Global warming means not only increase in average air temperature but also increase in frequency of extreme weathers such as extremely high temperature over 45oC. Crops are generally sensitive to high temperature during their reproductive growth stage. This experiment was thus conducted to investgate physiological responses of rice (Oryza sativa cv. Chucheong) and soybean (Glycine max cv. Sinpaldal) to high temperature (HT) stress at their reproductive stage. Rice and soybean were exposed to different degrees of high temperature stress by keeping them in a growth cabinet deisnged to maintain air temperature up to 45oC for at least 5 hours in a day for different durations, 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 days. HT stress treatment delayed heading and flowering of rice and increased the sterility of its' main panicle with increasing duration of HT treatment; 19.7 43.4, 68.1, 81.5 and 91.1% at 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 days HT treatment, respectively. Increasing sterility due to HT treatment thus resulted in significant rice yield loss; 5.07 4.27, 4.32, 4.51 and 3.62 g/plant at 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 days of HT treatment, respectively. Soybean was also significantly affected by HT stress in its pod formation and sterility, particularly along the vertical stem. Increasing pod sterility with increasing HT treatemnt thus resulted in significant soybean yield loss.

Miscanthus, a perennial rhizomatous C4 grass, is a potential biomass crop, mainly because of its high yield potential and low demand for inputs. But, overwintering is the biggest problem for establishment of Miscanthus in the first year after planting rhizomes, particularly in East Nothern Asia, where winter is very cold. In this study, overwintering and freezing tests with Miscanthus rhizomes were conducted in the field (Experimental Farm Station of Seoul National University, Suwon, Korea) and the freezer maintained at -18℃, respectively. For overwintering test, rhizomes of Miscanthus sinensis, M. sacchariflorus and M. x giganteus were buried at 1, 3, 6, and 9 cm soil depths in the field in December 2009 and transplanted in a plastic pot containing sandy loam soil in March 2010. The pot was then placed in the incubation room maintained at 35/25℃ for assessing seedling establishment and early growth. For freezing test, Miscanthus rhizomes planted at 3 cm soil depth in a plastic pot containing sandy loam soil were kept in the freezer for different durations and then transfer to the incubation room for assessing seedling establishment and early growth. Rhizomes buried at 1 cm showed the least seedling establishment, while those buried at 6 cm showed the best seedling establishment, suggesting that rhizomes need to be planted at 6 cm for their successful overwintering. When rhizomes were exposed to freezing temperature down to -18℃, their survival decreased with increasing the duration of freezing exposure. From 12 hours of exposure their survival rate decreased significantly and finally reached to zero at longer than 24 hours of exposure. Further studies will be conducted to screen cold tolerant genotypes.

Miscanthus is a rhizomatous perennial C4 grass and has been studied as a lignocellulosic biomass energy crop in Europe and USA. Although Korea has many native Miscanthus species, however, Miscanthus has never been considered as a potential bioenergy crop and not much studied. Therefore, we collected Miscanthus spp (M. sinensis and M. sacchariflorus) in Korea and overseas and conducted a field experiment during 2008-2010 to investigate their agronomic characteristics related to biomass yield and thus to select genotypes with a high biomass yield potential. The agronomic characteristics assessed are plant height, leaf area, stem thickness, stem density, flowering time, dry weight and so on. Some Korean genotypes particularly collected in Jeju and Gyeonggi showed very high biomass yield, suggesting that they can be used for breeding a new Miscanthus cultivar for biomass production. Correlation analyses showed that plant height, stem thickness and density are closely related with biomass yield. Flowering times vary with genotypes and their collection sites. Phenotypic information of Korean Miscanthus we present herein may be useful for further studies on Miscanthus as a bioenergy crop.

Acid rain due to air pollution has been believed to be harmful to vegetation and crops, either by direct deposition on the foliage or by indirect leaching of nutrients from the soil. This study was conducted to investigate physiological response and damage of soybean caused by acid rain in the glasshouse at the experimental station of Seoul National University. Soybean (Glycine max L.) cv. Sinpaldal was subjected to simulated acid rain (SAR) two times a week from R2 stage until its maturity. The pH values of SAR treatments were ranged from 2 to 5 together with tap water treatment (pH 7±0.2) as a control. The SAR was composed of H2SO4 and HNO3 at the ratio of 2:1 (v/v). SAR treatment at pH 2 caused clear visual damage on leaves and pods with severe chlorosis and necrosis even after the first SAR was applied, while those at pH greater than 3 showed no clear visual damage. Chlorophyll content (expressed as SPAD value) tended to decrease with decreasing pH with significant reduction at pH 2 as compared with pH values greater than 3. Photosynthesis also showed decrease with decreasing pH with significant reduction at pH 3 and 2. Soybean yield and its components were also affected by SAR treatment, particularly significant at pH 2.