포인세티아(Euphorbia pulcherrima. Willd. Ex Klotzch) ‘Red Ball’은 국립원예특작과학원에서 2019년에 육성한 품종이다. ‘Red Ball’은 긴 관상 기간을 가지는 ‘Christmas Eve’를 모본으로 빨간색 주름진 덮개잎이 볼 타입 꽃을 만드는 ‘Winter Rose Early Red’를 부본으로 교배하여 획득한 실생 계통을 선발하여 육성하였다. 2016년부터 2018년 생육, 개화, 균일성 등에 대하여 1,2차 특성 검정을 실시하였다. 이후 2019년 3차 특성검정을 실시하여 최종선발한 후 직무육성품종심의회에 상정하여 ‘Red Ball’로 명명하였다. ‘Red Ball’품종은 전체적으로 짧은 적색 덮개잎을 가지며 꽃 모양이 납작하지 않아 입체감이 높다. 또한 단일 처리후 약 5.5~6주가 경과하면 완전히 착색되어 출하가 가능할 만큼 착색소요기간이 짧다. ‘Red Ball’은 2021년 4월 12일에 국립종자원에 품종등록(제8497호) 되었다.

Pyrolysis fuel oil (PFO) is used for the manufacturing of high-purity pitch for carbon precursor due to its high carbon content, high aromaticity, and low heterogeneous element and impurity content. Pitch is commonly classified with its softening point, which is most considerable physical property affecting to various characteristics of the carbon materials based on pitch, such as electrical and thermal conductivity, mechanical strength, and pore property. Hence, the softening point should be controlled to apply pitch to produce various carbon materials for different applications. Previous studies introduce reforming process under high pressure and two step heat treatment for the synthesis of pitch with high softening point from PFO. These methods lead to a high process cost; therefore, it is necessary to develop a process to synthesize the pitch with high softening point by using energy effective process at a low temperature. In this study, waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was added to control the softening point of PFO-based pitch. The pitch synthesized by the heat treatment with the addition of PET showed the softening point higher than that of the pitch synthesized with only PFO. The softening point of PFObased pitch synthesized at 420 °C was 138.3 °C, while that of the pitch synthesized by adding PET under the same process conditions was 342.8 °C. It is proposed that the effect of the PET addition on the increase in the softening point was due to the radicals generated from thermal degradation of PET. The radicals from PET react with the PFO molecules to promote the polymerization and finally increase the molecular weight and softening point of the pitch. In addition, activated carbon was prepared by using the pitch synthesized by adding PET, and the results showed that the specific surface area of the activated carbon increased by the addition of PET. It is expected that the pitch synthesis method with PET addition significantly contributes to the manufacture of pitch and activated carbon.

이끼의 분쇄번식 시, 가장 적합한 배양토, 광, 온도를 구명 하기 위해 날개양털이끼(Brachythecium plumosum)와 쥐꼬리이끼(Myuroclada maximowiczii)를 이용하여 실험을 수행하였다. 실험 개시 4주 후에 사진을 찍어 Photoshop에서 이끼 면적과 녹색 평균값을 구하여 이끼의 생육 정도를 나타내었다. 배양토의 경우, 두 이끼 모두 다스란 상토에서 생육이 가장 좋았고, 상토:마사토(50:50), 원예상토, 마사토:피트모스(50:50) 에서는 비슷한 수준이었다. 버미큘라이트 단용에서는 생육이 부진하였다. 광도실험에서는 날개양털이끼는 25umol･m-2･s-1 에서 100umol･m-2･s-1까지 광도가 높아질수록 생육이 조금씩 좋아지는 경향이었으나, 쥐꼬리이끼는 3개의 광환경에서 비슷한 수준이었다. 온도 실험에서는 두 이끼 모두 23℃에서 면적과 녹색값이 가장 높아 생육도 좋았다. 이러한 결과를 종합 하면, 건조한 이끼를 분쇄하여 번식할 때, 배양토로는 보습력이 좋은 다스란 상토나 원예용 상토가 무난하며, 광도는 25~100umol･m-2･s-1 범위, 온도는 20~23℃가 적당할 것으로 판단된다.

Roridin E, produced by Podostroma cornu-damae, is a mycotoxin with anticancer activity. To increase the content of roridin E, submerged culture conditions were optimized using response surface methodology. Three factors, namely, medium initial pH, incubation time and agitation speed were optimized using a Box–Behnken design. The optimum submerged culture conditions to increase the content of roridin E included a medium with an initial pH of 4.0, an incubation time of 12.90 days, and an agitation speed of 63.03 rpm. The roridin E content in the submerged culture, under the aforementioned conditions, was 40.26 mg/L. The findings of this study can help lower the current price of roridin E and promote its related research.