ebb and flow subirrigation systems. Significant differences in leaf area, plant height, and dry weight of the plants were found among the different ECs of nutrient solution of 0.8, 1.6, 2.4, and $3.2dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. Particularly the difference in plant growth became significantly greater from 5 weeks after treatment. The overall growth was the highest at EC $1.6dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. Leaf area, plant height, and dry weight were maintained higher when EC increased to $2.4dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, but rapidly decreased after EC $3.2dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$. The uptake of NO3-N was the greatest while that of $Mg^{2+}$ was the lowest at EC $1.6dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, even though small differences were found among macro elements. The EC at the top layer of the growing media was 1 to 3 times higher than that at the bottom layer. Nutrient accumulation was accelerated in both the top and bottom layers with growth stage. At EC $3.2dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$, the growth of the plants was suppressed due to higher nutrient accumulation at the growing media. From the results, the strength and composition of nutrient solution should be determined by considering nutrient accumulation at the growing media in addition to EC of nutrient solution in ebb and flow subirrigation systems.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.574-579
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• 2010

Waste nutrient solution (WNS) that was the drained nutrient solution of Horticultural Research Institute of Japan for culture tomato in perlite hydroponics showed $1.9-2.4dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ of EC and 5.7-7.1 pH from April to July. Although ${NH_4}^+-N$ concentration of WNS decreased remarkably, the other nutrients did not change significantly, as compared with supplied solution. There were no significant differences in plant height, stem diameter, and the other growth characteristics of tomato plants grown by 2 fertigation nutrient solutions; BHF (Bountiful Harvest Fertilizer, 10% of N, 13% of $PO_4$, 13% of K, 0.05% of B, 0.05% of Zn, and 0.0023% of Cu that made in Korea) and Megasol (11% of N, 8% of $PO_4$, 34% of K, 0.032% of Mn, 0.002% of B, 0.048% of Fe, 0.0122% of Zn, and 0.0023% of Cu that made in Belgium.); however, the chlorophyll content of tomato leaf was highest in WNS. The fresh and dry weight of tomato plants were higher in 3 fertigation treatments than irrigation of tap water, while there were no significant differences in fresh and dry weight among the 3 fertigation treatments. The mineral content of tomato leaf also did not show any differences among the 3 fertigation treatments and any regular tendency in all minerals. Total yield, fruit weight and fruit numbers of tomato were higher in WNS, followed by Megasol, BHF and control, although there were not any difference among the 3 fertigation nutrient solution treatments. BER(blossom-end rot)of tomato fruits decreased in fertigation treatments, especially, fruits grown in WNS and BHF showed lower BER. However, the transpiration rate of leaf was higher in control, followed by BHF, WNS and Megasol, The fruit size and soluble solids content was higher in 3 fertigation nutrient treatments than control. These results suggest that WNS can be used for fertigation solution in tomato because yield and quality of tomato fruit grown in WNS fertigation treatment were similar to those in 2 fertigation nutrient solutions treatments(BHF, Megasol).

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.215-220
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• 2008

This study was carried out to find optimum accumulative solar radiation in 'Carnidal' of Perlite Media. The pH was stable from 6.0 to 6.7 during cultivation. Electric conductivity by drainage was higher water than by supply water and electric conductivity was increased at later. Inorganic compound, such as phosphoric, kalium and magnesium were accumulated in crossed system. Especially, kalium and magnesium were highly accumulated. When solar radiation high, consumption of the amount of nutrient solution were increased. Sap flew was $273g{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ per hour from 10 : 30 to 11 : 00 AM. However there was no relation-ship between solar radiation and the mount of sap flew. When amount of solar radiation was $250W{\cdot}hr^{-1}$, cut rose 'Cardinal' nutrient consumption was 212.8 mL at nutrient supply of 50 mL. The yield of cut rose 'Cardinal' was 154.6 ea/10a in perlite media. In the cut rose 'Cardinal', nutrient solution was 50 mL as supplied at solar radiation of $200W{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ and nutrient solution was 30mL as supplied at solar radiation of $250W{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ at low solar radiation in perlite.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.686-693
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• 2012

To develop a technique for mass-propagation of virus-free sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] plant using nutrient film technique (NFT), the growth characteristics of 4 cultivars as affected by nutrient solution composition and cutting size were investigated. 72 cells (35 mL/cell) plug trays filled with vermiculite and perlite (1:1, v/v) were used. Vine length, fresh and dry weights of virus-free plants were the greatest in the nutrient solution recommended by National Horticultural Research Station in Japan, followed by that recommended by National Institute of Horticultural & Herbal Science in Korea, and Yamazaki's nutrient solution for lettuce. The growth of uppershoot cuttings was the best among 4 subsections of cutting. Vine length, and fresh and dry weights increased in the longer cutting treatments, and were better in 'Shinzami' and 'Yeonhwangmi' than those in 'Mannami' and 'Shincheonmi'. Vine diameter and length of the longest root were not significantly affected by the cutting size and cutting source. The growth characteristics of the single node cutting were not significantly different from those in 2-node cutting. The efficiency of rapid mass-propagation could be promoted with single node cuttings and uppershoot cuttings grown in NFT system.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.433-450
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• 2002

The daily food intake for dairy cows has to be effectively controlled to breed a sound group of cows as well as to enhance the productivity of the cows. But, feed stuffs are fed in the common bulk for a group of cows in most cases despite that the individual food intake has to be varied. To obtain the feed for each cow, both the nutrient requirements and the nutrient composition of fred have to be provided in advance, which are based on the status of cows such as weigh marginal weight amount of milk, fat concentration in milk, growth and milking stages, and rough feed ratio, etc. Then, the mixed ration fur diet would be computed by the nutrient requirements constraints. However, when TMR (Total Mixed Ration) is conventionally supplied for a group of cows, it is almost impossible to get an optimal feed mixed ration meeting the nutrient requirements of each individual cow since the constraints are usually conflicting and over-constrained although they are linear. Hence, addressed in this paper is a simulated annealing (SA) technique to find the food intake for dairy cows, considering the characteristics of individual or grouped cows. Appropriate parameters fur the successful working of SA are determined through preliminary experiments. The parameters include initial temperature, epoch length. cooling scheduling, and stopping criteria. In addition, a neighborhood solution generation method for the effective improvement of solutions is presented. Experimental results show that the final solution for the mixture of feed fits the rough feed ratio and some other nutrient requirements such as rough fiber, acid detergent fiber, and neutral detergent fiber, with 100 percent, while fulfilling net energy for lactating, metabolic energy, total digestible nutrients, crude protein, and undegraded intake protein within average five percent.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.967-976
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• 2023

Biochar is emerging as a promising substance for achieving carbon neutrality and climate change mitigation. It can absorb several nutrients via ion bonding on its surface functional groups, resulting in slow dissociation of the bonds. Biochar, like organic fertilizers, contributes to sustainable nutrient management. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of nutrient-coated biochar amendments on leafy vegetables production and soil fertility. The nutrient-coated biochar was produced by soaking rice husk biochar in a nutrient solution containing nitrogen (N), phosphorus, and potassium for 24 hours. Nutrient-coated biochar and organic fertilizers were applied to soil at a rate of 120 kg·N·ha^-1. The growth components of the leafy vegetables showed that nutrient-coated biochar led to the highest fresh weight (FW) of both lettuce and kale (i.e., 146.67 and 93.54 g·plant^-1 FW, respectively). As a result, nutrient-coated biochar amendments led to superior yield compared to the control treatment and organic fertilization. The elemental composition of leafy vegetables revealed that soil amended with nutrient-coated biochar resulted in higher nutrient contents, which was attributed to the high nutrient contents supplied by the rice husk biochar. Soil amendment with nutrient-coated biochar positively enhanced the soil fertility compared to amendment with organic fertilizer. Therefore, nutrient-coated biochar is a promising substance for enhancing agronomic performance of leafy vegetables and improving soil fertility.