• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.506-514
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• 2020

The current study stresses on the reuse of waste lignocellulose biomass (rice husk and sugarcane bagasse) for the synthesis of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and further conversion of this CMC into a biodegradable film. Addition of commercial starch was done to form biodegradable film due to its capacity to form a continuous matrix. Plasticizers such as Glycerol and citric acid were used to provide flexibility and strength to the film. Biopolymer film obtained from sugarcane bagasse CMC showed maximum tensile strength and elongation in comparison to the film synthesized from commercial CMC and CMC obtained from rice husk. It has been observed that an increase in sodium glycolate/NaCl content in CMC imposed an adverse effect on tensile strength. Opacity, moisture content, and solubility of the film increased with a rise in the degree of substitution of CMC. Therefore, CMC obtained from sugarcane bagasse was better candidate in preparing biopolymer/biocomposite film.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.275-289
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• 2009

Electroosmosis (EO) is the movement of water in a porous medium under the influence of a direct current (dc). In past decades, electro-osmosis has been successfully employed in many soil improvement and other geotechnical engineering projects. Metal electrodes, such as steel, copper and aluminum have been used traditionally to conduct current. The shortcoming of these electrodes is that they corrode easily during an EO treatment, which results in reduced effectiveness and environmental concerns. More recently, conductive polymers are developed to replace metal electrodes in EO treatment. Electrical vertical drainages (EVDs) are one of these products under trial. The goal of this study is to assess the performance of EVDs for soil improvement and to further understand the scientific principle of the EO process, including the voltage drop at the soil-EVD interface, electrical current density, polarity reversal, and changes in soil physico-chemical properties generated by electroosmosis. It is found from the study that after 19 days of EO treatment with a constant applied dc electric field intensity of 133 V/m, the soil's moisture content decreased by 28%, the shear strength and pre-consolidation pressure increased more than 400%. It is also found that the current density required triggering the water flow in the soil tested, the Korean Yulchon marine clay, is 0.7 $A/m^2$. The project demonstrates that EVDs can serve as both electrodes and drains for soil improvement in short term. However, the EVDs, as tested, are not suitable for polarity reversal in EO treatment and their service life is limited to only 15 days.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 1977

Press drying was used on sapwood and heartwood of oak (Qercus acutissima Carruthers) to find profitable means of drying low grade logs. This study was designed to investigate the process of press drying considering core temperature, current moisture content, drying rate, drying time, final moisture content, dimensional change and drying defects. The drying tests were conducted using 1.5 centimeter thick material at platen temperature of $175^{\circ}C$ and pressure of 35psi. The results were summarized as fallows. 1. Core temperature was divided into three stages of drying characterized by initial heating period, plateau temperature, and period of rising core temperature. Plateau temperature of heartwood material was higher and longer than that of sapwood material. 2. The predicting equation for change in drying rate of sapwood material was log y=-2.7925-0.0811x as function of time. That of heartwood material was log y=-3.3382-0.0468x. 3. Sapwood material reduced the moisture content from 59 to 2.5 percent in 45minutes. Heartwood material reduced the moisture content from 64 to 3.3 percent in 55 minutes. 4. Shrinkage during press drying were 20.4 percent in thickness direction and 2.5 percent in width direction. Recovery on equilibrium conditioning at 65 percent relative humidity and temperature of $20^{\circ}C$. were 11.4 percent in thickness direction and 49.4 percent in width direction. 5. Heartwood material developed severe honeycombing and moderate checking. The sapwood material dried without honeycombing, checking and collapse. All material kept wood flat.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2014

This study presents an eco-friendly persimmon drying system to satisfy consumer preferences and provide a popular food for both the domestic and international markets. The most effective antimicrobial compounds were developed from a combination of plant extracts (18.18% clove buds, 9.90% cinnamon, 9.09% licorice, 4.55% cnidium, 4.55% seed of grapefruit, and 54.54% apple vinegar). The dried persimmons were evaluated as regards their moisture and sugar content, weight, hardness, and color value. During the drying process, the overall moisture content of the persimmons increased, along with the sugar content. The hardness was almost the same for each region and decreased on an average of 0.5~0.86 after 6 weeks. As regards the chromaticity, ${\Delta}E$ decreased during the drying process, while L-value became darker and a-value showed a dark red color over time.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.211-222
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• 2011

The present review was aimed to assess the feasibility of increasing the slaughter weight (SW) of finishing pigs. Growth performance, including ADG, ADFI and gain:feed, does not change significantly with increasing SW between 110 and $135{\pm}5kg$ in lean-genotype pigs, whereas in non-lean pigs, ADG and gain:feed decrease with increasing SW within the similar range of BW. Backfat thickness (BFT) and marbling of the carcass, which are greater in barrows than in gilts, increase with the increase of SW. The SW could be increased by using a low-energy diet and thereby reducing the rate of fat deposition per weight gain. The yield of the belly increases with the increase of SW, which may be economically significant in Korea. However, yields of some other primal cuts do not change so much as to affect the carcass value. The redness and fat content of the muscle increase slightly with the increase of SW whereas moisture content is minimally influenced by SW. Muscular protein content rarely changes, but sometimes increases slightly, with increasing SW. Other physicochemical characteristics, including lightness, pH, drip loss, and cooking loss of the muscle, are barely influenced by SW. Marbling of fresh loin and ham increases with increasing SW. Sensory characteristics of fresh loin, ham, and belly, including color, aroma, off-flavor, drip, and acceptability, are not influenced significantly by SW. The eating quality of cooked pork also has almost no relation to SW. In conclusion, it is thought that the current SW for moderately lean barrows and gilts can be raised up to 125 and 135 kg, respectively, with BFT at these weights predicted to be approximately 24 mm near the last rib, without compromising the meat quality.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1500-1509
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• 2020

Drought is a major abiotic factor and has drastically reduced crop yield globally, thus damaging the agricultural industry. Drought stress decreases crop productivity by negatively affecting crop morphological, physiological, and biochemical factors. The use of drought tolerant bacteria improves agricultural productivity by counteracting the negative effects of drought stress on crops. In this study, we isolated bacteria from the rhizosphere of broccoli field located in Daehaw-myeon, Republic of Korea. Sixty bacterial isolates were screened for their growth-promoting capacity, in vitro abscisic acid (ABA), and sugar production activities. Among these, bacterial isolates YNA59 was selected based on their plant growth-promoting bacteria traits, ABA, and sugar production activities. Isolate YNA59 highly tolerated oxidative stress, including hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and produces superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activities in the culture broth. YNA59 treatment on broccoli significantly enhanced plant growth attributes, chlorophyll content, and moisture content under drought stress conditions. Under drought stress, the endogenous levels of ABA, jasmonic acid (JA), and salicylic acid (SA) increased; however, inoculation of YNA59 markedly reduced ABA (877 ± 22 ng/g) and JA (169.36 ± 20.74 ng/g) content, while it enhanced SA levels (176.55 ± 9.58 ng/g). Antioxidant analysis showed that the bacterial isolate YNA59 inoculated into broccoli plants contained significantly higher levels of SOD, CAT, and APX, with a decrease in GPX levels. The bacterial isolate YNA59 was therefore identified as Variovorax sp. YNA59. Our current findings suggest that newly isolated drought tolerant rhizospheric Variovorax sp. YNA59 is a useful stress-evading rhizobacterium that improved drought-stress tolerance of broccoli and could be used as a bio-fertilizer under drought conditions.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.277-282
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• 2005

The current study was conducted to investigate the effect of organic selenium in mushroom cultured media (MCM) on beef quality. Each five of 20 Hanwoo steers(20 - 24 month, approximately 613 kg) were assigned to four levels of the selenium content(O.l, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 dry matter based ppm), and the feeding treatments were enforced for 12 weeks. The results showed that m. longissimus from the 0.1 ppm feeding supplementation had greatly higher intramuscular fat content than other treatments(13.1 %). In meat color, the 0.1 ppm treatment showed the lowest lightness(CIE $L^*$)(P< 0.05) and had a tendency to have lower redness(CIE $a^*$). The treatment had no noticeable effect on moisture, protein, and ash content, cooking loss, water-holding capacity and purge loss. The 0.3 ppm treatment resulted in the toughest meat(assessed by WB-shear force) with 4.54 kg / inch', while other groups showed a similar toughness ranging from 3.3 to 3.7 kg/ inchl . Sensory characteristics in juiciness and flavor intensity had a tendency of increasing as organic selenium concentration increased, but tenderness was not influenced by the contents. The result indicated that the organic selenium feeding affects meat qualities to different extent, and further study is required to examine anti-oxidant effect of selenium in vivo.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.665-674
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• 2019

Objective: In tropical regions, as in temperate regions where seasonality of forage production occurs, well-preserved forage is necessary for animal production during periods of forage shortage. However, the unique climate conditions (hot and humid) and forage characteristics (high moisture content and low soluble carbohydrate) in the tropics make forage preservation more difficult. The current study used natural ensiling of tropical forage as a model to evaluate silage characteristics under different temperatures ($28^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$). Methods: Four tropical forages (king grass, paspalum, white popinac, and stylo) were ensiled under different temperatures ($28^{\circ}C$ and $40^{\circ}C$). After ensiling for 30 and 60 days, samples were collected to examine the fermentation quality, chemical composition and microbial community. Results: High concentrations of acetic acid (ranging from 7.8 to 38.5 g/kg dry matter [DM]) were detected in silages of king grass, paspalum and stylo with relatively low DM (ranging from 23.9% to 30.8% fresh material [FM]) content, acetic acid production was promoted with increased temperature and prolonged ensiling. Small concentrations of organic acid (ranging from 0.3 to 3.1 g/kg DM) were detected in silage of white popinac with high DM content (50.8% FM). The microbial diversity analysis indicated that Cyanobacteria originally dominated the bacterial community for these four tropical forages and was replaced by Lactobacillus and Enterobacter after ensiling. Conclusion: The results suggested that forage silages under tropical climate conditions showed enhanced acetate fermentation, while high DM materials showed limited fermentation. Lactobacillus and Enterobacter were the most probable genera responsible for tropical silage fermentation.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.239-252
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• 2013

Agronomic characteristics and grain properties of Korean wheat of 175 farmers in nationwide for two years, 2010/2011 and 2011/2012, were evaluated to support basic data for improving grain quality of Korean wheat and enhancing Korean wheat consumption. Agronomic characteristics, including culm length, spike length, number of $spike/m^2$ and rate of off-type plant, and grain properties, including 1000 kernel weight, test weight, moisture, ash and protein content, were influenced by year and location. Number of $spike/m^2$, test weight, moisture, ash and protein content of wheat cultivated in 2011 were higher than those of 2012 and culm length, spike length, rate of off-type plant and 1000 kernel weight of 2012 were higher than those of 2011. Wheat cultivated in southern part of Korea showed higher culm length and 1000 kernel weight and lower test weight than those of northern part of Korea. Spike length, number of $spike/m^2$ and test weight were reduced by additional fertilization after mid of March, although there was no significant difference between date of additional fertilization and grain properties. Cultivated wheats in Jeollabuk-do showed lower ash content and higher protein content than those of other provinces and cultivated wheats in Jeollanam-do exhibited higher ash content than that of other provinces. As amount of fertilization increased, culm length, 1000 kernel weight and protein content increased and spike length and ash content were decreased, although date of additional fertilization did not effect on agronomic characteristics and grain properties. Amount of fertilization was positively correlated with 1000 kernel weight and protein content (r = 0.159, P < 0.05 and r = 0.212, P < 0.01, respectively) and was negatively correlated with ash content (r = -0.185, P < 0.05). Thousand kernel weight was negatively correlated with ash content (r = -0.226, P < 0.01) and positively correlated with protein content (r = 0.207, P < 0.01). Ash content increased as test weight and culm length decreased and 1000 kernel weight was influenced by culm and spike length (r = 0.397, P < 0.001 and r = -0.205, P < 0.01, respectively).

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2013

This study was conducted in order to develop slaughterhouse rumen content (SRC) as a potential feed additive. The moisture content of SRC can reach 80%, and therefore an appropriate dewatering process is required before it can be used. In this study, the effects of heating temperature, heating time, and filler content during the dewatering process on the activity of various enzymes in SRC were investigated. The Box-Behnken experimental design was employed, involving a total of 45 experimental runs, consisting of three variables (heating time, heating temperature, and filler content) with three levels per variable (12, 30 and 48 hr; 60, 75 and $90^{\circ}C$; 12, 22.5 and 33% for heating time, heating temperature, and filler content, respectively). For enzyme activities, xylanase, cellulase, and amylase were examined, and the results were subjected to an analysis of variance. Heating time, heating temperature and filler content had significant effects on the activity of each enzyme (p<0.05). Cellulase and amylase activities decreased (p<0.05) at elevated heating temperatures, whereas xylanase was reasonably stable around $90^{\circ}C$. The activities of all enzymes decreased (p<0.05) with increased heating time. Optimum filler contents for xylanase, cellulase, and amylase activities were 22.5, 12 and 33%, respectively. However, optimum conditions for all variables that simultaneously maximize the activity of all three enzymes could not be ascertained in this study. Nevertheless, the results from the current study can be useful as basic information for the development of SRC as a feed additive enriched with improved major enzymes for livestock feed digestion.