• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.6
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• pp.11-20
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• 2020

We estimated the spatio-temporally distributed soil moisture using Sentinel-1A/B SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) sensor images and soil moisture data assimilation technique in South Korea. Soil moisture data assimilation technique can extract the hydraulic parameters of soils using observed soil moisture and GA (Genetic Algorithm). The SWAP (Soil Water Atmosphere Plant) model associated with a soil moisture assimilation technique simulates the soil moisture using the soil hydraulic parameters and meteorological data as input data. The soil moisture based on Sentinel-1A/B was validated and evaluated using the pearson correlation and RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) analysis between estimated soil moisture and TDR soil moisture. The soil moisture data assimilation technique derived the soil hydraulic parameters using Sentinel-1A/B based soil moisture images, ASOS (Automated Synoptic Observing System) weather data and TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission)/GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) rainfall data. The derived soil hydrological parameters as the input data to SWAP were used to simulate the daily soil moisture values at the spatial domain from 2001 to 2018 using the TRMM/GPM satellite rainfall data. Overall, the simulated soil moisture estimates matched well with the TDR measurements and Sentinel-1A/B based soil moisture under various land surface conditions (bare soil, crop, forest, and urban).

• Mycobiology
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.255-262
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• 2017

A total of 121 species of lichens belonging to the genus Arthothelium have been described to date, most of which have been found in tropical regions. Here, we describe the discovery of a novel Arthothelium species for the first time in South Korea. Until now, Arthothelium ruanum was the only Arthothelium species reported in South Korea. Among the 113 specimens collected in this study, we identified A. ruanum and a putative new species, Arthothelium punctatum (J. S. Park & J.-S. Hur, sp. nov.). The diagnostic characters of A. punctatum are as follows: apothecia punctate, shortly elongate to branched, small, 0.1-0.2 mm wide, hypothecium hyaline to pale brown and obovate to broadly ellipsoid, muriform ascospores, $29.5-44.6{\times}12.2-18.2{\mu}m$. The new species was found in Mt. Seokbyeong at an altitude of 790 m on smooth bark. Upon phylogenic analysis, the putative new species, A. punctatum, was separated from other Arthothelium species although the specimens analyzed were clustered with Arthoniaceae in phylogenetic trees based on both the mitochondrial small subunit (mtSSU) sequence and combined mtSSU and nuclear ribosomal large subunit sequences. Our data clearly indicate that this species is a new species belonging to the family Arthoniaceae. To elucidate the taxonomic characteristics of the new species, we provide morphological descriptions and a distribution map.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.153-156
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• 2008

One of the most common drugs used against a wide variety of anaerobic protozoan parasites is metronidazole. However, this drug is mutagenic for bacteria and is a potent carcinogen for rodents. Thymus vulgaris is used for cough suppression and relief of dyspepsia. Also it has antibacterial and antifungal properties. The aim of this study was to investigate antiamebic effect of Thymus vulgaris against Entamoeba histolytica in comparison with metronidazole. One hundred gram air-dried T. vulgaris plant was obtained and macerated at $25^{\circ}C$ for 14 days using n-hexane and a mixture of ethanol and water. For essential oil isolation T. vulgaris was subjected to hydrodistillation using a clevenger-type apparatus for 3 hr. E. histolytica, HM-1: IMSS strain was used in all experiments. It was found that the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) for T. vulgaris hydroalcoholic, hexanic extracts, and the essential oil after 24 hr was 4 mg/mL, 4 mg/mL, and 0.7 mg/mL, respectively. After 48 hr the MIC for T. vulgaris hydroalcoholic and hexanic extracts was 3 and 3 mg/mL, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the Iranian T. vulgaris is effective against the trophozoites of E. histolytica.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2019.11a
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• pp.33-34
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• 2019

Malaysia, as a tropical rainforest country, enjoys an abundance of bamboo plant that proliferate throughout the country. The application of geopolymer technology has become a trend and preserve the environment from harm. Fly ash geopolymer concrete has low early strength and requires 24 hours for the concrete to harden. Thus, the presence of calcium and potassium content in bamboo ash could remedy this problem. Besides, there is no research regarding the use of bamboo ash as a binder in geopolymer concrete. Therefore, the presence of bamboo ash could improve the research field with the use of agriculture waste in a building construction. This research aim is to use bamboo ash in the production of fly ash geopolymer concrete. The specimens were casted in $100mm{\times}100mm{\times}100mm$ cubes and sodium based activator were used as the alkaline solutions. The binders are formulated with different binder ratio. All test specimens were cured at ambient temperature ($23^{\circ}C-25^{\circ}C$) and 100% fly ash was chosen as control specimen. To determine the mechanical properties of fly sh geopolymer concrete with the presence of bamboo ash, compressive strength test was conducted. The test results depicted that as the percentage of bamboo ash decreases, compressive strength increases. Also, the addition of 5% of bamboo ash into fly ash geopolymer concrete could improve the early strength in 7 days. The results were proven with the result explained by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Therefore, it can be concluded that the addition of bamboo ash improved the properties of fly ash geopolymer concrete at early ages.

• Plant Breeding and Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.321-336
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• 2018

Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) is an important oilseed crop grown in tropical and subtropical areas. The objective of this study was to investigate the genetic relationships among 129 sesame landraces and cultivars using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Out of 70 SSRs, 23 were found to be informative and produced 157 alleles. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 - 14, whereas polymorphic information content ranged from 0.33 - 0.86. A distance-based phylogenetic analysis revealed two major and six minor clusters. The population structure analysis using a Bayesian model-based program in STRUCTURE 2.3.4 divided 129 sesame accessions into three major populations (K = 3). Based on pairwise comparison estimates, Pop1 was observed to be genetically close to Pop2 with $F_{ST}$ value of 0.15, while Pop2 and Pop3 were genetically closest with $F_{ST}$ value of 0.08. Analysis of molecular variance revealed a high percentage of variability among individuals within populations (85.84%) than among the populations (14.16%). Similarly, a high variance was observed among the individuals within the country of origins (90.45%) than between the countries of origins. The grouping of genotypes in clusters was not related to their geographic origin indicating considerable gene flow among sesame genotypes across the selected geographic regions. The SSR markers used in the present study were able to distinguish closely linked sesame genotypes, thereby showing their usefulness in assessing the potentially important source of genetic variation. These markers can be used for future sesame varietal classification, conservation, and other breeding purposes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.224-232
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• 2019

Objective: Apart from various climatic differences, corn harvest stage and varieties are two major factors that can influence the yield and quality of corn silage in the tropics. A study was conducted to determine the optimum harvest stage of four corn varieties for silage production in Malaysia. Methods: Corn was harvested at four growth stages; silking, milk, dough, and dent stages from four varieties; Sweet Corn hybrid 926, Suwan, breeding test line (BTL) 1 and BTL 2. Using a split plot design, the treatments were then analysed based on the plant growth performance, yield, nutritive and feeding values followed by a financial feasibility study for potential commercialization. Results: Significant differences and interactions were detected across the parameters suggesting varying responses among the varieties towards the harvest stages. Sweet Corn was best harvested early in the dough stage due to high dry matter (DM) yield, digestible nutrient, and energy content with low fibre portion. Suwan was recommended to be harvested at the dent stage when it gave the highest DM yield with optimum digestible nutrient and energy content with low acid detergent fibre. BTL 1 and BTL 2 varieties can either be harvested at dough or dent stages as the crude protein, crude fibre, DM yield, DM content, digestible nutrient and energy were not significantly different at either stage. Further financial analysis showed that only Sweet Corn production was not financially feasible while Suwan had the best financial appraisal values among the grain varieties. Conclusion: In conclusion, only the grain varieties tested had the potential for silage making according to their optimum harvest stage but Suwan is highly recommended for commercialization as it was the most profitable.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.559-565
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• 2018

The identification and characterization of pathogenic and zoonotic tick-borne diseases like granulocytic anaplasmosis are essential for developing effective control programs. The differential diagnosis of pathogenic Anaplasma phagocytophilum and non-pathogenic A. phagocytophilum-like Anaplasma spp. is important for implementing effective treatment from control programs. The objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of Anaplasma spp. in horses in Korea by nucleotide sequencing and restriction enzyme fragment length polymorphism assay. Of the 627 horses included in the study, only 1 (0.2%) was infected with A. phagocytophilum. Co-infection with A. phagocytophilumlike Anaplasma spp. was not detected in the study. The 16S rRNA sequence of A. phagocytophilum was similar (99.5-100%) to A. phagocytophilum 16S rRNA isolated from horses in other countries. PCR adapted to amplify A. phagocytophilum groEL and msp2 genes failed to generate amplicons, suggesting genetic diversity in these genes. This study is the first molecular detection of A. phagocytophilum in horses in Korea. Human granulocytic anaplasmosis and animal infection of A. phagocytophilum have been reported in Korea recently. Because of vector tick distribution, global warming, and the increase of the horse industry, horses should be considered as a potential reservoir for A. phagocytophilum, and cross infectivity should be evaluated even though a low prevalence of infection was detected in this study. Furthermore, continuous surveillance and effective control measures for A. phagocytophilum should be established to prevent disease distribution and possible transmission to humans.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.78-89
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• 2019

Coastal plantation is one of the key natural defence against the tidal surge induced tropical cyclones. In Bangladesh, a total of 81 km long coastal belt was established from Potenga to Muhuri in Chittagong. This study explores the wind protection efficiency of the coastal plantations at 28 observation points along the 81 km long Potenga-Muhuri irrigation project of Chittagong coastal belt. We found that wind protection efficiency was lowest (1.40% and 7.00%) at $1^{st}$ observation point of outside the embankment (OE) and inside of the embankment (IE) than Sea Shore (SS), respectively. On the other hand, the highest (82.89% and 95.72%) wind protection efficiency was observed at $22^{th}$ observation for Outside of the Embankment (OE) and Inside of the Embankment (IE) than Sea Shore (SS), respectively. This study also highlighted on species specific wind protection efficiency. The result revealed that 6-year old Casuarina, 6-year old mixed plantation and 10-year old Sonneretia apetala with the width of 20.12 m, 30.48 m, and 15.24 m can reduce wind speed up to 30 H, 30 H and 25 H at windward side, respectively. Analysis also showed that percentage of wind reduction was significantly higher at plantation coast than barren, and ship breaking yard coast. The findings of this study have great potentiality to contribute substantially to take more coastal embankment afforestation programs by the Government of Bangladesh and to choose the more wind resistant plant species throughout the coastal areas of the country.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.443-451
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• 2021

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) is widely cultivated in tropical regions worldwide owing to its high nutritional value. Finger millet is more tolerant against biotic and abiotic stresses such as pests, drought, and salt than other millet crops; therefore, it was proposed as a candidate crop to adapt to climate change in Korea. In 2019, we used expressed sequence tag simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) markers to evaluate the genetic diversity and structure of 102 finger millet accessions from two geographical regions (Africa and South Asia) to identify appropriate accessions and enhance crop diversity in Korea. In total, 40 primers produced 116 alleles, ranging in size from 135 to 457 bp, with a mean polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.18225. Polymorphism was detected among the 40 primers, and 13 primers were found to have PIC values > 0.3. Principal coordinate and phylogenetic analyses, based on the combined data of both markers, grouped the finger millet accessions according to their respective collection areas.Therefore, the 102 accessions were classified into two groups, one from Asia and the other from Africa. We have conducted an in-depth study on the finger millet landrace pedigree. By sorting out and using the molecular characteristics of each pedigree, it will be useful for the management and accession identification of the plant resource. The novel SSR markers developed in this study will aid in future genetic analyses of E. coracana.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.292-303
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• 2021

Studies that relate the structure of tropical regrowth vegetation to soil properties are generally lacking in the literature. This study proposes three indices for assessing the structural regeneration of secondary forests. They are: (1) the tree diameter class, (2) the plant life form and (3) the woody/herbaceous plants ratio indices. They were applied to assess the regeneration status of forest regrowth vegetation (aged 1-10 years), derived savanna regrowth vegetation in south western Nigeria, and to secondary forests in different stages of succession in Columbia and Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico in South and Central America and semi-arid savanna in Ethiopia and seasonal deciduous forest successional stages in India. In all the cases, the indices increased with increasing age of regrowth vegetation and hence, with increasing structural complexity of regenerating vegetation. The tree diameter class index increased from 32.1% in a 9-year secondary forest to 69.0% in an 80-year-old secondary forest in Columbia and Venezuela and from 0.4% in a 1-year fallow to 20.9% in 10-year regrowth vegetation in southwestern Nigeria. In semi-arid savanna in northern Ethiopia, the woody/herbaceous plants ratio index increased from 18.1% in a 5-year protected grazing enclosure to 75.1% in 15-year protected enclosure, relative to the status of 20-year enclosure. The indices generally had correlations of 0.6-0.90 with species richness and Simpson's/Margalef's species diversity, implying that they are appropriate measures of ecosystem development over time. The proposed indices also had strong and positive correlations with soil organic carbon and nutrients. They are therefore, significant indicators of fertility status.