국내 미기록종인 Corticaria elongata (Gyllenhal, 1827)는 딱정벌레목(Coleoptera), 섶벌레과(Lathridiidae)에 속하는 종으로 유럽과 북아프리카, 아프카니스탄, 네팔, 파키스탄, 터키, 인도, 러시아, 중국, 일본 등에 서식하고 있는 것으로 기록되어 있고 국내에는 전북 완주군에서 2015년 8월에 처음으로 채집되었다. 크기는 1.49mm이며 폭은 0.6mm이고, 높이는 0.34mm이다. 긴 타원형 모양이며 양쪽 측면은 평형에 가깝고, 등면은 적당히 솟아올랐다. 몸 색깔은 연한 갈색 혹은 짙은 노란색이고, 더듬이와 다리는 연한 노란색이다. 표피는 부드러운 털로 덮여있으며 털은 길고 기울어져있다.

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of legume cover crop culture on earthworm fauna in organic farmland. We compared sod culture with two kinds of legume crops of hairy vetch and crimson clover on organic citrus orchard to natural sod culture and conventional orchards in Jeju Island. We analyzed the soil characteristics and investigated the density of earthworms from the orchards. Organic matter content did not show much difference in soil analysis between organic and conventional orchard. But the biomass of earthworms in organic orchards is 3.8 times to 7.0 times higher than that in conventional cultivated orchards, and individuals of earthworms on organic orchards were 2.3~18 times higher than conventional orchards. The biomass of earthworms on hairy vetch and crimson clover cultivation was 44.8 g, 47.2 g in 2016, and 78.7 g, 31.8 g in 2017, respectively, which were higher than 32.8 g and 9.5 g of those on natural sod cultivation. Through this study, we found that hairy vetch and crimson clover cultivation improve the earthworm occurrence density in the soil on organic citrus orchard.

The questionnaire survey was conducted on 225 farmers in Gyeonggi-do, Jeollanam-do and Jeollabuk-do. A total of 189 (84%) farmers responded. 72% of the respondents were males, 50.3% were aged 60 or older, and 51.3% had less than 5 years of farming experience. 78.8% of the respondents are pesticide-free, and 44.4% of respondents have less than 0.5 ha of farming scale. 61.4% of the cultivated crops were vegetable crops. The order of seeds and seedlings to buy was tomato (23.3%), cucumber (12.2%) and pepper (10.6%). The cost of purchasing seeds ranged from a minimum of 100,000 won to a maximum of 5 million won. 78.3% of respondents answered that they well-knew or knew about organic seeds. 78.3% of respondents answered that they knew or knew about organic seeds. Of the positive effects of mandatory use of organic seeds, 41.3% of respondents said they would increase confidence in organic certification. However, 41% of respondents who opposed the mandatory use of organic seeds said that “The strengthening of regulations will make organic agriculture more difficult.” When the use of organic seeds is mandatory, 43.4% of the respondents favor direct support for the purchase of organic seeds, which should be supported politically by the state. When organic seeds were supplied, the disease resistant seeds (53.4%) was the preferred characteristic of organic seeds. For the optimal price of organic seeds, 38.6% of respondents wanted the same price as the commercialized conventional seed. In this study, the questionnaire was conducted for three major organic farming regions, but many of the respondents were judged to have a legal position on the mandatory use of organic seeds. Therefore, the results of this study can be used as a basic data for reviewing the legislation on the organic seed production and distribution suitable for the situation of Korean organic farming.

Potassium (K) is an element essential for plant growth. This study was aimed to examine the effects of three formulations of potash feldspar, powder, sand, and granule type on the growth of radish and beet in organic farming. 0.1% three formulations of potash feldspar were treated on the soil before transplanting 15 days-old seedlings of radish and beet in greenhouse. The results showed that all kinds of potash feldspar significantly increased shoot and root growth, and soluble solid contents excepted for root hardness in radish and beet. Among them, the powder type of potash feldspar was the most effective on foliage and root growth of radish and beet. Based on the results, it was confirmed that 0.1% potash feldspar treated in the rhizosphere of radish and beet can promote the growth of them.

Environment-friendly soybean planting system has been being required in the upland field with high slope and heavy rain in summer season. Changes of weed amount and soybean yield by rye cover crop and conservation tillage were investigated. Soil-disturbing at conservation tillage before soybean planting increased numbers and dry weights of weeds germinated in late spring such as Echinochloa crusgalli P. Beauv (barnyardgrass) and Portulaca oleracea L. (common purslane) regardless of herbicide spray even though the weed, Chenopodium ficifolium Smith germinated before soil-disturbing were higher at non-disturbing soil. Higher weed amounts at plots of strip-tillage (30cm rototilling) compared to minimum tillage (10cm rototilling) was mainly due to the weed increase by soil-disturbing. Soybean yields at plots with rye cover crop, particularly early maturity rye cover crop, were lower than those at plots without rye cover crop, which was due to lower soybean seedling stand by heavy rye residue. More researches are required for the higher soybean yield at the minimum tillage with rye cover crop in which weed amounts were low.