• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.170-179
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• 2012

We examined pretreatment methods eliminating potassium and sodium efficiently for coir bag used in hydroponics by analyzing drainage coming from coir bags. In the first experiment we investigated for six coir bags with the high market shares. The three types of pretreatment were washing coir bags with only water for 7 days (W7S0), washing with water for 4 days and further with nutrient solution for 3 days (W4S3), and washing with only nutrient solution for 7 days (W0S7). In the second experiment we tested reproducibility of the experiment results for Bio Grow and coco Mix among six coir bags used in the first experiment to verify the results. As a result, the best pretreatments for the pH stabilization were W4S3 and W0S7. The EC value of the drainage was stabilized to less than 1.0 that is the same as EC of the supply solution on the fourth day in all treatments. The nutrients of the drainage in W7S0 was stabilized in 3~4 days but calcium and magnesium were depleted. We assessed that washing longer than 4 days was waste of water. The stabilization of coir bags in W0S7 was similar to it in W4S3, but washing with the nutrient solution for 7 days seemed to be uneconomical. The reproducibility experiment for two coir bags ensured the results in the first experiment. Therefore, the pretreatment method, which is the most simple to implement and economic, seems to wash with water for 3 days and then with the nutrient solution for 1 day before planting on coir bag.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.46-50
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• 2009

This study was carried to investigate effects of optimum supply strengths of 'Sonneveld' nutrient solution on growth characteristics in container seedling of trees (Pinus densiflora, Torreya nucifera, Quercus acutissina and Fraxinus mandshurica) using developed media with used-rockwool. Flesh weight, height and trunk diameter in container seedling of Torreya nucifera were better in high strengths. In container seed ling of Torreya nucifera, flesh weight more increased in 1.5 and 3.0 strengths and hight and trunk diameter more increased in 1.5 strength than the rest. Flesh weight in container seedling of Quercus acutissina was heaviest in 2.0 strength and was lightest in 1.0 strength. Height and dry weight in 2.0 and 3.0 strengths and trunk diameter and total chlorophyll in 2.0 strength were better than in the rest. Besides photosynthesis rate was more high in 1.5 and 2.0 strengths than in the rest. In container seedling of Fraxinus mandshurica, flesh weight, height and trunk diameter more increased in 0.5 strength and total chlorophyll and photosynthesis rate were good in 0.5 and 2.0 strengths. Most growth characteristics were poor in 3.0 strength.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.84-90
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• 2006

This study was conducted to anticipate nitrate reduction state in tree through measurement of nitrate reductase activity (NRA) and investigate the effect of nitrogen concentrations (100, 200, 400, and 600 $mg\;L^{-1}$) on growth, the nitrogen content of various tissue, and NRA of pear (Pyrus pyrifolia cv. Niitaka) seedlings in sand culture. Nutrient solutions used in this experiment were adjusted to pH 6.5 and fixed the ratio of ammonium and nitrate to 1:3 and trickle-irrigated 3 times a day. Tree height and dry weight of various organs in seedlings were higher in low nitrogen concentration (100 and 200 $mg\;L^{-1}$) than in high nitrogen concentration (400 and 600 $mg\;L^{-1}$). The shoot growth in 600 $mg\;L^{-1}$ was extremely poor by nitrogen over supply. Increasing the nitrogen concentration, the concentration of nitrate-N in leaves and roots were insignificantly changed but that of stems increased. The accumulation of total and reduced nitrogen in all organs with increasing concentrations of nitrogen supply were increased at 30 days after treatment but those of all organs at 60 and 90 days after treatment were highest in 600 $mg\;L^{-1}$, whereas there were no significant changes among other nitrogen concentration. The in vivo (${+NO_3}^-$) NRA of all organs did not relate to nitrogen concentration but the in vivo (${-NO_3}^-$) NRA of leaves except roots increased with increasing the nitrogen concentration. Therefore, the proper nitrogen concentration to promote growth and nitrate reduction of pear tree was 200 $mg\;L^{-1}$.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.385-391
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• 2013

In this study, the availability of slurry composting and biofiltration (SCB) solution as an alternative for synthetic nutrient solution was determined by monitoring the growth, fruit yield, and fruit quality of cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. 'Unicon'). Treatments for nutrient solution were consist of SCB 1/2N, 1N, 2N, and commercial nutrient solution 1N (CNS 1N) based on nitrogen concentration (218.32 $mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$) of cherry tomato nutrient solution (control 1N). All nutrient solution including SCB solution (440~520 mL per day) was supplied to rock wool medium using a timer. After 31 days of transplanting, fresh and dry weights of shoots, leaf area, plant height, stem diameter, SPAD value and number of node were measured. After measuring growth characteristics of tomato plants, total fruit yield, ratio of marketable fruit yield, fruit weight, total soluble solids content, total acidity, total phenolic concentration, and antioxidant capacity were determined once a week for 7 weeks. As a result, among the SCB treatments, SCB 1/2N was similar to control 1N and CNS 1N in terms of fresh and dry weights of shoots, leaf area, stem diameter, number of node, and SPAD value. Increased N concentration of SCB inhibited the growth of tomato plants. Total fruit yield of SCB 1/2N was 47% of that of control 1N which showed the best result. Percentage of marketable fruit yield in SCB 1/2N was about 58%. Soluble solids contents, total acidity, total phenolic concentration and antioxidant capacity was the highest in SCB 2N and the other treatments were not shown any difference. Blossom-end rot rarely occurred in control 1N and CNS 1N while SCB treatments without Ca induced the physiological disorder of 7~19%. In conclusion, SCB 1/2N was good for the vegetative growth of cherry tomato plants but reduced yield and quality of fruit compared with control 1N and CNS 1N. Thus, it is possible to apply SCB solution to grow cherry tomato plants hydroponically but in the consideration of fruits yield and quality additional supply of several minerals would be required.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.73-80
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• 2011

To investigate the characteristics of plant growth and flower quality of gerbera 'Sunny Lemon' by amount of nutrient solution, young seedling plants, 'Sunny Lemon' were transplanted to rock-wool and medium of peat moss and perlite mixed with 1 to 2 and they were acclimatized in greenhouse during about 1 month. Nutrient solution supplied to the plants is sonneveld solution of 1/2 concentration and treatments launched June 24, 2010 when average plant height was $20{\pm}1cm$. Nutrient contents as a standard for starting point of irrigation by time domain reflectometry (TDR) were determined with 60-65%, 70-75%, and 80-85%. Results of growth during vegetative growth, plant height, leaf width and leaf number increased by 10% in rockwool, but they were not significantly different. As for plant growth depending on nutrient content, 80-85% treatment showed the highest values. Leaf number increased by 60%, and leaf width and plant height had a about 40% increase than initial growth. Effectiveness for flower quality, yield and days to flowering were superior when nutrient content of media was higher than in the others. Especially, average days to flowering in 80-85% content was advanced by 7-10 days compared to the day in 60-65% treatment. The total amount of nutrient supply per plant was higher in mixed medium than in rockwool, but change patterns of EC and pH were enhanced in rockwool. Based on our results, we recommended that growth, cut flower, and yield of gerbera 'Sunny Lemon' were more effective when nutrient content of mixed medium was maintained at 80-85%.

• Weed & Turfgrass Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.76-86
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• 2018

Turfgrass species were evaluated for their rooting and foliar characteristics, and their interaction with the soil. The rooting system was divided into three compartments, one above another, such that the top and bottom compartments of the root system could be supplied with a nutrient deprived solution. Exposure of parts of the roots to nitrate deprivation caused a localised retardation of root initiation and extension, compared with zones receiving the full supply of nutrients. This resulted in considerable modification to root form, coupled with a significant depression in foliar growth. The extension of roots was the least affected by the deprivation of potassium. Phosphate and calcium deprivations gave rise to similar responses in root and foliar formation. Results from this study showed that external concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium are required by the root system in varying amounts for optimal growth of roots. Turfgrass coverage and turf quality ratings further reinforced these findings. No significant difference was observed between the different grasses examined here. All three species responded similarly to the deprivation of the various nutrients. Results from this study confirmed that targeted fertilization programs are beneficial and can help reduce cost, chemical usage and prevent leachate and contamination.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.247-252
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• 2011

Electrical conductivity, drainage, and irrigation amount of nutrient solution are important factors for determination of the mixing ratio of fresh and reused nutrient solutions in closed-loop soilless culture. Generally a fixed mixing ratio is applied in commercial scale greenhouses using solar radiation-based irrigation system. Although it ensures continuous supply of fresh nutrient solution in the mixing process, occasional discharge of the drainage is inevitably required. This study was conducted to compare the nutrient replenishing effect under different mixing processes and to investigate appropriate mixing process. For this experiment, a fixed mixing ratio (FR), modifiable mixing ratio (MR), and open-loop (OP) as control were applied. Mixing ratio was determined by a set value of EC for dilution of collected drainage in FR and the set values of 1.0 and $2.0dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ were used as treatments (FR 1.0 and FR 2.0), respectively. In MR, mixing ratio was determined based on EC and volume of drainage within irrigation volume per event. The volume of drainage stored in the drainage tank tended to increase in FR 1.0. Although such trend was not observed in FR 2.0 and MR, the volume of drainage stored in MR was lower than that in FR 2.0. The ion balance of $Mg^{2+}:K^+:Ca^{2+}$ or $SO^{2-}_4:NO^-_3:PO^{3-}_4$ in the drainage and reused nutrient solution changed within a narrow range regardless of treatment.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.7-14
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• 2010

Alternative subirrigation way, capillary wick system (CWS) was tested to reduce labor cost, waste water, contamination of ground water, and use of fungicide compared to overhead irrigation system (OIS). CWS helped reduce remarkably the working hours for watering from 4 hours in OSI to just 5 minutes. Labor cost was saved 98% in CWS compared to OIS. By the physical characteristics of various growing media, 1 coconut coir+2 perlite (v/v) mixture was selected because it had an ideal distribution of three phase, e.g. 1 solid: 1 liquid: 2 gas phase. Medium mixture containing scoria had so high bulk and particle density to hurt root. In bark-containing medium, the liquid phase and the percent saturation of liquid phase with time elapsed was lower than that of other mixture. It meant that the mixture contained very low level of water. Application of CWS for cyclamen pot production played an important role in reducing the incident of fusarium wilt symptom from 18% in conventional over watering system to 4%. Cyclamen pot irrigated by capillary wick had shorter petiole and more leaves than those by overhead watering. As a result, this system was highly beneficial to get uniform pot products with high quality. It improved water and nutrient solution efficiency relative to conventional overhead irrigation system (OIS).

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.23-27
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• 1998

Inhibition of nodule formation and nitrogen fixation by soil nitrogen, primarily nitrate, is well known in legume plants. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of ${NO_3}^-$ on the nodulation, nitrogenase activity, and growth of supernodulating soybean mutant and its wild type. A greenhouse study was conducted to compare two of supernodulating mutants, 'SS2-2' and 'nts 382', with the normal nodulating cultivar 'Sinpaldalkong 2' when grown in a 1-l styroform cup filled with sand, and fertilized with five levels of ${NO_3}^-$ (0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 mM). During the growth period, each plant was supplied two or three times a week with 50 mL of nutrient solution. Supernodulating soybean mutants, SS2-2 and nts 382, showed more nodules and nodule mass, and greater $C_2\;H_2$ activity than the wild type, Sinpaldalkong 2, regardless of the level of exogeneous nitrogen supply. On the other hand, total dry weight of SS2-2 mutant, which was smaller than Sinpaldalkong 2, did not respond to the various ${NO_3}^-$-N levels. This suggested that supernodulating SS2-2 mutant could maintain fairly high total dry weight at the low ${NO_3}^-$-N level, even in the absence of exogeneous ${NO_3}^-$-N in the nutrient solution. From the reduced top growth and high nitrogen fixing ability of supernodulating mutants, it was surmised that supernodulating mutant could potentially protect agricultural environments from pollution through the reduction in nitrogen fertilization as well as maintain fairly high yield with increasing planting density.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.229-234
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• 2014

We analyzed drainage water from coir substrate in which cucumber plants were grown in winter and elucidated changes in pH, EC, and major nutrients according to the growth stages to recommend nutrient solution management appropriate to each growth stage. From the analysis of drainage solution the growth stages of cucumber were desirable to be divided into two, planting to fruit setting and fruit setting to harvest in case of nutrient solution management. The time required was about 3 weeks from planting to the first fruit setting and thereafter 7~10 days more until the first harvest. Approximately every 3~4 days were needed until the upper flowers bloomed. The time required from fruit setting to harvest was not different much among flowers as cucumber plants grew. From the experimental results, EC of supplied solution was recommended to maintain a little high to $3.0dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ until before fruit setting and lower a little to $2.0{\sim}2.3dS{\cdot}m^{-1}$ after that. Of course, the amount of solution supply should be increased as plants grew. In case of each nutrients, the recommendation of concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium were 700, 60, and $110mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ each until before fruit setting, and then 660, 50, and $100mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ each after fruit setting. The concentrations of potassium and magnesium are recommended to start from 400 and $80mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ until fruit setting and lower a little after that.