In U.S.A. maize breeding, exotic germplasm is considered as high-risk and usually introduced by backcrossing specific traits into elite lines. The U.S.A. maize germplasm base is narrow. Only a few open-pollinated varieties are well represented in current programs. Currently, the barrier in using of exotic germplasm in the U.S.A is less formidable than in the 1980s. The major reason is that U.S.A materials are now used in tropical breeding to accelerate earlier maturity and lodging resistance. These exotic materials, developed with U.S.A germplasm, are being introduced back into the U.S.A.Since1994, the ARS-led Germplasm Enhancement of Maize (GEM) project has sought to help broaden the genetic base of America’s corn crop by promising exotic germplasm and crossing it with domestic lines. New hybrids derived from such crosses have provided corn researchers and the producers. These may include improved or alternative native source of resistance to insect pests such as corn rootworms and diseases like northern leaf blight. GEM’s aim is to provide source of useful genetic maize diversity to help the producers to reduce risks from new or evolving insect and disease threats or changes in the environment or respond to new marketing opportunities and demand. During the 2009 growing season, the Ames (Iowa) and Raleigh (North Carolina) locations managed or coordinated evaluations on 17,200 nursery plots as well as 14,000 yield trial plots in Ames and 12,000 in Raleigh. A new “allelicdiversity” study is devoted to exploring and capturing the genetic variation represented by over 300 exotic corn races. Since 2001, GEM has released 221 new corn lines to cooperators for further development into elite commercial new hybrids. GEM has already identified about 50%-tropical, 50%-temperate families tracing primarily to tropical hybrids that are competitive with commercial checks. In North Carolina State University program, they have examined the potential of tropical inbredand hybrids for U.S.A. breeding by crossing temperate-adapted, 100%-tropical lines to U.S.A hybrids. There should be favorably unique alleles or genomic regions in temperate germplasm that can be helpful in tropical maize improvement as well as utilization of tropical lines in temperate areas.

In this study, we examined the palatability and physicochemical properties of rice varieties in the year when there was 10% increase in yield compared to normal year due to daily temperature range and sunshine hours. The results of the analysis of rice yield over the last 20 years (1993-2012) showed 10% difference between the yield in 2000, which was normal, and that in 2001. With regard to the crop weather condition during the ripening period in 2001 compared to 2000, the daily range and sunshine hours were higher, but the mean temperature was similar. The rice yield in 2001 was 9.8% higher than that in 2000 due to the increased number of spikelets per panicles and ratio of ripened grain. In terms of chemical traits, protein, Mg, and K contents decreased in 2001 compared to 2000, but amylose content increased. Trough and final viscosity assessed with a Rapid Visco Analyser were significantly higher in 2001 than 2000. The results suggested that the palatability of cooked rice was good in that year with about 10% increase in rice yield compared to normal year due to daily temperature range and sunshine hours.

Fruit quality traits like heat, color and flavor are unique and important for pepper cuisines and industrial use. Pepper pigments include chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanin and red pigments like capsanthin are unique carotenoids to capsicum spp. So developing carotenoids-rich peppers and use of red pigments extraction along with capsaicinoids are one of interest pepper breeding goals in the world. Horticultural traits of 113 germplasms introduced by international cooperative research with YASS of China were evaluated to select promissing materials for high quality peppers during the past 3 years. All of germplasms including 60 local peppers were belong to C. annuum and fruit characteristics were diverse. Especially fruit chemical compositions like ASTA color, capsaicinoids and sugars were evaluated compared with korean commercial peppers. Average contents of ASTA　color was 98±37, 55±63mg in capsaicinoids and 12±6% in total sugars. ASTA color which generally means red pigments content was over 120 in 25 germplasms including over 200 in 2 germplasms. Higher ASTA colors were observed in different fruit types. Capsaicinoids content was over 90mg/100g in 24 germplasms including 5 germpalsms over 200mg. Especially higher capsaicinoids were higher in local peppers with round and wrinkled fruit shape. And total sugar content was over 20% in 10 germplasms. Germplasms of different fruit shapes and characteristics will be useful materials for diverse fruit quality breeding.

Soybean isoflavones include daidzein, genistein and glycitein with their glycosides, and their malonated derivatives are the main polyphenolic compounds that are helpful for human health. Our research objective was to investigate the differentitation of soybean isoflavones contents of breeding populations between yellow and black soybean. Isoflavones contents in soybean are a wide range from 500 to 7000 ㎍/g. In this study, we used Ilmi (Isoflavones content, 3.612 ㎍/g) as male parent and 04GAYT-4 (Isoflavones content, 1,648 ㎍/g) as female parent. From these varieties, we obtained 94 breeding lines (yellow, 48 lines; black, 25 lines; brown, 21 lines) which have isoflavones content range from 1000 to 6000 ㎍/g. Highest isflavone contents of three different breeding lines was yellow seed coated lines (average isoflavone content, yellow 3,046 ㎍/g, brown 2,935 ㎍/g, black 2,813 ㎍/g).

In order to find new genetic sources of rice salt tolerance, we did screening with about 10,000 rice mutant lines created by Ac/Ds insertional mutagenesis. First, we raised rice seedlings with media soil on 0.7% NaCl solution and selected 71 putative salt tolerant lines and analyzed their Ds insertion sites. We tested their salt tolerance by growing seedlings on MS medium containing, 0 mM, 150 mM, and 250 mM NaCl. Also, their seedling salt tolerance were evaluated by growing on Yoshida nutritional solution containing 0.6% NaCl. Finally, we selected eight mutant lines showing increased seedling salt tolerance compared with wild type variety, Dongjin, repeatedly. We grow them in rice field and investigated their agronomic traits such as heading time, culm length, panicle length, and panicles per hill. Among them two lines which were named Salt10 and Salt23 and showed favorable agronomic characteristics were crossed with Dongjin for further genetic analysis and mapping the causative gene variation.

This study aims to identify major quantitative trait loci (QTL) for yield components under low-input systems in tropical regions in rice. A total of 156 highly advanced recombinant inbred lines (RILs) have been developed from a cross between two temperate rice varieties, Dasanbyeo (Tongil-type indica) and TR22183 (japonica). Both parental lines and RILs were tested under two different regimes of irrigation and phosphorus (P) application levels. During the wet season of 2012, under mild drought conditions, TR22183 showed more vigorous root growth at 15 days after sowing than Dasanbyeo. The early root establishment of TR22183 may have contributed to the enhanced P uptake from the top soil in the early growth stage. The linkage map for DT-RILs was constructed with 312 single nucleotide polymorphism markers aided by 384-plex platform of BeadXpress high-throughput genotyping system. For the vegetative growth, major QTLs on chromsome 6 for plant height and tiller numbers were identified. For the grain yield related traits, major QTLs on chromsome 2 were closely linked to each other. On the other hand, panicle length QTLs were identified on chromsomes 2 and 9. We are currently analyzing phenotypic data and the experiment is being repeated in dry season and temperate region.

UDP-glucose 4-epimerase catalyzes the reversible conversion of UDP-glucose to UDP-galactose. The gene, named BrUGE1, isolated from a Chinese cabbage composes of a total length of 1,328 bp that contains a single open reading frame (ORF) of 1,056 bp which encodes a polypeptide of 351 amino acid residues with a calculated mass of 39.0 kDa. Expression analysis showed that BrUGE1 is tissue specific and highly expressed in stem of rice plant. Interestingly, BrUGE1 mRNA was highly accumulated by drought stress with significantly higher amount of soluble sugar. Morphological evaluation showed an increase in yield and yield components compared to the wild type. Moreover, a better growth performance on galactose as well as higher UGE1 expression was observed in transgenic rice lines than in wild type. In the Ubi-1::BrUGE1 lines, the increase of UGE1 expression was apparently sufficient to overcome the toxic effects of galactose. Taken together, the Ubi-1::BrGUE1 rice lines increased yield probably by increasing the rate of filled grains. The enhanced drought tolerance may be due to the induction of soluble sugar which may act as osmolyte to compensate dehydration during drought stress.

‘Jungmo2503’ (Hordeum vulgare L.), a new ruminant-palatability forage barley cultivar, was developed by the breeding team at the Department of Rice and Winter Cereal Crop, National Institute of Crop Science, RDA in 2011. It was derived from the cross between ‘Dongsanpi81’ and ‘Kangbori’. Among the cross made in 1999, a promising line, SB992028-B-B-B-B-B-2, showed good characteristics in potential forage yield in the yield Trial tested at Iksan in 2007 to 2008 designated as Iksan 449. The line in the Regional Yield Trials (RYT) tested in eight locations around Korea for three years from 2009 to 2011, and was released as the name of ‘Jungmo2503’. It has the growth habit of group Ⅰ, erect plant type, green leaf and hood spike. Its average heading and maturing dates were on May 2, and May 29, respectively, with are similar to check cultivar ‘Yuyeon’. The cultivar had 102cm of culm length, 691 spikes per m2 and it showed better rate of leaf, winter hardiness, and resistance to BaYMV than those of the check cultivar. The average forage yield of ‘Jungmo2503’ was about 10.9 ton ha-1 in dry matter in paddy field. ‘Jungmo2503’ also showed 9.4% of crude protein content, 27.3% of ADF (Acid Detergent Fiber), 49.0% of NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber), and 67.3% of TDN (Total Digestible Nutrients), including higher grade of silage quality for whole crop barley.

Soybean self-sufficiency in Korea was 22.5% in year 2011, and as free trade agreement between Korea and US comes into effect, the amount of soybean importation increases. In 2012, paddy field soybean cultivation was over 0.1 million ha and it is expected to increase continuously due to rise in market price of soybean. Moreover, double cropping system including paddy field soybean is widely adopted nationwide, but studies on appropriate cultivar for this environment are insufficient. In this research, the effect of planting date and different cultivars on soybean growth and yield was investigated for three planting dates (June 20, July 5, and July 20) with 15 cultivars. According to ANOVA test, soybean yield was significantly different depending on sowing date and cultivars and interaction between sowing date and cultivars was also detected, meaning each of cultivars resulted different yield depending on sowing date. When planted on July 20, stem length, nod number, branch number and grain weight was decreased because of short growing period, resulting in yield decrease. Percentage of yield obtained from July 20 in contrast to that of June 20 showed that Pungwon, Nampung and Daepung recorded the least yield decrease and the highest yield when planted late. Evaluation of late-sowing-adaptable soybean cultivar in paddy field is now being carried on following last year.

Bacterial blight is a serious problem of rice in irrigated and rainfed lowlands. It is caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) which is represented by many pathotypes, making it difficult to control. Plant proteases are important players in immunity acting either in the execution of attack, in signaling cascade or in perception of invader. This study demonstrates the response of cysteine protease (CP) upon interaction with the pathogen. The cysteine protease encoding full-length cDNA was identified and characterized using web-based tools. Conserved domain of the gene revealed its affinity to Peptidase_CIA family. The full-length cDNA of CP in Brassica rapa was then cloned and overexpressed in rice. Insertion of gene was verified in the transformants through PCR assay. Spatiotemporal expression of the gene was performed in transgenic rice. To evaluate the resistance of CP-overexpression lines to Xoo, transgenic plants were inoculated with two races of Xoo. In planta analysis of enzymatic activity of CP was also performed before and after infection by the pathogen.

‘Jungmo2502’ (Hordeum vulgare L.), a new ruminant-palatability forage barley cultivar, was developed by the breeding team at the Department of Rice and Winter Cereal Crop, National Institute of Crop Science, RDA in 2011. It was derived from the cross between ‘Samheung/Suwon 300’ and ‘Milyang 100’. Among the cross made in 2000, a promising line, SB00T2018-B-B-B-B-3, showed good characteristics in potential forage yield in the yield Trial tested at Iksan in 2007 to 2008 designated as Iksan 448. The line in the Regional Yield Trials(RYT) tested in eight locations around Korea for three years from 2009 to 2011, and was released as the name of ‘Jungmo2502’. It has the growth habit of group Ⅵ, erect plant type, green leaf and awnless spike. Its average heading and maturing dates were on May 4, and May 30, respectively, with are similar to check cultivar ‘Youngyang’. The cultivar had 98cm of culm length, 607 spikes per m2 and it showed better rate of leaf, winter hardiness, and resistance to BaYMV than those of the check cultivar. The average forage yield of ‘Jungmo2502’ was about 11.0 ton ha-1 in dry matter in paddy field. ‘Jungmo2502’ also showed 8.7% of crude protein content, 21.9% of ADF (Acid Detergent Fiber), 40.7% of NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber), and 71.6% of TDN (Total Digestible Nutrients), including higher grade of silage quality for whole crop barley.

This study was conducted to figure out the differences in physiological responses, e.g. growth, photosynthetic activity and water potential, and photoinhibition tolerance in photosystem between superior and inferior families of Pinus densiflora under drought condition. Superior which is KW85 and inferior which is KW40 families were selected using progeny test results of height growth. In 2007, seeds were collected from seed orchard. In 2008, seedlings were produced and cultivated, and from April 2009 drought treatment was started with shading treatment and plants were harvested in Sept. 2009. There was no significant difference in height growth between families. In case of leaf water potential, KW85 showed higher water potential under drought condition. But there was no significant difference in drought with shading treatment. There was no difference in photosynthetic rate but stomatal conductance and transpiration rate of KW85 showed lower value than KW40. So water use efficiency of KW85 showed higher value in every treatment. Non-photochemical quenching of KW40 showed higher value in drought treatment, but there was no significant difference in control and drought with shading treatment. Xanthophyll cycle pool size of KW85 showed higher value in drought treatment, but in drought with shading treatment KW40 showed higher value. Selected superior family showed higher drought tolerance according to water use efficiency, and it also has effective non-photochemical quenching ability. In contrast inferior family respond more sensitively in photoinhibition under drought condition.

Seed germination and the establishment of young seedlings are critical phases in the plant’s life cycle. To control these processes, plants have evolved diverse hormonal signaling networks in which brassinosteroids (BRs) attenuate abscisic acid (ABA) responses; however, the underlying regulatory mechanism remains elusive. Here, we reveal that epigenetic silencing of the ABA signaling regulator ABI3 via the BR-related transcription factor BES1 is essential for the inhibitory effect of BRs on ABA signaling during early seedling development. BR-activated BES1 forms a transcriptional repressor complex with TPL via its EAR motif that recruits the histone deacetylase HDA19. This facilitates the histone H3-mediated deacetylation of ABI3 chromatin, leading to the suppression of ABI3 and its downstream target ABI5, which results in reduced ABA sensitivity. We propose that the BR-activated BES1-TPL-HDA19 repressor complex controls epigenetic silencing of ABI3 and thereby suppresses the ABA response during early seedling development.

Plant height is an important agronomic trait that affects grain yield. Previously, we reported a novel semi-dominant dwarf mutant, D-h, derived from chemical mutagenesis using N-methyl-N-nitrosourea(MNU) on a japonica rice cultivar, Hwacheongbyeo. In this study, we cloned the gene responsible for the dwarf mutant using the map-based approach. Fine mapping revealed that the mutant gene was located on the short arm of chromosome 1 in a 48 kb region. Sequencing of the candidate genes and rapid amplification of cDNA ends-polymerase chain reaction(RACE-PCR) analyses identified the gene, d-h, which encodes a protein of unknown function, but whose sequence is conserved in other cereal crops. Real-time (RT)-PCR analysis and promoter activity assay showed that the d-h gene was primarily expressed in the nodes and the panicle. In the D-h mutant plant, the gene was found to carry a 63-bp deletion in the ORF region, which was confirmed to be directly responsible for the mutant’s gain of a functional phenotype by subsequent transgenic experiments. Since the mutant plants exhibit a defect in the GA response, but not in the GA synthetic pathway, it appears that the d-h gene may be involved in a GA signaling pathway.

The architecture of rice panicle is primarily determined by the arrangement of branches and spikelets, and it directly affects grain yield. We identified a mutant for panicle apical abortion from a japonica cultivar Hwacheongbyeo treated with N-methyl-N-nitrosourea. Under normal growth conditions, the mutant had multiple abnormal phenotypes, such as a slight reduction in plant height, narrow and dark green leaf blades, and small erect panicles with clear panicle apical abortion compared to the wild-type plants. Genetic analysis revealed that the panicle apical abortion was controlled by a single recessive gene, which is tentatively designated as paa. The paa gene was fine mapped at an interval of 71 kb flanked by STS markers aptn3 and S6685-1 at the long arm of chromosome 4. Sequence analysis of the candidate genes within the delimited region showed a single base-pair change corresponding to an amino acid substitution from glycine to glutamic acid. We expect that the paa gene will be a clue to uncover the molecular mechanism of panicle apical abortion and to maintain the panicle identity for grain yield in rice breeding programs.

The response of the freshwater microalga Chlorella vulgaris to mercuric ion (Hg2+) stress was examined using chlorophyll a fluorescence image analysis and O-J-I-P analysis as a way to monitor the toxic effects of mercury on water ecosystems. The levels of photosynthetic pigments, such as chlorophyll a and b and carotenoids, decreased with increasing Hg2+ concentration. The maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem Ⅱ(Fv/Fm) changed remarkably with increasing Hg2+ concentration and treatment time. In particular, above 200 μM Hg2+, considerable mercury toxicity was seen within 2 h. The chlorophyll a fluorescence transient O-J-I-P was also remarkably affected by Hg2+; the fluorescence emission decreased considerably in steps J, I, and P with an increase in Hg2+ concentration when treated for 4 h. Subsequently, the JIP-test parameters (Fm, Fv/Fo, RC/CS, TRo/CS, ETo/CS, ΦPO, ΨO and ΦEO) decreased with increasing Hg2+ concentration, while N, Sm, ABS/RC, DIo/RC and DIo/CS increased. Therefore, a useful biomarker for investigating mercury stress in water ecosystems, and the parameters Fm, ΦPO, ΨO, and RC/CS can be used to monitor the environmental stress in water ecosystems quantitatively.

This study aims to examine the actual status of the urban heat island in Daegu by analyzing the data of 17 automatic weather stations installed in the Daegu area. And the results can be summarized as follows: First, regarding the temperature distribution in Daegu by summer time zones, for the 31 days(August 1st till 31st), 18 days showed daily maximum temperature over 30℃, and 11 days indicated daily minimum temperature over 25℃. The day that showed the highest daily maximum temperature was August 5th, which indicated 36℃. Second, about the spatial distribution of time ratio exceeding 30℃and 25℃, the area with the highest time ratio exceeding 30℃is mostly the downtown(central area), eastern area, and northern area. Meanwhile, regarding the time ratio exceeding 25℃, the downtown area centering around the central area were high as over 70％, and the outskirts were low as under 65％. Third, considering the temporal distribution of daily maximum temperature and daily minimum temperature, daily maximum temperature was shown around 14:00 to 15:00 while the daily minimum temperature was indicated around 17:00 to 18:00. Daily maximum and minimum temperature were appeared at northeast and downtown, respectively. Fourth, regarding the spatial distribution of tropical days and tropical night days, tropical days showed 77％and tropical night days indicated 42% before and after the 24th and also the 13th each. Tropical days were occurred up to 24 days at northeastern area. And the southwestern area of Daegu showed under 22 days. The downtown showed the 14 days of the tropical night. However, the outskirts indicated relatively few days as under 10 days. Fifth, about the spatial distribution of the average daily temperature range (the difference between the highest temperature and lowest temperature), the central area, the central part of the city, showed the smallest as 7.2℃, and as it was closer to the northern area, it became larger, so in the eastern and northern area, it was over 8.8℃or so.

Agastache rugosa, a member of the mint family (Labiatae), is a perennial herb widely distributed in East Asian countries. It is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of cholera, vomiting, and miasma. This study assessed the genetic diversity and population structures on 65 accessions of Korean mint A. rugosa germplasm based on inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The selected nine ISSR primers produced reproducible polymorphic banding patterns. In total, 126 bands were scored; 119 (94.4%) were polymorphic. The number of bands generated per primer varied from 7 to 18. A minimum of seven bands was generated by primer 874, while a maximum of 18 bands was generated by the primer 844. Six primers (815, 826, 835, 844, 868, and 874) generated 100% polymorphic bands. This was supported by other parameters such as total gene diversity (HT) values, which ranged from 0.112 to 0.330 with a mean of 0.218. The effective number of alleles (NE) ranged from 1.174 to 1.486 with a mean value of 1.351. Nei's genetic diversity (H) mean value was 0.218, and Shannon's information index (I) mean value was 0.343. The high values for total gene diversity, effective number of alleles, Nei's genetic diversity, and Shannon's information index indicated substantial variations within the population. Cluster analysis showed characteristic grouping, which is not in accordance with their geographical affiliation. The implications of the results of this study in developing a strategy for the conservation and breeding of A. rugosa and other medicinal plant germplasm are discussed.

Apple and pear are popular fruits consumed in Korea and are common fruit in daily diet. In order to compare the antioxidant activity of the apple and pear peels, total polyphenol contents, total flavonoid contents, ABTS+ free radical scavenging activity, and DPPH free radical scavenging activity were measured from hot water, ethanol, and methanol extracts of the two fruit peels. The total polyphenol and flavonoid contents were highest in 95% methanol extracts of the apple peelsand 70% ethanol extract of the pear peels, respectively. Total polyphenol contents of the pear peels were higher than that of apple peels, and total flavonoid contents of the apple peels were higher than that of pear peels. The apple and pear peels had the highest ABTS+· and DPPH free radical scavenging activity in 95% methanol extracts and 70% ethanol extracts, respectively. ABTS+· and DPPH free radical scavenging activity of pear peels was higher than that of apple peels, and the DPPH free radical scavenging activity of apple and pear peels were detected in hot water, 95% methanol, and 70% ethanol extracts, respectively. Ascorbic acid, a synthetic antioxidant used as positive control, had significantly higher scavenging activity than the apple and pear peels. In conclusion, the apple and pear peelshave great potential as natural antioxidants. Therefore, above results should be considered to provide the possibility for the development of high functional antioxidants.

사용후핵연료 최종처분을 위해 심층처분은 세계적으로 가장 선호되는 방법이다. 이를 위해 선진국들은 자국 여건에 가장 잘 부합되는 고유의 처분시스템 개발에 주력하고 있거나, 일부 확보하여 상용처분사업에 적용하 고 있다. 현재까지 알려진 대부분의 심층처분시스템은 공학적 및 천연방벽으로 구성된 다중방벽시스템이다. 이들 처분시스템은 수 천 년 ~ 수 십만 년 이상의 성능기간이 대하여 성능·안전성의 입증이 확인되어야 후속 상용처분사업에 적용 가능하다. 입증 현안과제들은 처분시스템의 상능·안전성 확보를 위해 수행되는 모든 행 위 즉, 조사, 분석, 해석, 평가, 설계, 건설, 운영 및 폐쇄에 이르는 전 과정에 있어서 추진 과정과 결과에 대한 실현 가능성과 실증에 필요한 내용들이 해당된다. 이를 위해 대부분의 선진국들은 자국내 분포하는 대표적인 선호암종 지역에서 지하연구시설(URL)을 건설하여 실증·시연프로그램을 수행하거나 완성단계에 있다. 이 과 정과 결과들은 후속되는 최종처분장 부지선정 과정에 평가기준으로 활용될 것이며, 최종처분시설의 성능·안 전성평가에 필수적으로 적용하게 된다. 지하연구시설은 또한 규제-일반대중-전문가 등 다양한 이해당사자들 로 하여금 심층처분의 안전성 수준에 대한 이해제고와 토론의 마당으로서 핵심적인 역할과 기능을 할 것으로 기대된다.