High-quality and high-phytonutrient watermelon fruits have strong market opportunities besides their health related benefits. Hence, investigating quality and nutritional related traits of watermelon genetic resources could provide important baseline data in breeding for increased lycopene content thereby increasing the marketability of watermelon. To this end, we have examined some fruit morphological traits and lycopene content of 105 genetic resources. Seeds, originally obtained from 22+ countries, were obtained from the National Agrobiodiversity Center, Jeonju, South Korea, grown in an experimental field and harvested at a fully mature stage. The size of pistil scar (SPS), the width of stripes (WS), weight of fruit (WF), length of fruit (LF), width of fruit (WIF), the thickness of pericarp (TP), soluble solids content (SSC), fruit shape in longitudinal section, ground color of skin, the intensity of the green color of skin, fruit shape at the apical part, grooving distribution, conspicuousness of stripes, and main color of the flesh were recorded on the field and inside laboratory and the lycopene was measured using spectrophotometric and HPLC methods. Watermelon fruits have shown a diverse morphological characters. Red and pink fleshed fruits dominated in the entire collections. Fruits with higher thickness of rind were found to exhibit less soluble solid content (SSC). Korean origin fruits were characterized by intermediate SSC while the United States of America (USA), Russia (RUS), Tajikistan (TJK), Turkmenistan (TKM), Taiwan (TWN), and Uruguay (URY) originated fruits had the highest SSC. The lycopene content varied between 41.37 and 182.82 ㎍/g, 2.81 and 163.72 ㎍/g, and 3.54 and 255.47 ㎍/g using HPLC, UV-Vis spectrophotometer, and microplate reader spectrophotometer, respectively. Red- and pink-fleshed fruits had the highest levels of lycopene content compared to the yellow- and orange-fleshed. Lycopene content had a significant positive correlation with SSC, however, no correlations were detected between lycopene and other quantitative fruit morphological characters. Our study demonstrated high diversity exists in fruit morphological traits and lycopene content of the germplasm collections which provide beneficial baseline data for a future breeding program and utilization of watermelon germplasm collections in gene banks for the maintenance and improvement of the current levels of production, marketability, and health-related benefit of watermelon fruits.

Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) is an important legume species that produces seeds that are rich in phenolic compounds and dietary nutrients. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the agricultural characters, phenolic and nutritional contents, and antioxidant capacities of seeds from 82 pigeon pea germplasms cultivated in the Republic of Korea. The accessions exhibited compact (24.39%), semi-spreading (74.39%), or spreading (1.22%) growth habits and determinate (89.02%), indeterminate (8.54%), or semi-determinate (2.44%) flowering patterns. Days to 75% maturity ranged from 30 to 72 d, and yield per plant ranged from 6.00 to 148.60 g. Meanwhile, total phenolic, crude protein, crude fiber, and dietary fiber contents ranged from 16.42 ± 0.62 to 29.67 ± 0.43 ㎎ gallic acid equivalent per g of dried extract, from 16.76 ± 6.74% to 22.61 ± 0.05%, from 4.70 ± 0.24 to 8.63 ± 0.02%, and from 12.98 ± 0.71 to 33.19 ± 1.50%, respectively. In addition, DPPH radical-scavenging capacity ranged from 1.61 ± 0.10 to 16.04 ± 2.30 ㎎ ascorbic acid equivalent per g of dried extract, and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity ranged from 3.03 ± 0.86 to 42.24 ± 0.72 ㎎ Trolox equivalent per g of dried extract. Phenolic content was correlated with both DPPH radical-scavenging capacity (r = 0.63) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (r = 0.29). Nine accessions (IT170290, IT170291, IT170270, IT170276, IT170379, IT170386, IT170388, IT170418, and IT170340) exhibited early maturity, compact and erect growth habits, and above average antioxidant activities and phenolic and protein contents. In addition, accessions IT170290 and IT170291 were especially promising pigeon pea germplasms to grow, owing to various favorable characteristics (e.g., high yield and dietary fiber content). Hence, these accessions could be useful cultivars to the Republic of Korea if considered in future agricultural systems.

This research assessed the disparity in anion generation according to the vertical structure of a Zelkova Serrata tree for the purpose of creating a pleasant and green city environment. Measurements for the study were conducted between July and August of 2014 in Chung-ju in the central region of the Republic of Korea. The average anion generation of vertical structure trees during active photosynthesis periods was: L Section (839.0 ea/cm3) > M Section (664.6 ea/cm3) > U Section (472.0 ea/cm3). According to DMRT analysis, significant difference was found in the average between the L, or M Locations and the U Locations. During dormant photosynthesis periods, records showed that the anion production at the M Location (1,212.5 ea/cm3) > L Location (1,050.4 ea/cm3) > H Location (844.1 ea/cm3), According to DMRT analysis, the difference within each location was significant for α=0.05. In a comprehensive analysis of the weather factors in each vertical structure, anion generation during active photosynthesis periods showed a positive correlation with solar radiation and a negative correlation with wind speed. Dormant photosynthesis periods showed negative correlations with both solar radiation and temperature, and positive correlations with relative humidity and wind speed. Predictions from a multicenter retrospective study showed that during active photosynthesis periods, Y1 = 282.443X1 + 512.07, and Y2 = 314.337X1 + 16.913X2, while during dormant photosynthesis periods, Y1=391.009X1 + 840.043, and Y2=351.412X1 + 32.765X2.

Horticultural therapy (HT) is the engagement of a person in gardening related indoor activities by a trained professional to achieve specific treatment goals. It was effective as an alternative medicine and played an important role in rehabilitation of stroke patients, especially in psychological aspects. While the psychological benefit has been clearly demonstrated, the evidence of the physical benefit is insufficient. We report three stroke patients treated with HT and they were evaluated from the standpoint of physical, psychological, and cognitive outcomes. HT program consisted of 10 sessions during 2 weeks with 1 hour per session. The assessment of outcomes and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) were performed before and after treatment. Two patients showed improvements in physical and psychological aspects. But the other patient showed no outstanding outcome. These results suggest the possibility of HT as a complement to conventional occupational therapy.

The genus Vicia comprises 166 annual or perennial species distributed mainly in Europe, Asia, and North America, also extending to the temperate regions of South America and tropical. However, utilization of SSR markers have not been investigated extensively in Vicia species as compared to other crop species. Here, we have assessed the potential for transferability (cross-species amplification) of cDNA microsatellites markers developed from common vetch (Vicia sativa subsp. sativa). In total, 226 alleles were detected in 36 microsatellite loci. The number of alleles per marker ranged from one to 20, with an average of 6.3. The gene diversity and polymorphism information content value averaged 0.540 and 0.503, with a range of 0–0.85 and 0–0.84 respectively. For transferability of the SSRs, amplification was carried out with selected from two to 8 accessions of 22 different Vicia species. For individual species, the successful amplification rate ranged from 32.6% in V. ervilia to 81.9% in V. sativa subsp. nigra, with average of 48.8%. As the rate of successful amplification of microsatellite markers generally correlates with genetic distance, these SSR markers are potentially useful in the analysis of genetic relationships between or within Vicia species.

Genome sequencing researches for considerable numbers of crops and wild plants are being developed. Cytogenetic researches according to chromosome number and size are essential to confirm and comprehend ploidy level and genome size before genome sequencing project is actually conducted. Cytogenetic researches on six food crop plants were carried out by DAPI staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) method. Fagopyrum esculentum Moench showed 2n=2x=16, each chromosome length of 1.42㎛ to 1.77㎛, total chromosome length of 13.31㎛, and karyotypic formula of 2n=8m; Phaseolus angularis W.F. Wight, 2n=2x=22, 2.01㎛ to 3.84㎛, total 28.03㎛, 2n=9m+2sm, Perilla frutescens var. japonica Hara, 2n=2x=40, 1.73㎛ to 2.76㎛, total 44.36㎛, 2n=5m+13sm+2st. Chromosome sizes of the other three species such as, Panicum miliaceum L., 2n=2x=36, total chromosome length of 30.83㎛, Sesamum indicum L., 2n=2x=26, 27.39㎛, lpomoea batatas L., 2n=2x=30, total 33.51㎛ were too small for each chromosome type to be identified and analyzed. The result of FISH analysis using 5S and 45S rDNA probe showed species-specific chromosome locations in the genome. These preliminary analyses were carried out to decide which food crop to prioritize for genome sequencing. This work was supported by the “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science & Technology Development (No.PJ009837), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Ramie (Boehmeria nivea L. Gaudich.) is a hardy perennial herbaceous plant of the Urticaceae family and has been grown as a fiber crop in several countries including Korea for many centuries. Ramie leaves also have been traditionally used as a major ingredient of a type of rice cake called ‘Song-pyun’ in the Southwest area of Korea, especially Yeong-Gwang province. Despite its economic importance, the molecular genetics of ramie have not been studied in detail yet. Genetic resources of ramie were widely collected from domestic local sites by Bioenergy Crop Research Center (RDA) and Yeong-Gwang Agricultural Technology Center. For the systematic and efficient management of the genetic resources, we developed microsatellite molecular markers of ramie. To do this, we generated microsatellite-enriched genomic DNA libraries using magnetic bead hybridization selection method. 216 contigs containing microsatellite repeat motif were generated using nucleotide sequences of 376 clones from the libraries. Primer sets were designed from the flanking sequences of the repeat motif. Finally, we selected 26 microsatellite markers, possibly showing polymorphism among the genetic resources. Results on the genotype analysis of the ramie genetic resources using the microsatellite markers will be presented.

The genus Rubus belongs to the Rosaceae family and is comprised of 600-800 species distributed worldwide. Understanding the genetic relationships and genetic structure in Rubus species is important for enabling efficient management, conservation, characterization and utilization of the species. However, as a minor crop, genetic research foundation was limited to explore genetic diversity and relationships in Rubus species. The present study shows the results of application SSR markers that were developed from SSR-enriched libraries of the one Rubus species (Rubus coreanus Mique.) in our previous study. We used 34 polymorphic microsatellite markers to analysis of genetic diversity within the Rubus species, including redraspberry, blackraspberry, blackberry and mountainberry. All the 34 SSR primers pairs produced 483 polymorphic and reproducible amplification fragments. The largest number of alleles per primer pair was confirmed at GB-RC-167, GB-RC-100, GB-RC-076 and GB-RC-245, which contained 26, 25, 23 and 21, respectively. An average value of polymorphic information contents (PIC) were 0.74 with a range of 0.36 to 0.92. Population structure and phylogenetic analyses showed that all Rubus species formed three largely distinct clusters, which were confirmed by principal coordinate analysis (PCoA). We obtained the results that the developed SSR markers showed a substantial degree of genetic diversity in the various Rubus species distributed in Korea.

This experiment was carried out to find suitable sample type for the more accurate prediction and non-destructive way in the application of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) technique for estimation the protein, total amino acids, and total isoflavone of soybean by comparing three different sample types, single seed, whole seeds, and milled seeds powder. The coefficient of determination in calibration (R2 ) and coefficient of determination in cross-validation (1-VR) for three components analyzed using NIRS revealed that milled powder sample type yielded the highest, followed by single seed, and the whole seeds as the lowest. The coefficient of determination in calibration for single seed was moderately low(R2 0.70-0.84), while the calibration equation developed with NIRS data scanned with whole seeds showed the lowest accuracy and reliability compared with other sample groups. The scatter plot for NIRS data versus the reference data of whole seeds showed the widest data cloud, in contrary with the milled powder type which showed flatter data cloud. By comparison of NIRS results for total isoflavone, total amino acids, and protein of soybean seeds with three sample types, the powder sample could be estimated for the most accurate prediction. However, based from the results, the use of single bean samples, without grinding the seeds and in consideration with NIRS application for more nondestructive and faster prediction, is proven to be a promising strategy for soybean component estimation using NIRS.