• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.375-381
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• 2000

Quantifying the changes of soil microbial biomass and activity of enzymes are important to understand the dynamics of active soil C and N pools. The dynamics of soil microbial biomass C and N and the activity of enzymes over entire growth period of soybean-(Glycine max (L) Merr.)-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) sequence on a Typic Haplustert as influenced by organic manure and inorganic fertilizer N were investigated in a field experiment. The application of farmyard manure at 4 to 16 $Mg{\cdot}ha^{-1}\;y^{-1}r^{-1}$ along with fertilizer nitrogen at 50 or 180 $kg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$ increased the mean soil microbial biomass from 1.12 to 2.05 fold over unmanured soils under soybean-wheat system. Irrespective of organic and chemical fertilizer N application, the soil microbial biomass was maximum during the first two months at active growing stage of the crops and subsequently declined with crop maturity. The mean annual microbial activity was significantly increased when manure and chemical fertilizer at 8 $Mg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$ and 50/180 N $kg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$, respectively were applied. The C turnover rate decreased by 47 to 72 % when the level of farmyard manure was increased from 4 to 8 and 16 $Mg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$. There were significant correlations between biomass C, available N, dehydrogenase, phosphatase and yield of the crops.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.682-688
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• 2016

Food waste has recognized one of useful sources for potentially agricultural application to supply organic matter and nutrients in arable soil. However, there was little information on application of food waste compost related to the maturity and NaCl content in arable soil. This study evaluated the effect of food waste compost application on yield and fertility in soil under flooding and upland condition. The yields in rice and pepper cultivation decreased with increasing the rate of food waste compost application in soil (p<0.05). Maximum yields of rice ($49.0g\;plant^{-1}$) and pepper ($204g\;plant^{-1}$) were shown at 10 and $30Mg\;ha^{-1}$ of food waste compost application, respectively. The N, P, and K contents in grain and plant residues increased by the application of food waste compost, there was no difference on Na/K ratio in plant tissue among the treatments. Application of food waste compost resulted in the increase of pH, EC, TC, available P contents in soil after crop harvest, especially, which was shown the increase of the CEC and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) contents in irrespective of water condition. In conclusion, application of food waste compost in soil was effective on the supply of the organic matter and nutrient. However, it might need caution to apply food waste compost for sustainable productivity in arable soil because of potential Na accumulation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.284-289
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• 2014

Farmers in highlands in South Korea pile up 20 to 30 cm of saprolites, mostly granite- or granite-gneiss-weathered materials, on surface of arable lands every three to five years to compensate eroded soil and sometimes to discontinue soil-borne diseases. Immediate increases of infiltration and percolation rates are expected with coarse textured saprolites while soil drainage becomes poorer in a long-term. In this study, we analyzed mineralogical characteristics and micro-morphology of plow pan to investigate processes making impermeable layers. Soil samples were collected from plow pan, usually located at approximately 20 cm soil depth and at the lower part of piled saprolites, in arable lands in Hoenggye 5-ri, Daekwanryeong-myeon, Gangwon-do (N37.7, E128.7) in which saprolites were added 2, 4, and 8 years ago; saprolites were transported from similar areas. The saturated hydraulic conductivity decreased over time. Based on soil thin section pedography, quartz and feldspar accounted for a majority of minerals. The size of feldspar decreased and macropores became filled with clay or silt particles over time, which implies that macropores were packed with particles weathered from feldspar. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that intensity of feldspar decreased over time and the reverse was true for kaolinite and illite, indicating that feldspar and mica weathering induced formation of kaolinite and illite. Conclusively, deteriorated drainage by formation of impermeable layers in farms with piled saprolites was caused by accumulation of clay minerals such as kaolinite and illite in macropores; illite and kaolinite can be formed by weathering of mica and feldspar, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.826-831
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• 2016

he land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) is one of the greenhouse gas inventory sectors that cover emission and removals of greenhouse gases resulting from land use such as agricultural activities and land use change. Particularly, LULUCF-Cropland sector consists of carbon stock changes in soil, $N_2O$ emissions from disturbance associated with land use conversion to cropland, and $CO_2$ emission from agricultural lime application. In this paper, we conducted the study to calculate the greenhouse gases emission of LULUCF-Cropland sector in South Korea from 1990 to 2014. The emission by carbon stock changes, conversion to cropland and lime application in 2014 was 4424, 32, and 125 Gg $CO_2$-eq, respectively. Total emission from the LULUCF-Cropland sector in 2014 was 4,582 Gg $CO_2$-eq, increased by 508% since 1990 and decreased by 0.7% compared to the previous year. Total emission from this sector showed that the largest sink was the soil carbon and its increase trend in total emission in recent years was largely due to loss of cropland area.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.451-456
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• 2014

Organic amendment practices can influence diversity and activities of soil microorganisms. There is a need to investigate this impact compared with other types of materials. This study was carried out to evaluate the long term effects of chemical and organic fertilizer on soil microbial community in upland field. During the last 11 years green manure, rice straw compost, rapeseed cake, pig mature compost, NPK, and NPK + pig mature compost were treated in upland soil. Organic fertilizer treatment found with high bacterial colony forming units (CFUs) as compared to chemical and without fertilizer treatment. There was no significant difference in the actinomycetes and fungal population. The average well color development (AWCD) value was the highest in green manure and, the lowest in without fertilizer treatment. Analyses based on the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) profile showed that rice straw compost and pig mature compost had a similar banding pattern while rapeseed cake, NPK, NPK + pig mature compost and without fertilizer treatment were clustered in another cluster and clearly distinguished from green manure treatment. Bacterial diversity can be highly increased by the application of organic fertilizer while chemical fertilizer had less impact. It can be concluded that green manure had a beneficial impact on soil microbial flora, while, the use of chemical fertilizer could affect the soil bacterial communities adversely.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.194-204
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• 2015

Six study sites in Gumi, Goryeong in Gyeongbuk province and Naju in Jeonnam province were selected to investigate soil properties of poorly drained horizons in paddy soils. The horizons were re-established layers which were parent material layers originated from fluvial deposits. Topsoil layers were differentiated from piled parent materials while soil structure of the topsoil layer was massive with striated microstructure. Compaction at soil re-establishment and a lack of structure and aggregate development in these soils may cause the limitation of vertical water movement and result in poorly drained horizons. Soil samples were taken from paddy fields with top soils of sandy loam, silt loam and silty clay loam and re-established soils of coarse and fine texture. The samples were taken from each horizon for the analyses of soil chemical and mineral properties. Soils with re-established soils of coarse texture had greater amounts of sands from top soil texture distributions, while soils with fine texture had greater amounts of silts. Chemical properties of top soils were analyzed from rice cultivated soils at the time of re-establishments and one year after the re-establishments. The coarse texture of the re-established horizons decreased in EC values from 0.23 to $0.11(dS\;m^{-1})$, available phosphate values from 112 to $54(mg\;kg^{-1})$, and exchangeable Ca values from 6.6 to $4.9(cmol_c\;kg^{-1})$. On the other hand, soils with fine texture showed decrease only in pH and exchangeable Ca values. Especially, organic matter and available phosphate contents showed heterogeneous distributions from each horizon. This result may be caused by mixture of plough layer and subsurface layer during and consolidation. Hydraulic conductivity values were low at the boundaries of top soil and parent material layers except SL/coarse soil. Soil microstructure was massive structure without soil clods or pores and showed striated structure. Therefore, re-established paddy fields with fluvial deposits as parent material layers showed limited vertical movements of soil water because of occurrence of compacted layers and less-development of soil clods and aggregates.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.300-309
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• 2016

The monolithic weighing lysimeter is a useful facility that could directly measure water movement via layers, drainage, and evapotranspiration (ET) with precise sensors. We evaluated water movement through layers and water balance using the lysimeter with undisturbed paddy sandy loam soil, Gangseo soil series (mesic family of Anthraquic Eutrudepts classified by Soil Taxonomy) during winter season from Dec. 2014 to Feb. 2015. Daily ET indicated up to 1.5 mm in December and January and 2 mm in February. The abrupt increase of soil water tension at the depth of 0.1 m, when soil temperature at the same depth was below $2^{\circ}C$, was observed due to temporary frost heaving. The surface evaporation was less than reference ET below -15 kPa of soil water potential at the depth of 0.1 m. The maximum drainage rate was similar to the saturated hydraulic conductivity of a plow pan layer. Both upward and downward water movement, related to ET and drainage, were retarded by a plow pan layer. This study demonstrated that the lysimeter study could well quantify water balance components even under frost heaving during winter season and that a plow pan with low permeability could act as a boundary that affects drainage and evapotranspiration.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.246-254
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• 2015

This study explored the effect of rainfall pattern and soil characteristics on water management in rice paddy fields, using a soil water balance model, BUDGET. In two sites with different soil textural group, coarse loamy soil (Gangseo series) and fine soil (Hwadong series), respectively, we have monitored daily decrease of water depth, percolation rate, and groundwater table. The observed evapotranspiration (ET) was obtained from differences between water depth decrease and percolation rate. The root mean square difference values between observed and BUDGET-estimated ET ranged between 10% and 20% of the average observed ET. This is comparable to the measurement uncertainty, suggesting that the BUDGET model can provide reliable ET estimation for rice fields. In BUDGET model of this study, irrigation requirement was determined as minimum water need for maintaining water-saturated soil surface, assuming 100 mm of bund height and no lateral loss of water. The model results showed different water balance and irrigation requirement with the different soil profile and indicated that minimum percolation rate by plow pan could determine the irrigation requirement of rice paddy field. For the condition of different rainfall distribution, the results presented different irrigation period and amounts, representing the importance of securing water for irrigation against different rainfall pattern.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.683-688
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• 2015

Nowadays, sustainable and environment-friendly agriculture has become an important issue all around the world, and repeated applications of mineral and/or organic fertilizer will probably affect mineral nutrient dynamics in soil in the long term but only a limited number of observations are available. This study was carried out to investigate whether there is any influence of different fertilizer management for red pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivation on soil physicochemical properties, leaf mineral content, yield and fruit quality in the aspect of long-term practice in open field condition. NPK, NPK+compost, compost only, and unfertilized control plot were included in the treatments. The application of chemical fertilizer and/or compost repeated annually for 17 years from 1994 to 2011. Soil organic matter content was higher in compost treatments than in no-manure treatments. Available phosphate and the yield of red pepper were highest in NPK+compost treatment followed by NPK (chemical fertilizer), compost, and control. The results indicate that in the long term, nitrogen supply is still needed for increasing red pepper yield, but reduction in the use of chemical fertilizer could be also possible with the proper application of compost.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.209-214
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• 2012

This experiment was carried out to investigate the replaceability of chemical fertilizer by SCB liquid fertilizer (SCB) in pear orchard for 5 years. The effects on the mineral content of leaf, fruit quality, yield and soil chemical properties are as follows: The mineral content of leaf showed no difference between the treatments; two SCB liquid fertilizer treatments based on the N (SCB-N) and K (SCB-K) content, and control (chemical fertilizer application). There were no significant differences in yield, titratable acidity and weight of the fruit although the figure of fruit weight was high in SCB-N treatment. Soluble solids content was higher in the SCB treatments than the control. Soil chemical properties such as the content of soil organic matter, available soil phosphate and exchangeable cation were not different, although soil pH was higher in SCB treatments. In conclusion, it is suggest that the use of chemical fertilizer in pear orchard could be replaced by the application of SCB liquid fertilizer because of the same effect on the growth of pear tree and soil chemical properties.