Cryptotympana atrata belongs to the family Cicadidae, has long been recognized as a damaging plant-sucking pest, and is distributed in East Asian countries. In addition, their cries cause direct harm to us through noise pollution and also reported twig damage in the forest environments. In this study, we isolated strains of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium that occurred from C. atrata collected this year. Here, we provide the morphological character and molecular phylogenetic relationship of this species. This is the first record of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium viridulum isolated from C. atrata in Korea and provides a candidate strain with potential use for biological agents.

Red meats are important animal foods because of their nutritional aspects, but the over-consumption of red meat produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by heme iron and induces colorectal cancer. The effect of orally administered hemin and calcium provided in drinking water for 6 weeks on colon carcinogenesis was observed in male ICR mice. After the mice were acclimated for 1 week, they received three subcutaneous azoxymethane (AOM, 10 mg/kg b.w.) injections weekly and were provided with 2% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) via drinking water for the next week. The mice were divided into three groups: the control, hemin, and hemin + calcium groups. The orally administered daily dose of hemin was 2 g/kg b.w., and 0.05% calcium was provided daily via drinking water. Colonic mucosa samples were stained with methylene blue, and then, the numbers of aberrant crypt (AC) and aberrant crypt foci (ACF) were counted. Lipid peroxidation in feces was estimated by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) assay. The total numbers of AC and ACF per colon in the hemin group were significantly higher than those in the control group. Calcium treatment significantly decreased the numbers of ACF and AC in the colon of mice. The TBARS value in the feces of the hemin + calcium group was significantly lower than that in the feces of the hemin group. These results showed that hemin enhances the formation of pre-neoplastic lesions in the colon of mice and that calcium decreases the risk of colon carcinogenesis.

Slow seedling growth rate and nodulation failure of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) has been limited its good establishment to pastures. The experiment was done to determine the effect of removal of cotyledon and unifoliolate on the shoot, root growth,

Background : Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a perennial plant of the Gramineae, followed by rice, wheat, corn and barley, the fifth major food crop in the world. Sorghum is mostly used in Korea for cereals using seeds or for making food directly. However, sorghum is not directly used for food in foreign countries, but plays an important role in the development of cosmetic and pharmaceutical materials and as a bio-energy crop. Most of the sorghum cultivated in Korea does not use the remainder after harvesting seeds, so research on other uses is needed. Therefore, we carried out this experiment in order to identify the characteristics of domestic genetic resources and to select the genetic resources with excellent growth. Methods and Results : Samples were tested for their growth characteristics by the Agricultural Genetic Resources of National Institute of Agricultural Sciences. Growth characteristics of heading, total length, stem length, stem width, leaf length, leaf width, length of ears and width of ears were investigated. After 10 weeks of sowing, 45% of the outbreaks occurred and showed a quick heading. The total length of the sorghum ranged from 65.7 ㎝ to 341.0 ㎝, and the stem width ranged from 0.2 ㎝ to 2.6 ㎝. Leaf length ranged from 33.3 ㎝ to 92.4 ㎝ and leaf width ranged from 3.8 ㎝ to 12.2 ㎝. The length of the ears was in the range of 8.0 ㎝ - 52.7 ㎝, and the width of the ears was in the range of 5.2 ㎝ - 27.0 ㎝. K131301, K178840, K258654 and K255198, which are expected to bear a large number of seeds with high biomass content and large size of leaves and plants, were selected. Conclusion : Through this study, we can understand the growth characteristics of the sorghum in Korea and select excellent genetic resources.

본 연구에서는 다양한 식품유해미생물에 대한 길항작용 및 항산화활성이 우수한 B. subtilis SRCM102046 균주를 식품보존 소재로서 이용하기 위해 반응표면분석법을 이용하여 균체 증량을 통한 항균활성 및 항산화활성 증대를 도모하고자 하였다. SRCM102046의 산업적 활용을 위한 성장조건을 최적화하기 위해 배양시간에 따른 균체 성장을 조사하였으며, 통계학적 기법인 반응표면분석법을 사용하였다. SRCM102046의 최적 성장을 위한 배지 성분을 선별하기 위해 Plackett-Burman design을 이용하였으며, PBD 결과 선별된 배지 성분으로 molasses, sucrose, peptone으로 예측되었다. 각 배지 성분의 최적농도를 결정하기 위한 방법으로 central composite design을 이용하였으며, 최종적으로 예측된 각 배지 성분의 농도는 molasses 7 g/L, sucrose 7 g/L, peptone 2 g/L로 예측되었다. 이때의 균체량은 22.03±1.30 g/L로 예측되었으며, 통계분석을 통해 실험모델의 적합성을 확인하였다. 또한, 실험 모델을 수행하여 건조균체량을 측정한 결과 22.02±0.35 g/L로 측정되어 실험모델에 의해 예측된 값이 오차범위 내에 존재하여 모델의 신뢰성이 매우 높음을 확인하였으며, 이는 실험모델에 의해 예측된 최적배지 사용시 최적화 이전의 LB 배지에서의 균체량(2.47±0.03 g/L)대비 약 9배의 균체량이 증가함을 확인하였다. 또한 최적배지에서 B. subtilis SRCM102046 배양 시 항균활성은 대조구로 사용된 LB 배지에서의 항균활성 대비 최대 140% 향상되었으며, 항산화활성은 약 100.41% 증가함을 확인하였다. 본 연구를 통하여 식품보존제로서B. subtilis SRCM102046의 산업화를 위한 배지최적화를 수행하였으며, 추후 박테리오신의 정제 및 특성 등에 대한 세부적인 연구가 필요하지만 본 연구를 통해 확립된 배양조건을 기반으로 식품보존 소재의 측면에서 매우 유용한 자료로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

When used as a starter in the manufacture of Meju, it is expected that the quality of the soup products can be improved. In this study, we isolated Lactobacillus strain having possible safety and food-industrial benefits as a starter. Four hundred and seven isolates were screened from Meju, and chemically characterized for their antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus, non-productivity of biogenic amine, and hemolysis. Eight of the isolates were selected upon chemical characterization, and their antioxidant and β-glucosidase activity was measured. Finally, we selected, and measured its enzyme activity and antibiotic resistance. Next, we investigated its cell growth, showed maximum biomass of 3.5 g/L after 28 h of culture. The ingredients of the medium to improve biomass were selected using the Plackett-Burman design (PBD) and central composite design (CCD). The results obtained using PBD revealed molasses, yeast extract, and maltose to be significant factors determining the biomass of the L. brevis SCML 432 strain. The CCD was then applied with three variables found from PBD and the optimum values were predicted to be 5.5% molasses, 1.5% yeast extract, and 2.0% maltose, and the maximum biomass was predicted to be 11.2 g/L. Through model verification, we confirmed that the predicted and actual results were similar, with about 3.2-fold improvement in the biomass from 3.5 g/L to 11.3 g/L when compared to that obtained in basal medium. These results suggest that SCML 432 has high potential in the food industry as a starter.

Background : This study was conducted to examine the suitability of the blue/white vinyl for ginseng cultivation greenhouses in different regions in an effort to develop a stable ginseng cultivation technology and contribute to popularizing ginseng greenhouse farming. Methods and Results : For comparison purposes, ginseng plants were cultivated in the traditional shading and greenhouse shading facilities. The average temperature in the greenhouse shading facilities during the period of May through October was 20.5℃ in Namwon, 21.4℃ in Jinan, and 23.3℃ in Iksan, with Iksan recording a 1.9–2.8℃ higher average temperature, presumably due to its location in a plain area with low elevation. The average temperatures in the traditional shading facilities ranged between 22.9℃ and 25.7℃, 2.4–2.6℃ higher compared with the greenhouse shading facilities. As for the incidence of disease and pest, as low as 0.1–0.3% of the plants grown under greenhouse shading were infected with Colletotrichum dematium, Alternaria panax, and Rhizoctonia solani, whereas much higher incidences were noted in the control plants, with 3.3–11.3%, 4.7–17.0%, 0.1–0.5%, and 3.0–5.7% infected with Colletotrichum dematium, Alternaria panax, Rhizoctonia solani, and Phytophthora cactorum, respectively, throughout the regions. Heat injury occurred only in Iksan (0.3%) in the case of greenhouse-shaded plants, whereas the control plants suffered from much severer heat injury: 3.5% in Namwon, 10% in Jinan, and as high as 35.3% in Iksan. As for the roots, Namwon outperformed other regions in root length (29.7 ㎝), taproot length (8.7 ㎝), and taproot diameter (25.3 ㎜), and also the root fresh weight (53.4 g), followed by Jinan (48.7 g) and Iksan (40.4 g). In yield as well, the greenhouse in Namwon outperformed other regions with 1,297㎏/10a, followed by Jinan (1,183 ㎏) and Iksan (932 ㎏). The effect of greenhouse blue-white vinyl shading on yield by region was analyzed to increase of 177% in Namwon, 209% in Jinan, and 173% in Iksan with respect to their respective traditional shading facilities. Conclusion : The suitability of the blue/white vinyl shading in ginseng cultivation greenhouses was tested experimentally in three different regions. As a result, greenhouse-shaded ginseng plants were found to be much less affected by heat injury compared with traditionally shaded ginseng plants, resulting in much higher yields in all regions. This allows the conclusion that greenhouse ginseng cultivation can contribute to more stable ginseng yield and popularization of ginseng cultivation.