• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.70-74
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• 2008

To determine an optimum harvest time for chinese milk vetch (CMV) seed production, the seeds were harvested at 4 times, according to 25, 30, 35, and 40 day after flowering (DAF), in Miryang, southern part of Korea. CMV plants were manually harvested at each time and seed threshing was done by rice threshing machine. Seed yield, 1,000-seed weight, germinability, and hard coat ratio were investigated. Seed yield was the highest, 53.9 kg/300 kg by dry weight (DW) of CMV plant, at 35 DAF. 1,000-seed weight increased according to seed harvest time from 25 DAF to 40 DAF when it was 3.10 g. The germination ratios of seeds harvested at 4 times were not significantly different when the seeds stored until August 1. In case of long period of CMV seeds stored, the seeds harvested later showed higher germination rate. On the other hand, because the hard coat ratio causing germination inhibition was declined with an increase of storage period, it was higher in the seeds harvested later. There was no difference among the seeds harvested at 4 times at October 1. In conclusion, it was presumed that an optimum harvest time for CMV seed production should be at 35 DAF considering seed yield, weight and germinability.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2010

Seedling establishment, overwintering ability and dry matter production of Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus L. CMV) in natural reseeding practice were compared with the annual seedling in 2006~2007 and 2007~2008. In natural reseeding, CMV seeds were distributed up to 15 cm soil depth in autumn after rice harvest and the seeds generally emerged from soil at less than 5 cm depth while they all emerged from soil surface in the annual seeding. It took 7-8 d longer in seedling establishment of the natural reseeding practice than the annual seeding. Generally, the natural reseeding practice showed higher seedling stand than the annual seeding because of high seedling survival rate. The high seedling survival rate in natural reseeded plant was attributed to the longer root length than that of the annual-seeded plant. In annual seeding, most of the seeds emerged from the soil surface and the root can not easily penetrate the soil while, in natural reseeding technology, the seeds incorporated into the soil during land preparation emerged from the soil at 0 to 5 cm depths, thereby having longer root length. The long root length contributed to greater ability to survive even under low temperature and low soil moisture conditions during winter. The dry matter production in the natural reseeding practice was also higher than the annual seeding when the temperature is low and soil moisture is not sufficient. This result indicates that natural reseeding technology is more stable and beneficial in seedling establishment and dry matter production as compared with the annual seeding especially under unfavorable environmental condition for CMV growth. This practice could be encouraged in CMV-rice cropping system in the southern parts of Korea.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.384-389
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• 2009

Germination characteristics of Chinese milk vetch(CMV) seeds produced from Hanam Province, China and Milyang, Korea were investigated to give basic information on the stability of seedling establishment in the CMV cultivation. The germination percentage of the imported CMV seed from China varied according to importation year and seed collection site ranging from 79~95%. The germination of black colored seed coat was lower than the light green colored ones and germination by seed weight was not significantly different. Although the seed germination was lower under dark than in the presence of light, it was not significantly different. The germination of the imported CMV seed slightly declined to only less than 6% after one-year of storage under natural environment conditions but it significantly decreased after two years. However, when the seed was stored at the $5^{\circ}C$, the seed germination was the same as after two years of storage. On the other hand, fresh CMV seed produced in Milyang, Korea had only 8% germination due to seed coat dormancy but the germination increased to 73~85% after breaking seed dormancy after a year of storage. The high germination percentage of 72~82% was still maintained even after 27 months of seed storage unlike the CMV seed produced from China. These results indicate that CMV seeds do not require light for germination and the seed from China should be used within one-year after importation while the seeds produced from Korea can be used even after two years from harvest for stable CMV seedling establishment in the CMV-rice cropping system.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.260-264
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• 2009

Sufficient seedling establishment of Chinese milk vetch (CMV) is the most important factor in the CMV cultivation. In order to obtain sufficient seedling stand, CMV seed should be planted at right seed planting date. An optimum CMV seed planting time for stable seedling establishment was determined based on the final water drainage time for rice harvest in fall. Five planting times from 10 days before water drainage (DBWD) to 15 days after water drainage (DAWD) at five day interval were evaluated during the period of 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 and the optimum CMV seed planting time was determined based on seedling stand, winter survival rate, and dry matter production. CMV seedling stand before winter was high with $575{\sim}1,050\;plants/m^2$ regardless of seed planting times but after overwintering, it was greater in seed planting date between 5 DBWD to 5 DAWD than that of 10 to 15 DAWD treatments. Winter survival rate, dry matter production and seed production yield also showed similar trend to the seedling establishment. On the other hand, when CMV seeds were sowed early at 10 DBWD, seedling stand and winter survival rate were lower than that of 5 DBWD to 5 DAWD. This result indicates that an optimum CMV seed planting time based on the final water drainage could be between 5 DBWD (September 20) to 5 DAWD (September 30).

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.76-82
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• 2010

Experiments were conducted to investigate seed persistence of Chinese milk vetch(CMV) in naturally reseeded rice field in 2007~2009. The seed and pods with seeds were buried in rice field at 0, 5 and 10 cm depths and retrieved from the field at one to three month intervals from July to the following year March and determined change of seed dormancy and viability. In the second experiment, persistence of the CMV seeds in the naturally reseeded rice field at different tillage methods and soil depths were also investigated after rice harvest in autumn. Burial depths and durations affected recovery rate, dormancy and viability of CMV seed. The viability loss was faster and greater in the seed than the pod with seeds and on the soil surface than the 5 or 10 cm burial depths. The recovery rate of CMV seed was decreased starting from one month as seed burial and it was significantly decreased to 52~65% for the seed in September. However, unlike the seed burial, the nearly 100% CMV seeds were recovered for burial as pod with seeds even after four months burial in both 0 and 5 cm depths. However, the recovery rate was sharply declined to below 30% at October in 2007 in both seed and pods with seeds and in the 2008/2009 experiment. the 15~47% of CMV seeds still remained even after October. The CMV had high seed dormancy of 95%, showing only 4~5% germination at the beginning in June but the seed germination increased to 25 to 35% in seed and 55 to 61% in pod with seeds in September due to breakage of hard seed dormancy. The viability loss was faster in the seed than in the pod with seeds regardless of depths of placement in the soil base on decayed seeds. Also the seed placed on the soil surface lost viability faster than the 5~10 burial depths. On the other hand, field observation in the naturally reseeded CMV rice field showed that as many as 917~2,185 CMV seeds $m^2$ were from the 0~15 cm soil depth in the rotary tillage and 250~10,105 CMV seeds in minimum tillage treatmints. The recovered seed germinated 25~33%, 23~43% but still had high percentage of hard seed having 64~72% and 51~77% even after rice harvest in autumn. These results indicate that freshly harvested CMV seeds had high level of primary dormancy and the dormancy was gradually broken in soil with time during rice cultivation periods and appreciable number of CMV seeds remained even 4 month after burial in soil. CMV plant regenerated naturally from the remained seed bank at rice harvest time in autumn. The CMV seedling still emerged even after 2 years of continuous destructive killing of emerged CMV plant by rotary tillage in naturally reseeded CMV plant in rice field, indicating that CMV seeds do persistent as least two years in soil.