This experiment was carried out to study the effects of different environmental conditions and cultivation techniques on productivity of grasslands in central and southern area of Korea on 2017 and 2018. Average dry matter yield of grasslands at 10 actual production sites was 7,496 kg/ha. that was ranged from 4,652 to 13,292 kg/ha with least significant difference(LSD) of 1,577kg/ha between grasslands (p<0.05) on 2017. Average dry matter yield of grasslands at 10 actual production sites was 7,914 kg/ha. that was ranged from 3,927 to 12,372 kg/ha with LSD of 1,577kg/ha between grasslands(p<0.05) on 2018. Dry matter(DM) yield of grasslands have positive correlation with soil fertility (p<0.01) but not correlated with rainfall and air temperature among cultivation environments. And also DM yield of grasslands have positive correlation with grassland management techniques(p<0.01). These results suggest that practices of grassland management techniques and improvement of soil fertility are more important than cultivation environments by climate change for increasing the DM yield of grassland in central and southern area of Korea.

We report a calendar sheet for the 31st year of the reign of King Gojong (1894) (hereafter, calendar sheet 1894) in Korea, which calendrical data in a single page. This calendar sheet 1894 is composed of 14 rows by 14 columns (about 190 cells), and various calendrical data are recorded such as the sexagenary circle of the first day in each month, 24 solar terms, full moon day. In this paper, we compare calendrical data of 1894 calendar sheet with those of the almanac based on the Shixian calendar (hereafter, annual almanac) of the same year. Our findings are as follows. First, we find that the year is expressed using the reign-year of the king of the Joseon dynasty differently from using the reign-style of China in the annual almanac those times. Other calendar days of this calendar sheet are the same as those of the annual almanac in term of lunar dates, 24 solar terms, sexagenary days and so forth. Second, we find that the calendar sheet 1894 contains memorial days for 64 lineally ancestors of the Joseon royal family. These royal memorial days appears in the annual almanac two years later (i.e., 1896). Third, as the most distinctive feature, we find that the symbol of 工 kept every two cells. It was found that the cells can be filled with three days as the maximum number of days and then are labelled the same symbol 工 every second cell. This feature allows us to get the first year in which this kind of calendar sheet was published. It is conjectured one of 11 years, such as 1845, 1846, 1847, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879 or 1880. We also think that the format of the calendar sheet 1894 has influenced on the Daehan-Minryeok (Korean civil calendar sheet) of 1920.

‘Luckyone 2ho’ is a new orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) cultivar developed by the National Institue of Animal Science (NIAS) in 2017. To develope the new variety of orchardgrass, 5 superior clones were selected and polycrossed for seed production. The agronomic growth characteristics and forage productivity of ‘Luckyone 2ho’ were examined at Cheonan from 2012 to 2014, and regional trials were conducted in Cheonan, Pheonchang, Jinju and Jeju from 2015 to 2017, respectively. ‘Luckyone 2ho’ showed medium type growth habit in fall, and medium in length of flag leaf and very long upper internode. Plant height of ‘Luckyone 2ho’ was 3 cm less than that of standard cultivar, ‘Potomac’ and heading date was 1 days later than 5th May compared to standard cultivar, ‘Potomac’. Characteristics such as waterlogging and disease resistance of ‘Luckyone 2ho’ were stronger or better than those of standard cultivar, ‘Potomac’, Especially, dry matter yield of ‘Luckyone 2ho’(15,980 kg/ha) increased 9 % compared to that of standard cultivar, ‘Potomac’(14,702 kg/ha). Nutritive values were appeared to be similar in both varieties except in Vitro dry matter digestibility(IVDMD) and crude protein and total digestible nutrients (TDN).

This study was conducted to evaluate feed value of imported hays and examine current situation of species and hay grade. To evaluate the quality of the imported hay, 133 pieces including 9 species of roughage types were collected at the national hay importers, the TMR companies and livestock farms from 2016 to 2018. The quality grades of imported hay were 3~4 and most imported hay were considered to had low. The ADF, Ash, TDN and DDM in feed composition of alfalfa by quality grades presented significant differences(p<0.05). The quality grade on alfalfa was not similar to the actual quality grades calculated through feed composition. The feed composition of grasses by quality degrees presented significant differences in all contents except DM and CP (p<0.05). As the distributed grasses of the unmarked quality grade was low quality and accounted for 49%, it is urgent to present quality standards based on feed composition. As these results, the grades of imported hays were lower than the marked quality grades. Therefore, the imported roughage’s(hay) price that considered to only quality grades on the marked imported roughages(hay) package can cause a loss to the livestock farms as economic damage. An institutional arrangement should be established to review the quality grades of imported hay.

In this study, whole crop rice samples were used to develop near-infrared reflectance (NIR) equations to estimate six forage quality parameters: Moisture, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), Ash and relative feed value (RFV). A population of 564 whole crop rice representing a wide range in chemical parameters was used in this study. Undried finely chopped whole crop rice samples were scanned at 1 nm intervals over the wavelength range 680–2500 nm and the optical data recorded as log 1/Reflectance (log 1/R). NIRS calibrations were developed by means of partial least-squares (PLS) regression. The correlation coefficients of cross-validation (R2 cv) and standard error of cross-validation (SECV) for whole crop rice calibration were 0.98 (SECV 1.81%) for moisture, 0.89 (SECV 0.50%) for CP, 0.86 (SECV 1.79%) for NDF, 0.89 (SECV 0.86%) for ash, and 0.84 (SECV 5.21%) for RFV on a dry matter (%), respectively. The NIRS calibration equations developed in this study will be useful in predicting whole crop rice quality for these six quality parameters.

Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has become increasingly used as a rapid and accurate method of evaluating some chemical compositions in forages. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of NIRS, applied to imported forage, to estimate the moisture and chemical parameters for imported hays. A population of 392 imported hay representing a wide range in chemical parameters was used in this study. Samples of forage were scanned at 1 nm intervals over the wavelength range 680-2500nm and the optical data was recorded as log 1/Reflectance(log 1/R), which scanned in intact fresh condition. The spectral data were regressed against a range of chemical parameters using partial least squares(PLS) multivariate analysis in conjunction with spectral math treatments to reduced the effect of extraneous noise. The optimum calibrations were selected based on the highest coefficients of determination in cross validation(R2) and the lowest standard error of cross-validation(SECV). The results of this study showed that NIRS predicted the chemical parameters with very high degree of accuracy. The R2 and SECV for imported hay calibration were 0.92(SECV 0.61%) for moisture, 0.98(SECV 0.65%) for acid detergent fiber, 0.97(SECV 0.40%) for neutral detergent fiber, 0.99(SECV 0.06%) for crude protein and 0.97(SECV 3.04%) for relative feed value on a dry matter(%), respectively. Results of this experiment showed the possibility of NIRS method to predict the moisture and chemical composition of imported hay in Korea for routine analysis method to evaluate the feed value.

This experiment was carried out to study the effects of different environmental conditions and cultivation techniques on productivity of forage corn in central and southern area of Korea on 2017 and 2018. Average dry matter yield of forage corn at 34 cultivation regions was 13,510kg/ha. Forage productivity of forage corn cultivated at actual production sites have positive correlation with cultivation techniques(p<0.01) but not correlated with cultivation environments. Forage productivity of forage corn have positive correlation with seeding techniques(p<0.01) but not correlated with fertilization techniques. These results suggest that practices of cultivation techniques are more important than cultivation environments for increasing the forage productivity of forage corn. Therefore, yield prediction techniques of forage corn in Korea have to be considered the practices of cultivation techniques along with soil and climate conditions.

This study was carried out to explore the accuracy of near infrared spectroscopy(NIRS) for the prediction of moisture content and chemical parameters on winter annual forage crops. A population of 2454 winter annual forages representing a wide range in chemical parameters was used in this study. Samples of forage were scanned at 1nm intervals over the wavelength range 680-2500nm and the optical data was recorded as log 1/Reflectance(log 1/R), which scanned in intact fresh condition. The spectral data were regressed against a range of chemical parameters using partial least squares(PLS) multivariate analysis in conjunction with spectral math treatments to reduced the effect of extraneous noise. The optimum calibrations were selected based on the highest coefficients of determination in cross validation(R2) and the lowest standard error of cross-validation(SECV). The results of this study showed that NIRS calibration model to predict the moisture contents and chemical parameters had very high degree of accuracy except for barely. The R2 and SECV for integrated winter annual forages calibration were 0.99(SECV 1.59%) for moisture, 0.89(SECV 1.15%) for acid detergent fiber, 0.86(SECV 1.43%) for neutral detergent fiber, 0.93(SECV 0.61%) for crude protein, 0.90(SECV 0.45%) for crude ash, and 0.82(SECV 3.76%) for relative feed value on a dry matter(%), respectively. Results of this experiment showed the possibility of NIRS method to predict the moisture and chemical composition of winter annual forage for routine analysis method to evaluate the feed value.