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Plant & Forest
- Consciousness of forestry field occupation of university students majoring in forestry in Korea
- Sung-Min Park, Yong-Rae Kim, Dokyo Oh, Ye Jun Choe, Joon-Woo Lee, Sung-Min Choi
- Recently, the forestry field has been experiencing difficulties in meeting the demand for personnel in the field. According to the analysis of …
- Recently, the forestry field has been experiencing difficulties in meeting the demand for personnel in the field. According to the analysis of 433 finalized questionnaires out of 519 questionnaires collected, “Deciding to major in forestry based on my interest or aptitude” was the most important factor in choosing a major, with 237 (29.1%), followed by “economic income” with 362 (27.2%), “work-life balance” with 287 (21.5%), and “work environment” with 233 (17.5%). In terms of satisfaction with their majors, 235 (53.0%) were satisfied and 79 (17.8%) were very satisfied. The outlook for the forestry field is also positive, with 235 (53.0%) rating it as good and 90 (20.3%) rating it as very good. In terms of job preparation, obtaining a certificate was the most important factor for 346 (35.8%) and managing credits was the most important factor for 298 (30.8%), reflecting the impact of technical certificates on employment in the forestry sector. Regarding the type of work, even if they prefer office work, a significant number of students would consider working in the field, with 87 (42.0%) answering “yes” and 25 (12.1%) answering “very much so”, if the safety, monetary compensation, and reduced labor intensity of field work were guaranteed. In particular, if they secure economic stability and promote qualitative growth to improve job satisfaction, such as improving the work environment, they can not only solve the problem of the shortage of field personnel in the forest sector, but also expect to develop the forest industry by continuously fostering and attracting talented people. - COLLAPSE
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Plant & Forest
- Optimizing seed ball composition for enhanced germination, growth, and drought resistance in Robinia pseudoacacia
- Yeonggeun Song, Youngin Hwang, Dongmin Choi, Hyeongkeun Kweon, Gijin Han, Kyeongcheol Lee
- Widespread land degradation from climate change and human activities has disrupted forest ecosystems and hindered natural restoration. This study evaluated seed balls …
- Widespread land degradation from climate change and human activities has disrupted forest ecosystems and hindered natural restoration. This study evaluated seed balls with varying soil compositions and bio-polymers for restoring vegetation in extreme environments. We examined their effects on the physical properties, germination, and early growth of Robinia pseudoacacia under drought stress. The results showed that seed ball hardness was the lowest in the 100% clay (C100) treatment (15.8 ± 3.4 mm), whereas, the 50% clay (C50) treatment and 30% clay (C30) treatment groups exhibited significantly higher hardness values of 24.8 ± 1.0 mm and 24.0 ± 1.3 mm, respectively, similar to those of the 0% clay (C0) treatment. Additionally, the C0 treatment group exhibited the lowest germination rate (9.4 - 18.8%), along with poor germination speed and uniformity, suggesting that excessive leaf mold content may harden the internal structure of seed balls, thereby inhibiting seed water uptake. Analysis of photosynthetic indicators revealed that maximum quantum yield of primary photochemistry (ΦPo) and performance index on absorption basis (PIABS) were highest in the C50 treatment group, whereas, they were 7 and 14% lower, respectively, in the C100 treatment group. In contrast, dissipated energy per reaction center (DIo/RC) was 27% higher in C100 compared to C50, indicating that higher clay content leads to reduced photosynthetic efficiency and increased energy dissipation. This suggests that excessive clay content may limit oxygen and water diffusion within the seed ball, thereby impairing photosynthetic mechanisms. A C50 ratio was optimal for germination, early growth, and maintaining seed ball hardness, making it the most suitable composition for restoration efforts in degraded areas. - COLLAPSE
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Plant & Forest
- A study on the development of forest therapy factors and the introduction of a forest therapy system using the afforestation area in the Runsom region of Mongolia
- Inkyeong Seong, Won-Sop Shin, Nyam-Osor Batkhuu, Bum-Jin Park
- Korea has established a comprehensive forest therapy system supported by legal frameworks, research, expert training, and program development, primarily through institutions like …
- Korea has established a comprehensive forest therapy system supported by legal frameworks, research, expert training, and program development, primarily through institutions like the Therapy Forest. In contrast, Mongolia, despite its rich forest therapy resources and reliance on ecotourism, lacks both professional expertise and formal laws related to forest therapy. To address this gap, Mongolia is encouraged to adopt Korea’s forest therapy model as part of its forest welfare strategy. With successful afforestation projects in areas such as Runsom—funded by Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA)—there is now an opportunity to protect these forests and develop them for public well-being. This study surveyed Mongolian citizens on forest therapy awareness and analyzed related systems in both countries. Using Korea’s classification of forest therapy resources, the study identified therapy factors in the Runsom area and proposed methods to introduce a forest therapy system in Mongolia. Key recommendations include creating a forest therapy foundation, forming a multidisciplinary cooperative, and institutionalizing expert roles such as forest therapists and forest interpreters under Mongolian forest or tourism law. - COLLAPSE
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Animal
- The effects of feeding level of concentrate for growing phase on growth performance in the Holstein calves
- Sung Il Kim, Do Hyung Kim, Ji Hong Lee
- This study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding level of concentrate for growing phase on growth performance in the Holstein …
- This study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding level of concentrate for growing phase on growth performance in the Holstein calves. Thirty Holstein calves (average body weight: 89.5 ± 11.5 kg) were assigned to three groups by a randomized complete block design. From 10 days after arrival on the farm until 120 days of age, the calves were fed concentrate at 2.2% of their body weight. Additionally, the daily amount of concentrate was gradually increased at 15-day intervals to 200, 300, and 500 g for the T1, T2, and T3 groups, respectively. Total weight gain and average daily gain were significantly higher in the T3 group than in the other treatment groups (p < 0.05). Feed conversion rate was significantly lower in the T3 group (p < 0.05). The crude protein and total digestible nutrient (TDN) requirement was significantly lower in the T3 group compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). This study suggest that providing 500 g/day/head of concentrate, along with free-range access to forage, is effective in improving daily weight gain, feed conversion rate in Holstein calves. - COLLAPSE
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Animal
- Effects of quality grade on fatty acid composition and melting points of different adipose tissues of Hanwoo steers
- Sung Il Kim
- This study aimed to compare and analyze the changes in fatty acid composition and melting points in different adipose tissues, including M. …
- This study aimed to compare and analyze the changes in fatty acid composition and melting points in different adipose tissues, including M. longissimus dorsi, subcutaneous fat, and perirenal fat, according to quality grade in Hanwoo steers. In M. longissimus dorsi fat, the C18:1 content was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the 1++ grade compared to the 2 grade. The 1++ grade also exhibited the lowest (p < 0.05) saturated fatty acid (SFA) content and the highest (p < 0.05) unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) content among all quality grades. In subcutaneous fat, the 1++ grade showed significantly higher (p < 0.05) levels of C18:3 and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) compared to the other grades. The average UFA content in subcutaneous fat (66.60%) was 9.07% and 16.78% higher than that in M. longissimus dorsi (61.06%) and perirenal fat (57.03%), respectively. In perirenal fat, the average C18:0 content was 16.54%, approximately two to four times higher than the average contents found in M. longissimus dorsi (9.15%) and subcutaneous fat (4.94%). Additionally, the PUFA content was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the 1++ grade than in the other quality grades. Furthermore, the melting points of adipose tissues were lowest in the order of subcutaneous fat (17.84 - 18.69℃), M. longissimus dorsi (25.36 - 27.36℃), and perirenal fat (29.13 - 35.70℃). Overall, these findings suggest that the fatty acid composition and melting points of Hanwoo steer adipose tissues vary depending on the fat depot and that higher quality grades are associated with increased UFA and PUFA levels. - COLLAPSE
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Plant & Forest
- Validation on the accuracy of non-destructive diagnosis devices for the detection of internal wood defects in an urban tree
- Bo-Kyung Jang, Ki Hyeong Park, Sang-Tae Seo, Byeongkwan Kim, Sung-Eun Cho, Seong-Cheol Moon, Dong-Hyeon Lee
- A rise in tree damage caused by internal decay, including breakage and uprooting, especially for trees planted as a street tree in …
- A rise in tree damage caused by internal decay, including breakage and uprooting, especially for trees planted as a street tree in an urban area is of concern specifically for safety issues to human life and property. Although, to predict and proactively respond to such events, structural stability assessment against urban and street trees is being monitored through visual inspection, its difficulty in determining the extent of damage inside trees based solely on such evaluation method requires alternatives that enable to accurately detect and estimate internal structural defects, including cavities and decay. In this regard, non-destructive diagnostic devices, including sonic tomography (SoT) are widely used for estimating internal structural defects of the trees, the accuracy of these techniques varies depending on the tree species, requiring prior reliability analysis of measurement results before field application. Thus, this study aimed to verify whether internal defects in actual wood specimens are accurately reflected by measurements generated by three non-destructive diagnostic devices, including resistance micro-drilling (RESI), SoT and electric resistance tomography (ERT). This was achieved using Prunus × yedoensis that are widely distributed and planted with its popularities in the urban areas of the country. The results showed that the internal structural defects assessed by the wood section inspections were, in general, inappropriately reflected the location and size of the defects with a tendency to under-estimate when compared to those from SoT and ERT, while the RESI was relatively effective for detecting the internal wood decay and cavity the internal structural defects. The findings of this study offer valuable insights as to how measurements obtained from the non-destructive diagnostic techniques should be accurately interpreted for the widespread field application to street trees across the country and further provide a solid foundation for future tree structure evaluations and preventive management practices. - COLLAPSE
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Plant & Forest
- Impact of textures on the moisture content, temperature, chemical properties of soil and occurrence of strawberry Fusarium wilt in the same plastic greenhouse
- Deog-Bae Lee, Kyoung-Hee Lee, Mi-Jeong Uhm
- In the same plastic greenhouse, a 1/3 area of strawberries was damaged by Fusarium wilt, but a 2/3 area had little damage. …
- In the same plastic greenhouse, a 1/3 area of strawberries was damaged by Fusarium wilt, but a 2/3 area had little damage. The results of analyzing soil texture, chemical properties, soil moisture content, and soil temperature to understand the cause of the local wilting of strawberries (cultivar: Seolhyang) in the same greenhouse are as follows. From September 1st to October 9th 2021, the maximal air temperature over 28℃ was 23 days, which was an environment that was prone to strawberry Fusarium wilt. Soil texture at the Fusarium wilt site was a sandy loam consisting of 51.2% sand, 25.5% silt, and 23.3% clay, but the disease-free site was a loam consisting of 38.6% sand, 44.1% silt, and 17.2% clay. The pH of the sandy loam soil was lower and the cation content and electric conductivity (EC) were higher than that of the loam soil. In the sandy clay loam soil, soil temperature was 1.4℃ higher at a depth of 10 cm compared to the loam, 2.7℃ higher at a depth of 20 cm, and 1.3℃ higher at a depth of 30 cm. This high soil temperature would have increased evaporation of strawberry plant. In the sandy clay loam soil, the moisture content was 0.8% lower at a depth of 10 cm, 3.6% at a depth of 20 cm, and 2.4% at a depth of 30 cm than the loam soil. Soil texture could influence occurrence of strawberry Fusarium wilt resulted from different soil temperature, water content and soil chemical properties in the same fertigation culture. - COLLAPSE
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Engineering
- Effects of light treatment on growth and yield of barley sprouts
- Kyeoung Cheol Kim, Ju-Sung Kim
- This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different light sources on the growth and quality characteristics of barley sprouts cultivated in …
- This study aimed to evaluate the effects of different light sources on the growth and quality characteristics of barley sprouts cultivated in a plant factory system. Barley sprouts were grown for 9 days under natural light, mixed LED (red : white : blue = 2 : 1 : 1), and fluorescent LED conditions, and their growth performance and functional quality were assessed. Growth analysis revealed that sprouts cultivated under artificial lighting showed faster shoot development and higher nitrogen balance index (NBI) compared to those grown under natural light. Among the artificial light treatments, fluorescent LEDs promoted more rapid growth than mixed LEDs, resulting in a significant increase in biomass and suggesting the potential for shortened cultivation periods. For quality evaluation, barley sprouts grown under fluorescent LEDs were extracted using different solvents (distilled water, ethanol, and 70% ethanol), and total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), luteolin content, and antioxidant activity were analyzed. The 70% ethanol extract exhibited the highest levels of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity, indicating its suitability as an effective extraction solvent. Collectively, these results suggest that applying fluorescent LEDs in a plant factory system can enhance the growth rate and yield of barley sprouts while maintaining high-quality bioactive compound content. Furthermore, 70% ethanol was identified as the most efficient solvent for extracting functional components from barley sprouts. - COLLAPSE
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Animal
- Behavioral differences by sex in companion dogs in response to owner absence migrants: Sex differences in dog behavior during owner absence
- Eun Ggyeom Jung, Soon Hwangbo
- This study was conducted to investigate behavioral differences in companion dogs based on sex following the owner’s absence. The aim was to …
- This study was conducted to investigate behavioral differences in companion dogs based on sex following the owner’s absence. The aim was to provide foundational data on companion animal behavior and to help prevent or reduce problem behaviors that may lead to accidents when the owner is away. Behavioral observations revealed that female dogs spent significantly more time sleeping (mean 36.1 min) than male dogs (mean 12.2 min) (p < 0.05). In contrast, male dogs showed significantly longer durations of resting (20 min) and pacing (26 min) than females (p < 0.05). Barking, identified as a problem behavior during owner absence, occurred significantly more frequently in males (mean 12.6 times) than in females (mean 4.5 times) (p < 0.05). Although there was no significant difference in the total duration of destructive behavior per hour by sex, differences were observed in temporal patterns. Male dogs consistently displayed destructive behavior throughout the observation period (1.2 - 3.2 min·h-1), whereas females exhibited it predominantly immediately after the owner’s departure and around sleep periods. Barking was most frequent immediately after the owner’s departure in both sexes. - COLLAPSE
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Animal
- Evaluation of growth performance and nitrogen excretion in manure according to lysine levels in growing pig feed
- Seong-Hun Shim, Sang-Yun Ji, Jin-Young Jeong, Min-Ji Kim, Jun-Sik Kim, Hwan-Ku Kang
- This study evaluated the effects of dietary lysine levels in low-nitrogen diets on the growth performance, nitrogen excretion, and metabolic health of …
- This study evaluated the effects of dietary lysine levels in low-nitrogen diets on the growth performance, nitrogen excretion, and metabolic health of growing pigs. Seventy crossbred pigs (Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc) with an average initial body weight of 32.38 ± 0.25 kg were assigned to four dietary treatments: a control diet (crude protein [CP]: 16%, lysine [Lys]: 1.22%) and three low-nitrogen diets (CP: 15%) with varying lysine levels (1.22, 1.32, and 1.42%). Growth performance and nitrogen excretion were assessed over 42 and 7 days, respectively. The results showed no significant differences in growth performance among treatments (p > 0.05), while urinary nitrogen excretion decreased by up to 35% in the high-lysine group (1.42%) compared to the control. Nutrient digestibility and blood metabolic parameters remained stable across all treatments, indicating that lysine supplementation maintained physiological balance and reduced environmental nitrogen output. These findings suggest that lysine-supplemented low-nitrogen diets can effectively reduce nitrogen excretion without compromising pig growth, providing a sustainable solution for minimizing the environmental impact of pig production. - COLLAPSE
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Engineering
- 3D plant morphology phenotyping of sorghum and soybean in near real-field conditions using point cloud analysis
- Emmanuel Omia, Eun-Sung Park, Dennis Semyalo, Muhammad Fahri Reza Pahlawan, Rahul Joshi, Hongseok Lee, Isa Kabenge, Chi-Kook Ahn, Byoung-Kwan Cho
- Modern plant phenomics leverages advanced digital technologies to derive qualitative and quantitative traits that define plant phenotypes, offering crucial insights for breeders …
- Modern plant phenomics leverages advanced digital technologies to derive qualitative and quantitative traits that define plant phenotypes, offering crucial insights for breeders and farmers in precision agriculture. However, real-field conditions, with their complexity and lack of flexibility, pose significant challenges for machine vision algorithm initially developed in controlled laboratory settings. The objective of this study was to explore the potential of human aided 3D point cloud analysis for phenotyping crop under near real-field conditions using a custom-built desktop application, with sorghum and soybean plants as the case study. Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquisition was performed using a Leica BLK360 imaging laser scanner (Leica Geosystems AG, USA). Coordinate difference measurements were employed in extracting various phenotypic traits from plant point clouds. The sphere outlier removal (SOR) was fundamental in macro-noise reduction, while color-based scatter plot matrix were used for micro-noise isolation. The correlation between point cloud-derived traits and manually measured values was strong, with root mean square error (RMSE) of 17.84 mm for sorghum plant height, 16.28 mm for soybean plant height, 11.65 mm for sorghum panicle height, and 0.967 mm for sorghum stem diameter, and corresponding R-squared values between 0.7334 and 0.9492. However, measuring more complex traits like crown diameter, which are influenced by overlap and occlusion, was less accurate, with an RMSE of 102.4 mm and an R-squared value of 0.3702. While 3D phenotyping in near real-field environment reliably captures linear plant structures, complex morphological traits require improved occlusion-handling algorithms. Future work should prioritize high resolution sensors to capture finer details. Likewise, automated workflows are poised to improve not only throughput but the reliability and reproducibility of the 3D phenotyping approach. - COLLAPSE
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Plant & Forest
- Acute toxicity evaluation to Cyprinus carpio of herbicide resistance transgenic chrysanthemum
- Ye Jin Jang, Young Jin Yeo, Eun Jung Suh, Jong-Chan Park, Seong-Kon Lee, Doh-Won Yun, Ancheol Chang, Seok-Ki Min, Sung-Dug Oh
- Herbicide-resistant transgenic chrysanthemum was generated by inserting the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (pat) gene into the plant genome. The acute toxicity effects …
- Herbicide-resistant transgenic chrysanthemum was generated by inserting the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (pat) gene into the plant genome. The acute toxicity effects of herbicide-resistant transgenic chrysanthemum (genetically modified, GM) and non-GM chrysanthemum on Cyprinus carpio were investigated at various concentrations (0, 156, 131, 625, 1,250, and 2,500 mg·L-1). Through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunostrip analysis, it was confirmed that the GM chrysanthemum exhibited resistance to glufosinate herbicides due to the introduction of the pat gene. To evaluate the environmental risks of GM chrysanthemum, feeding experiments were conducted on C. carpio. The fish were fed with ground GM chrysanthemum or non-GM chrysanthemum. The 96 h-LC50 (lethal concentration 50) values were 752.0 mg·L-1 (95% confidence limits: 675.8 - 836.9 mg·L-1) and 788.5 mg·L-1 (95% confidence limits: 686.4 - 905.8 mg·L-1) for GM and non-GM chrysanthemum, respectively. Additionally, no significant differences in body weight and length were observed in C. carpio fed with GM and non-GM chrysanthemum. These results indicate that there were no significant differences in toxicity or physiological effects on the C. carpio between GM chrysanthemum and its non-GM counterpart. - COLLAPSE