Diallel analysis was conducted with FI's derived from crossing in all combinations without reciprocals among six rice varieties; three tropical japonica and three temperate japonica varieties, with different traits associated with panicle and flag leaf. Epistasis was observed in the number of primary branches (PB) per panicle and of spikelets per panicle, while flag leaf length, flag leaf color, PB length and neck node thickness were explained with the additive-dominance model. The estimated genetic mode of flag leaf length and PB length was a positive complete dominance model with high heritability, and that of flag leaf color and neck node thickness was an incomplete dominance model. In particular, tropical japonica varieties with low-tillering and heavy-panicle appear to have higher number of dominant genes for flag leaf length and PB length than temperate japonica varieties.
Production of medicinal soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill], characterized with black seed, white stripe at hilum border, yellow cotyledon and small seed, is increasing with increasing consumption. The objective of this study was to investigate the chemical composition of medicinal soybean seed and to provide basic information, for the characterization of these soybeans among genetic resources. Forty-four lines of medicinal soybeans collected from Korea and two control cultivars, 'Hwangkeumkong' (Yellow seed coat) and 'Geomjeongkong l' (Black seed coat) were planted at the Research Farm of the College of Natural Resources, Korea University, located at Namyangju City on May 25, 1996. Seeds of these lines were harvested at full maturity and analyzed for protein, oil, sugar, starch and mineral contents. Mean protein and oil content of the medicinal line seeds were 42.6 and 16.1%, respectively, and those of the control cultivars were in the middle range for protein and oil content. However, sugar and starch content of the medicinal line seeds appeared to be in the lower range of the distributions compared to the control cultivars and were 10.0 and 1.68%, respectively. Mean P, K, Ca, and Mg contents of the seeds of medicinal soybean lines were 15.9, 21.5, 3.11, and 2.81 mg/g, respectively, indicating that these lines had higher P, K, and Mg and lower Ca contents when compared to the control cultivars. Mean Na and Fe contents were 671 and 224 mg/kg, respectively, showing lower Na and similar Fe contents. The observed results provided that chemical compositions of medicinal soybean were, on average, different from those of the general soybean cultivars.
The conductivity test is a measure of electrolytes leakage from plant tissue. The shorter the maturation period after heading was the greater electrical conductivity (EC) of rice seed. The polymer-coated seed was not different in EC compared with non-coated seed. As soaking time of rice seed increased, EC increased gradually. The EC varied from 9.9 to 20.7~mu S cm-1g-l for control plots and from 21.3 to 41.7~mu S cm-1g-l for heat-killed seeds which were produced by autoclaving seeds at 121~circC for 20 minutes. The germination speed (the rate of 5th day) of rice seed was 94% at control plot, 83% at low temperature and 20% at high temperature. Besides, germination percentage was 95% for the control, 92% for the low temperature treatment and 39% for the high temperature treatment. The EC was negatively correlated (r=-0.771** ) with germination percentage at low temperature. Water uptake in seeds of 30, 40, 50 days after heading (DAH) was greater than that of 20 DAH. Plant height of seedlings was 9.84 cm for the control but 4.32 cm for the high temperature treatment, and the tallest for polymer-coated seed. Dry weight of seedlings was 0.841 g for the control and 0.287 g at high temperature. Besides, the polymer-coated seed was heavier than non-coated seed. The number of roots was largest from 40 to 50 DAH and polymer-coated seed, but was decreased from 20 to 30 DAH. The length of roots was 20.52 cm at control plot and 19.89 cm polymer-coated seed but 8.68 cm for the low temperature treatment and 7.28 cm for the high temperature treatment.
This study was conducted to elucidate the changes of photosynthetic ability and cation content in barley cultivar seedlings cultured for 10 and 30 days with different NaCl concentrations containing 1/4 Hoagland solutions. At the highest NaCl concentration, the weight of dry matter and the shoot/root ratio (S/R ratio) were decreased. Thus, shoots were affected more than roots by NaCl treatment. The S/R ratio decreased more in 'Neulssalbori' than in 'Bunong' by the NaCl treatment. The. internal Na+ concentration increased greatly with the highest NaCl concentration, but K+ concentration in plants decreased with the highest NaCl treatment. The Ca2+ concentration had a small change with NaCl concentrations. Thus Na+ /K+ and Na+ /Ca2+ ratios increased with the highest concentration. The chlorophyll content (%/dry weight) of seedlings decreased at higher NaCl levels except for Bunong in 30 day old seedlings. The photosynthetic ability decreased only for Neulssalbori in the 10 days NaCl treatment. The stomatal conductance, and transpiration had decreased in the 10 day old seedlings, but not with 30 day old seedlings.
To find out the effects of humidification and hardening of rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Ilpumbyeo) seeds on the germination, both normal and artificially aged seeds with 60% germination rate were humidified at 40, 60, and 80% RHs and 25~circC for five weeks or hydrated for 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours at 25~circC from one to five cycles for hardening. Relative humidity and duration of humidification did not affect the germination rate of normal seeds, while reduced the time to get 50% germination rate (T50 ) by 1.0~1.6 days compared to that of normal seeds at 25~circC . Aged seeds humidified at 40 and 60% RHs did not affect the germination rate and T50 regardless of relative humidity and duration of treatment, while at 80% RH, the germination rate decreased and T50 increased significantly with the duration of humidification. Hardening of normal seeds reduced T50 by 0.7~1.1 days without changes in the germination rate. However, the germination rate and T50 of aged seeds soaked in water for 6, 12, and 18 hours were similar regardless of soaking/drying cycles, while hardening of artificially aged seeds with 1~4 cycles in 24 hours soaking increased the germination rate by 11-16% and reduced T50 by 1.4~2.0 days.
Root and shoot development of two rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars with different genetic backgrounds was studied with reference to their relative growth. Tongil type (indica-japonica hybrid) cultivar 'Kuemkangbyeo' and japonica cultivar 'Koshihikari' were grown in 5000-1 a Wagnar pots under flooded condition. Three plants with roots of both cultivars were taken in every phyllochron through the heading stage to record morphological characteristics of shoot and root system. Compared to Koshihikari, Kuemkangbyeo produced more tillers and had greater shoot weight and leaf area per hill. Length and weight of the root system in both cultivars increased exponentially with time. At the same time, root system development was significantly faster in Kuemkangbyeo than in Koshihikari after the panicle initiation stage. As a result, Kuemkangbyeo has a vigorous root system which consists of larger number of nodal roots compared to Koshihikari. Also, the root length and weight per unit leaf area of Kuemkangbyeo were larger than those of Koshihikari in the later half of growing period, which suggests possible higher physiological activity of the root system of Kuemkangbyeo which is known as a high-yielding cultivar. The relationship between root traits (crown root number, total root length, and root dry weight) and shoot traits (leaf area and leaf+culm dry weight) in both cultivars closely showed allometry until the flag leaf stage.
Sesaminol in sesame seed was postulated to have antitumor activity. The present study was performed to characterize the role of crude sesaminol extracted from sesame seed (Sesame Crude Sesaminol; SCS) on inhibiting the in vitro growth of human leukemia HL-60 cells. SCS inhibited the growth of human leukemia HL 60 cells in culture and macromolecular synthesis in a dose and time dependent manner. The cytostatic range of SCS concentration was found to be 60 to 100 ~mu~textrmg /ml. SCS concentration greater than 200 ~mu~textrmg /mlwere cytocidal to HL-60 cells. When SCS concentraction was 6 ~mu~textrmg /mland 50 ~mu~textrmg /ml the synthesis of HL-60 cells was inhibited by 35% for DNA, 6% for RNA and 5% for protein and 83% for DNA, 76% for RNA and 60% for protein. Of specific interest was the irreversible effect of SCS in inhibiting DNA synthesis of HL-60 cells. This was evidenced from the fact that, even after washed with PBS three times, preincubated HL-60 cells still showed the inhibited DNA synthesis.
Freezing-resistant plants can survive subzero temperatures by withstanding extracellular ice formation. During cold acclimation, their leaves accumulate antifreeze proteins (AFPs) that are secreted into the apoplast and have the ability to modify the normal growth of ice crystals. Three barley, two wheat and two rye cultivars were grown under two different temperature regimes (20/16~circC and 5/2~circC , day/night). Apoplastic proteins from winter cereals were separated by SDS-PAGE and detected with antisera to AFPs from winter rye. Apoplastic proteins accumulated to much higher levels in cold-acclimated (CA) leaves compared with nonacclimated (NA) ones in winter cereals. After cold acclimation, the protein concentration of apoplastic extracts increased significantly from 0.088 mgmL-1 to 0.448 mgmL-1 , with about 5-fold increment. Also, the apoplastic protein content per gram leaf fresh weight in CA leaves ranged from 31 ~mu~textrmg (gFW)-1 to 120 ~mu~textrmg (gFW)-1 with an averaged value of 77 ~mu~textrmg (gFW)-1 , and coefficients of variation of 54.9%. The CA leaves in Musketeer (a Canadian winter rye cultivar) showed the greatest AFPs and antifreeze activity followed by 'Geurumil' (a Korean winter wheat cultivar), and 'Dongbori l' (Korean facultative barley cultivar). The proteins secreted into the wheat leaf apoplast at CA condition were more numerous than those observed in winter rye, where two β -1,3-glucanase-like proteins (GLPs), two chitinase-like proteins (CLPs) and two thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) accumulated during cold acclimation. The proteins in barley leaf apoplast at CA conditions were a little different from those in wheat leaves. The AFPs were various among and within species. More freezing-resistant cultivars had more clear and numerous bands than less freezing-resistant ones. The high determination coefficient (R2 =91 %) between freezing resistance and AFPs per gram leaf fresh weight indicated that the amount of AFPs was highly related to freezing resistance in winter cereal crops.
The cyanidin 3-glucoside (C3G) extracted from pigmented rice seeds in 0.5% TFA (Trifluoro acetic acid) -95% ethanol was separated by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). A HPLC system using a Develosil ODS-5 column and 0.1 % TFA-H2O ~0.1 % TFA-CH3CN gradient elution was selected for separation and quantitative determination of C3G. Regression equation obtained for the standard content of C3G pigment was as Y=21.95293* X-14.726771 (r=0.99** ). Using this method, 326 domestic and introduced collections were evaluated for the C3G content. The Korean bred cultivar 'Heugjinjubyeo', showed highest C3G content (552 mg/100g seed) among the tested cultivars. Among the pigmented rice cultivars ten cultivars were selected for containing a high content of C3G. The content of C3G per 100g seeds was in high order as follows: Heugjinjubyeo (552mg)>Cheng Chang (321mg)>Kilimgeugmi (240mg)>PI160979-2 (224mg)>Hong Shei Lo (221mg)>Heugnambyeo (191 mg)>Mitak =PIl60979-1 (186mg)>Suwon425 (163mg)>Sanghaehyanghyeolla (108mg). The C3G pigment was not detected in the common white rice cultivars.
Four experiments were conducted to determine growth regulators, their concentrations and treatment time, rooting medium, and plant parts for optimum seedling propagation by stem cuttings in yacon (Polymnia sonchifolia Poepp. & Endl.). NAA was the most effective on rooting, and followed by IBA 2,4-D, and IAA. Dipping the base of cuttings in 50 or 100 ppm solutions of IBA increased rooting ratios. The 100 ppm solution of IBA was 14% higher than the 50 ppm solution for rooting ratios. Rooting medium with equal volumes of clay loam and sand was the most suitable for rooting of cuttings. Cuttings with both terminal bud and the first node or cuttings with both the first and second nodes were higher in rooting ratios than cuttings with only terminal bud or the first or second nodes. Days to rooting was not affected by plant parts.
Volatile components were extracted from leaves of two Boxthorn (Lycium chinense M.) cultivars by using simultaneous distillation and extraction, analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Seventy components were identified : 13 acids, 15 alcohols, 18 hydrocarbons, 13 carbonyls, three esters, three ionones, and five others. The principal volatile components (and their peak area percentage) were n-pentanol (11.2~30.2%), phytol (14.5~28.3%), hexadecanoic acid (13.5~17.1%) 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran (1.5~4.2%), benzyl alcohol (1.9-4.8%), phenylacetaldehyde (1.8~3.2%), and octadecadienoic acid (1.7~10.7%). Fresh leaves showed much higher peak area than that of dried leaf in n-pentanol, n-hexanol, cis-2-penten-l-ol, cis-3-hexen-l-ol, benzyl alcohol, and β -phenylethyl alcohol, while dried leaves showed much higher content than that of fresh leaves in 9-hydroxytheaspran A, octadecanoic acid and octadecadienic acid.
An experiment was carried out to find out the priming effects of rice seeds, Oryza sativa L. (cv. Ilpumbyeo) on. the seedling establishment and early emergence under excess soil moisture conditions. Seeds were primed by soaking in -0.6 MPa polyethylene glycol (PEG) solution at 25~circC for 4 days. The primed seeds were sown in soils with various soil moistures (60, 80, 100, 120, and 140% field capacity) at 17 and 25~circC , respectively. Germination and emergence rates, plumule height, and radicle length of primed seeds were higher than those of untreated seeds at any soil moisture and temperature examined. The time from planting to 50% germination (T50 ) of primed seeds was less than that of untreated seeds by 0.9~3.7 days. Germination rate, emergence rate, plumule height, and radicle length were highest at the soil moisture of 80% field capacity among the soil moistures. Priming effects of rice seeds on germination and emergence rates were more prominent under the unfavorable soil moistures (60, 100, 120, and 140% field capacity) than those under the optimum soil moisture condition (80% field capacity). However, priming effects on seedling growth were greater at near optimum soil moisture compared with too lower or higher soil moistures. Therefore, these findings suggest that priming of rice seeds may be a useful way for better seedling establishment under the adverse soil conditions.