Construction of the Asian Network for Sustainable Organic Farming Technology (ANSOFT) will be cooperatively administered by the public researchers in 12 Asian member countries from 2010 to 2012. ANSOFT will bring forward multiple reports, which will be constantly renewed by the member countries, regarding environmental issues, plant and landscape protection techniques, regulations and policies of each country’s government on an organic ag끼culture， and natural resources such as organic seeds and biological agents.

In order to evaluation of beneficial functions for organic farming, we have divided beneficial functions as 9 sub-functions such as flooding control, fostering water resources, purifying the air, mitigating summer climate, purifying water quality, decreasing soil erosion, accumulating soil carbon, conserving biodiversity, and preventing accidents from pesticides. And they were quantified by searching related repots and statistics, and surveying fields. Organic farming, especially organic paddy farming, showed that some functions like fostering water resources, accumulating soil carbon, conserving biodiversity, and preventing accidents from pesticides were higher than conventional paddy farming, while the others were almost similaι The foste꺼ng water resources function was evaluated as 4,297 ton ha-1 year-1 to increase about 3.6% comparing with that of conventional farming. New function for accumulating soil carbon at organic paddy fields has been assessed by 4.67 ton ha-1 in terms of long periods over 10 years. Considering area of organic paddy farming in Korea and value of carbon price， it was evaluated monetary value as 22.4 to 84.1 billion won using replaced method. It could be also evaluated that flooding control, fostering water resources, purifying the air, mitigating summer climate, purifying water quality, decreasing soil erosion, and preventing accidents from pesticides were 2,980, 123.4, 482.6, 87.5, 0.9, 55.6, and 284.1 billion won, respectively. Conserving biodiversity function would be very big at organic farming though it couldn ’l be evaluated as monetary value.

The development of humanized culture system of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold promise for therapeutic applications. However, conventional culture system contain animal-derived components such as fetal bovine serum and mouse embryonic fibroblasts that bear a risk of transmitting non-human pathogens and incorporation of non-human immunogenic molecules to hESCs. In this study, we developed an efficient xeno-free hESCs culture system using humanized materials, the CELLstartTM, human foreskin feeder and xeno-free medium containing knockOutTM SR XenoFree (XF-medium) without animal-derived material. The hESCs were gradually adapted to the XF-medium; 25:75, 50:50, 75:25 and 100:0. Two karyotypically normal hESC lines, SNUhES4 and H1, were used for the experiments of xeno-free culture condition. The attachment rates at xeno-free culture system were 52.6±12.4%, 67.0±16.6%, 59.0±13.9%, 28.3±2.9% in SNUhES4, 79.3±5.4%, 53.8±20.9%, 69.4 ±6.4%, 59.8±12.6% in H1 and the spontaneous differentiation rates were 42.2±12.7%, 31.4±2.9%, 40.8±14.5%, 55.2±35.5% in SNUhES4, 35.6±8.5%, 36.4±13.5%, 48.4±7.8%, 80.1±6.0% in H1 in the first four passage. Although the attachment rates were low and the spontaneous differentiation rates were high compared to that of conventional system in the early passages using this humanized culture condition, hESCs in this culture condition were found to maintain hESC characterizations; morphology, expression of cell surface markers and stable karyotype. Our results indicate that simplified compositions of humanized culture system can be applicable to the further optimization for a xeno-free culture of hESCs without the loss of pluripotency and contamination from xenogenic sources.

Controllable transgenic expression systems in transgenic animal model are valuable to the development of therapeutic approaches in human medical fields. The aim of this study was to 1) produce a transgenic cloned dog using inducible tetracycline vector system, and 2) investigate whether the transgenic cloned dog could be induced the transgene expression using doxycycline (Doxy). Canine fetal fibroblasts were infected with retroviral vectors designed to express the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) gene under the control of tetracycline-inducible promoter. For somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), nucleus of an in vivo matured oocyte was removed and an eGFP expressed cell cultured with 1 ㎍/㎖ of Doxy was injected. After electrical fusion and chemical activation, the reconstructed embryos were transferred to a recipient and pregnancy diagnosis was performed by ultrasonography. Experiment I evaluated the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of infected cells while the cells were cultured in the presence of 1 ㎍/㎖ of Doxy for 5 days, and then in the absence of Doxy for 7 days using fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Experiment II was designed to produce an eGFP controllable transgenic cloned dog via SCNT. For verification of transgenic dog, experiment III was performed Southern Blot analysis and observation in vivo regulation of eGFP expression in the cloned dog treated with 100 ㎎/㎏ of Doxy every 2 days for 2 weeks under ultraviolet light. In experiment IV, western blot was used to detect eGFP increase and decrease in skin tissues of transgenic dog under the presence or absence of Doxy. In the results of experiment I, the MFI for infected cells was rapidly increased to approximately 42.3 times after 3 day-treatment compared to pre-treatment and quickly decreased 3 days after ceasing the treatment. In experiment II, a total of 203 embryos were transferred to nine recipients and three pregnant delivered three pups (Tet-on eGFP 0, Tet-on eGFP 1, and Tet-on eGFP 2) by C-sec and Tet-on eGFP 2 among them is still alive. All cloned pups were genetically identical to the donor cell. Tet-on eGFP 2 showed an apparent in vivo eGFP expression on her body after Doxy administration in experiment III. The result of Sothern blotting showed that the transgene insertion was detected from the three cloned dogs and all organs of Tet-on eGFP 1. Experiment IV indicated that a robust eGFP expression in skin tissue of Tet-on eGFP 2 rapidly increased after Doxy treatment and gradually decreased to basal level on 9 weeks after ceasing the treatment. In conclusion, we report here for the first time an inducible transgenic system in canine species and it can stably induce the transgene expression at intended time. This study has demonstrated the capacity to generate transgenic model dog which could regulate the transgene and it would contribute to human medical research fields.

Drought is one of the most important types of abiotic stress that affects stability and amount of yield. This study was conducted to screen for drought tolerance at early seedling stages for 318 ecogeographically diverse wild barley (HordeumvulgareL.spp.spontaneum) diversity collection (WBDC). Considerable variation was observed for all the seedling characters examined. Seedling growth was significantly reduced by 17% polyethyleneglycol -induced osmotic stress with significant variation among accessions. Comparison of mean performance under normal and osmotic stress conditions indicated that shoot length was the most sensitive trait, followed by seedling length, seminal root number, root-shoot length ratio and root length. The mean of root-shoot length ratio, however, increased under osmotic stress. Correlation studies indicated that the root length was the most important trait, followed by shoot length and root-shoot length ratio. The accessions from the Fertile Crescent and North Africa showed more drought tolerance than those from the other geographical regions. The accessions WBDC009 (Jordan), WBDC075 (Libya), WBDC181 (Jordan), WBDC242 (Jordan) and WBDC280 (Israel) exhibited the lowest stress susceptibility index ‘S’ values. Consequently, these accessions showed tolerance to drought at the early seedling stage and are considered to be good sources of drought tolerance for cultivated barley improvement. This work was supported by a grant from Regional Subgenebank Support Program of Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea .

"Early Valley", is an early maturing potato cultivar with high yield potential. "Early Valley" is a clonal selection resulting from the cross between 'Suncrisp' and 'A87109-10'. It has medium plant height and light green foliage. "Early Valley" has medium flowering habit and white flowers. Tubers are smooth, yellow skin, light yellow flesh, round tuber shape, medium eye depth, and medium dormancy and good keeping quality. It has stable yield under wide range of climatic conditions. "Early Valley" is resistance to late blight, but moderately susceptible to common scab and hollow heart. This cultivar is also resistant to potato rotting at harvesting during the raining season. "Early Valley" has high level of antioxidant activity (about three times higher) and vitamin C (higher by 40%) than the 'Superior'. This cultivar has high level of tuber uniformity and capable of yielding 36.56 t/ha which is 17.07% higher than the control potato cultivar 'Superior' under optimum agronomical practices.

The cloning of canids was succeeded in 2005, several years after the birth of Dolly the sheep and also after the cloning of numerous other laboratory and farm animal species. The delay of successful somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)was due to the unique reproductive characteristics of the female dogin comparison to other domestic mammals, such as ovulation of immature canine oocyte and a requirement of 25 days for the completion of meiosis within the oviduct (Holst & Phemister, 1971). When the technology for the recovery of in vivo matured oocyte was established, the application of cloning also became possible and cloned dog offspring were obtained. This report summarizes the progress of technical procedures that are required for cloning canids and the application of this technique. The first cloned dog, Snuppy, was achieved using an in vivo-matured oocyte which was enucleated and transferred with an adult skin cell of male Afghan hound. After establishment of a criterion of well-matured oocyte for the improvement of SCNT efficiency, we obtained three cloned female Afghan hound and a toy poodle cloned from 14 year-old aged Poodle using SCNT through this factor. To date, cloned dogs appeared to be normal and those that have reached puberty have been confirmed to be fertile. Through application of canine SCNT technique, first, we demonstrated that SNCT is useful for conserving the breed of endangered animal from extinction through cloning of endangered gray wolves using inter-species SCNT and keeping the pure pedigree through the cloning of Sapsaree, a Korean natural monument. Secondly, we showed possibility of human disease model cloned dog and transgenic cloned dog production through cloning of red fluorescent protein expressing dog. Finally, SCNT can be used for the propagation of valuable genotypes for making elite seed stock and pet dog. In summary, dog cloning is a reproducible technique that offers the opportunity to preserve valuable genetics and a potential step towards the production of gene targeted transgenic cloned dogs for the study of human diseases.

The present study was initiated to explore the yield potential of bushbean by exploiting the interaction of variety, sowing time, and fertilizers containing N, P, and K Two varieties namely BARI Bushbean 1 and BARI Bushbean 2, three levels of fertilizer viz. control (N0P0K0 ), medium (N20P30K30 ), high (N40P60K60 ) and three sowing times (November 15, December 1 and December 15) were considered as treatment variables. Among the varieties, BARI Bushbean 2 always showed better performance for most of the yield and yield attributes duly attributed by the application of fertilizers ~circleda N: P: K = 40: 60: 60 respectively. The highest seed yield (1375.17 kg/ha) was recorded when the crop was sown on the 15th November with the supplemented soil nutrition status as above. The influence of sowing times indicate that there is a gradual trend of decreasing in seed yield and other associated parameters after first sowing (15th~;November ). The results of this study suggest that the multi-locational trial under varied sowing times with soil nutrition might potentially increase the long-term adaptation of bushbean in Bangladesh.

Germination and early elongation of rice after germination were investigated in anoxic air treatment, nitric oxide gas treatment, and six concentrations of mercuric chloride solutions to determine the effects of limited oxygen environment, nitric oxide, and inhibited water flux through cell membrane in 17~circC . Anoxic air treatment affected germination of tested six varieties very little. However root elongation rates were severely inhibited while shoot growth was affected less. Reductions in shoot and root elongations demonstrated genotypic variations. Nitric oxide delayed the germination of rice even though it didn't affect the final percent germination. Elongations of root and shoot were inhibited in nitric oxide treatment. The inhibitor effect of nitric oxide on the shoot elongation of rice was less severe, while nitric oxide completely inhibited the root emergence of rice. Concentrations of HgCl2 greater than 300~muM dramatically reduced the rate and percentage of germination when compared to distilled water treatment. The reduced percent germination showed the greatest variation among rice varieties in 500~muM solution of mercuric chloride. Ansanbyeo, Jinheung, and Odaebyeo were affected less by HgCl2 , Nonganbyeo and Sangmibyeo were intermediate, and the germination of Andabyeo was greatly reduced by HgCl2 . Root elongation of germinated rice seedlings was more sensitive to oxygen deficits, nitric oxide, and HgCl2 treatments than germination and shoot elongation. In conclusion, poor seedling establishment of rice sown in flooded paddy soils, in which the oxygen supply to the seeds is restricted, appears to the result of limited root elongation rate.

Due to the growth of container traffic and port competition, ports have increasingly been under pressure to improve their efficiency in port operation and port management for competitive edge. The purpose of this study is to compare the technical efficiency among major container terminals in China, Korea and Singapore using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). This paper analyses the returns-to-scale using the output orientation of VRS and CRS model. The benefits of this study examining the relative performance of container terminals will enable container terminal operating companies or port policy makers in those countries to identify current slacks and to set up a proper port management and operation plan to improve their productivity.