To investigate the defense mechanism against the abiotic stress, a cDNA clone encoding a CuZn superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) protein was isolated from a cDNA library prepared from tabroot mRNAs of Codonopsis lanceolata. The eDNA, designated ClSODCc, is 799 nucleotides long and has an open reading frame of 459 bp with a deduced amino acid sequence of 152 residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of ClSODCc matched to the previously reported CuZnSODs. Consensus amino acid residues (His-45, -47, -62, -70, -79, -119 and Asp-82) were involved in Cu-, Cu/Zn-, and Zn- binding ligands. The deduced amino acid sequence of ClSODCc showed high homologies (82％-86％) regardless of species. Expression of ClSODCc by oxidative stress was increased up to 1 h after treatment and declined gradually. Much earlier and stronger expression of ClSODCc was observed in the cold stress treatment.

To determine optimal plant density of forage rye in southern areas of Korea, forage rye cv. Paldanghomil, the highest yielding variety among experimental varieties of forage rye, was grown under five different plant density. Yield components such as plant height, and number of leaves were highest at the broad casting. Plants sown at broadcasting also showed highest fresh and dry matter yield. When plants were grown of the broad casting, they showed higher values in content of crude protein and lower values in contents of crude fiber such as neutral detergent fiber(NDF), acid detergent fiber(ADF), cellulose and lignin. There was no relationship between variation of in vitro dry matter digestibility(IVDMD) and plant density. Plants sown at the broad casting showed highest digestible dry matter yields.

Calmodulin, a $Ca^{2+}$-binding protein, has no enzyme activity. It combines with $Ca^{2+}$ and makes variable proteins to an active form. Calmodulin 2 is a ubiquitous protein in plants. To investigate the defense mechanism against various stresses, a clone encoding a calmodulin 2 protein was isolated from a cDNA library prepared from taproot mRNAs of Codonopsis lanceolata. The cDNA, designated CICAM2, is 719 nucleotides long and has an open reading frame of 450 bp with a deduced amino acid sequence of 149 residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of CICAM2 showed a high similarity with calmodulins of P. x hybrida (P27163) 97%, N. tabacum (BAB61908) 97%, S. tuberosum (AAA74405) 96%, Z. mays (CAA74307) 92%, C. richardii (AF510075) 93%, M. truncatula (AAM81203) 91%, and G. max (P62163) 91%. The transcriptional expression of the CICAM2 gene, was gradually increased by the CaCl$_2$ treatment. Whereas its expression And it was gradually decreased in the cold stress treatment.ent.

To find out the optimum fertilizer level for high yielding variety, Paldanghomil, experiment was conducted with 15 compositions of fertilizer levels at the experiment field of forage rye in Sunchon National University from Sep. 1998 to Aug. 1999. The effects of nitrogen fertilizer on plant growth were large significant but increasing rate of application in potassium and phosphate fertilizers above 10kg/10a had negligible effects on plant growth. Raising nitrogen application rate of fertilizers turned out to be 18-10-10kg/l0a of N-P$_2$O$_{5}$-K$_2$O. Content of crude protein was the highest and that of crude fiber such as NDF, ADF, cellulose and lignin were lowest at this rate. Furthermore, IVDMD was high and dry matter yield were the highest at the optimum rate.e.

Sequence-tagged site (STS) markers tightly linked to the bacterial leaf blight (BLB) resistance genes, xa5, xa13 and Xa21, were used in this study. A survey was conducted to find polymorphisms between the resistant and susceptible germplasm in rice. 500 of Korean varieties and 100 of landraces were evaluated in this study. STS marker, RG207 was used to having xa5 resistance gene of rice germplasm. 27 varieties of Korean germplasm showed resistant for xa5 gene. The RG136 an xa-13 marker resulted in a single band of approximately 1kb in all the rice accessions studied. In order to detect polymorphism, digestion of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product was performed using a restriction enzyme Hinf Ⅰ. The resistant lines resulted in two bands 0.5kb on digestion with Hinf Ⅰ, while the same enzyme did not digest the PCR product of susceptible lines. No polymorphism was detected in Korean varieties and landraces, indicating that they probably do not contain xa13 gene. pTA248 an Xa-21 marker detected a band of 1kb in the resistant lines and bands of either 750bp or 700bp in the susceptible lines. Among germplasm tested, there are no varieties and landraces with Xa21 resistant gene. The results of the germplasm survey will be useful for the selection of parents in breeding programs aimed at transferring these bacterial blight resistance genes from one varietal background to another.

It has been believed that supplementation of human diets with soybean products markedly reduces human cancer mortality rates. Specifically the black colored soybean has been considered as having a medicinal effect since ancient times in Korea. Six genotypes of black colored soybean and a normal variety were investigated for their biological effect. While the isoflavone content of black colored soybean was higher than the normal soybean, saponin content of the seeds was not different among varieties. In the case of antioxidant activity, black colored soybean showed over 3 times increase in the active effect than the control variety. When feeding soybean extract, a general change of alcohol resolving effect, such as alcohol dehydrogenase activity, was observed in the blood and liver of rats.

Sweet potato infected with a viral disease (SPFMV) showed irregular chlorotic patterns, so called feathering associated with faint or distinct ring spots that have purple-pigmented borders. SPFMV was eliminated from sweet potato plants using meristem tip culture. MS medium supplemented with BAP (2mg/L) and NAA (0.05 mg/L) was used for shoot proliferation and 1/2 MS medium for rooting of the plants. Highest percentage of regenerated plants (60%) was obtained from the optimum size (0.3-0.5mm) meristem tips. Of these, 60% plants were found negative for SPFMV by RT-PCR. Virus detection by RT-PCR was found to be a reliable method. Meristem-tip culture to produce SPFMV-free quality sweet potato and virus detection by RT-PCR is an efficient, time saving and reliable method for production of SPFMV-free tissue culture raised plants.

In order to find out the optimum harvest (dipping) date combined with sowing date on yield and nutrient quality of forage rye which is suitable at the Southern part of Korea, Paldanghomil variety was grown Sep. 2001 to May 2002 at Sunchon National University, and yield and nutrient quality of plant were observed. As harvest date and sowing date were delayed, the plant length was longest, number of leaves per plant was increased in the time of May 20 clipping. Fresh yield was the heaviest in the time of May 20 clipping and Oct. l0 sowing, and the most dry matter yield was the heaviest in the time of May 20 clipping and Oct. 10 sowing. Content of crude protein was the highest and that of crude fiber such as NDF, ADF, hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin were the lowest in the late time of clipping and sowing. Further more IVDMD was high and dry matter yield and digestible dry matter yield were the highest in the time of May 20 dipping and Oct. 10 sowing. Judging from the results reported above, at optimum harvest (dipping) date combined with sowing date for yield and nutrient quality of forage rye seemed to be the time of May 20 clipping and Oct. 10 sowing.

The effects of topping method on the yield and major agronomic traits of two varieties, Sunwol and Youngjun of Alisma plantago, were investigated in the Southern region. Plant height, yield of fresh root, yield of dry root and weights of total roots were the highest in the variety of Sunwol, and at the plots with topping of four times cutting in flowering in main culm (Treatment No.1). Considering from our results, optimum topping method is most likly be topping of four times cutting in flowering in main culm in the Sunwol variety.

The present study examined the effects of Schizandra chinensis extract on the serum lipid composition and the antioxidant of rats in which obesity was induced through high fat diet. Fifty male Sprague-Dawely rats weighing 163.91$\pm$4.17g on the average were adjusted to basic diet and laboratory environment and were fed with high fat diet freely for 6 weeks to induce obesity. Forty rats, the final weight of which was 400g, were selected and were divided into a control group(C), treated groups(T I ; body weight of 100mg/kg, TII ; 150mg/kg and TIII ; 200mg/kg), 10 heads of similar weight for each, and test breeding was performed for 4 weeks. During the test breeding, all treated groups were fed with basic diet and difference in intake among the treated groups were maintained to be less than 5%. According to the result, the quantity of Triglyceride in serum was lower in all of the groups treated with Schizandra chinensis than the control group, but the difference was not significant except the treated group of 200mg (P>0.05). The quantity of Total cholesterol in serum was significantly lower in all the groups treated with Schizandra chinensis than in the control group (P<0.05) but differences according to the quantity of Schizandra chinensis applied were not observed. The quantity of HDL-cholesterol was not significantly different among all the groups including the control group (P<0.05) and no regular tendency of change in the quantity was observed according to the quantity of Schizandra chinensis applied. The quantity of LDL-cholesterol was lower in all the groups treated with Schizandra chinensis, but the treated group of 100mg was not significantly different from the control group. The quantity of TBARS in serum was lower in all the groups treated with Schizandra chinensis than in the control group (P<0.05), but no regular tendency of change in the quantity was observed according to the quantity of Schizandra chinensis applied. The quantity of liver TBARS was not significantly different among all the treated groups (P>0.05). The levels of glutathione peroxidase activity (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase activity (SOD) and catalase activity were higher in all the groups treated with Schizandra chinensis treated group than in the control group (P<0.05), and the treated group of 200mg showed the highest activity among the treated groups.

In Japan, propagation of cyclamen is mainly from seedlings. However, seeds are expensive and germination is slow and non..uniform. Therefore, to achieve genetically uniform propagation, multiplication must be vegetative. The rooted tuberous stems without shoots as sources of explants were cultured on the media containing BA and sucrose. After 30 days cultivation, tuberous roots were produced from the root ends attached to a tuberous stem and its capability was dependent on the type of media. The highest percentage of tuberous root formation was observed in Culture on the medium of 1/3 MS containing 0.05mgL$^{-1}$ NAA, 0.5mg L$^{-1}$ BA and 5% sucrose. Growth rates of the tuberous roots were greatly influenced by the cutting positions of a root in explants. The highest growth of was observed if small amount of root end was cut at initiation of tissue culture.

This study was carried out to investigate seed germination and seedling of cabbage and sugar beet in four treatments of salinity including 0 (control), 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5％ NaCl. The results showed that different treatments of salinity had considerable effects on the germination and root and shoot length of cabbage and sugar beet. Percent of germination in both species showed significant decrease with increasing salinity up to 1.5％ NaCl. This decrease was more evident in cabbage when compared to sugar beet. The required time for germination increased with high levels of salinity. The seedling growth of both species were inhibited by all salinity levels. Particularly at 1.0 and 1.5％ NaCl, no measurable length was observed in cabbage and sugar beet. At 0.5％ NaCl root growth of both plant species was more affected as compared to shoot growth by salinity.

This study was conducted to develop effective production system in greenhouse for leaves and stems of Angelica acutiloba by using connect pots in 2003 and 2004. Seed germination rate and plant biomass of Angelica acutiloba collected in 2004 were higher than those harvested in 2003. Germination rate of Angelica acutiloba seeds collected in 2003 was 10％, while germination rate of seeds collected in 2004 was above 90％. Especially, plant growth and yield of Angelica acutiloba grown in connect pots sized with 4 ${\times}$ 4 ${\times}$ 5cm(length ${\times}$ width ${\times}$ height) were the highest. These results indicate that leaf and stem production of Angelica acutiloba can be improved by using connect pots and optimizing seed collecting time in greenhouse.