The occurrence characteristics of major insect pests infesting organically cultivated maizes, millets, sorghums, and soybeans were surveyed from 2015 to 2017 in paddy-upland rotation and continuing upland fields. In grain fields, the main damage of maizes and sorghums was caused by Ostrinia furnaclais and Helicoverpa spp. The occurrence pattern of O. furnacalis was 3 times and that of Helicoverpa spp. was 3-4 times. In soybean fields, Riptortus clavatus was the most important, but the pest was not observed at geumhwajaerae and bongeui varieties. Interestingly, the more high the invasive rate of lepidopteran larvae was, the more low the yield of maizes and sorghums was. The surveyed results indicate that the focused management on lepidopteran larvae or hemipteran pests in maizes and sorghums or soybeans cultivated in paddy-upland rotation and continuing upland fields is an important strategy.

This study was aimed to evaluate the dose-response the effects of nano-encapsulated conjugated linoleic acids(CLAs) on in vitro ruminal fermentation profiles. A fistulated Holstein cow was used as a donor of rumen fluid. Nano-encapsulated CLAs(LF, 5% of nano-encapsulated CLA-FFA; HF, 10% of nano-encapsulated CLA-FFA; LT, 5% of nano-encapsulated CLA-TG; HT, 10% of nano-encapsulated CLA-TG) were added to the in vitro ruminal fermentation experiment. In the in vitro ruminal incubation test, the total gas production on incubation with nano-encapsulated CLAs was increased significantly according to the incubation time, compared with the control(p<0.05). The tVFA concentrations on addition of LF and HT were significantly higher than that of the control(p<0.05). Thus, nano-encapsulated CLAs might improve the ruminal fermentation characteristics without adverse effects on the incubation process. In addition, the population of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens which is closely related to ruminal biohydrogenation was increased by adding HT, while decreased by adding LF at 12 h incubation. These results showed that nano-encapsulated CLA-FFA could be applied to enhance CLA levels in ruminants by maintaining the stability of CLA without causing adverse effects on ruminal fermentation profiles considering the optimal dosage.

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the addition of caffeine (alkaloid family) to the ejaculates of boar sperm quality as well as investigate their optimum concentrations for increasing the movement of sperms. Semen was collected from 9 boars by the gloved-hand technique one week interval. Semen followed by cryopreservation with egg yolk extender freezing medium using freezing protocol. The collected semen were frozen on the same day. Motility was assessed for % motile cell characteristics using computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA; SAIS SI-100, Medical supply, Korea). Frozen boar sperms were thawed in Beltsville Thawing Solution (BTS) with 5, 10, and 15mM caffeine were then incubated at 38 celsius degree for 20 minutes. In experiment 1, semen were diluted BTS and addition of different concentration of caffeine to the pre-freeze semen cryopreservation. In experiment 2, incubation of frozen-thawed sperm in BTS supplemented with different concentration of caffeine for 20 minutes improved (P<0.05) after semen cryopreservation-thawing on sperm quality. After thawing significantly increased progressive and total motility. The addition of 10 mM caffeine to cryopreserved semen after thawing significantly increased progressive and total motility compared with other treatment. These result suggest that caffeine enhanced post-thaw motility of cryopreserved boar sperm when added after thawing.

Understanding the response of a crop to water deficiency is the first step towards breeding drought-tolerant varieties. In this study, inbred maize (Zea mays L.) lines KS140 and KS141 were subjected to drought stress by withholding water for 10 days at the V5 or V6 leaf stage. Water-deficient plants experienced a decrease in relative leaf water content, stomatal conductance, net CO2 assimilation rate, and water use efficiency compared to well-watered plants. This was accompanied by a decrease in the relative leaf water content that resulted in severe growth retardation in KS140 and KS141. However, leaf chlorophyll content in KS140 was unchanged. To understand the proteome dynamics during the 10-day drought stress in maize leaves, comparative proteome analysis was carried out between the well-watered and water-withheld leaves. Differential expression was observed for 29 protein spots from KS140 and 14 protein spots from KS141, and these were identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Among identified proteins, metabolism and stress related proteins were highly were increased by drought stress. This study provides a protein profile of a Korean maize inbred line during drought stress, which will be valuable for future studies of the molecular mechanisms underlying drought resistance and for development of selective breeding markers for drought tolerance in maize.

Korean peanut yield by new varieties has marvelously increased since first variety with 1.09 MT/ha was developed in 1960. This means 77.58kg/ha yield increment every year from 1960 to 2012. A new peanut variety “Sinpalkwang”(Arachis hypogaea ssp. hypogaea L.) showed the highest grain yield, 5.40 MT/ha, of Korean varieties was developed at the Department of Functional Crop, NICS, in Milyang in 2012. This was developed from the cross between cultivar “Palkwang“ and crossing line from cultivar “Palkwang” and “PI156649”. “Sinpalkwang” which is Virginia plant type has 41cm of main stem length and 25 branch number per plant. 45 pod number per plant, 79% of shelling ratio and 92g of 100-grain weight in the regional yield trials(RYT) greatly contributed to increase the yield potential of this variety. Each pod has two grains with brown testa and ellipse shape. Seed quality showed 45.4% of crude oil and 29.2% of protein content. This variety also showed more resistant to web blotch and stem rot, compared with check variety, Daekwang. In the regional yield trials “Sinpalkwang” outyielded check variety by 28% with 5.40 MT/ha for kernel.