• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.109-118
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• 2005

This study was carried out to identify the major characteristics of plug seedling farm's management. Thirty glasshouse farms were surveyed out of 42 farms that adopted plug seedling production technology in Korea. The major objectives of this survey were to determine the technical capability of the glasshouse farmers, and to analyze the significant differences in terms of production performance and management capabilities. The major results of the survey were as follows : 1) The production quantity of plug seedlings of the superior group was 43% higher than the inferior group. 2) The plug seedling loss rate of the superior roup was lower by 4% than the inferior group. 3) The income of superior group was 4.2 million Won per $1,000m^2$, while the income of the inferior group was only 0.45 million Won. 4) The cause of low production of grafted plug seedlings was primarily due to the lack of technical knowledge and skills. 5) The results indicated that the technical knowledge level and production skills of grafting plug seedling should be improved.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.121-124
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• 2001

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 g were planted in plug trays with vermiculite-based root medium on 10 August 2000 and grown for 15 days in a glasshouse to determine the effects of mini-tuber size on plug seedling growth and field performance of plug seedlings. For a control, common potato tubers weighing 50 g were also planted. As size of seed tubers planted increased from 10 to 50 g, seedling height decreased from 24.6 to 20.0cm while shoot number per seedling increased from 2.0 to 3.5, main stem diameter from 4.3 to 6.1mm, and fresh weight of root + top from 9.3 to 19.4 g/seedling. At 90 days after transplanting plug seedlings, the total number of tubers per plant increased from 3.62 to 4.72, average tuber weight from 62.9 to 72.8g, and total tuber yield 20.5 to 23.6 t/ha with increase in seed tuber size. Plug seedlings raised from 50g tubers produced 22% more tubers per plant and had 21 % higher＞80g tuber yield than the directly planted potatoes.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.201-206
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• 1999

For the mass production of plug seedlings in cultivar ‘Dejima’ potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) the optimal apical cutting diameter for rooting and rapid multiplication of stem cuttings in hydroponics were determined. In addition, the best planting date was predicted to increase tuber yield of plug seedlings at fall cropping in Cheju-Do, Korea. Days to initial rooting decreased as the cutting diameter was reduced. Plant height, leaf number, root length and root weight per plant were favorable as the cutting diameter was small. The ideal cutting diameter was 1-2 mm in this experiment. In the hydroponic cultures, the Japanese standard (JS) nutrient solution was the most effective for multiplication of stem cuttings. It was able to propagate more than 20 times a month from a single mother plant. Viability of plants, which were derived from plug seedlings using stem cuttings, was excellent when transplanted to the field. The number of tubers and tuber yield in both of the plug seedlings and seed potato planting plots were high when planted on 25 August. The number and yield were reduced when planted on 15 August, 5 September and 15 September. The degree of decrease of tuber yield in the plug seedling planting plot however, was lower than that of seed potatoes when the planting date was late. In the case of small tubers (under 30 g), the number of tubers and tuber yield were evidently increased in the seed potato tuber planting plot; the yield of large tuber (over 80g) in the plug seedling planting plot was higher than that of the seed potato. The total tuber yield per plant in the plug seedling planting plot was less than that of the seed potato; therefore, in order to increase tuber yield it was necessary to increase field plant density.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.381-390
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• 2018

This study was conducted to examine the growth characteristics of seedlings of several major fruit vegetables and compare them between plants grown with the conventional plug seedling system (Plug) and those grown with the cylindrical paper pot system (CPP). There were no significant differences in shoot growth characteristics, such as plant height, leaf area, dry weight, and fresh weight, between tomato, cucumber, and watermelon plants grown with the CPP and Plug systems. The total root lengths of tomato and cucumber plants grown with Plug were longer than those grown with CPP at the beginning of seedling growth, and the total root lengths of watermelon grown with Plug were longer than those grown with CPP throughout the whole seedling period. The length of root that separated five steps according to the diameter of the root of tomato did not differ between CPP and Plug, but those of cucumber and watermelon were 20-251% longer with Plug than with CPP for all kinds of roots. The fresh weight of Plug-grown tomato roots was about 30% heavier than that of CPP-grown tomato during the seedling period, but the difference decreased as growth progressed. Finally, there was no difference between plants before and after transplanting. The fresh weights of the Plug-grown plants were about 20-30% heavier than those of CPP-grown ones in terms of the whole seedling. After transplanting to the Wagner pot, the shoot growth of Plug-grown watermelon plants in terms of dry weight was low until 7 days had passed. However, this tendency was reversed from 8 days after transplantation onward. In conclusion, there were no significance differences in the growth of shoots between plants grown with the CPP and Plug systems. However, root development was better with Plug than with CPP.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.125-129
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• 2001

Eight vermiculite-based root media prepared with addition of complete fertilizer (2 g/L; N-$P_2$$O_5$-$K_2$O, 10-10-14) for potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) and a commercial root medium were evaluated in 2000 to develop the root media suitable for potato plug seedling production. The eight media consisted of various ratios of vermiculite, perlite, peatmoss, and compost. In addition, four rates (0, 1, 2, or 4 g/L) of the complex fertilizer for potato were added to a root medium (70% vermiculite, 10% perlite, 10% peat moss, and 10% compost by volume) to determine the optimum addition rate of the complex fertilizer for plug seedlings. Compost addition to the media increased plant height, the number of leaves per plant, and top and root fresh weight of 15-day old plug seedlings. The seedlings raised in root media containing compost produced significantly higher total tuber yield. Addition of the complex fertilizer to root media enhanced seedling growth and increased the number of tubers per plant and tuber yields. The results suggest that root media containing 50% vermiculite, 0 to 20% peat moss, 10% perlite, 20 to 40% compost, and 2 g/L complex fertilizer for potato appear suitable for potato plug seedling production.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.945-956
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• 2021

The effective growth of pepper seedlings relies on the growing period and tray used, which both aim to minimize seedling damage during the transplantation process. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of red and green pepper seedling growth in plug and cylindrical paper pot (CPP) trays with different growth periods of the seedlings. Two different seedling growth trays were used for the two varieties of pepper seedlings in the same growing media. The pepper seedling growth rates were investigated at 15, 30, and 45 days for each of variety. Important parameters, e.g., the plant height, fresh weight for the plant and root, number of leaves, leaf length and width, and leaf chlorophyll contents, were measured. During the experiment, the CPP tray maintained uniform seedling growth as compared to the plug tray. CPP trays ensured the height of the seedling, with these results 0.84 to 1.6 times higher than those of the plug tray for all conditions, indicating the good quality of the pepper seedlings. The shoot and root weights were found to be greater with more leaves in the CPP tray seedlings for 45 days compared to the seedlings grown in the plug tray, whereas the green pepper variety showed a greater leaf ratio than the red pepper seedlings. The analysis of pepper seedling growth presented in this study will guide the selection of suitable growth trays and seedling periods for farmers when they undertake automatic pepper transplantation in the field.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.223-227
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• 1998

The objectives of this study were to find the sprouting condition and to establish the optimum production methods of plug seedlings in yacon (Polymnia sonchifolia Poepp. & Endl.). The sprouting ratio was greatest at $30\pm 1^{\circ}C$ at 20 days after planting. Crowns with single buds were more effective than those with two or more buds for sprouting, which might be due to the apical dominance. Planting the shoots separated from crown after sprouting in the single- and double-layer polyethylene-covered greenhouses reduced seedling period with 25% and 50%, respectively. Planting the shoots after sprouting was more effective than planting the crown buds. Double-layer polyethylene-covered green-house was good for plug seedling production than open field or single-layer polyethylene-covered greenhouse. The bed soils composed of clay loam : compost or sand : compost (1:l=v:v) were more effective to produce plug seedlings than only clay loam, sand or compost. Seedlings could be produced at 30 days after planting in our studies.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 1999

A color image processing algorithm was developed to assist the robotic plug-seedling transplanter. The algorithm was designed to identify and locate empty cells in the seedling tray. The image of pepper seedling tray was segmented into regions of plant, frame and soil using thresholding technique which utilized HSI or RGB color characteristics of each region. The detection algorithm was able to successfully identify empty cells and locate their two-dimensional location. The overall success rate of the algorithm was about 88%.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2002

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of foliar application of Chitosan and seedling types on increasing the production of fall-growing potatoes(Solanum tuberosum) at the height of 250m from the sea in Jeju Island. The experiment main-plots consisted of four Chitosan applications, and subplots had three seedling types as cutting plug seedlings, mine-tuber plug seedling planting plot and seed potatoes planting plot. The foliar application of Chitosan of 2000ppm was carried out 0, 1, 3, 5 times at intervals of ten days after ten days of transplanting. Plant height and top dry weight were significantly more vigorous as three to five application of Chitosan. In the small tubers(under 80g), the number of tubers and tuber yield were relatively increased in the seed potatoes planting plot and mine-tuber plug seedling plot, but the large tubers(over 80g) was higher in the cutting plug seedling planting plot. T-N content in leaves was increased as the number of application of Chitosan was increased. A similar tendency was shown in K, P Ca, Mg and Na. The growth and tuber yield in cutting plug seedlings, mine-tuber plug seedling planting plot and seed potatoes planting plot were effectively increased as three to five foliar applications of Chitosan was increased.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 2015

Manual grafting is a labor-intensive operation and highly susceptible to human error. Development of grafting robot has been considered as an effective alternative to manual grafting. The study was conducted to investigate the grafting efficiency between the domestically produced automated grafting robot and traditional manual grafting performed in a commercial plug seedling greenhouse. Plug seedlings of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) 'Buchon' and 'Anseongmatchum' were sown as scions and rootstocks, respectively on March 29, 2013. The grafting was performed by a grafting robot, amateur grafters, and professional grafters on May 31, 2013. After grafting, the seedling efficiencies and seedling characteristics were compared in terms of plant height, the number of success as well as failure of seedling grafts produced in an hour. The results showed that plant heights were most uniform in the grafts performed by the professionals that had a 0.6 cm difference whereas an uneven difference of 2.1 cm difference was observed in plug seedling grafted by an amateur. However, plug seedlings grafted by the grafting robot were found to be uniform with 1 cm plant height difference. Moreover, the maximum number of grafting processed plug seedlings per hour (667 plants) was achieved by the grafting robot on compared with the seedlings grafted (466 plants) by the professionals. Furthermore, the least failure rate of 21.7% was noted upon the usage of grafting robot than the manual grafters. Thus, the results demonstrate that the technology of automated grafting robots is the most appealing and can be employed in commercial plug seedling greenhouses to overcome the drawbacks of manual grafting.