“Matnami” is a new sweetpotato variety developed by Mokpo Experiment Station, National Institute of Crop Science (NICS), RDA in 2006, for table use and food processing. This variety was selected from the cross between “Hongmi” and MI9510-12 in 1999. Seedling and line selections were performed from 2000 to 2002. Preliminary and advanced yield trials were carried out from 2003 to 2004. The regional yield trials were conducted at six locations from 2005 to 2006. “Matnami” has cordate leaf, green with purple vine and petiole, elliptic storage root, red skin and yellow flesh color of storage root. The average yield of storage root was 27.0 ton/ha in the regional yield trials, which was 11% higher than that of Yulmi variety. Number of storage roots over 50 gram per plant was 2.6. The average weight of one storage root was 173 gram. This variety is also resistant to fusarium wilt and nematode. In addition, steamed “Matnami” has higher polyphenol contents as 3.3 mg/g dw and higher biological activitiesas, which improve the bioactivity in human. The total sugar content was higher, thereby, sweeter than “Yulmi”. It shows lower (68.6℃) initial temperature of starch gelatinization and slower retrogradation process than “Yulmi”.

Sweetpotato tips are known to be very useful parts as a vegetable because of their high nutritive values and great biomass yield. This study was carried out to select a variety that is suitable to the tips of sweetpotatoes as vegetables. Twenty-two varieties were planted in polyethylene (PE) houses and upland field. The tips were cropped, tested and their tips' external characteristics, quantity, sweetness, toughness and taste were likewise tested. This research found that the external characteristics of the sweetpotato tips were mostly colored green or greenish purple and the leaves were of heart shape. When it comes to texture, the crops from the PE houses presented softer sense than those from the upland field, and due to the blanching, the degree of hardness was reduced by 60 percent. The varieties that presented soft texture after blanching were Yulmi, Geonmi, Hwangmi, Sinchunmi, M301, Eunmi, Juhwangmi, Singeonmi and Gogeonmi. The sweetness, which gives a great influence to the taste, was found to be 3.8 Brix°％ on the average for raw tips of sweetpotatoes cropped in P.E. houses, lower than the crops from the upland field which yielded 4.6 Brix°％. By varieties, those that were commonly high in both P.E. houses and upland field crops were three kinds - Geonmi, Sincheonmi and Juhwangmi. The yield derived was on the average 150 tons/ha, which was considerably high yield, compared to the greens like the Korean leeks, which were repeatedly cropped once planted, like the tips. The investigation into the external appearances, texture, sweetness and acceptability found that the varieties that are suitable for sweetpotato tips production are Yulmi, Geonmi, Hwangmi, Yeonmi, Chinmi and Juhwangmi.

Sweetpotato fields in Korea are highly infected with virus and virus like diseases that greatly diminish both yield and quality as indicated by field observations and laboratory tests. In order to solve this problem, there is an urgent need to produce and mass propagate virus-free planting materials for distribution to the farmers. These experiments were conducted, firstly, to determine the most appropriate culture media, nutrient solution, and cutting intervals to maintain growth and vigor of tissue cultured plantleta as mother plants for propagation in insect-proof greenhouse. And as a labor saving method, the production efficiency of plug trays for rapid propagation of stem cuttings as a source of planting materials was likewise evaluated. Results showed that plants grown in medium B supplied with 0.5 and 1.0 strength of MS nutrients had high growth rate, and 20-day cutting interval was the best. 72-plug tray was better than 128-plug. Secondly, it was to develop a technique for the production of first-generation seed roots using hydroponics cultivation system. The yield of virus-free plants propagated in the non-insect proof and open-field cultivation was 2,402 kg/10a, 6% higher than those in the insect-proof cultivation, and the rate of virus re-infection was 18% higher compared to 3.3% with insect-proof cultivation. Lastly, it was to investigate the growth performance of virus free plants in farmers' field. Differences were existed in the yield depending on the variety used, but virus free plants showed an increase of 6~24% over virus infected plants.

A new chestnut cultivar, “Mipung” was released from Korean native chestnut trees by chestnut laboratory of the Korea Forest Research Institute (KFRI) in 2006. This cultivar was selected first from a natural population in 1984, and the preliminary, advanced, and regional yield trials for evaluation were carried out from 1985 to 2005. “Mipung” is a late-ripening cultivar, and its optimal ripening date is late September. It has good nut quality for eating raw and processing. Its average nut weight is 27.3 g, much heavier than that of the check cultivar, “Arima”. It had also been identified to have resistance to chestnut blight disease and chestnut gall wasp threatening to chestnut trees. The average yield of 8 year-old “Mipung” was 8.8kg per tree, which was superior to that of “Arima”.

In order to assess antioxidant capacity in relation to seed traits of rice (Oryza sativa L.), ninety-six varieties were examined for antioxidative activity of brown rice grain using superoxide dismutase (SOD), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) assays. Overall, average total activities measured by the three methods were of very wide range between 64% and 13%. Significant differences were noted depending on the variety and evaluation method. Rice varieties with foreign origin, middle maturity, colored hulls, and colorless awn exhibited statistically significant higher total activity. As for the measurements, total activity was significantly correlated with SOD (r=0.29***), DPPH (r=0.80***) and TBA (r=0.76***). Between the three activities, SOD was not positively correlated with DPPH (r=0.15*), while TBA was significantly correlated with DPPH value (r=0.51***). DPPH (55.20%) and TBA (50.36%) were significantly higher in foreign rice, while SOD activity (44.29%) was significantly higher in domestic rice. However, an average total activity was significantly higher in foreign rice (47.31%) than in domestic rice (35.92%). SOD, DPPH and TBA activities of middle maturity in maturity time were the highest total activity (44.96%) and significantly differed from the other two groups. Total activity was significantly higher in rice with a colorless awn (42.18%) than with a colored awn (35.87%).

Three stigmastane-type sterols and one ergostane-type sterol were isolated from the ethyl acetate soluble fraction of the aerial parts of Artemisia princeps Pampanini (Sajuarissuk). From the results of physico-chemical data including NMR, MS and IR, the chemical structures of the compounds were determined as stigmasta-5,22-dien-3,β-ol (stigmasterol, 1),stigmast-5-en-3β-ol(β-sitosterol,2), 5β,8β-epidioxy-5β,8β-ergosta-6,22-dien-3β-ol(ergosterol peroxide, 3), and β-sitosterol 3-O-βD-glucopyranoside(daucosterol,4).

A new soybean cultivar for tofu and soy-paste, "Daemang 2", was developed from the cross between 'Shinpaldal 2' and'Seokryang' by soybean breeding team in the Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute (YARI) in 2005. A promising line,SS93205-2B-8-3-2-1-1-1