• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

Chinese brake fern (Pteris vittata) has potential for application in the phytoremediation of arsenic introduced by lead arsenate-based pesticides. In this study, Chinese brake ferns were used to extract arsenic, mainly in field and greenhouse experiments, and to assess the performance of simultaneous phytoaccumulation of arsenic and lead from homogenized soil in the greenhouse, with the application of EDTA and electric potential. The ferns have been shown to be effective in accumulating high concentrations of arsenic, and extracting both arsenic and lead from the contaminated soil, with the addition of a chelating agent, EDTA. The maximum increase in lead accumulation in the ferns was 9.2 fold, with a 10 mmol/kg addition of EDTA. In addition, the application of EDTA in combination with electric potential increased the lead accumulation in ferns by 10.6 fold at 5 mmol/kg of EDTA and 40 V (dc), compared to controls. Therefore, under application of EDTA and electric potential, Chinese brake fern is able to extract arsenic and lead simultaneously from soil contaminated by lead arsenate.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2010

This study was conducted to estimate the optimum temperature and required time for soil sterilization when heated water was circulated through underground heating pipes in the greenhouse which solar heat was influenced to the temperature of soil during the summer day. Two different types of heating pipes were used for the experiment. One was a polyethylene pipe(XL) and the other was a corrugated ring shaped stainless steel pipe(STS). The results of the studies were summarized as follows; By measuring the thermal characteristics of the XL and STS, it was examined that the average temperature differences of the inlet and outlet were $8.5^{\circ}C$ and $13.3^{\circ}C$, the average flowrates were 15.3 L/min and 5.6 L/min, and the average radiation powers were 9.1 kW and 4.1 kW, respectively. As results of the regression analysis of underground temperatures, when average soil temperature was$35^{\circ}C$, an average water temperature was $80^{\circ}C$, and XL was used, it was estimated that the possible heat transfer distance, the required time for heat transfer and heat flux to reach the underground temperature of $60^{\circ}C$ were 300 mm, 230 hours, and $7.57kW/m^2$, respectively.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.235-241
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• 1997

This study was performed to investigate the behaviour of root zone environments under the control of soil temperature and tension of soil moisture near the root Bone of 'Kyoho' grapes tree grown on restricted root zone system in plastic greenhouse. Maximum diurnal air temperature inside plastic greenhouse ranged between 25.1 and 32.7$^{\circ}C$, and the average of nocturnal air temperature inside plastic greenhouse maintained at 18$^{\circ}C$ in winter season. Also the minimum diurnal relative humidity ranged between 50 and 55%, and the maximum nocturnal relative humidity ranged between 84 to 87%. At a depth of 15cm from soil surface, the average soil temperature maintained at 25.6$^{\circ}C$ for under-ground heating, and appeared to 17.4$^{\circ}C$ for unheated condition. Although the tension of soil moisture just after irrigation sharply decreased to pF 1.5, the tension of soil moisture at the depth of 15cm maintained at pF 2.0~2.2. It is suggested that the tension of soil moisture at the depth of 15cm might be used as the standard for the determination of irrigation set point. Effective drainage system is needed to prevent the spindly and succulent growth of vine trees grown in restricted root zone system.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.225-241
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• 2007

A closed flux chamber system was used for measuring major greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from tideland and/or wetland soils in estuarine area at Saemankum, Kunsan in southwestern Korea during from months of February to June 2006. Hourly averaged GHG soil emissions were measured two to three times a day during the ebb tide hours only. Site soils were analyzed for soil parameters (temperature, pH, total organic contents, N and C contents in soil) in the laboratory. Soil GHG fluxes were calculated based on the GHG concentration rate of change measured inside a closed chamber The analysis of GHG was conducted by using a Gas Chromatography (equipped with ECD/FID) at laboratory. Changes of daily, monthly GHGs' fluxes were examined. The relationships between the GHG emissions and soil chemical contents were also scrutinized with respect to gas production and consumption mechanism in the soil. Soil pH was pH $7.47{\pm}0.49$ in average over the experimental period. Organic matter contents in sample soil was $6.64{\pm}4.98\;g/kg$, and it shows relatively lower contents than those in agricultural soils in Kunsan area. Resulting from the soil chemistry data, soil nitrogen contents seem to affect GHG emission from the tidal land surface. The tidal soil was found to be either source or sink for the major GHG during the experimental periods. The annual average of $CH_{4}\;and\;CO_{2}$ fluxes were $0.13{\pm}0.86\;mg\;m^{-2}h^{-1}\;and\;5.83{\pm}138.73\;mg\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$, respectively, which will be as a source of these gases. However, $N_{2}O$ emission showed in negative flux, and the value was $-0.02{\pm}0.66\;mg\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$, and it implies tidal land surface act as a sink of $N_{2}O$. Over the experimental period, the absolute values of gas fluxes increased with soil temperature in general. Averages of the ambient gas concentration were $86.8{\pm}6.\;ppm$ in $CO_{2},\;1.63{\pm}0.34\;ppm\;in\;CH_{4},\;and\;0.59{\pm}0.15\;ppm\;in\;N_{2}O$, respectively. Generally, under the presence of gas emission from agricultural soils, decrease of gas emission will be observed as increase in ambient gas concentration. We, however, could not found significant correlation between the ambient concentrations and their emissions over the experimental period. There was no GHG compensation points existed in tide flat soil.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.75-90
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• 2024

Biochar is a solid substance with a high carbon content, as it is made out of biomass pyrolyzed under the condition of limited oxygen. This product has attracted attention as an environment-friendly soil amendment because it contributes to carbon neutrally and has improvement effects on the soil environment. This study conducted an experiment to evaluate soil physiochemical properties and microbial community changes in a melon greenhouse according to the applied amount of biochar to investigate the growth characteristics and yields of melons accordingly. In soil physical properties, an increase in the applied amount of biochar resulted in a decrease in bulk density and an increase in porosity of the soil, improving air permeability. In soil chemical properties, an increase in the applied amount of biochar led to a increasing of pH, organic matter and available phosphate content. In the growth characteristics of melons, there was a growing tendency of plant height, leaf length and leaf width according to the increasing application of biochar until 10,000 kg/ha. Moreover, melon yields also increased as the amount of biochar, 13~16% higher in 10,000 kg/ha biochar application than no treatment. Compared differences among microbial communities in the soil according to the application of biochar and found that plant beneficial bacteria dominated in biochar treatments. This study demonstrated the potential of biochar as an effective soil amendment in melon greenhouse by showing improvements in soil physicochemical properties and microbial communities.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.382-388
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• 2002

In order to assess the effects of organic fertilizer on soil microbial community structure and diversity in the greenhouse fields, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was analyzed by the MIDI (Microbial ID, Inc., Newark, DE, U.S.A.) system and enumerations were performed. In relation to bacterial division of each sample, low GC Gram-positive bacteria were predominant among bacteria cultured on aerobic bacteria media. On the other hand, alpha subdivision was predominant on proteobacteria of control and OM (organic matter) 1 treated plot, and Flavobacterium spp. existed in OM2 plot on crystal violet media of all samples. Shannon-weaver Index (H) of OM1 plot varied most by 1.9 and 5.0 among bacteria cultured on aerobic bacteria media and crystal violet media, respectively. Our results revealed that addition of the organic wastes to soil led to a highly diverse microbial community, but the excessive amounts of organic and mineral fertilizer applied in the greenhouse fields produced excess nutrients in soil and led to simplification on bacterial populations.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.347-355
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• 2017

This study investigated how the combined changes in environmental conditions and nitrogen (N) deposition influence the mineralization processes and carbon (C) dynamics of wetland soil. For this objective, we conducted a growth chamber experiment to examine the effects of combined changes in environmental conditions and N deposition on the anaerobic decomposition of organic carbon and the emission of greenhouse gases from wetland soil. A chamber with elevated $CO_2$ and temperature showed almost twice the reduction of total decomposition rate compared to the chamber with ambient atmospheric conditions. In addition, $CO_2$ fluxes decreased during the incubation under the conditions of ambient $CO_2$ and temperature. The decrease in anaerobic microbial metabolism resulted from the presence of vegetation, which influences the litter quality of soils. This can be supported by the increase in C/N ratio over the experimental duration. Principle component analysis results demonstrated the opposite locations of loadings for the cases at the initial time and after three months of incubation, which indicates a reduction in the decomposition rate and an increasing C/N ratio during the incubation. From the distribution between the decomposition rate and gas fluxes, we concluded that anaerobic decomposition rates do not have a significantly positive relationship with the fluxes of greenhouse gas emissions from the soil.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.665-672
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• 2013

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of a chelating agent on cucumber growth and changes in soil nutrients availability in polytunnel greenhouse fields. Diethylene triamine penta acetic acid (DTPA) was selected as a chelating agent. Two experiments were carried out as follows: i) For field experiment in the autumn season of 2010, each plot was treated by varying the concentration and the number of times being applied with DTPA; [DTPA (0.5 mM, 1 time/3 months), DTPA (0.06 mM, 1 time/1 week), DTPA (0.13 mM, 1 time/2 weeks), DTPA (0.06 mM, 1 time/1 week)+N]. Conventional practice was also investigated. ii) In the spring and summer seasons of 2011, each plot was treated by varying the concentration (0, 0.06, 0.13, 0.19 mM) of DTPA, chemical fertilizers (NPK), and combination of chemical fertilizers and DTPA 0.06 mM. The fruit yields of cucumber and soil chemical properties had no significant differences between treatments. However, in the spring season of 2011, DTPA 0.06 mM plot added 1 time per 2 weeks increased the yield of cucumber, but caused the reduction of yield in next cultivation season. This result showed that excess use of DTPA can cause the damage of crop growth. The inorgainc contents such as Ca and Mg absorbed by cucumber plant had significant differences between DTPA 0.19 mM (2 times/1 week) and fertilizers plus DTPA treatments [DTPA 0.06 mM (2 times/1 week) + 1/2 NPK, DTPA 0.06 mM (2 times/1 week) + NPK]. The input cost of fertilizers was saved when the concentration and the number of times added with DTPA was 0.06 mM and 1 time a week, respectively. This treatment used 67% less of applied fertilizers cost than the plot of conventional practice did. Thus, this research suggested that the application of DTPA 0.06 mM by 1 time a week can be effective for sustainability of crop production and reduction of fertilizers usage in polytunnel greenhouse.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.113-121
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• 2018

The objectives of the research were 1) to develop the low-cost and high efficient desalination system to treat brackish water having high salt contents for irrigation at greenhouses near coast, and 2) to monitor and assess the effects of the brackish water desalination system on soil environment and growth in squash greenhouse cultivation area. The monitoring site was one of the squash greenhouse cultivation farm at Choengam-ri, Jinsang-myun, Gwangyang-si, Jeonnam-Do Monitoring results for groundwater irrigation water quality, and salinity showed a remarkable difference between control and treatment group. The salinity of soil at treatment group was less than at control group. While, the system made possible to increase the squash quantity from 4.7 ea to 6.3 ea at each and the average weight of the harvested squash was increased from 277.2 g to 295.1 g. The applied brackish water desalination system may be appled to reclaim sea or brackish irrigated area as alternative water resources, although long-term monitoring is needed to get more representative results at different level of salinity.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.287-295
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• 2012

Purpose: Some of the most representative approaches are to apply next generation technologies to save energy consumption, fully automated control system to appropriately maintain environmental conditions, and autonomous assistance system to reduce labor load and ensure operator's safety. Nevertheless, improvement of upcoming method for soil cultured greenhouse has not been sufficiently achieved. Geometrical complexity of ground in protected crop cultivation might be one of the most dominant factors in design of autonomous vehicle. While there is a practical solution fairly enough to promise an accurate travelling, such as autonomous sprayer guided by rail or induction coil, for various reasons including the limitation of producer's budget, the previously developed sprayer has not been widely distributed to market. Methods: In this study, we developed an autonomous sprayer considering travelling performance on geometrical complexity of ground in soil cultured greenhouse. To maintain a stable travelling and to acquire a real time feedback, common wire with 80 mm thick and body frame and sprayer boom. To evaluate performance of the prototype, tracking performance, climbing performance and spraying boom's uniform leveling performance were individually evaluated by corresponding experimental tests. Results: The autonomous guidance system was proved to be sufficiently suitable for accurate linear traveling with RMS as lower than approximately 10 cm from designated path. Also the prototype could climb $10^{\circ}$ of ground's slope angle with 40 kg of water weight. Uniform leveling of spraying boom was successfully performed within $0.5^{\circ}$ of sprayer boom's slope. Conclusions: Considering more complex pathways and coarse ground conditions, evaluations and improvements of the prototype should be performed for promising reliability to commercialization.