• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.302-306
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• 2005

This Study was Conducted in 3 glasshouse to examine the Possibility for cultivation of plug seedlings using four growing media containing recycled PET-bottle-particles (PBT) as a medium component. Plug seedlings of 'Seokwang' tomato were grown in media containing $100\%$ PBT, $100\%$ peatmoss, or $50\%$ $PBT+50\%$ peatmoss. A commercial plug medium (Tosilee) was used as the control. All seeds were sown in 128 cell plug trays on July 12, 2004. Seedling growth was measured at 30 days after sowing. Percent seed germination was greater than 95% in all treatments. Plant height, shoot fresh and dry weights, leaf area, and hypocotyl length were the greatest in the control treatment. Root length and weight were the greatest in the $100\%$ PBT treatment, which had a medium pH of 7.3. Leaf area and shoot dry weight were greater in the $50\%$ $PBT+50\%$ peatmoss treatment, than in the $100\%$ PBT treatment, while they were the smallest in the $100\%$ peatmoss treatment. No toxicity symptoms caused by the use or PBT had been observed in any treatment. The results suggest a possibility of recycled PBT, a valuable reusable resource, to be used as a component for medium amendments in horticultural transplant production.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.34-42
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• 1997

Effects of DIF on stem elongation in plug seedlings of mini tomato ‘Mini Carol’ and on the growth and flowering after transplanting were investigated. Stem elongation of seedlings was mainly influenced by day temperature rather than night temperature. When the effect of ＋DIF was compared to that of -DIF under the same average daily temperature(ADT), day temperature had greater impact on internode elongation than night temperature. On the other hand, leaf unfolding rate increased and compactness decreased as ADT in creased. Differences in internode length affected by DIF during seedlings stage DIF progressively diminished during growth period after transplanting. Node position at which first flower was initiated was lowered as ADT decreased. It was concluded that DIF treatment was an applicable tool for control of stem elongation, particularly to reduce stem length without a noticeably adverse effect on the growth and development of plant after transplanting.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 2003

Cellular glass foam (CGF), the reprocessed glass, has a possibility to be used as a medium component in plug culture of horticultural crops due to the its excellent air and water permeability as comparable to perlite. An experiment was conducted to investigate growth of plug seedlings of Lycopersicum esculentum 'Segye' as influenced by irrigation frequency in various medium combinations of CGF (2.0-4.0 mm particle size) and peatmoss. Seeds were sown in 200-cell plug trays, filled with mixtures of CGF and peatmoss either at 33：67 or 25：75 (％. v/v) and were germinated on a fogged propagation bed. The irrigation frequencies used were one, two or three times per every two days. A commercial plug medium (Tosilee medium) was used as the control, and the irrigation frequency in the control was one time per day. Growth of seedlings, and medium pH and EC were measured at 33 days after sowing. The medium composition had little influence on overall growth of seedlings. Irrigation frequency very significant affected number of leaves, leaf area, chlorophyll concentration, fresh and dry weights of shoots and roots, and dry matter. Growth of seedlings was the greatest with the highest irrigation frequency in the 25% CGF＋75% peatmoss mixture.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.256-261
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• 2013

The spacing between plug cells and cell volume of each plug cell for nursing tomato seedlings were studied to know the effects on seedling growth and early yield. There were four treatments. The spacing of plug cells was done (OK) or not (NO) in case of cell spacing. The cell number in a plug tray was set to 40 or 50 in case of cell volume. The growth environment and irrigation regime were the same in all of the treatments during the experiment period. The photosynthetic rates, seedling qualities, yield and yield speed were significantly affected by both of the treatments. The photosynthetic rates and seedling qualities were the best in 40S-OK following by 50S-OK, 40S-NO, and 50S-NO while the yield was the best in 40S-OK following by 40S-NO, 50S-OK, 50S-NO. It means the spacing gives more impact than the cell volume in the stage of nursing but the cell volume gives more impact than the spacing after the stage of nursing. In the conclusion the spacing of plug cells in appropriate nursing stage is needed with the appropriate cell volume to make high quality of seedlings and high yield.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.727-735
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• 2016

This research was conducted to investigate the influence of various pre-planting $NO_3:NH_4$ ratios in the coir dust+peatmoss+perlite (3.5:3.5:3, v/v/v) medium on the growth of tomato plug seedlings (cv. Dotaerang Dia), changes in chemical properties of root media, and tissue nutrient contents. With the fixation of N concentration to $300mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$, the $NO_3:NH_4$ ratios were adjusted to 100:0, 73:27, 50:50, 27:73, 0:100. Then, root media containing various $NO_3:NH_4$ ratios and equal concentration of other essential nutrients were filled into 50-cell plug trays and the seeds of 'Dotaerang Die' tomato were sown. The investigation of seedling growth and tissue analysis for mineral nutrient contents based on the dry weight of above-ground tissue were conducted 6 weeks after sowing. As seedlings grew, the EC decreased quickly and pH increased gradually in the all treatment media. The plant height, fresh weight and dry weight of seedlings in the treatment of 50:50 ($NO_3:NH_4$) were 29.0 cm, 13.7 g, and 1.21 g, respectively, which were the highest among treatments tested. However, the seedlings in the treatment of 0:100 ($NO_3:NH_4$) had 26.5 cm, 11.2 g, and 0.92 g in plant height, fresh weight and dry weight, respectively. These were the poorest among the treatments tested. The tissue contents of N were 2.77 to 3.22% in all the treatments. The treatment of 27:73 ($NO_3:NH_4$) had the highest contents of Fe, Mn and Zn and that of 0:100 ($NO_3:NH_4$) had the lowest contents of Mg, Na, Cu, Mn and Zn among the treatments tested. The results indicate that $NH_4$ ratio should be lower than 50% in the coir dust+peatmoss+perlite (3.5:3.5:3, v/v/v) medium for seedling growth of tomato and the optimum ratio will be used to draw up guide lines for plug seedling production.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.379-387
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• 2007

This research was conducted to evaluate the influence of pre-planting fertilizer levels (PFL) and initiation time of fertigation (ITF) on growth and nutrient contents of tomato plug seedlings. The pre-planting fertilizer levels in a coir+peatmoss+perlite (4:4:2, v/v/v) substrate were adjusted to 0.5X, 1.0X and 1.0X, and initiation time of fertigation was set to 7, 14,21 and 28 days after sowing. Elevated PFL in same ITF increased plant growth such as fresh and dry weights at 35 and 70 days after sowing. Plugs with early feeding among treatments of equal amount of PFL also showed better growth as compared to those of later feeding. In each ITF, 0.5X treatment had the higher tissue $P_2O_5$ contents than 1.0X and 1.5X treatments. Elevated PFL resulted in the decrease of tissue K, Mg and Fe contents and increase of tissue Ca contents. The pH in soil solution of all root substrates except 0.5X treatment at 35 and 70 days after sowing were greater than 7.0, which is too high. This suggests that the amounts and kinds of Ca containing fertilizers should be altered to decrease the pH. The results of this research indicated that fertilizer levels should be increased to 1.5X except Ca fertilizer, and fertigation immediately after moving plug trays from germination room to greenhouse is required to increase crop growth and decrease cropping time.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.431-438
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• 2017

This study investigated the effect of pre-planting nitrogen (N) fertilization levels added to a soilless root medium on the growth of 'Dotaerang Dia' tomato seedlings. The N levels were varied for a total of 7 treatments: 0, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1,000, or $1,500mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$. The pH of the root media gradually rose in all treatments as the seedlings grew; however, the differences in the pH were not significant among the treatments. The electrical conductivity (EC) of the root media was significantly different among the treatments from sowing to week three, then drastically decreased after week four, which diminished the differences in the EC among the treatments. At week six, plant height, leaf length, leaf width, number of leaves, and fresh and dry weights of the shoot were highest for the treatment with $500mg{\cdot}L^{-1}N$. In contrast, the treatment with $1,500mg{\cdot}L^{-1}N$ had the lowest results for all growth measurements. The fresh weight was 67% heavier in the $500mg{\cdot}L^{-1}N$ treatment compared to the $1,500mg{\cdot}L^{-1}N$ treatment. The total N content in the tissues was lowest in the treatment with $0mg{\cdot}L^{-1}N$ and highest in the treatment with $1,000mg{\cdot}L^{-1}N$. The contents of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and metal micronutrients in the tissues were highest in the $250mg{\cdot}L^{-1}N$ treatment. A previous study demonstrated that adjusting the fertilization level to promote growth to over 90% of the maximum growth is a good strategy for lowering production costs and preventing damage due to excessive fertilizer absorption by crops. Our results indicated that the optimal pre-planting N fertilization level for tomato plug seedlings should be lower than $500mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and the optimum tissue N contents should be around 3.21% to 4.60%.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.207-212
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• 2012

The objective of the present study is to identify the physico-chemical characteristics of used plug media (UPM) and its effect on growth response of tomato and cucumber seedlings. The UPM from commercial media Mix#5 (Sungro co., Ltd.) was used in this study. This media was sterilized by sterilizer at $120^{\circ}C$ in 30 minutes at 1.5 atm. Physicochemical properties of UPM was compared with new plug media (NPM). Physical properties such as air volume, particle density, solid volume, bulk density were investigated by three phase device (DIK-1130, Japan). And chemical characteristics such as $NO_3$-N, $P_2O_5$, K, Mg, Ca, $SiO_2$, CEC, OM were investigated by soil spectrophotometer (PTIZEN 1412SA, Mecasys Co., Ltd). The result indicates that air volume and water holding capacity of UPM are lower than NPM (25%, 15%, respectively). Bulk density and soil weight are more than two times higher than NPM per unit volume. Compared to NPM, there were no significant different for pH and EC. But CEC of UPM is lower than NPM 40%. In order to compare growth response and ability absorption of inorganic elements by plants, cucumber and tomato seedlings were used and chemical characteristics after growing of mediums were determined. The result indicated that seeding quality of tomato and cucumber in UPM is less than in NPM and almost inorganic ions of UPM are lower than NPM. So it is necessary to improve physicochemical properties of UPM.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.9-14
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• 2010

The present study was performed to identify the possibility of the disused paper-sludge to substitute an substrate for nursery plants. Tosilee substrate as control, paper-sludge and tosilee substrate (1:1, v:v), and paper sludge substate were used in this experiment. After harvesting tomato seedlings, there were no significant differences in growth parameters such as plant height, root length, and fresh and dry weight grown for tosilee substrate, and paper-sludge and tosilee mixture substrate. However, the seedlings grown for paper-sludge substrate alone were extremely depressed. These growth pattern was followed by cucumber seedlings. As the result of this experiment, we suggest that it must need to stabilize the pH and EC, and Zn concentration in paper-sludge for increasing its material for substrate.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.313-319
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• 2020

This study was conducted to find proper material of brushing stimulation for height suppression of tomato plug seedlings. The tomato seeds were sown in 40-cell plug tray filled with commercial seedling medium and brushing stimulation was started at 18 days after sowing. Acrylic, polypropylene film, and weaving film were used by materials of brushing stimulation and, non-treatment and diniconazole treatment were used as the control. In acrylic treatment, the plant height was the shortest and the stem diameter was the thickest. Leaf growth was the lowest in diniconazole treatment. However, the SPAD value was the greatest in diniconazole treatment. The dwarf rate was the greatest in acrylic treatment. In acrylic treatment, the T/R ratio was the lowest and compactness was the greatest. In conclusion, use of the acrylic as material for brushing stimulation has higher dwarf rate than diniconazole treatment, and has advantages height suppression and seedling quality.