• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.310-315
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: Heavy-metal pollution represents an important environmental problem due to the toxic effects of metals, and their accumulation throughout the food chain leads to serious ecological and health problems. METHODS AND RESULTS: Optimum conditions in continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and packedbed column contactor (PBCC) using brown seaweed biosorbent were investigated. Under optimum conditions from both lab-scale biosorbent systems, removal efficiency of copper (Cu) in a large-scale PBCC system was investigated. Removal capacity of Cu using brown seaweed biosorbent in a lab-scale CSTR system was higher than that in a lab-scale PBCC system. On the other hand, over 48 L/day of flow rate in Cu solution, removal efficiency of Cu in a lab-scale PBCC system was higher than that in a lab-scale CSTR system. Optimum flow rate of Cu was 24 L/day, optimum Cu solution concentration was 100 mg/L. Removal capacity of Cu at different stages was higher in the order of double column biosorption system > single column biosorption system. Under different heavy metals, removal capacities of heavy metal were higher in the order of Pb > Cr > Ni > Mn ${\geq}$ Cu ${\geq}$ Cd ${\fallingdotseq}$ Zn ${\geq}$ Co. Removal capacity of Cu was 138 L in a large-scale PBCC system. Removal capacity of Cu a large-scale PBCC system was similar with in a lab-scale PBCC system. CONCLUSION(s): Therefore, PBCC system using brown seaweed biosorbent was suitable for treating heavy metal wastewater.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.330-338
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to investigate the agricultural product (Pulses, Lettuces, Pumpkins, Apples, Pears and Tangerines) in Korea, monitoring of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) contaminations of agricultural products in cultivated areas and abandoned mine areas were investigated, and risk assessment was performed through dietary intake of agricultural products. METHODS AND RESULTS: The average contents of Cd and Pb ranged from 0.001 to 0.018 mg/kg and from 0.007 to 0.032 mg/kg respectively. The result was showed that contents of Cd and Pb did not exceed maximum residual levels established by CODEX except pumpkins and apples. The average daily intake were in the range of $1.06{\times}10^{-3}$ to $4.76{\times}10^{-2}{\mu}g/kg$ b.w./day at the mean and 95th percentile for Cd, $4.53{\times}10^{-3}$ to $8.35{\times}10^{-2}{\mu}g/kg$ b.w./day at the mean and 95th percentile for Pb for general population, based on the Korean public nutrition report 2008. The Hazard Index (HI) from the ratio analysis between daily exposure and safety level values was smaller than 1.0. CONCLUSION(s): This results demonstrated that human exposure to Cd and Pb through dietary intake of agricultural produces from abandoned mine areas might not cause adverse effect exceeding to those from non-contaminated areas.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.409-413
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: Cereals, especially rice is the staple food of oriental nations and because it is very important for Korean food, to determine the extent of nutrient losses due to milling, we analyzed the fatty acid using by GC-FID(Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector). Experimented rice cereals were rice, glutinous rice, Heuinchalssalbori, Seodunchalbori, Saessalbori, Keunalbori No.1, barnyard millet produced in Korea. METHODS AND RESULTS: After milling, the contents of fatty acids in the rice, glutinous rice, Heuinchalssalbori, and Seodunchalbori, Keunalbori No.1 rather decreased, but in the Saessalbori, and barnyard mille increased. Particularly, fatty acid content of the rice decreased from 24.8 mg/g to 6.4 mg/g, glutinous rice decreased from 29.4 mg/g to 11.7 mg/g after milling. There were also significant changes in the compositions of fatty acid among samples. Stearic acid ($C_{18:0}$) increased from 5% to 15%, but oleic acid ($C_{18:1}$) and linoleic acid ($C_{18:2}$) decreased in the rice after milling. CONCLUSION(s):In the brown rice, 11 different types of fatty acids were detected, and its highest content was found in grains. However, milled grain was observed only seven fatty acids in the case of rice. This result insisted that a portion of the lipid layer was significantly lost during the milling operation in rice.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.316-322
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: Pesticides concentration was monitored in 50 agricultural lakes, and ecological risk for aquatic organism was assessed using risk quotient (RQ) and probabilistic methods. METHODS AND RESULTS: Pesticides concentrations detected in 50 agricultural lakes during peak season (June and September) were in the range of $0.17{\sim}0.99{\mu}g/L$. The RQ for algae and the other species was estimated to be 0.25 and below 0.01, indicating medium risk and no risk. Oxadiazon predominantly contributed to RQ value of 99% for algae, fishes, and amphibians. In terms of hazardous concentration at 5% of species ($HC_5$), ecological risk quotients (ERQ) for oxadiazon ranged from 0.18~0.33, showing a medium risk level. Overall, the concentrations of pesticides were much lower than $HC_5$), value. Probability of combined ecological risk for pesticides ranged from 1.82% to 2.41%. CONCLUSION(s): Combined ecological risk probability did not exceed the acceptable level of 5%, indicating no ecological risk for selected aquatic species. This study suggests that regular ecological risk assessment (ERA) will be required to protect and manage an agricultural lake. Not only ERA at screening level by comparing exposure with toxic effects for aquatic species also advanced ERA technique considering species in indigenous to Korea, chronic toxicity, pulse dose, fate, and environmental factors should be required.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.304-309
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: Generally, water plants may play an important role in nutrients(N, P) removal in constructed wetlands(CWs). Previous studies considered nutrients uptake by water plants in various CWs for treating point source pollution. On the other hand, few studies considered nutrients uptake by water plants in free water surface(FWS) CWs for treating non-point source pollution. METHODS AND RESULTS: To investigate characteristics of nutrient uptake by water plants in FWS CWs, dry weights, nutrients content and nutrients uptake by water plants were investigated from April, 2008 to October, 2008. Dominance plants were Phragmites japonica STEUD (PHRJA), Nymphaea tetragona ANGUSTA(NTMTE), Typha orientalis PRESL(TYHOR), Phragmites communis TRINIUS(PHRCO) and Zizanis latifolia TURCZ(ZIZLA) in FWS CWs. The dry weights of water plants in August were higher in the order of TYHOR(54.27 g/plant) > PHRJA(44.30 g/plant) ${\geqq}$ PHRCO(39.60 g/plant) ${\geqq}$ ZIZLA(37.80 g/plant) ${\fallingdotseq}$ NTMTE(36.75 g/plant). The T-N and T-P contents by water plants were not significantly differences regardless of cultivation period. The maximum amount of T-N uptake by water plants in August were 773 mg/plant for PHRJA, 625 mg/plant for NTMTE, 1206 mg/plant for TYHOR, 754 mg/plant for PHRCO and 768 mg/plant for ZIZLA. The maximum amounts of T-P uptake by PHRJA, NTMTE, TYHOR, PHRCO and ZIZLA were 397, 177, 411, 261 and 229 mg/plant in August, respectively. CONCLUSION(s): The results of this study suggest that optimum water plant was Typha orientalis PRESL in free water surface constructed wetlands.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.281-287
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: According to Korean regulations, bottled waters (BWs) can not be treated with chemical disinfectants like chlorine, so UV and ozone disinfection is applied. During the past several years, chemicals were detected in some BWs, and the public was concerned about the safety of BWs. METHODS AND RESULTS: Mineral waters were stored for 180 days at $25^{\circ}C$ and $50^{\circ}C$, tested acetaldehyde and formaldehyde by HPLC. When mineral waters were put in a PET bottles, the formaldehyde level ranged from 5 to $66{\mu}g/L$ during 180 days at $50^{\circ}C$. While the acetaldehyde level ranged from 31 to $221{\mu}g/L$, it was low than $16{\mu}g/L$ in glass bottle. CONCLUSION(s): This result showed that formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were detected higher in PET bottles than glass bottles, these also increased depending on the time of storage. Concentration of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde could be significantly influenced by the time of storage and temperature.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.275-280
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: The present study was conducted to find out the suitable method for organic rice production on the basis of different seedling raising methods at nine eco-friendly agricultural units of Samgi, Mangsung, Iksan and Sungsan, Gusan of Jeollabuk-do, during 2009-10. METHODS AND RESULTS: On the basis of yield and physiological parameters, pot seeding method was found to be superior to drill seeding and broadcast seeding methods. The number of panicle, grain, the precent of ripened grains, and the 1,000 grain weight, were better in pot seeding method. Maximum yield and other attributes were recorded in rice, cultivated with seedlings raised by pot and broadcast seeding method. Number of panicle/hill and grain/panicle was 10.4% and 35.1% higher than the broadcast seeding method, respectively. Yield also showed 8.8% increase in pot seeding method as compare to broadcast seeding method. Higher grain yield was obtained when 56 hills/$3.3m^2$ of rice seedlings were used as compare to 50 hills/$3.3m^2$ raised by pot seeding method and 70 hills/$3.3m^2$ of broadcast seeding method. Lodging was minimum in seedlings raised with pot seeding method as thickness of third internode was more (9.0%) than the seedlings, raised with broadcast seeding method. Root length and dry weight also showed similar tendency i.e. 13.8% and 25.3% higher, respectively. CONCLUSION(s): Quality and grade of rice, cultivated with pot seeding method was better than broadcast seeding method. Head rice was 4.4% higher; and protein content and broken rice grown by pot seeding method were 0.4% and 1.8% lower than broadcast seeding method, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.252-260
• /
• 2011

BACKGROUND: Currently, national biomass inventory are being established for efficient management of the potential energy sources. Among the various types of biomass, agricultural wastes are considered to take the biggest portion of the total annual biomass generated in Korea, implying its importance. However, the currently estimated amount is not reliable because the old reference data are still used to estimate total annual amount of agricultural wastes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Therefore, to provide reliable estimation data, a correct conversion factor obtained by taking into account the current situation is required. For this, the current study was conducted to provide the conversion factors for each representative 8 crop through a field cultivation study. Also conversion factors for 18 crops were calculated using the average amount of each crop produced during 2004 and 2008, subsequently; total amount of agricultural wastes generated in 2009 was estimated using these conversion factors. The total biomass of rice straw and rice husk generated in 2009 were 6.5 and 1.1 million tons, respectively, which consist 75% of the total agricultural based wastes, while the total biomass of pepper shoots and apple pruning twigs were 1.0 and 0.6 million tons, respectively. Despite the high amount of rice-based biomass, their applicability for bio-energy production is low due to conventional utilization of these materials for animal feeds and beds for animal husbandry. In addition to exact estimation of the total biomass, temporal variations in both generated amount and the type of agricultural biomass materials are also important for efficient utilization; fruit pruning twigs (January to March); barley-, been-, and mustard-related waste materials (April to June); rice-related waste (September to October). CONCLUSION(s): Such information provided in this study can be used to establish a master plan for efficient utilization of the agricultural wastes on purpose of bio-energy production.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.6-19
• /
• 2009

We investigated the macrozoobenthos at major two harbors of Korea in July and August 2007 in order to check the changes in the species composition due to the invasive species and to make a species inventory at each harbor system. At the Incheon Harbor, a total of 88 species was sampled with abundance of 3,212 ind. m$^{-2}$ and biomass of 239 g m$^{-2}$. The most dominant species was Tharyx sp. belong to polychaete taxa, followed by Chaetozone setosa in the harbor area. The dominant species of outer area were Musculus senhousia and Sternaspis scutata. The diversity index ranged between 0.9$\sim$2.4, and evenness index between 0.3$\sim$0.9, and richness index between 1.8$\sim$3.9. Benthic pollution index ranged between 16$\sim$74. The highest benthic pollution index was at station 4. On the other hand the lowest value was at station 6, where a large amount of M. senhousia belong to mollusca occurred. At the Busan Harbor, a total of 89 species was sampled with density of 1,845 ind. m$^{-2}$ and biomass of 133.6 g m$^{-2}$ in August 2007. The most dominant species was Tharyx sp., followed by M. japonica and Cirratulus cirrata within harbor area. M. japonica was dominant species in the outer area. The diversity index ranged between 0.7$\sim$2.2, evenness index between 0.3$\sim$1.0, and richness index between 1.1$\sim$4.1. Benthic pollution index ranged between 31$\sim$90. The lowest benthic pollution index was found at site 2 within harbor area.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.168-177
• /
• 2007

By using DEM and digital actual vegetation map with MGE GIS software program, topographic features (altitude, slope, latitude, etc.) quantitatively were analysed and their data integrated as the index of climatic conditions (WI, CI, air temperature, etc.) in South Korea. Warmth Index (WI) decreases $5.27^{\circ}C{\cdot}month$ with latitudinal $1^{\circ} degree, and $3.41^{\circ}C{\cdot}month$ with attitudinal 100 m increase. The relationship between CI and WI values is expressed as a linear regression, $WI=116.01+0.96{\times}CI,\;R^2=0.996$. The distributional peaks of different plant communities along Warmth Index gradient showed the sequence of Abies nephrolepis, Taxus cuspidata, Abies koreana, Quercus mongolica, Carpinus laxiflora, Q. dentata, C. tschonoskii, Q. serrate, Pinus densiflora, Q. aliena, Q. variabilis, Q. acutissima, P. thunbergii, Q. acute, Castanopsis cuspidata var. sieboldii, Camellia japonica, Machilus thunbergii community from lower to higher values. The Quercus mongolica forest occurred frequently on E-NW and SE slope aspect within WI $70{\sim}80^{\circ}C{\cdot}month$ optimal range at mesic sites, NW and SE slope than xeric sites S and SW slope. The Q. serrata forest showed the most distributional frequency in NW and W slope aspect within WI $90{\sim}100^{\circ}C{\cdot}month$ range, Q. variabilis and Q. acutissima forest showed the high frequency of distribution in SE slope in WI $95{\sim}100^{\circ}C{\cdot}month$ range. By the slope gradient analysis, five groups were found: 1. Abies nephrolepis, Machilus thunbergii, 2. Taxus cuspidata, Abies koreana, Quercus mongolica, Q. dentata, Q. serrata, Q. variabilis, Castanopsis cuspidata var. sieboldii 3. Pinus densiflora, Q. aliena, Q. acutissima, P. thunbergii, Q. acuta 4. Carpinus laxiflora, Camellia japonica 5. C. tschonoskii from steep slope to gentle slope sequence.