Sesquiterpene lactones (SLs) are a group of over 500 compounds, characteristic of the Asteraceae. They are interesting from the chemical and chemotaxonomic point of view, and show antitumour, anti-leukaemic, anti-cardiovascular disease, reduction of inflammation, and anti-microbial activities. The SLs, free lactucin and lactucopicrin, content in 572 accessions of lettuce (Lactuca sp.) germplasm introduced from 30 countries were quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography. Variation range of free lactucin content exhibited trace ~ 235.3 μg from 1g of dried leaves and average was 41.2 ± 1.2 μg (Avr ± SE), variation range 55.0 ~ 3,041.0 μg and average 526.9 ± 17.5 μg in free lactucopicrin content, and variation range 66.3 ~ 3,188.5 μg and average 568.1 ± 18.1 μg in total free SLs content. Lactucopicrin occupied 92.7% of the total SLs content. Among the varietal types, crisphead type exhibited the highest average total free SLs content, next is leaf lettuce, and butterhead type lettuce exhibited the lowest that of content. German accessions exhibited the lowest average total free SLs content, Korean accessions exhibited the highest, and European origin accessions exhibited lower that of content. Red leaf color accessions having higher SLs content than that of green color. Seven accessions having more than 2,000 μg·g-1 dwt of total free SLs content and five accessions having less than 100 μg·g- 1dwt that of content. These accessions can be used as low SLs content cultivar breeding or high SLs content cultivar breeding sources as well as research materials for medical treatment such as, anti-tumour, anti-leukaemic, and antimicrobial activities, etc.

Soft rot caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum is a destructive disease of the fleshy storage tissues of vegetables and ornamentals that occurs worldwide. This study was carried out to find an effective method for evaluating soft rot disease on a massive scale in greenhouse and to screen resistant accession for the disease with lettuce germplasm. Spray method with 5 mL suspension of 109 colony formation unit per milliliter (CFU/mL) of P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum per plant at the 6 ~ 7 foliage leaf stage was the most effective to evaluate soft rot disease. We evaluated resistance to soft rot using this method for 812 accessions of lettuce germplasm introduced from 52 countries. As the results, withered rates for each germplasm accession ranged from 0 to 100 percent and among 812 accessions of lettuce germplasm investigated, 21 accessions showed very high resistance. Among the 21 accessions, 11 accessions were from Korea, each 2 accessions were from USA and Israel, and each 1 accession was from Afghanistan, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Accessions from Israel, Syria, and Afghanistan showed high resistance level. Among very high resistant 21 accessions, 12 were landraces, 6 were cultivars, and 3 were wild relatives. The 21 accessions were consisted of 12 leaf lettuce, 5 romaine type, 3 wild relatives, and 1 butterhead lettuce. Leaf lettuce accessions showed the highest resistance level while crisphead lettuce accessions had the lowest resistance level among the cultivated lettuce types. Wild relatives had greater resistance than landraces and cultivars. These accessions which resistance to soft rot will be used for soft rot resistance breeding program in lettuce.

1. 카자흐스탄은 중앙아시아의 북쪽에 동서로 길게 위치한 국가로서 러시아, 중국, 우즈베키스탄 등 5개국과 국경을 접하고 있고 사막과 스텝이 국토면적의 80%이상을 차지하며, 동남부 지역은 4,000 m 이상의 산악지대 이고 국토의 최저점과 최고점의 차이가 7,000 m 이상이다. 2. 카자흐스탄은 전통적인 농업국가 이었지만 최근 석유산업의 발달로 농업생산이 GDP에 기여하는 비율이 5.2%로 낮아졌으나 경제 활동인구 중 농업종사자 비율이 25.9%로 높은편이다. 3. 카자흐스탄은 경지면적이 24,035천 ha로 넓지만 농업생산이 밀 위주로 되어 있어서 밀 생산량이 세계 10위, 수출은 7위이나 과일, 채소 및 유료작물은 상당량 수입하고 있으며, 강우량이 적고 건조한 기후조건 때문에 주로 관개농업에 의존하고 있다. 주요 농작물은 밀, 보리, 채소, 사료작물, 목화, 옥수수, 벼, 감자, 과수, 유료작물이다. 4. 축산업이 농업전체 생산액에서 차지하는 비율은 38.9%로서 높은 편이나 많은 량의 닭고기, 돼지고기, 우유 및 계란을 수입하고 있으며 유우, 육우, 면양, 돼지, 닭 및 말이 주된 가축이다. 5. 카자흐스탄은 야생 양파와 마늘 등을 포함한 400여 작물의 선조종이 자생하며 사과·살구 등 6 과수 종의 원산지이고 종자은행에는 75,000점의 자원을 수집하여 현지외 보존하고 있는 자원부국이다. 6. 현재 카자흐스탄과는 농업기술협력이 미미한 실정이나 카자흐스탄과의 현 실정으로 볼 때 농업기술 협력은 자급이 되지 않아 해외에서 수입하고 있는 작물의 재배나 생산성향상기술, 관개방법, 채소재배 시설 확충, 농기계, 농산물 가공분야, 양계 및 유전자원 교환 등이 협력 사업으로서 유망할 것으로 사료된다.

1. 타지키스탄은 중앙아시아의 남동쪽에 동서로 길게 위치한 국가로서 국토의 50%이상이 해발고도 3,000미터 이상의 고산지이고, 국토의 최저점과 최고점의 차이가 7천 미터를 상회하며, 국토면적의 약 6%가 빙하로 되어 있다. 2. 타지키스탄은 전통적인 농업국가로서 농업이 경제의 축이며 농촌인구가 74%, 농업부문 종사자가 전 산업에서 차지하는 비율이 49.8%이고, 농업생산이 국가전체 GDP 에서 차지하는 비중이 21.4%로서 비교적 높은 편이다. 3. 이 나라의 농업은 강우량이 적고 건조한 기후조건 때문에 주로 관개에 의존하고 있으며, 관개재배 면적은 약 70.2만 ha 이고, 주요 농작물은 밀, 목화, 보리, 사료작물, 사과, 포도, 옥수수, 감자, 양파, 벼, 토마토 등 이지만, 수량성이 낮아 밀 등 주곡을 수입하고 있다. 4. 축산업이 농업전체 생산액에서 차지하는 비율은 21.7%이고 주로 유목에 의존하고 있으며 유우, 육우, 면양, 염소, 토끼 및 닭이 주된 가축이고 양봉도 중요한 위치를 차지하고 있다. 5. 타지키스탄에는 5,000종의 식물이 분포하고 있고, 왜성밀, 참깨, 멜론, 무, 마늘, 사과, 배, 포도, 베리 류 등 50종의 원산지이고 총 5,317점의 자원을 현지외 보존하고 있으며, 식물원에서도 중앙아시아 고유종 750종을 포함하여 1,500종의 식물을 보존하고 있다. 6. 타지키스탄과는 현재 농업기술협력 사업이 추진되고 있지 않지만 앞으로 농업생산기술이나 농업생산 기반시설 분야에 대한 협력이 필요할 것이다. 특히, 식물유전자원이 다양하게 분포하고 비교적 보유자원 수도 많으나 유전자원 저장시설이 미흡하고 증식 등 관리 분야도 체계적으로 수행되고 있지 못하므로 농업유전자원의 체계적인 관리에 대한 교육과 지원을 통하여 협력관계를 구축하면서 상호 도움이 되는 방안이 적극 모색되어야 할 것으로 사료된다.

Understanding the genetic variation among landrace collections is important for crop improvement and utilization of valuable genetic resources. The present study was carried out to analyse the genetic diversity and associated population structure of 621 foxtail millet accessions of Korean landraces using 22 EST-SSR markers. A total of 121 alleles were detected from all accessions with an average of 5.5 alleles per microsatellite locus. The average values of gene diversity, polymorphism information content, and expected heterozygosity were 0.518, 0.594, and 0.034, respectively. Following the unweighted neighbor-joining method with arithmetic mean based clustering using binary data of polymorphic markers, the genotypes were grouped into 3 clusters, and population structure analysis also separated into 3 populations. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) explained a variation of 13.88% and 10.99% by first and second coordinates, respectively. However, in PCoA analysis, clear population-level clusters could not be found. This pattern of distribution might be the result of gene flow via germplasm exchanges in nearby regions. The results indicate that these Korean landraces of foxtail millet exhibit a moderate level of diversity. This study demonstrated that molecular marker strategies could contribute to a better understanding of the genetic structure in foxtail millet germplasm, and provides potentially useful information for developing conservation and breeding strategies.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for thousands of years. Garlic cultivars are completely sterile and propagated through vegetative method. Collection of a large number of fertile accessions of these genus is needed to explore genetic variability. In order to investigate genetic variation among Allium species and its possibilities for direct cultivation in Korea, we characterized 12 accessions of A. longicuspis, flowering wild garlic which had collected from Central Asia, the main center of garlic diversity. Most of A. longicuspis accessions showed higher over-wintering and bolting rate, longer scape length and more number of bulbils than Korean landraces cultivar, Danyang and Euiseong, but A. longicuspis accessions exhibited smaller size of bulbs and bulbils. Most accessions of A. longicuspis had more number of cloves per bulb, except K229596 and K248824 than Korean landraces. All the accessions of A. longicuspis from Central Asia had complete bolters having many flowers and topsets in umbel. Further studies of A. longicuspis should focus on securing true seeds through removal of topsets and crosses among accessions to create the genetic variability.

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is an excellent source of vitamin A and C as well as flavonoid compounds, which are important antioxidant components that may reduce the risk of diseases. In this study, we investigated ABTS, DPPH activity and flavonoid contents in eggplant leaves and fruits to identify genetic resources with high antioxidant capacity for use in food or as feed additives. A total of 102 eggplant accessions were classified into four groups by latitude of their origins: 0°~15° N (8 accessions), 15°~30° N (19 accessions), 30°~45° N (34 accessions), and 45°~60° N (41 accessions). The accessions originated from 45°~60°N showed the highest flavonoid contents (AVG. = 15.4 μg mg-1) followed by accessions originated from 30°~45° N (AVG. = 13.0 μg mg-1), 15°~30°N (AVG. = 11.0 μg mg-1) and 0°~15°N (AVG. = 9.5 μg mg-1). Same pattern was also found in ABTS and DPPH antioxidant activities. High ABTS, DPPH activity and flavonoid contents were found in the early-flowering accessions. All flavonoids of the greenish violet leaves were significantly higher than those in green leaves. The flavonoid concentration in eggplant leaves with an average of 15.6 μg mg-1 increased from 10- to 20-fold as compared with their fruit (AVG.=0.9 μg mg-1). In conclusion, eggplant leaves represent a potential source of natural antioxidants due to their very high flavonoid contents.

During the last decade, considerable progress has been made to understand the molecular mechanisms of M. grisea infection in rice plants and 10 rice blast R genes have been identified and characterized via map-based cloning methods. In case of rice germplasm, the genetic backgrounds of each germplasm accessions are not uniform and the evaluation for pathogenicity is difficult. To solve these problems, we applied the single resistance gene markers to rice germplasm accessions. A molecular survey was conducted to identify the presence of major blast resistance (R) gene in 363 accessions of Korea landrace rice germplasm. The results revealed that the resistance gene Pik-p (100%), Pib (98%), Pi-d(t)2 (98%) and Piz (76%) were widely observed in tested rice germplasm, but Pita-2, Pik and Pi39 gene were identified in less than 10 accessions. Most of landrace contain the four or five different resistant genes, but these results was not consist of field nursery screening. 13 accessions were shown the blast resistance in field nursery screening and Pik-p, Pib, Pi-d(t)2 and Piz genes were observed in these accessions. The evaluation results of blast resistance genes in rice germplasm will help in breeding of multi disease resistant varieties.