• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.203-213
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• 2011

Agriculture modern environments can vary due to factors such as land consolidation and ditch enhancement projects. But, these improvements projects can include cover-ing-up of irrigation ditches with concrete, increasing the drop between paddy field and drainage ditches, which might decrease the abundance and diversity of fish fauna around paddy fields. In this study, for the management of agrobiodiversity on fish in paddy fields, we installed a small-scale fishways between paddy fields and drainage ditches, and evaluated the effects on the eco-connection of the paddy fields, ditches and stream. Five fish species were recovered at the drainage ditches. The species exhibited characteristics spawning and growth based on the paddy field. The results indicate that the five fish species could ascend the paddy fields through the small-scale fishways. There are no difference of species numbers at ditches of environment-friendly agriculture paddy fields (A) and good agricultural practices (B) region, but individual numbers were higher at the B region. This result could be interpreted as indicating that ditch diversity was affected by positional properties rather than farming practices because the water flow and connection to adjacent stream of B region were better than A region. After ascertaining the fish species capable of ascending in a pre-survey of the drainage ditches, we set up small-scale fishways at the drop between paddy fields and drainage ditches. Three species of fish (Aphyocypris chinensis, Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, M. mizolepis) arrived at the paddy fields via small-scale fishways. The main movement time was from 18:00~24:00 and 00:00~06:00, indicating a preference for the night time period rather than the day period for migration. Concentrating the operation time from night to dawn seems prudent for effective management of small-scale fishways.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.21-28
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• 2011

Hibiscus cannabinus L is a plant in the Malvaceae family. Kenaf was seeded at June 1st in 2010 and harvested at November 18th and dried and evaluated worth as a bulking agent for livestock composting. Harvested and dried Kenaf was divided into the bast, core and leaf. All materials were grinded by hammer mill and the moisture absorption, moisture evaporation, pH, volume weight and C/N ratio were measured. Kenaf was higher water absorption and evaporation ability than those of sawdust and chaff. The pH values of Kenaf were pH $2.8{\pm}0.01$ - $4.34{\pm}0.02$, which is lower pH value than those of sawdust (pH $5.28{\pm}0.01$) and chaff (pH $6.3{\pm}0.02$). The C/N ratio of Kenaf showed 649 of core, 204 of bast and 70 of leaf, which were lower than sawdust (789.1) but higher than chaff (132). In volume weight test, the materials were divided by particle size of Kenaf, named as group A(${\geq}4cm$), B(${\leq}4cm$, ${\geq}0.25cm$) and C(${\leq}0.25cm$). The volume of weight of group A and B for core, bast and leaf showed similar, but group C showed higher than those of sawdust and chaff. Especially, the volume weight of group C for leaf was 5 times higher than those of sawdust and chaff. This study suggested the possibility of using Kenaf as a bulk agent for composting of livestock manure. This is considered that strengthen the competitiveness of farmers through reducing the cost, prevention of environmental pollution caused by livestock manure and environmentally friendly processing of livestock manure.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.193-204
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• 2000

In order to get some basic data on environmental friendly function by Korean organic farming, the chemical characteristics of soil were determined on 100 farm cultivating site in Paldang watershed area of Great Seoul. The EC and content of $NO_3-N$ and Av. $P_2O_5$ in topsoil(0~30cm) showed $2.30dS\;m^{-1}$, $82mg\;kg^{-1}$, $918mg\;kg^{-1}$ in the soil cultivated chinese cabbage. $2.29dS\;m^{-1}$, $86mg\;kg^{-1}$, $954mg\;kg^{-1}$ in the soil of lettuce, $1.83dS\;m^{-1}$, $66mg\;kg^{-1}$, $1114mg\;kg^{-1}$ in the soil of crown daisy. These salt accumulation(EC) and the high concentration of mineral content in topsoil such as nitrate and phosphate showed the soils of organic farming were contaminated by practice of organic farming for the maintenance strategy of soil fertility. The $NO_3-N$ and Av. $P_2O_5$ in the subsoil(30~60cm) showed $75mg\;kg^{-1}$ and $641mg\;kg^{-1}$, $72mg\;kg^{-1}$ and $466mg\;kg^{-1}$, $42mg\;kg^{-1}$ and $873mg\;kg^{-1}$ in soil cultivated chinese cabbage, lettuce and crown daisy respectively. It indicates eventually the high concentration of nitrate and phosphate in topsoil caused penetration to subsoil, and the high concentration of mineral contents in subsoil indicate the potential risk of leaching of ground water by Korean organic farming. The positive correlation at 1% between EC and $NO_3-N$, $K_2O$, T-C, $P_2O_5$ and T-N show the salt accumulation in the both soil depth of Korean organic farming were caused by minerals such as $NO_3-N$, $K_2O$, T-C, $P_2O_5$ and T-N by overuse of organic fertilizer.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.239-248
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• 2007

Although high nutritional values and continuous identification of important functional substances of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill.] promote consumption of soybean products worldwide, informations on quality of brand soybean is not enough for consumers. Total of 100 brand soybeans [32 for soypaste and source, 45 black testa (lage), and 17 black testa (small) or medicinal soybean and beansprout soybean] were collected at supermarkets and several external quality factors were analyzed. Brand soybeans were marked with the environmental friendly and intimating words along with soybean (white or yellow), black soybean (black-, frost-, late frost-, green or inner-green-), medicinal soybean and beansprout soybean. Among 100 brand soybeans 30% was 1 kg package and 59% was 500 g package, difference between printed and actual weights of 70% brand soybeans was ${\pm}1%$ and weights of 2/3 of brand soybeans were higher than printed weight. Range of 100 seed weights of soypaste and source, black testa (large) and black testa (small) and beansprout soybeans were $23.7{\sim}47.8g$, $21.9{\sim}44.5g$ and $9.5{\sim}15.0g$, respectively. Although ranges of 100 seed weights of soypaste and source and black testa (large) soybeans were similar, 63% of soypaste and source were less than 29 g, while 78% of black testa (large) soybeans were higher than 30 g. Although average and highest percentages of seeds separated with 6.7 mm sieve were similar with 87.4% and 99.9% for soypaste and source soybean and 86.5% and 99.5% for black testa (large) soybean, respectively, the lowest percentages were 70.7% for soypaste and source soybean and 14.4% for black testa (large) soybean. When 100 seed weight was greater than 35 g, 90% of seeds were remained on 6.7 mm sieve. On the other hand 100 g weight and percentage of seeds remained on 6.7 mm sieve showed significantly positive correlations [r=0.7488** for soypaste and source soybean and r=0.7874** for black testa (large) soybean when 100 seed weight was $20{\sim}30g$. Based on hilum color and/or appearance, 76% of brand soybeans collected (more than 90% in yellow testa soybeans) were found to be mixed more than 10% with other cultivars or landraces. Foreign materials such as sand, piece of clothe, wood piece, dead insects, other soybeans were found in 20% of brand soybeans. Average test weight of brand soybeans was 762g $L^{-1}$ with a range of $645{\sim}820g\;L^{-1}$. Soybeans from local markets were as good as brand soybeans in 100 seed weight, uniformity of seeds, weight of foreign materials and test weight.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.185-194
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• 1995

The prevention of excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer get an attention in Korea not only for minimizing $NO_3^-$ contamination of groundwater but also for establishment of environmental friendly sustainable agriculture. In order to find out the dynamics of $NO_3^-$ in barley rhizosphere and its suitability for nitrogen fertilization strategies and for environmental control, the accumulation of $NO_3^-$ in 3 layer, 0~30cm, 30~60cm, 60~90cm of soil profile has been detected in winter barley pro-duction system. It showed the recommended N fertilization rate for winter barley cause the $NO_3^-$ contamination of groundwater through $NO_3^-$ leaching during winter. The $NO_3^-$ content of 0~90cm soil depth have directly reflected the amount of basal N fertilization in the early spring, but not 0~30cm and 0~60cm soil depth. The contents of $NO_3^-$ measured to 0~30cm, 0~60cm soil depth were not significanly correlated with yield but the contents of $NO_3^-$ measured to 90cm soil depth was highly correlated with yield. Nitrogen fertilizer requirement could be estimated accurately by soil test and it provides field specific N rate recommendation for spring N application to winter barley. It was concluded that $N_{min}$ method could be applied to korean climatic and soil condition for optimal fertilizer application rate.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.121-130
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• 2012

In analyzing pesticide residue, LLE (liquid liquid extraction) is generally applied as one of the existing methods, but needed quite a lot of organic solvents and analytical apparatuses for the sample pre-treatment. In addition to its long analysis time and complex analytical processes, it is required to develop a more rapid and efficient method at present. In order to establish an economic and simple pesticide residue analytical method, this study carried out a comparative experiment on the existing analytical method with a new sample pre-treatment method named QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe), which extracts and refines pesticide components by directly adding solid powder into the sample. Both the two analytical methods showed favorable values of correlation coefficient ($R^2$ > 0.99) of calibration curves. In terms of the detection limit (identification limit), imidacloprid showed 0.02 mg/kg, while the rest of pesticides showed a level around 0.05 mg/kg. The results of this experiment revealed that the recovery of LLE was 92.8-100.9% and the RSD was below 2.5%. On the other hand, the recovery of QuEChERS was 92.2-101.6% and RSD was below 1.9%. As a result of comparing the amount of pesticide residue by the time between the two analytical methods by using Paired t-Test, there was no significant difference between the two analytical methods as the p-value ranged from 0.3148-0.9890. Considering the results of the two methods, the QuEChERS method had similar recovery, compared to the analytical method using the existing LLE, and the analytical time was shortened by about one fourth of that of the existing method. Moreover, since it excludes the use of harmful organic solvents like dichloromethane during the process of extraction, thus leading to protecting experimenters health and remarkably reducing the amount of disused solvents, it is judged as an echo-friendly and economic analytical method.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.93-111
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• 2005

Defining soil quality in scopes and applications is one of the prerequisite for the sustainable management of soil environment to orient researches, strategies and policies. However, definition of soil quality is controversial depending upon a viewpoint of soil science or soil environment. Soil quality can be, irrespective of the disciplines, defined as the capacity of a soil to function within ecosystem boundaries to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality and promote plant and animal health. Common to all of the soil quality concepts can be summarized as the capacity of soil to function effectively at present and in the future. The OECD includes soil quality as one of the agri-environment indicators. This article intends to i) summarize the current soil quality research, and ii) provide information on protocol of soil quality assessment. A framework for soil quality was divided into three steps: indicator selection as minimum data set (MDS), scoring of the selected indicators, and integration of scores into soil quality index. Korean government suggested possible physical and chemical indicators such as bulk density and organic matter for paddy and upland soils to OECD. The framework of soil quality assessment is not yet implemented in Korea. Countries such as USA, Canada and New Zealand have constructed the framework on soil quality assessment and developed a user-friendly version of soil quality assessment tools to evaluate the integrated effects of various soil management practices. The protocol provided in this review might help policymakers, scientists, and administrators improve awareness about soil quality and understand the way of soil environment management.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.824-829
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• 2011

In recent years, there has been an increasing public concern about fecal contamination of water, air and agricultural produce by pathogens residing in organic fertilizers such as manure, compost and agricultural by-products. Efforts are now being made to control or eliminate the pathogen populations at on-farm level. Development of efficient on-farm strategies to mitigate the potential risk posed by the pathogens requires data about how the pathogens prevail in livestock manure composts and organic fertilizers. Microbiological analysis of livestock manure composts and organic fertilizers obtained from 32 and 28 companies, respectively, were conducted to determine the total aerobic bacteria count, coliforms, Escherichia coli count and the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, and Cronobacter sakazakii. The total aerobic bacteria counts in the livestock manure composts and organic fertilizers were in the range of 7 to $9log\;CFU\;g^{-1}$ and 4 to $6log\;CFU\;g^{-1}$, respectively. In the livestock manure composts, coliforms and E. coli were detected in samples obtained from 4 and 2 companies, respectively, in the range of 2 to $5log\;CFU\;g^{-1}$ and $2log\;CFU\;g^{-1}$. In the organic fertilizers, coliforms and E. coli were detected in samples obtained from 4 and 1 companies, respectively, in the range of 1 to $3log\;CFU\;g^{-1}$ and $2log\;CFU\;g^{-1}$. In 3 out 32 compost samples, B. cereus was detected, while other pathogens were not detected. In 28 organic fertilizers, no pathogens were detected. The complete composting process can result in the elimination of pathogens in livestock manure compost and organic fertilizer. The results of this study could help to formulate microbiological guidelines for the use of compost in environmental-friendly agriculture. This research provides information regarding microbiological quality of livestock manure compost and organic fertilizer.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.421-434
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• 2008

This study was carried out to estimate the selection of appropriate forage crops, proper application levels of livestock manure, and carrying capacity per unit area for organic livestock, as influenced by livestock manure application levels compared with chemical fertilizer to corn and sorghum $\times$ sorghum hybrid, in order to produce organic forages by utilizing livestock manure. For both corns and sorghum $\times$ sorghum hybrids, no fertilizer plots had significantly (p<0.05) lower annual dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) yields than those of other plots, whereas the N+P+K plots ranked the highest yields, followed by 150% cattle manure plots and 100% cattle manure plots. Dry matter, CP and TDN yields of cattle manure plots were significantly (p<0.05) higher than those of no fertilizer and P+K plots. In applying cattle manure, the yields of cattle slurry plots tended to be a little higher than those of composted cattle manure plots. Assuming that corns and sorghum $\times$ sorghum hybrids produced from this trial were fed at 70% level to 450kg of Hanwoo heifer with 400g of average daily gain, livestock carrying capacity (head/year/ha) ranked the highest in N+P+K plots of the case of corns (mean 6.7 heads), followed by 150% cattle slurry plots (mean 5.6 heads), 150% composted cattle manure plots (mean 4.8 heads), 100% cattle slurry plots (mean 4.4 heads), 100% composted cattle manure plots (mean 4.3 heads), P+K plots (mean 4.1 heads), and no fertilizer plots (mean 3.1 heads). Meanwhile, in case of sorghum $\times$ sorghum hybrids, N+P+K plots (mean 5.7 heads) ranked the highest carrying capacity, followed by $100{\sim}150%$ cattle slurry plots (mean $4.8{\sim}5.2$ heads), 150% composted cattle manure plots (mean 4.7 heads), 100 % composted cattle manure plots (mean 4.3 heads), P+K plots (mean 3.8 heads), and no fertilizer plots (mean 3.4 heads). The results indicated that replacing chemical fertilizer by livestock manure application to cultivation soil for forage crops could enhance not only DM and TDN yields, but also organic stock carrying capacity. In conclusion, it was conceived that organic forage production by reutilizing livestock manure might contribute to reduced environmental pollution and the production of environment friendly agricultural products through resources recycling.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.228-234
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• 2004

In organic farming, nutrients for the crop production are mostly supplied by compost containing various organic materials. The long-term organic cultivation would result in continuous changes of soil chemical properties and fertility. The aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of long-term organic cultivation to the soil fertility in Korea focusing on the chemical properties of soil. Soil samples were collected from organic farms that had been cultivated for 8-10 years after certification of organic product through the conversion periods of 2-3 years. Thereby each organic farm had acquired optimal cultivating techniques and soil condition. We separated organic farms into three groups by cultivating crops, i.e. leaf vegetables, fruit vegetables and fruit trees. In each group, five representative farms were chosen in order to investigate the relationships between application rate of compost and nutrient contents in soil. The application rate of compost was approximately $10-15Mg\;10a^{-1}$ for the first 2-3 years at the beginning of organic farming and then reduced to a rate of $3-4Mg\;10a^{-1}$ after stabilization of organic matter content in soil with $30-50g\;10a^{-1}$. However, the continuous organic farming for 8-10 years resulted in accumulation of nutrients, especially of P, in soil probably due to the excessive amounts of compost applied. In conclusion, we suggest that the application rate and organic sources of compost should be decided on the basis of P content in soil by soil testing and thereafter the lack of soil N content for crop cultivation should be compensated by crop rotation with such as legumes. This might be an approach to the original meaning of organic farming as an environmental friendly agriculture.