• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.2
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• pp.244-250
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• 2010

The aim of this study was to investigate relationship among seed viability and enzymes activities involved in scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS), especially, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), and catalase (CAT). In other respects, osmopriming has been demonstrated to reinvigorate aged seeds. Various viabilities of seeds that were ranged from 80 to 100% of germination rate could be produced using osmopriming and accelerated aging treatments. Priming treatment of Pinus thunbergii seeds for 3 days at $15^{\circ}C$ with a polyethylene glycol solution at -1.2 MPa improved their subsequent germination at $25^{\circ}C$. Accelerated aging (3, 6, 9, and 12 days at $41^{\circ}C$ and 100% relative humidity) decreased seed germination percentage depending on aging treatment duration. Electrolyte conductivities of seeds were measured as assay of membrane integrity. The conductivity from electrolyte leakage of P. thunbergii seed was also correlated with seed germinability. Conductivity for control seeds that had 95% of germination percentage was 3.48 ${\mu}S\;g^{-1}$, but jumped as doubled (7.98 ${\mu}S\;g^{-1}$) in 12-day-aged seed that had 80% of germination percentage. Our results demonstrate that aging of P. thunbergii seeds is associated with changes in the electrolyte leakage, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant defense system. Priming of aged seeds progressively restored the initial germinative ability and resulted in a marked decrease in the levels of MDA and conductivity of seed leachate. These effects of priming were also well recovered of GR and CAT activities in aged seed. The improved seed quality by priming treatment appears at least partly attributable to reduced lipid peroxidation, resulting from enhanced antioxidative enzyme activities that are suggesting the antioxidant defense systems play a key role in seed vigor.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.310-315
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• 2000

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) plants have been reported to contain water-soluble substances that are autotoxic as well as allelopathic. Laboratory experiment through a petri-dish assay with imbibed seeds was conducted to evaluate both autotoxic and allelopathic effects of alfalfa leaf extracts on the germination and early seedling growth of alfalfa, red clover, crested wheatgrass, and Russian wildrye. Alfalfa seed germination was delayed dependent on extract concentration, with no difference in final germination at 72 hours. Root growth of alfalfa was stimulated up to 14% above control at very low concentrations of both leaf and stem extracts of alfalfa and was significantly reduced at extract concentration of more than 0.5g dry tissue/L (${gL}_{-1}$). Leaf extracts were generally more autotoxic for root growth than were stem extracts. Hypocotyl growth was not affected by all the concentrations of both leaf and stem extracts. Root length of legumes was more sensitive to the autotoxic chemicals from leaf extracts than was germination or shoot length. Hypocotyl growth of two legume plants and plant height of two grasses were not influenced by extracts. Seed germination and root growth of legumes were more inhibited by aqueous extracts of alfalfa leaf than were those of grasses. This result indicates autotoxic effect of alfalfa leaf extracts seems to be greater than allelopathic effect.

• Plant Resources
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.71-78
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• 2000

Autotoxicity restricts reseeding of new alfalfa(Medicago sativa L.) after alfalfa until autotoxic chemical(s) breaks down or is dispersed into external environments, often requiring up to a year or more. One solution for reducing autotoxicity would be to select germplasms or cultivars with tolerance to the autotoxic chemical(5) and use genetically breeding program. Bioassay of seed germination and early seedling growth was conducted to evaluate autotoxic responses of 3 varieties of alfalfa to the water-soluble extracts(at 4 and 8g/L) from alfalfa ‘Cody’leaf by using agar and filter paper medium in a petri-dish assay. Root length at 5 days after seeding was more sensitive to the extract than was hypocotyl length or seed germination, and was a better parameter of autotoxic effects of alfalfa leaf extracts. Use of an agar medium gave better sensitivity of root length than did use of filter paper. Evaluating tolerance with percent of control was more important indicator than was mean of root length because of significant variation among varieties in root length of control treatment. Bioassay ranked varieties in the following order of tolerance on the basis of relative root length; “Cody” >“ Pioneer 5373” >“ Alfagraze”. Seedling growth from old “Cody” seed was more sensitive to the autotoxic chemical(5) than was that from newly produced seed.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2014

Fusarium head blight (FHB; scab) caused mainly by Fusarium graminearum is a devastating disease of wheat and barley around the world. FHB causes yield reductions and contamination of grain with trichothecene mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON) which are a major health concern for humans and animals. The objective of this research was to develop an easy seed or seedling inoculation assay, and to compare these assays with whole plant resistance of twenty-nine Korean winter wheat cultivars to FHB. The clip-dipping assay consists of cutting off the coleoptiles apex, dipping the coleoptiles apex in conidial suspension, covering in plastic bag for 3 days, and measuring the lengths of lesions 7 days after inoculation. There were significant cultivar differences after inoculation with F. graminearum in seedling relative to the controls. Correlation coefficients between the lesion lengths of clip-dipping inoculation and FHB Type II resistance from adult plants were significant (r=0.45; P<0.05). Results from two other seedling inoculation methods, spraying and pin-point inoculation, were not correlated with adult FHB resistance. Single linear correlation was not significant between seed germination assays (soaking and soak-dry) and FHB resistance (Type I and Type II), respectively. These results showed that clip-dipping inoculation method using F. graminearum may offer a real possibility of simple, rapid, and reliable for the early screening of FHB resistance in wheat.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.108 no.3
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• pp.290-295
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• 2019

This study was carried out to investigate the possibility of establishing a reproductive system for the seed of Pedicularis hallaisanensis, which is in the endangered wild species II class in Korea. The seed of P. hallaisanensis is egg-shaped, and the seed coat is dark brown. The embryo was identified as a dwarf type by the seed section. The seed length was $0.47{\pm}0.07mm$, width $0.16{\pm}0.006mm$, and thickness $0.12{\pm}0.01mm$. The weight of one seed was $0.0003{\pm}0.0001mg$, and 1000 seeds weighed $4.59{\pm}0.02mg$. The degree of seed viability was 75.33% by the tetrazolium (TZ) assay. The highest germination rate of P. hallaisanensis seed was 71% after 4 weeks of storage at $4^{\circ}C$. However, the germination rate tended to decrease gradually over a longer storage period. The germination rates after 6 or 8 weeks of storage at $4^{\circ}C$ were 64% and 60%, respectively. We used two host plants, Artemisia princeps and Dendranthema zawadskii, to determine the effect of host plants on P. hallaisanensis seed germination. The germination of P. hallaisanensis mixed with A. princeps or D. zawadskii started at 53.5 and 62.5 days after sowing, respectively. We did not find any germination 164 days postsowing with both host plants. When A. princeps and D. zawadskii were used as host plants for P. hallaisanensis seed germination, P. hallaisanensis seed germination rates were 45.5% and 19.5%, respectively. The average time to germination was 70.2 days for A. princeps, and 46.8 days for D. zawadskii.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.64-71
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• 2002

Plant growth promoting activity of quinolinone metabolites, 2-(2-hepteny)-3-methyl-4-quinolinone (1), 2-heptyl-3-methyl-4-quinolinone, and 2-nonyl-3-methyl-4-quinolinone, produced by Pseudomonas cepacia and ethyl 2-methyl-3-alkyl-4-quinolinone carboxylates chemically synthesized were tested by using seed-germination assay, growth increments in plant height after foliar applications. Plant height increment, fresh weight, and the number of fruits were measured after seed-soaking and drench treatment. Compound 1 among the natural products showed a consistent growth promoting effect in seed-germination and plant height after a foliar application. After a seed-soaking and drench treatment, compound 1 and synthetic ethyl 2-methyl-4-quinolinone-3-carboxylate (5) showed a significant enhancement in fresh weight and the number of fruits after harvest. Compound 1 and 5 increased the number of fruits per plant by 44% and 84% over the control, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.154-161
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• 1997

The germination inhibitory effects of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium Linne) pulp were discussed. The germination inhibitory effects of pulp juice were decreased in a concentration dependent manner. When the pulp juice was diluted 0 (original juice), 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 times, the radicle lengths of the assay plant, Chinese cabbage (Brassica chinensis Linne), showed 0, 0.32, 0.72, 3.13, 4.83, 16.07, 16.73 and 23.50 mm, respectively (CK=25.98 mm). The pulp evidently inhibited the embryo growth in natural fruit. The longer was the duration that the pulp stayed around the seed, the longer was the time course needed for embryo getting free from the inhibitory effects of pulp. When the depulping was performed on the day 0, 15, 30 and 60 after harvest, the time courses needed for embryo extricating the residual inhibitory effects from pulp were 30, 75, 135 and 135 days, respectively. Moreover, if the pulp stayed around the seed with time, that would make the seed rotten ratio increase. When the pulp stayed around the seed for 0, 15, 30, 60 and 270 days, the seed rotten ratios were 5.47, 5.71, 19.05, 27.14 and 33.33%, respectively. Therefore, we concluded that the pulp could be included in the inhibitory components which made American ginseng seed get into dormancy.

• Mycobiology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.147-153
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• 2018

Certain beneficial microorganisms isolated from rhizosphere soil promote plant growth and induce resistance to a wide variety of plant pathogens. We obtained 49 fungal isolates from the rhizosphere soil of paprika plants, and selected 18 of these isolates that did not inhibit tomato seed germination for further investigation. Based on a seed germination assay, we selected four isolates for further plant tests. Treatment of seeds with isolate JF27 promoted plant growth in pot tests, and suppressed bacterial speck disease caused by Pseudomonas syringae pathovar (pv.) tomato DC3000. Furthermore, expression of the pathogenesis-related 1 (PR1) gene was higher in the leaves of tomato plants grown from seeds treated with JF27; expression remained at a consistently higher level than in the control plants for 12 h after pathogen infection. The phylogenetic analysis of a partial internal transcribed spacer sequence and the b-tubulin gene identified isolate JF27 as Aspergillus terreus. Taken together, these results suggest that A. terreus JF27 has potential as a growth promoter and could be used to control bacterial speck disease by inducing resistance in tomato plants.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.689-693
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• 2009

Germination is well-known to enhance the digestibility, functionality, and palatability of plant seeds. To examine the functionality of germinated-safflower seed (GSS), proliferative and differentiative effects of GSS extract on the mouse calvarial bone cells were determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolinbromide (MTT) assay and alkaline phosphatase activity, respectively. Water extract of GSS increased dose-dependently proliferative and differentiative effects on calvarial bone cell, and its effects were stronger than those of ungerminated-safflower seeds (UGSS) extract. One major component was isolated from GSS extract by a series of purification procedure of solvent fractionation, Diaion HP-20, and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatographies. Its chemical structure was identified as trachelogenin (TC) by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) spectral analysis. Trachelogenin showed significant proliferative (125.7%) and differentiative (132.1%) effects on calvarial bone cells at $10^{-8}M$, and its effects were significantly higher than those of $17{\beta}-estradiol\;(E_2)$. TC was found to be a major active compound responsible for high proliferative and differentative effects of the water extract of GSS. Therefore, these results suggest that TC in GSS may be useful as potential therapeutic agent for the prevention and treatment of bone loss.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2001

This study was conducted to search new target enzymes of novel herbicide candidate. Total of 107 biochemical inhibitors reported to inhibit over than 100 different plant enzymes were purchased from commercial chemical companies. 15 inhibitors and 34 enzymes were selected by germination assay, seedling assay, wheat leaf disc assay, and whole plant assay. Among them, seven compounds of purine, phehyl-hydrazine, o-phenanthroline, oleylamine, dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, 7,8-benzoquinoline, and aminooxyacetic acid showed high herbicidal activity in the whole plant assay under greenhouse while 7,8-benzoquinone, 8-hydroxyquinoline, 2,2'-dipyridyl, and o-phenanthroline inhibited seed germination of barnyardgrass, rice, and tomato at concentrations of 1.25 to $5{\mu}M$. The compounds of 7,8-benzoquinoline, chlorpromazine, cyanuric fluoride, 4-methylpyrazole, oleylamine, tranylcypromine, and trifluoperazine inhibited the growth of cyanobacteria at 30 to $100{\mu}M$. The compounds of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and chlorpromazine exhibited whitening effect on tile wheat leaf disc at $100{\mu}M$. These results suggest that the plant-specific enzyme inhibitors which have biological activities may supply the target enzyme for developing new herbicide candidate.