Five spider species from the genus Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805, namely Pholcus geogeum sp. nov., Pholcus hongseong sp. nov., Pholcus gochang sp. nov., Pholcus jeocheon sp. nov., and Pholcus yongin sp. nov., are newly described from Korea. These five new species, which belong to the phungiformes group within the genus, can be distinguished from their congeners by the shape and structure of the genital organs of both males and females. They are found on rock walls and at cave entrances in mountainous and hilly mixed forests. This study provides diagnoses, detailed descriptions, and taxonomic photographs of the newly described species.

A new spider species of the genus Pholcus Walckenaer, 1805, Pholcus osaek sp. nov., in the family Pholcidae C.L. Koch, 1850, is described from Korea. This new species belongs to phungiformes-group in the genus. It can be distinguished from its congeners by the shape and structure of genital organs of both males and females. It is found on and between rock walls in mountainous mixed forests. Additionally, the taxonomic status of Pholcus uksuensis Kim & Ye, 2014 is revalidated, re-diagnosed, and redescribed based on specimens collected from the type locality. Considering differences mentioned in the diagnosis through revalidation, P. uksuensis is regarded as a distinct species. Therefore, it should be removed from the synonymy of P. woongil Huber, 2011.

The present study describes Philodromus rufus Walckenaer, 1826 with detailed descriptions, taxonomic photographs, distribution map, and proposition of a new synonym. Due to morphological similarity between P. pseudoexilis Paik, 1979 and P. rufus, taxonomic identity of P. pseudoexilis has been doubtful to date. A detailed bibliographic study of types of P. pseudoexilis between P. rufus and examination of specimens from the type locality of P. pseudoexilis with specimens of P. rufus collected across the country showed that P. rufus has all diagnostic characters found in types of P. pseudoexilis. Therefore, P. pseudoexilis Paik, 1979 should be regarded as a new synonym of Philodromus rufus Walckenaer, 1826.

The present study describes Philodromus paiki sp. nov., which was previously misidentified as P. fuscomarginatus (De Geer, 1778), P. poecilus (Thorell, 1872), and P. spinitarsis Simon, 1895 in Korea, as a new species with diagnosis, detailed descriptions, and taxonomic photographs. Additionally, P. spinitarsis is also described to correct previous misidentifications of Korean records of the species.

A male Spheropistha melanosoma Yaginuma, 1957 from Korea in the family Theridiidae Sundevall, 1833 is described with measurements and morphological photos of the diagnostic characteristics. This species was collected with a sweep net around arable lands in a mountainous mixed forest during the investigation of spider fauna on Ulleungdo Island in 2019.

Two linyphiid spiders, Saitonia kawaguchikonis Saito & Ono, 2001 and Asthenargus niphonius Saito & Ono, 2001 were confirmed from Korea for the first time. Males of S. kawaguchikonis and a female of A. niphonius were collected with pitfall traps in a leaf litter of mixed forests in three National Parks (Hallyeohaesang National Park, Mt. Naejangsan, and Mt. Sobaeksan) during the seasonal surveys for the spider fauna in mountainous terrain from 2018 to 2020. These two species were formerly known from China and Japan, or only from Japan, respectively. The present study describes these two species with measurements, morphological illustrations, and a distribution map. This report adds the genus Asthenargus Simon & Fage, 1922 from Korea to the Korean spider fauna for the first time.

We designed a system that can automatically collect, convey, and control cool air of 15oC-20oC containing carbon dioxide from a mushroom cultivation house to a strawberry plastic house. We recorded the temperature at various positions from July to August 2017. The average temperature of the green house during day and at night was maintained at 33oC and 26oC, respectively. In the moveable three-tier cylindrical bed, the average temperature around root was maintained at 26oC and 21oC during day and at night, respectively. On the high-bench in the green house, the temperature was maintained at 32oC and 30oC during day and at night, respectively. The carbon dioxide concentration was maintained around 800-1,600 ppm in the mushroom cultivation system and 400-800 ppm in the strawberry plastic house. The growth characteristics of the strawberry treated with moveable three-tier cylindrical bed were significantly different from those of the untreated high-bench bed. In addition, during the summer season, moveable three-tier cylindrical bed showed more tendency to increase in normal fruit number (NFN) and to decrease in defective fruit number (DFN) compare to the high-bench bed. Therefore, the moveable three-tier cylindrical bed showed a tendency to be more than 2 times higher yields than that of the high-bench bed. It was confirmed that everbearing strawberry cultivars could be cultivated in green house due to the cool air supply from the mushroom cultivation system in the summer season.

Background : Gangwon-do (Province) is chief producing district of six-year-old raw material of red ginseng and transplanting culture is more than 90%. The 6-year-old red ginseng is easy to differentiate in quality and can secure a stable market, but it has high disadvantages such as high seedling cost, effort cost, and long term cultivation. Therefore, it is necessary to develop environment-friendly products that enhance price competitiveness based on 3 to 4-year-old ginseng by using direct seedling cultivation techniques. When ginseng seed sown directly, it is highly productive and has high disease resistance, which is advantageous for environment-friendly cultivation. Thus, it is advantage to save work force in seed production stage. The purpose of this study is to find the planting density for 4-year-old ginseng. Methods and Results : In order to determine proper planting density, ginseng growth characteristics such as root length, root diameter, raw weight, and yields were investigated at 4-year-old ginseng after planting 34, 67, and 100 roots per ㎡. As a result, the root length was the longest at 33.9 ± 5.45 ㎝ in 67 roots/㎡, and there was no difference in root diameter. The raw weight of 4-year-old ginseng was the highest at 65.1g in 34 roots/㎡. However, yields were 4.3 ± 0.78 and 4.8 ± 0.50 ㎏ in the 67 roots/㎡ and 100 roots/㎡, respectively, which were higher than the 34 roots/㎡. Conclusion : The proper planting density for direct seedling cultivation of yunpung cultivar was 67 - 100 roots/㎡, and these results could be applied to increase productivity in direct seeding cultivation of ginseng.

Background : The Production of high quality ginseng seedling become increasingly important in the cultivation of ginseng because the quality of ginseng seedling is closely related to yield of ginseng. However, it has become difficult to produce high quality ginseng seedling due to environmental instability such as an increase in the occurrence of abnormal climate and pests, and the difficulty in obtain new place to cultivate ginseng seedling. This study was carried out to analyze the growth characteristics of ginseng seedling according to application of fermented compost during ginseng seedling cultivation Methods and Results : In order to evaluate the effect of fermented compost on the growth of ginseng seedling, fermented compost containing antagonistic microorganism was prepared and applied 300kg per 10a to planned place for ginseng cultivation. After seeding of the ginseng seeds, the growth of ginseng was analysed. The pH, EC, organic matter, P2O5 and NO3-N of the compost treated group were 6.1, 2.75 ds/m, 18.97 g/㎏, 1,202 ㎎/㎏ and 287.4 ㎎/㎏, respectively, while those of non-treated group were 6.6, 0.25 ds/m, 14.67 g/㎏, 1,055 ㎎/㎏ and 8.77 ㎎/㎏, respectively. As a result of analyzing the growth characteristics of ginseng seedling, the growth of aboveground part was not significantly different between the treated and non-treated group. The root length and root diameter were 13.0 ± 1.50 ㎝ and 5.5 ± 0.27 ㎜, respectively, which were not significantly different from non-treated group. However, root weight was 1.20 ± 0.14 g, which is 1.4 times higher than that of control. Conclusion : It was confirmed that the quality of ginseng seedling was improved by compost application. These results suggested that fermented compost could be used as a material for nutrients management in ginseng seedling cultivation.