This study was conducted to investigate changes in seed vigor based on temperature of dry heat and duration treatment of watermelon seeds and examine the effect on percent of emergence and seedling vigor. When the upper limit temperature of dry heat treatment was raised to 80℃, the percent of the germination decreased. Moreover, T50 was delayed as the upper limit temperature of dry heat treatment increased. The higher the upper limit temperature of dry heat treatment and the longer the treatment period, the higher the percentage of abnormal seedlings. The optimum upper limit temperature for dry heat treatment was 72℃, and the treatment period was five days. Seed vigor was better maintained at 30℃, 45℃, and 52℃, followed by stepwise exposure to high temperatures of 72℃, the upper limit of dry heat treatment, rather than dry heat treatment at a high temperature of 72℃ for 5 days from the initial stage of treatment. When the fungicide was added during the dry heat treatment process, the germination percentage decreased and the percent of the abnormal seedling percentage increased. However, the addition of 10 mg/kg fungicide did not significantly reduce seed vigor.

The purpose of this study was to identify for extenders, adhesives, colorants, and fungicides suitable for the production of high-quality film-coated seeds of Chinese cabbage. In addition, the effect of various additives used for film coating on the germination of coated seeds and seedling vigor was investigated to establish appropriate treatment conditions for film coating efficiency. The germination rate and germination speed in Chinese cabbage film-coated seeds did not differ significantly depending on the type and concentration of the extender, while the use of Talc resulted in superior granulation capacity and adhesion of the seed coat in comparison to Zeolite. There was no significant difference in the germination rate depending on the type of adhesive used for film coating of Chinese cabbage seeds, but the germination rate was slightly slower in the film-coated seeds using carboxymethyl cellulose as an adhesive. On the other hand, the seeds coated with a film using 1% PVA as an adhesive not only maintained hardness enough to withstand external pressure, but also showed a high germination rate. In addition, the suitable disinfectant for film coating was venoram, and the treatment concentration was good at 250 mg·L-1. The type of colorant used in the film-coated seeds of Chinese cabbage did not significantly affect the germination rate, germination speed, and seedling vigor. The seeds film-coated using the liquid colorant were superior in appearance to the seeds film-coated with the solid colorant, which implies the possibility of reduction in the manufacturing costs by using the water-soluble paints as colorants for film-coated seeds.

This study was conducted to determine the optimum conditions for the treatment of polyamine to promote pollen germination and improve the fruiting rate by overcoming fertilization defects in low-temperature strawberry cultivation. The optimum temperature for pollen germination of strawberries was 30 for Seolhyang and 25 for Maehyang, and Seolhyang had a higher pollen germination rate than that of Maehyang. The addition of polyamines, namely spermine and putrescine to the medium improved the pollen germination rate and spermine treatment showed a better effect than putrescine treatment. The proper polyamine type and treatment concentration for enhancing the potency of pollen germination was 500 μM of spermine for both Seolhyang and Maehyang, which improved the pollen germination rate by 19-23% compared with that of the control. However, combined treatment of spermine and putrescine, resulted in a lower germination rate lower than that of the single treatment. Our results indicated that the treatment of polyamines during flowering in protected cultivation of strawberrise can improve the fruiting rate by overcoming the problem of poor pollen germination due to low temperature.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of defoliation treatment on the growth and yield of strawberries. There was a remarkable growth in the above-ground part and root of untreated strawberry plants possibly due to higher amount of photosynthesis, while overall plant growth was suppressed as the level of defoliation treatment increased. In both the “Seolhyang” and “Maehyang” cultivars examined, defoliation treatment resulted in small fruits and a low number of fruits per plant. Notably, 50% defoliation significantly reduced the number of fruits per plant to 8.2, compared to 13.8 in untreated plants. Defoliation treatment also negatively influenced the fruit quality including color, sugar content, and solid-acid rate. However, no significant changes in fruit firmness was observed in either cultivar. Therefore, retaining enough leaves without defoliation treatment can be important to increasing fruit yield, producing high quality fruits and saving labor required for defoliation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of shading on the growth and productivity of strawberries. Photosynthesis was normally achieved under natural light without shading treatment, and vegetative growth of under- and aboveground part of strawberry plants were excellent. Strawberry fruit productivity and quality were different depending on shading conditions. In natural light, they were improved possibly by balanced vegetative and reproductive growth. However, under light-shading conditions with insufficient sunshine, photosynthetic activity deteriorated and carbohydrate production was therfore inadequate; this adversely affected plant height and quality. The negative effects were more pronounced at 50% shading condition. Shading treatments resulting in insufficient sunshine had a detrimental impact on plant productivity and growth; this implies that proper shading conditions could heip improve yield and fruit quality.

In this study, we investigated the influences of abnormal high temperature on growth, yield and physiologically active substances of the strawberry. General strawberry cultivars in the 20℃ growth condition showed much better growth of leaf number, length, diameter along with plant height, compared with those in 22.5℃ or 25℃. But the cultivars of both ‘Sulhyang’ and ‘Mehyang’ showed good growth and development at 25℃ with the roots showing great growth at 20℃. The quality and yield of the strawberry were best in the 20℃ growth condition, but the merchantability deteriorated in the 25℃ high temperature condition. As for the content of the physiologically active substances of the strawberry, it increased at 20℃, the optimum growth temperature, but decreased at 25℃. The physiologically active substances in the strawberry differed among the cultivars, the contents of cyanidin-3-glucoside, cinchonine, ellagic acid and cinnamic acid higher in the ‘Mehyang’, whereas the content of fisetin is higher in the ‘Sulhyang’ cultivar.Consequentially, the high temperature in summer has a negative effect on the physiological active ingredients of the strawberry, which was increased in the strawberry cultivated at proper temperature, and high quality strawberry production was possible.

This study investigated the applicability of horticultural media with recycled coir substrates the growth of Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris L. ssp. Pekinensis) and lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) crop. The six different types of coir based substrates were A, Coir 45: Perlite 35: Vermiculite 12: Zeolite 8 (%), B, Coir 55: Perlite 25: Vermiculite 12: Zeolite 8 (%), C, Coir 65: Perlite 15: Vermiculite 12: Zeolite 8 (%), D, Coir 75: Perlite 5: Vermiculite 12: Zeolite 8 (%), E, Coir 85: Perlite 5: Vermiculite 5: Zeolite 5 (%) and F, nursery media (control). The pH and Electric conductivity of the horticultural nursery media were 6.06–7.00 and 0.45–1.10 dS/m-1, respectively. The nursery media containing coir substrates had higher level of Total N, Ca, K, Mg and P than those without coir. Additionally, it was observed that the growth of Chinese cabbage was the best on D (containing 75% coir) while that of lettuce was the best on E (containing 85% coir). In general, when substrates containg a higher percentage of coir were used, the growth of Chinese cabbage and lettuce was ideal. Additionally, the P, Ca, and Mg content in both plants was not significantly altered by the amount of coir present in the media. However, with an increase in the amount of coir substrate, the chlorophyll, N, and K content was increased. After harvesting, there was no significant difference in the chemical properties of the horticultural nursery media of both plants. Thus, it can be suggested that, coir substrate after a single use could be recycled as horticulture nursery media.

A Cultivation method to minimize the damage caused by high temperatures was studied by investigating the effects of groundwater cooling treatment on the growth, yield, and quality of strawberries. In the groundwater cooling treatment, the daily average temperature of the rhizosphere was reduced from 26.9°C to 24.9°C . The root length increased by 0.3–9.2 cm, depending on the cultivar and growth period. The leaf number, leaf area, leaf length, leaf diameter, and plant height also increased, especially in the cultivars ‘Seolhyang’ and ‘Maehyang’, resulting in higher fresh and dry weights. The number of fruit per plant increased from 7.7 to 12.5 in ‘Seolhyang’, and the fruit weight increased by 0.3 g in ‘Seolhyang’ and 1.3 g in ‘Maehyang’. The fruit hardness increased, but no significant difference in fruit coloration was observed. The sugar content of the fruit was improved by 0.2–0.3 °Brix. Therefore, groundwater cooling of the rhizosphere was effective in improving the growth and productivity of strawberries under abnormally high temperature conditions and can be considered a cost-efficient cooling system.

RRT* (Rapidly exploring Random Tree*) based algorithms are widely used for path planning. Informed RRT* uses RRT* for generating an initial path and optimizes the path by limiting sampling regions to the area around the initial path. RRT* algorithms have several limitations such as slow convergence speed, large memory requirements, and difficulties in finding paths when narrow aisles or doors exist. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to deal with these problems. The proposed algorithm applies the image skeletonization to the gridmap image for generating an initial path. Because this initial path is close to the optimal cost path even in the complex environments, the cost can converge to the optimum more quickly in the proposed algorithm than in the conventional Informed RRT*. Also, we can reduce the number of nodes and memory requirement. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified by comparison with the conventional Informed RRT* and Informed RRT* using initial path generated by A*.

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of spermine treatment on the growth, yield and quality in strawberry under low-temperature condition, and thereby develop a chemical method to minimize damages by low temperature in greenhouse cultivation. Spermine treatment significantly improved the growth of strawberry in terms of leaf number, leaf area, leaf length, leaf diameter, plant height and plant weight. The highest effect was observed in the 250 uM spermine treatment and the effect tended to be maintained during the entire growth period of 90 days. Fresh weight and dry weight were significantly different depending on the concentrations of spermine. Strawberry plants treated with 250 uM spermine showed higher fresh weight and dry weight compared to untreated control plants during the growth period. Fruit weight, fruit length and fruit diameter were relatively higher when treated with 100 μM spermine compared to other treatments. The fruit yield was the highest with 14 fruits per plant at 250 μM spermine treatment and the coloration of the fruit was the best at this treatment with the Hunter a and b values of 46.56 and 28.75, respectively. The hardness of strawberry fruit tended to increase higher than 2N at 250 μM and 500 μM 250 uM spermine treatment. The sugar content of strawberries treated with 250 μM spermine was 9.5 ° Bx which was 1.6 ° Bx higher compared to that in untreated control. However, spermine treatment did not affect the acidity of fruit and it remained 0.68-0.76% regardless of treatment concentrations. These results suggest that spermine treatment has a positive effect on the growth and productivity of strawberry fruit under abnormal low-temperature condition. The positive effect was the highest at 250 μM spermine treatment and gradually decreased in the order of 100 μM, 500 μM, and untreated control.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of low temperature on the growth, yield, quality, and biologically active compounds of strawberry and obtain basic information for developing a technology for stable growth of strawberry in greenhouses. Growth of strawberry, including leaf number, area, and length, plant height, and dry weight was better at the optimum growth temperature of 20℃ than at a lower temperature of 15°C. At the low temperature of 15°C, the cultivar 'Maehyang' was more tolerant and displayed better growth rate than 'Seolhyang'. At 15°C, the fruit production per week and fruit weight was lower than that at 20°C. In contrast, fruit length and diameter were not significantly different between the two growth temperatures. Growth temperature also did not affect the fruit color index, Hunter L, a, b value, or fruit firmness. However, the sugar content of strawberries grown at 15 was higher by 0.8 and 1.5 Brix for 'Seolhyang' and 'Maehyang', respectively, than of those grown at 20°C. There was no difference in the content of fisetin, a biologically active compound, for 'Seolhyang' at both growth temperatures, however, the fisetin content of 'Maehyang' was higher at 20°C than at 15 . Cinchonine and ellagic acid content of 'Seolhyang' was higher at 20°C than at 15 , whereas that of 'Maehyang' was higher at 15°C than at 20℃ . Quercetin content showed no significant differences with respect to growth temperature, however, it tended to increase at 20°C. The cinnamic acid content of 'Seolhyang' was higher at 15°C than at 20℃ , whereas that of 'Maehyang' increased at 20°C. Collectively, the biologically active compounds of strawberry were affected by growth temperature. Moreover, the content of these compounds tended to increase at 20°C, the optimum growth temperature, rather than at the sub-optimal growth temperature of 15°C.

The current study was performed to investigate the effect of recycling coir substrates on the growth, fruit yield, and quality of strawberry plants. Analysis of physical properties revealed that the pH of a fresh coir substrate was 5.04 while those of substrates reused for one and two years were 5.20 and 5.33, respectively. The electrical conductivity (EC) of a new substrate was as high as 4.58 dS·m−1. This can cause salt stress after transplanting. The EC tended to decrease as the substrate was recycled, and the EC of a two-year recycled substrate was 1.48 dS·m−1. The fresh substrate had lower nitrogen and calcium concentrations, but higher phosphate, potassium, and sodium concentrations than the recycled coir substrate. The coir substrates recycled for one or two years maintained better chemical properties for plant growth than the fresh substrate. Strawberry growth varied depending on the number of years that the coir substrate was recycled. In general, strawberries grown in substrates that had been reused for two years did better than those grown in substrates that had been reused once or were fresh. Ninety days after transplanting, a plant grown in a substrate that had been reused for two years contained 25 leaves, which was 3.6 more than with a fresh substrate. In addition, the plants grown in a substrate that had been reused for two years exhibited larger leaf areas than those grown in other substrates. Coir substrates that had been reused for one year increased the number and area of leaves, but not as much as the substrate that had been reused for two years. One- and two-year reused coir substrates increased the weight of strawberries produced relative to the unused substrate, but the difference was not statistically significant. The plants grown in two-year reused substrates were longer and wider, as well. Also, the number of fruits per plant was higher when substrates were reused. Specifically, the number of fruits per plant was 28.7 with a two-year reused substrate, but only 22.2 with a fresh substrate. The fruit color indices (as represented by their Hunter L, a, b values) were not considerably affected by recycling of the coir substrate. The Hunter L value, which indicates the brightness of the fruit, did not change significantly when the substrate was recycled. Neither Hunter a (red) nor b (yellow) values were changed by recycling. In addition, there were no significant changes in the hardnesses, acidities, or soluble solid-acid ratios of fruits grown in recycled substrates. Thus, it is thought that recycling the coir substrate does not affect measures of fruit quality such as color, hardness, and sugar content. Overall, reuse of coir substrates from hydroponic culture as high-bed strawberry growth substrates would solve the problems of new substrate costs and the disposal of substrates that had been used once.

In the present study, we investigated the effects of artificial removal of corolla and calyx lobes from open flowers on fruit development and fruit quality of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.). Removing the corolla had no significant effect on fruit weight, hardness, length, and diameter, Hunter L, a, b values, sugar content and acidity. However, removing the calyx lobes significantly inhibited longitudinal and transverse growth of the fruits, resulting in diminished fruit size. In addition, merchantable fruit quality significantly decreased upon removing the calyx lobes, and this tendency was increased as more calyx lobes were removed. Nonetheless, removal of the calyx lobes had no effects on fruit color, sugar content, or acidity, similar to the effect of corolla removal.

The present study was investigated the effect of recycled coir organic substrates on the growth of different vegetable crops. The recycled coir had better physical and chemical properties than the new coir. The growth of tomato plant was better on the coir substrate that had been used for 2 years than that on the new coir substrate. The average number of tomato fruits was 108 on the new coir substrate, while it was 179 and 165 on the coir substrate used for 1 and 2 years, respectively. The growth of cherry tomato plant was also better on the coir substrate used for 2 years than that on the new coir substrate. The average number of cherry tomato fruits was 43 on the new coir substrate, while it was 206 and 164 on the coir substrate used for 1 and 2 years, respectively. The growth of brussel sprout was better on the coir substrate used for 3 years than that on the new coir substrate and the average number of brussel sprout leaves was 26.8 on the new coir substrate, while it was 34.3 on the coir substrate used for 3 years. The growth of Korean cabbage improved on the coir substrate used for 1 years compared to the new coir substrate and the number of leaves was 15.1 on the new coir substrate, while it was 24.3 on the coir substrate used for 1 year. Thus, used coir can be recycled to improve vegetable yields compared to using new coirs.

The present study was conducted to find a way to recycle the coir substrate by investigating changes in its physical and chemical properties based on the number of use year. Specific gravity of unused coir substrate was 0.212 g/cm3 , while it was higher for the substrate used for 2 years. Porosity was different depending on the number of use year. The porosity of unused substrate was 51.9%, but it increased to 68.6% after used for 2 years. In general, physical and chemical properties were better in the coir substrate used for 2 years than in unused one. The number of leaves, leaf area, flesh weight and dry weight of oriental cabbage and lettuce were higher in coir substrate used for 2 years than those in unused one. Whereas, no significant difference was observed between the substrates used for one year and 2 years, indicating that the one time-used wast substrate could be recycled for cultivating vegetables. Growth of the vegetables was improved when organic fertilizer composed of complex organics with different mixing ratios was provided to the coir substrate, compared to untreated plot. The optimum mixing ratio of the wast substrate and complex organics was 2:8(v/v) for fertilization using wast coir substrate. Therefore, coir substrate generally wasted after being used for one time was reuseable by supplying organic fertilizer.

The present study was conducted to development mass production methods for peanut sprouts that is considered as a field of blue ocean among the agricultural products. 'Jopyeong' was the best as a major cultivar for peanut sprouts production. The manual for the production of high-quality peanut sprouts is as following. Germination temperature appropriate for production of high-quality peanut sprouts was 27℃. Peanut sprouts at the growth stage of 8th day, and older plants with advanced growth showed deteriorated merchantable and eating quality. Resveratrol compound was not found in the seeds, but its highest amount was detected from 9-day old sprouts. The best water temperature applicable to high quality peanut sprout production was 25℃. The growth of peanut sprout was inhibited by the high temperatures above 35℃ and low temperatures below 15℃.

The present study was conducted to develop seed treatment for the production of healthy and clean peanut sprout. Dry heat treatment of peanut seeds reduced the incidence of the rot. The seed treatment condition at 52℃ for 10 h. was the most efficient without inhibiting seed viability significantly. Seeds were dark cultured at 27℃ for up to 9 days. The treatment of Indole-B and gibberellic acid influenced germination, T50, fresh, dry weight, hypocotyl length, hypocotyl length diameter, root length, number of lateral root and epicotyl of peanut sprout. There were no differences in the germinability of peanut seeds between gibberellic acid treatment methods but higher fresh weight was observed in the GA3 solution spray after 2 hour water soaking. The general growth and lateral root development of peanut sprouts were suppressed by Indole-B which is used for inhibiting root formation and promoting hypocotyls. The treatment of gibberellic acid promoted hypocotyl elongation, but it did not influence on the growth of hypocotyls and root system.

This study was conducted to examine the effect of LED light quality and supplemental LED light on growth and flowering for potted flowering plant of Kalanchoe. 1. Plant height of Kalanchoe was enhanced under Red, regardless of treatment time. 2. Root length and stem diameter of Kalanchoe were enhanced by Red+Blue. 3. The number of internodes was not influenced by LED light quality. Length of flower stalk of Kalanchoe increased under Red+Blue, but treatment time did not result in statistically significant differences. 4. Leaf area was not influenced by LED light quality in Kalanchoe. 5. The number of flower buds and open flowers was decreased by LED light treatment, but days to flowering was reduced by Red+Blue for 4 hr after sunset in Kalanchoe. 6. Chlorophyll and anthocyanin content was not significantly affected by LED light treatment, but anthocyanin content tended to increase by Blue 4 hr after sunset. 7. Fresh and dry weight did not increased by LED light treatment in Kalanchoe.

Growth and physiological disorders caused by abnormally low temperatures were evaluated in pepper, an important field crop in Korea. In addition, the effects of chemical treatment using glutamine was verified on minimizing the damages by low temperature. The growth of pepper plants in stem length and diameter was suppressed as the temperature decreased from 25℃, and the suppression level was the highest for plants grown for 90 days at 20℃. However, root growth was not affected by the different temperatures. The number of leaf and leaf area decreased at the temperatures below 25C, an optimum temperature for growth. Fresh weight and dry weight decreased for plants grown at 20℃. Pepper fruit yield also decreased by 11% at 20℃ in comparison to 25℃. Falling blossom rate was different depending on the growth temperature, and the rate was 27.2% at 25℃, 35.2% at 22.5℃, and 41.0% at 20℃, indicating that falling blossom rate increased as temperature decreased. Different growth temperatures did not affected on the level of symptom of calcium deficiency and Phytopathora blight. Falling blossom was severe at abnormally low temperature of 20℃, but the treatment of glutamine reduced falling blossom rate and increased the yield by 7.0% as compared to control. The optimum concentration of glutamine treatment was 10 mg/L for yields.

Tetragonia tetragonides is a medicinal plant native to ocean sand soil of southern provinces and has significant effects on the prevention and curing of gastroenteric disorders. Despite of its popularity, supply of the plant has never met the level of demand because of the absence of an adequate culturing method. The present study, thereby, was conducted for classifying the plants with geographically different characteristics, studying growth habits, developing a new culturing method and establishing a large scale propagation system of selected superior individual plants. The study was also aimed for revealing optimum conditions for seed treatment, fertilization, and efficient culturing system and thereby, for utilizing the plant as a new income source for rural communities. The seed was elongated with size of 2.6 mm (width) × 1.8 mm (length). No difference in seed size was observed depending on different inhabitate. Each flower produced about 4.5~4.8 seeds. Germination rate was high for seeds matured for 40 days after fertilization, but deceased to 50% for seeds matured only for 20 or 30 days. Seed dormancy lasted 6 months and seed storage at humid 5℃ facilitated germination. Mechanical obstruct of seed germination was due to seed coat and removal of seed coat enhanced the germination rate. Optimum temp. for seed storage was 5℃, and high germination rate was maintained for 350 days. However, for stratification condition or at room temperature, germination was significantly reduced as storage time increased Optimum treatment of plant growth regulators was soaking in GA3 250 mg/L for 1 hr. The priming treatment with 50 mM Ca(NO3)2 at 20℃ for two days improved the seed germination with 10% compared to non-treated control. The treatment of 20% NaOCl for 3 hr. improved the seed germination rate up to 10% and 1 day ahead.