• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.88-96
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• 2007

Organic farming systems based on ecological concepts have the potential to produce sustainable crop yields with no decline in soil and environmental qualities. Recent expansion of sustainable agricultural systems, including organic farming, has brought about need for development of sustainable farming systems based on value judgments for key properties of importance for farming. Chemical and microbiological properties were chosen as indicators of soil quality and measured at soil depth intervals of 5-20 and 20-35 cm in conventional and organic-based apple orchards located in Yeongchun, Gyeongbuk. The orchards were two adjacent fields to ensure the same pedological conditions except management system. Soil pH in organic farming was around 7.5, whereas below 6.0 in conventional farming. Organic farming resulted in significant increases in organic matter and Kjeldahl-N contents compared to those found with conventional management. Microbial populations, biomass C, and enzyme activities (except acid phosphatase) in apple orchard soil of organic farming were higher than those found in conventional farming. Higher microbial quotient ($C_{mic}/C_{org}$ ratio) and lower microbial metabolic quotient for $CO_2(qCO_2)$ in organic farming confirmed that organic farming better conserves soil organic carbon. Biological soil quality indicators showed significant positive correlations with soil organic matter content. These results indicate organic-based farming positively affected soil organic matter content, thus improving soil chemical and biological qualities.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.279-285
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• 2007

Soil physical properties in organic farming apple orchard were evaluated in relation to conventional farming to better understand the effects of organic farming system on soil quality. Two adjacent apple orchards, matched by soil type, were chosen to ensure the same pedological conditions except management system. Soil samples were collected from middle of two adjacent trees along the tree line at two depths of 5-20 and 20-35 cm in September 2006. Contents of organic matter in organic farming soil were twice as much as those found in soil of conventional farming. The higher level of organic matter in organic farming soil was reflected through a consequent trend in improved soil physical properties. Organic farming produced greater aggregation in >2 mm size and increased aggregate stability. Bulk density was lower by 13% and hence porosity was higher in soils of organic farming as compared with conventional farming. Water holding capacity was significantly greater with organic farming by >17% over conventional farming. The capacity of organic farming to improve soil physical properties can be contributed to the regular application of relatively large amount of organic materials and the sustainable ground-cover managements, mulching with compost and cover crop cultivation.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.19 no.spc
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• pp.242-246
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• 2011

Organic kiwifruit orchard soils were compared with conventional ones in Korea. Soil structure of organic soil had higher gaseous and liquous phase as well as soil porosity in the surface soil. Although the nutritional level of each orchards were quite different among soils, the analysis of both system revealed that organic kiwifruit orchard soil had similar or even higher nutrient level (N and organic matter content in surface soil) compared to conventional ones. The organic matter content of deep soil also had the high tendency in deep soil of organic soil. Higher level of nitrogen in organic surface soil is presumably due to the excessive application of organic compost and liquid fertilizer rather than the contribution by grasses such as green manure. Available phosphorous level of organic system was quite high but similar in surface soil of both system, compared to the recommended level. Potassium, calcium and magnesium levels were also enough in organic kiwifruit orchard soils.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.57-59
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• 1998

The headspace method has been acknowledged as a cost-effective and convenient method to analyze volatile organic compounds(VOCs) in soil. The headspace analysis is based on equilibrium partitioning of VOCs among water, air and soil in a closed system. However, the headspace method cannot be applied to soils where most of the VOCs remain sorbed even at high temperature. In this study, it was investigated how the sorption characteristics of VOCs varied with soil with different organic carbon contents and temperature. This study showed that all the VOCs were volatilized, not sorved, only in the soil with 5% organic carbon at 45$^{\circ}C$ or higher. Some fraction of VOCs remained in soil with 8% organic carbon at $65^{\circ}C$ of higher. Most of the VOCs remained sorbed in soil with 12% organic content even at 95$^{\circ}C$. This result suggested that the headspace method can be applied only to soils with little organic carbon content (less than 5%). In this case, 45$^{\circ}C$ seems to be high enough to volatilize all the VOCs from soil. Large particles still showed a significant sorption capacity for VOCs from soil. Large Particles still showed a significant sorption capacity for VOCs despite of their low level of organic carbon content. It was also shown that the organic carbon sorption coefficients (Koc) of VOCs varied with soils with different organic carbon content. This suggests that not only the organic matter content of soil but also the property of the organic matter in soil influence the sorption of VOCs to soil.

• Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2005

This study was conducted to develop a nondestructive grouping system for soil organic matter using visible (VIS) and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopic method. The artificial light was irradiated on the cut soil surface at 15 to 20 cm depths to reduce the errors of light at open field. The reflectance energy from the cut soil surface was measured to group the soil organic matter using VIS/NIR light sensor with narrow band pass filter. From reflectance spectra of soil samples, the sensitive wavelengths for measuring the soil organic matter were selected and compared to previous research results. The grouping system for soil organic matter consisted of light sensor with band pass filter measuring the reflectance energy of the cut soil surface, global positing system (GPS), analog-to-digital (AD) converter, computer and operating software. The regression models to predict the soil organic matter were developed and evaluated. From field test, the accuracies of the developed light sensor system were 81.3% for five-stage grouping of the soil organic matters and 91.0% for three-stages grouping of the soil organic matters, respectively. It could be possible to support the decision making for variable rate applications with the developed grouping system for soil organic matter in precision agriculture.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.29-35
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• 2002

In order to establish the applicability of organic soil as Earthwork Materials, this research conducts a battery of laboratory tests using two kinds of test materials. The test material A, a mixture of sand and organic soil, and the test material B, a mixture of granite soil and organic soil varying the proportion of organic soil through 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% are used. Continuous column leaching tests of the test materials A and B indicate that their COD value is substantially smaller than that of pure organic soil, the COD value of the early leached water slightly exceeds the standard level for leached water. The COD value after 4 hours of leaching becomes very small. The mixed soil of sand and organic soil is considered usable as embankment materials when the proportion of organic soil is up to 40% with the corresponding concentration ratio of organic contents is less than 11.3%. Similarly, the mixed soil of granite soil and organic soil is considered usable as earthwork materials when the proportion of organic soil is less than 30% with the corresponding concentration ratio of organic contents is less than 16.4%.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.556-562
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• 2013

The blueberry eco-friendly farming requires the soil condition of pH 4.2 ~ 5.2 and high in organic matters for stable growth. Most of soil types of blueberry-growing land in Korea, however, belongs to alkaline soils with low organic matter content. As a result, the eco-friendly blueberry growers use peat moss and sulfur powder heavily to improve the soil condition, but the guideline on the effective use of organic materials was not established yet. Therefore, this sturdy was performed to investigate the effect of increasing soil acidity and organic matters by using organic materials. Among 5 organic materials, the pH of soil was lowest in degradable sulfur + bentonite (pH 4.1) and followed by Peat moss+Chaff+Pine Needlesmixtures(pH 4.5), OrganicAcid +vinegar (pH 4.7), Sulfur powder (pH 4.8), Temperature response Elutioner (pH 5.2). The soil organic matter content were increased in the following order: Peat moss+Chaff+Pine Needlesmixtures (8.4%) > degradable sulfur + bentonite (7.8%) > Organic Acid + vinegar (7.2%) > Sulfur powder ${\fallingdotseq}$ Temperature response Elutioner (6.3%). Although different in the degree, all organic materials treated was recognized a good material for improving soil pH and organic matter content. The plant height and stem diameter of blueberry were no clear difference among 5 organic materials. Another study was carried out to investigate amending soils with organic matter by soil mulching with pine needles for soil surface management in blueberry organic cultivation. The effect of increasing the soil pH by pine needle mulching in blueberry eco-friendly farming was recognized in four test fields. Pine needle mulching for soil surface management in blueberry appeared several advantages, such as improving of soil pH and organic matter content. Therefore, pineneedle mulching in blueberry organic farming is considered as the most efficient means of mulching cultivation for amending soil pH, weed suppression and moisture conservation among mulching materials.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 1971

Accumulation of soil organic matter and its vertical distribution at different latitudes in peninsular Korea were studied in the soil of four different forest types viz. Pinus densiflora forest, Castanea forest, Quercus acutissima forest and Carpinus laxiflora forest. Among them, accumulation of soil organic matter in Cheju sites, with a mean annual temperature of 15$^{\circ}C$, was maximum with increasing latitude, soil organic matter concentration decreased. Considering the relationship between concentration of soil organic matter and some climatic conditiions, it seems that concentrations of soil organic matter is a function of annual temperature, especially warmth index or cold index.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1314-1319
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• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate the surface soil organic carbon fractions affecting by different land use types, including needle-leaf forest (FN), broad-leaf forest (FB), pasture, annual upland cropping land (upland), and paddy rice land (paddy). We chose seven regions across Korean inland, considering sea level altitude, and measured soil organic carbon content and physico-chemical properties such as bulk density at a depth of 0~15 cm using core samples in April for the each land use type. In addition, labile organic carbon fractions in soil including light fraction and hot water extractable carbon were investigated. From this study, organic carbon storage (Mg C per ha) in the upper 15-cm soils was highest in FB (37.8), and decreased in the order of pasture (29.1), FN (28.8), paddy (21.9), and upland crop (19.9). In forest, more than 20% of soil organic carbon existed as light fraction, the free organic matter. Hot-water extractable carbon contents of soils in five land use types were lower than 7% of their soil organic carbon content.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.98-102
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• 2012

Organic farming has rapidly increased in Gangwon province, but there is a concern about nutrient accumulation and nutrient imbalance in the soil of organic farming. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of continuous application of organic amendments on growth and yield of red pepper and soil characteristics compared with chemical fertilizers application for four years. Treatments of organic amendments including oil cake, rice straw compost, amino acid compost, rice bran compost, and mushroom media (spent substrate) compost resulted in comparable growth and yield of pepper to chemical fertilizers. Organic amendments improved soil physical and chemical characteristics. Especially, rice bran compost and oil cake significantly increased soil organic matter compared with chemical fertilizer application and mushroom media compost and rice straw compost significantly improved soil aggregate stability. On the other hand, available phosphate level in the soil amended with rice bran compost or mushroom media compost was relatively high compared with the other treatments due to relatively high phosphate levels in the composts. It is not easy to adjust nutrient composition in the organic materials. Therefore, the results obtained from the study imply that nutrient imbalance needs to be carefully considered in organic farming without use of chemical fertilizers.