• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.165-170
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• 2004

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different surface soil management practices on soil microflora in volcanic ash soils of citrus orchard. Soil samples were collected from citrus orchards of clean cultivation, grass sod, and grass mulch system in May and September 1997. Soil chemical properties, populations of various microorganisms, enzyme activities, microbial biomass C were analyzed. Average soil pH were 4.7, and average nitrogen and organic matter contents were 6 and $140.2g\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Aerobic bacteria were distributed at $26,2-47.3{\times}10^6cfu\;g^{-1}$ level. Among the aerobic bacteria Pseudomonas spp., Rhizobium spp., and thermophilic Bacillus spp. were dominant in most of the investigated orchard soils. Density of actinomycetes were low at $1.8-84.6{\times}10^5cfu\;g^{-1}$ level. Fungi were distributed at $26.4-182.1{\times}10^5cfu\;g^{-1}$ level and the density was higher in grass mulch and sward sites. In september, phosphomonoesterase activity was high at $239.6{\mu}g\;PNP\;g\;soil^{-1}\;h^{-1}$ in clean cultivated citrus orchards. Soil cellulase activity were higher at $602.6{\mu}g\;GE\;g\;soil^{-1}$\;24\;h^{-1}$ in grass sward cultivation than any other soil management practices. Soil microbial biomass C was higher in grass mulch cultivated orchards.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.1655-1660
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• 2007

A metagenome is a unique resource to search for novel microbial enzymes from the unculturable microorganisms in soil. A forest soil metagenomic library using a fosmid and soil microbial DNA from Gwangneung forest, Korea, was constructed in Escherichia coli and screened to select lipolytic genes. A total of seven unique lipolytic clones were selected by screening of the 31,000-member forest soil metagenome library based on tributyrin hydrolysis. The ORFs for lipolytic activity were subcloned in a high copy number plasmid by screening the secondary shortgun libraries from the seven clones. Since the lipolytic enzymes were well secreted in E. coli into the culture broth, the lipolytic activity of the subclones was confirmed by the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl butyrate using culture supernatant. Deduced amino acid sequence analysis of the identified ORFs for lipolytic activity revealed that 4 genes encode hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) in lipase family IV. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that 4 proteins were clustered with HSL in the database and other metagenomic HSLs. The other 2 genes and 1 gene encode non-heme peroxidase-like enzymes of lipase family V and a GDSL family esterase/lipase in family II, respectively. The gene for the GDSL enzyme is the first description of the enzyme from metagenomic screening.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.54-63
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• 2007

To examine the effects of amendments on heavy mineral oil degradation, a pilot scale experiment was conducted for over 105days. During the experiment, soil samples were collected and analyzed periodically for the determination of residual hydrocarbon and microbial activities. At the end of the experiment, the initial level of contamination ($6,205{\pm}173mgkg^{-1}$) was reduced by $33{\sim}45%$ in the amendment amended soil; whereas only 8% of the hydrocarbon was eliminated in the non-amended soil. Heavy mineral oil degradation was much faster and more complete in compost amended soils. Enhanced dissipation of heavy mineral oil in compost amended soil might be derived from increased microbial activities (respiration, microbial biomass-C) and soil enzyme activity(lipase, dehydrogenase, and FDA hydrolase) were strongly correlated with heavy mineral oil biodegradaton (P < 0.01).

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.229-243
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• 2011

Consumers' interest and government's support for the fruits rapidly increased organic fruit productions. This study was examined to compare the soil physicochemical and microbial properties of orchards soil in conventionally and organically management systems. Organic cultivation had lower soil bulk density, solid phase, and penetration resistance than the conventional cultivation. Soil pH and organic matter contents increased from March to August, and the values were greater in the organic cultivation than the conventional cultivation. Total nitrogen (N) and phosphorous concentrations decreased from March to August, and the organic soils had greater N but lower phosphorous concentrations than the conventional soils. Soil microbial carbon biomass increased 36% and 15% for organic and conventional cultivations, respectively, from March to August. Soil microbial N biomass was greater in June than March or August, and the organic cultivation had a greater biomass N compared to the conventional cultivation. Soil dehydrogenase and chitinase activities were greater in June than in March or August. ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity declined in both cultivations, while the phosphatase activity increased. Organic cultivation had greater enzyme activities in March, June, and August, except for the acid phosphatase activity in June.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.341-347
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• 2007

Chinese milk vetch (CMV) is a winter legume that is commonly used as cover crop in Korea. Kill date of cover crop for addition into soil affects N content in cover crop and N availability in soil. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of CMV as green manure cover crop according to kill dates before growing corn without artificial fertilizer. Top of CMV cut three times on 13 April, 27 April, and 11 May were added into soil at a rate of 600 kg per 10a. Sugar content in CMV litter was persistently decreased from mid-April to late-May. The decrease of sugar content might be due to the transformation into starch and/or other storage or structural constituents. The decreased amount of sugars was greater than 12% and the increased amount of starch was less than 0.2%. Concentration of $NH_4^+$ in soil treated by CMV litter cut on May 11 was slightly higher than that in the treatment with early-cut (April 13) CMV, the concentration at 28 and 49 DAT (days after treatment) was higher in the treatment with late-cut CMV litter. Regardless of cut (kill) date of CMV, the phosphatase activity in the treatment of CMV litter was higher compared to the untreated control. Soil dehydrogenase activity was increased steadily by addition of CMV litter implying total microbial activities in the soil were increased. Our results demonstrate that the status of cover crop species at kill date is an important factor influencing soil enzyme activities derived from microorganisms. Therefore, the optimal kill date of cover crop should be examined to improve the efficiency of cover crop as green manure crop regarding the practical sequence in cropping system.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.189-195
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• 2005

Industrial development has increase consumption of crude oil and environmental pollution. A large number of microbial lipolytic enzymes have been identified and characterized to date. To development for a new lipase with catalytic activity in degradation of crude oil as a microbial enzyme, Acinetobactor sp. B2 was isolated from soil samples that were contaminated with oil in Daejon area. Acinetobactor sp. B2 showed high resistance up to 10 mg/mL unit to heavy metals such as Ba, Li, Al, Cr, Pb and Mn. Optimal growth condition of Acinetobactor sp. B2 was confirmed $30^{\circ}C$. Lipase was purified from the supernatant by Acinetobactor sp. B2. Its molecular mass was determined to the 60 kDa and the optimal activity was shown at $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 10. The activation energies for the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl palmitate were determined to be 2.7 kcal/mol in the temperature range 4 to $37^{\circ}C$. The enzyme was unstable at temperatures higher than $60^{\circ}C$. The Michaelis constant $(K_{m})\;and\;V_{max}$ for p-nitrophenyl palmitate were $21.8{\mu}M\;and\;270.3{\mu}M\;min^{-1}mg\;of\;protein^{-1}$, respectively. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by $Cd{2+},\;Co^{2+},\;Fe^{2+},\;Hg^{2+},\;EDTA$, 2-Mercaptoethalol. From these results, we suggested that lipase purified from Acinetobactor sp. B2 should be able to be used as a new enzyme for degradation of crude oil, one of the environmental contaminants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.341-346
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• 2011

To study the effects of salinity-sodicity on bacterial population and enzyme activities, soil samples were collected from the Bay of Yellow Sea, Incheon, South Korea. In the soils nearest to the coastline, pH, electrical conductivity ($EC_e$), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) were greater than the criteria of saline-sodic soil, and soils collected from sites 1.5-2 km away from the coastline were not substantially affected by the intrusion and spray of seawater. Halotolerant bacteria showed similar trends, whereas non-tolerant bacteria and enzymatic activities had opposite trends. Significant positive correlations were found between EC, exchangeable $Na^+$, and pH with SAR and ESP. In contrast, $EC_e$, SAR, ESP, and exchangeable $Na^+$ exhibited significant negative correlations with bacterial populations and enzyme activities. The results of this study indicate that the soil chemical variables related with salinity-sodicity are significantly related with the sampling distance from the coastline and are the key stress factors, which greatly affect microbial and biochemical properties.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.614-620
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• 2016

Mine soils are usually unfavorable for plant growth due to their acidic condition and low contents of organic matter and nutrients. To investigate the effect of organic material and lime on nitrogen processes in an acidic metal mine soil, we conducted an incubation experiment with treating livestock manure compost, dolomite, and oyster shell and measured soil pH, dehydrogenase activity, and concentration of soil inorganic N ($NH_4{^+}$ and $NO_3{^-}$). Compost increased not only soil inorganic N concentration, but also soil pH from 4.4 to 4.8 and dehydrogenase activity from 2.4 to $3.9{\mu}g\;TPF\;g^{-1}day^{-1}$. Applying lime with compost significantly (P<0.05) increased soil pH (5.9-6.4) and dehydrogenase activity ($4.3-7.0{\mu}g\;TPF\;g^{-1}day^{-1}$) compared with applying only compost. Here, the variation in dehydrogenase activity was significantly (P<0.05) correlated with that in soil pH. Soil inorganic N decreased with time by 14 days after treatment (DAT) due to N immobilization, but increased with time after 14 DAT. At 28 DAT, soil inorganic N was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the lime treatments than the only compost treatment. Especially the enhanced dehydrogenase activity in the lime treatments would increase soil inorganic N due to the favored mineralization of organic matter. Although compost and lime increased soil microbial biomass and enzyme activity, ammonia oxidation still proceeded slowly. We concluded that compost and lime in acidic mine soils could increase soil microbial activity and inorganic N concentration, but considerable ammonium could remain for a relatively long time.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.231-241
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• 1986

The annual decomposition of cellulose and hemicellulose by microorganism and distribution of soil microbial flora were investigated in the humus horizon of a Pinus rigida stand in Mt. Kwanak. The cellulase activity was the lowest, 142$\mu$g glucose/g/hr from Dec. 1985 to Mar. 1986 and the highest, 760~1, 072$\mu$g glucose/g/hr in Jul. and Aug. 1985. The xylanase activity was 47% higher than the cellulase activity and was the lowest, 211~275$\mu$g xylose /g/hr from Feb. to Mar. 1986 and the highest as 799~1, 322$\mu$g xylose/g/hr from Jun. to Aug. 1986. The vertical distribution of the enzyme activity was decreased with the order of F, H, L, and A1 in both enzymes and the activities were exponentially decreased below L horizon, which suggests that most decomposition be done in F and H horizons with lots of organic matters. The SEM study slowed that the main decomposers of litters were fungi and initial attack into litters was also made by them. The enzyme activities of soil had strong correlations with the temperature and the precipitation. The correlation coefficients were 0.813 and 0.886 in the cellulase, and 0.673 and 0.626 in the xylanase for the temperature and the precipitation, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.257-265
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• 2009

The long-term effects of soil management history on microbial communities are still poorly understood. Our objectives were to determine the impact of long-term application of soil amendments on microbial communities in rice paddy fields. The treatments selected were control where crops were grown without any nutrient application (CON); nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK); NPK plus compost (CNPK); NPK plus lime (LNPK); and NPK plus silicate (WNPK). The long-term addition of organic and inorganic amendments significantly changed soil chemical properties. The amount of organic carbon increased in the treatments with fertilizer and amendments over that in the soil without inputs. However, we could not observe the differences of bacterial population among the treatments, but the number of aerobic bacteria increased by the addition of amendments. Isolates from the rice paddy soils before irrigation were Dactylosporangium, Ewingella, Geobacillus, Kocuria, Kurthia, Kytococcus, Lechevalieria, Micrococcus, Micromonospora, Paenibacillus, Pedobacter, Pseudomonas, Pseudoxanthomonas, Rhodococcus, Rothia, Sphingopyxis, Stenotrophomonas, and Variovorax. Dominant genera were Arthrobacter, Kocuria, Kurthia, and Bacillus in the long-term field. Microbial biomass was the highest in the compost treatment (CNPK), and was the lowest in the CON. Dehydrogenase activity in soils treated with rice compost straw was the highest and the activity showed an increasing trend according to treatment as follows: CON < WNPK < NPK = LNPK < CNPK. These results demonstrate that soil management practice, such as optimal application of fertilizer and amendment, that result in accumulations of organic carbon may increase microbial biomass and dehydrogenase activity in long-term rice paddy soils.