옥수수의 내습성은 우리나라 옥수수 재배면적 확대와 자급률 향상을 위해 고려되어야 할 중요한 요소 중 하나이다. 본 연구는 내습성 옥수수 계통 개발을 위한 기초 연구로서, 토양의 표면침수조건에서 변화하는 옥수수 뿌리의 대사체를 분석하여 옥수수의 내습성 관련 생리 기작을 구명하고자 수행되었다. 우리나라 옥수수 유전자원(Zea mays L.)과 야생종 옥수수(Zea mays spp. parviglumis) 간 교배를 통하여 내습성이 향상된 계통을 개발했고, 그 중 19KT-32P를 유묘단계(V3)에 7일 동안 침수시킨 후 뿌리에서 발현되는 대사체를 탐색하고 분석하였다. 총 180개 대사체가 확인되었 고, 그 중에서 ℽ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), putrescine, citrulline, Gly, Ala 등 8개 대사체는 각각 2.5배 이상 발현이 증가 또는 감소하였다. 확인된 대사체는 식물에서 pH, 삼투압, K+/Ca++ 및 ATPase 활성을 조절하는 비생물적 스트레스와 관련이 있었다. 특히 가장 발현이 높은 GABA는 glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) 효소에 의해 축적되며, 본연구에서 분석한 결과 10개의 유전자형이 확인되었다. 특히 첫 번째 엑손은 매우 보존적이었지만, 두번째 엑손부터 많은 SNP 다형성이 확인되었다. 이러한 결과는 앞으로 내습성 옥수수 선발을 위한 분자마커로 활용되어 육종 효율을 높이는 좋은 수단으로 이용될 수 있을 것으로 생각된다.

Waterlogging strongly affects maize (Zea mays L.) growth. It is necessary to find the screening method of waterlogging tolerant maize lines. This study was to investigate the growth characters at V3 stage of maize, when is very sensitive to waterlogging. Six Korean maize inbred lines were subjected to waterlogging at V3 stage for 30 days. The 30 days waterlogging treatment significantly reduced plant height, number of expanded leaves, and SPAD value, compared with the control plants. SPAD values were significantly different among the six inbred lines, KS140 was the highest. The dry matter accumulation of aerial and root part were significantly decreased by 30 days waterlogging. KS140 was the weightiest among inbred lines. The dry matter of adventitious root showed same trend. Waterlogging treatment significantly reduced to ear length and thickness, grains filling length, grain number per ear, and maize grain. Plant height, SPAD value, and number of fully-expanded leave showed high correlation with maize grain yield, but number of senescent leaves, dry matter of adventitious root and TR ratio did not, suggesting that the former three traits may be good indicator for evaluating 30-day waterlogging tolerance of maize inbred lines. KS164 was the highest yield by increasing of grains filling length and grain number per ear of among waterlogging inbred lines. According to the results, evaluation of maize waterlogging should be consider both early growth characteristics and resilience in the later growth stages.

In monsoon climates, persistent shade is a troublesome weather condition with an impact on the growth and yield of corn (Zea mays L.). We imposed 7, 14, 21, and 28 days of consecutive shade (CS) on Gwangpyeongok and P3394 corn hybrids at the beginning of the kernel filling stages. Shade had little impact on leaf area and dry matter accumulation in the stem and leaves. However, dry matter accumulation in the ear was severely reduced by approximately 28% and 53% after 14 and 28 days of CS, respectively. For the components of grain yield, 7 and 14 days of shade did irreparable damage to the number of filled kernels, the kernel number per ear row, and the percent of filled kernels, but did little damage or reversible damage after removal of the shade to the 100-grain weight and the row number per ear. Shade significantly reduced the relative growth rate (RGR) due to a decrease in the net assimilation rate (NAR). These results suggest that source activity limitation by shade during the kernel filling stages leads to the inhibition of sink activity and size. The yield of biomass, ear, and grain logistically declined as the length of CS increased. Probit analysis revealed that the number of days of CS needed to cause 25% and 50% reductions in grain yield were 3.7 and 23.1, respectively. These results suggest that the plant yield loss induced by shade at the beginning of the kernel filling stages is mainly achieved within the first 7 days of consecutive shade.

A long-term field experiment under different fertilization treatments had been conducted to explore the effects of rice yield and soil chemical properties from 1978 to 2008 in Suwon, Korea. The paddy was applied eight fertilization treatments which were F0 (no fertilizer), PK (phosphorous and potassium), NK (nitrogen and potassium), NP (nitrogen and phosphorous), NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), NPKC (NPK with compost), NPKS (NPK with straw) and NPKL (NPK with lime). Results of 31 years experiment showed that yield index (the ratio of yield in each treatment to NPK) was the lowest in F0 (0.52) and the highest in NPKC (1.18). Yield index was gradually increased in NPKC but decreased in F0 and NK. The yield index of PK, NP, NPKS and NPKL were not changed long-term treatment. Soil acidity of NPKL showed the highest with pH 7.9, and that of other treatments ranged from pH 6.3 to 6.8. Available phosphorous content of soil was increased in all plots by long-term fertilization, was the highest in PK and NPKC. Soil organic matter was higher in NPKC (1.8%) and NPKS (1.8%) than other treatments (1.3~1.4%) in the early experiment, but that was remarkably increased in only NPKC (2.5%) according to annual long-term application. Thus we suggest that annual compost application with optimum NPK could make stable and sustainable rice production.

Understanding the response of a crop to water deficiency is the first step towards breeding drought-tolerant varieties. In this study, inbred maize (Zea mays L.) lines KS140 and KS141 were subjected to drought stress by withholding water for 10 days at the V5 or V6 leaf stage. Water-deficient plants experienced a decrease in relative leaf water content, stomatal conductance, net CO2 assimilation rate, and water use efficiency compared to well-watered plants. This was accompanied by a decrease in the relative leaf water content that resulted in severe growth retardation in KS140 and KS141. However, leaf chlorophyll content in KS140 was unchanged. To understand the proteome dynamics during the 10-day drought stress in maize leaves, comparative proteome analysis was carried out between the well-watered and water-withheld leaves. Differential expression was observed for 29 protein spots from KS140 and 14 protein spots from KS141, and these were identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Among identified proteins, metabolism and stress related proteins were highly were increased by drought stress. This study provides a protein profile of a Korean maize inbred line during drought stress, which will be valuable for future studies of the molecular mechanisms underlying drought resistance and for development of selective breeding markers for drought tolerance in maize.

Fresh edible sweet corns demand relatively short period to harvest fresh ears, which can allow farmers to make a choice sweet corns for various cropping systems. For this reason, we were to find the optimum planting date of late-planted sweet corns to sell fresh ears in the autumn linked to cropping system with winter crops, investigating yield and properties of marketable fresh ears and growth traits of sweet corns (cv. 'Godangok' and cv. 'Guseulok') depending on planting dates such as 10 July, 20 July, and 30 July in Suwon 2012 and 2013, respectively. The 20 July-planted sweet corns showed the most fresh ear yield. However, the 10 July-planted and the 30 July-planted had 32% less yield caused by consecutive rainfall from 10 July through 20 July, and 15% less yield due to low air temperature during ripening than the 20 July-planted, respectively. The 10 and 20 July-planted sweet corns had average 140g of a fresh ear weight and 15% heavier ear than the 30 July-planted. For the July-planted sweet corns, silking days after planting (r=-0.80**), and harvesting days after silking (r=-0.97**) and planting (r=-0.91**) were highly negatively correlated with daily mean air temperature during the period, resulting in it takes 1,100 growing degree days (GDD) to harvest fresh ears from the July-planted sweet corns. The fresh ears of the 20 July-planted sweet corns are able to be harvested by early October. Therefore it will be a good choice for the cropping system based on winter vegetable cash crops such as temperate garlic and onion with medium or late maturity. Among three planting dates 20 July-planted sweet corns had the best field performance in every year considering fresh ear yield, ear size, and stability to grow.

Recently whole genome SNP genotyping has been used to do association analysis and to map a gene of interest. Here we report application of bulked segregant analysis(BSA) using Infinium HD assay with ‘BARC Bean6K_3’, a SNP genotyping beadchip containing 5,399 SNPs for common bean to locate a target gene. We used BSA using Infinium HD assay was performed to find the candidate region of a single dominant rust resistant gene in PI310762, a common bean cultivar. And SSR markers were identified and mapped on the candidate region using F2 population derived from the cross of susceptible Pinto114 x resistant PI310762. BSA revealed the candidate region of the resistant gene is on chromosome 4 where we developed nine SSR markers. Three SSR markers (beanssr1170, beanssr1168, and beanssr1167) of them appeared closely linked to the resistant gene which is located between beanssr1167 at 0.1cM and beanssr1170 at 0.5cM on chromosome 4. This study showed BSA using high-throughput whole genome SNP genotyping is a very fast and efficient method to locate a gene of interest on chromosome.