Deep seawater (DSW) has attracted increasing interest as a mineral-rich resource for agricultural applications due to its stable composition and high concentrations of dissolved inorganic nutrients. Mineral-based treatments derived from DSW have the potential to influence plant growth, physiological performances, and stress responses [1]. Despite these growing interests, limited information is available on their impact on gene expression and associated biological pathways in apple, although such information would be crucial for optimized utilization of DSW as a natural fertilizer. ‘Fuji Hubrax’, a widely cultivated and economically important apple cultivar [2], was used to examine the transcriptional response associated with DSW application in apple (Malus domestica Borkh.). Peel tissues from control (HB-NT) and deep seawater treated samples (HB-DSW) of ‘Fuji Hubrax’ were subjected to paired-end RNA sequencing using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform. Sequencing generated 28.5 million reads for HB-NT, and 25.0 million reads for HB-DSW, corresponding to 2.9 Gb and 2.5 Gb of raw data, respectively. After quality filtering, 2.8 Gb and 2.5 Gb of clean reads were obtained. GC content was 47.17% (HB-NT) and 47.0% (HB-DSW), and the Q20 quality score exceeded 99% for both sequencing data. Approximately 95% of reads from the individual sample were mapped to the reference genome. In DSW-treated vs. control samples, the total number of upregulated and downregulated genes was 2274 and 1517, respectively. The sequencing datasets are publicly available in the NCBI BioProject database under the accession number www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=search&db=pdb&doptcmdl=genbank&term=PRJNA1434662. These datasets provide transcriptional profiles of ‘Fuji Hubrax’ apple peel in response to deep seawater treatment, establishing a reference framework for subsequent genetic improvement and cross-study comparisons in this species.

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus (L.)) is an herb associated with various pharmacological benefits and exhibits antioxidant effects contributing to improved health. This study aimed to investigate the impact of different LED light conditions on the biological activity of rosemary, with a focus on enhancing its functional properties for agricultural applications. The aerial parts of rosemary grown under red light exhibited the highest growth rate. Additionally, the highest 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activities (87.72 ± 0.60% and 17.16 ± 0.65%, respectively) were detected in the red light-treated group rather than in the other treatment groups. Comparably, red light treatment induced the highest total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, measuring 126.72 ± 1.47 mg∙GAE/g and 21.02 ± 1.61 mg∙QE/g, respectively, in rosemary. High-performance liquid chromatography revealed that rosmarinic acid was the predominant phenolic compound in the aerial parts of rosemary grown under red light. These findings suggest that optimizing light conditions can be an effective strategy for improving the functional properties of rosemary, providing insights into its potential application in smart farming and sustainable agricultural practices.

Seawater is often applied to improve crop quality by supplying minerals to the crop. Due to high salt concentration of seawater, one of key factors for successful utilization of seawater in agriculture would be optimal dilution ratios, which can be determined by physiological and genomic studies. However, genomic studies of crops treated with seawater have rarely been investigated. Ligularia stenocephala, a vegetable and medicinal crop [1], is used to examine the genomic changes in response to the application of deep seawater (DSW) from 605 m depth. RNA sequencing was carried out for three different leaf samples of L. stenocephala treated with 0% (NT), 5% (DSW5), or 10% (DSW10) of DSW using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencing system. The RNA sequencing generated 38.1 million raw reads for NT, 29.2 for DSW5, and 30.5 for DSW10, respectively. The length of total raw reads was 2.94 (DSW5), 3.08 (DSW10), and 3.85 Gb (NT), while the total length of filtered clean reads ranged between 2.88 Gb (DSW5) and 3.75 Gb (NT). GC contents range between 42.9% (DSW5) and 43.58 (DSW10), while the Q20 quality score ranged between 98.63% (DSW10) and 98.66% (DSW5). Due to the lack of the reference genome for read mapping, the three transcriptome data from this study were merged to generate a reference transcriptome. The percentage of mapped reads ranged from 89.63 (DSW10) to 98.66% (DSW5). The data is accessible at NCBI BioProject: PRJNA1149490. These data provide invaluable information not only for understanding genes responsive to deep seawater application in crop cultivation but also for determining the optimal dilution ratio of DSW without causing salt stress on crops by examining expression profiles of stress-responsive genes.

Lilium leichtlinii var. maximowiczii, native to Northeast Asia, shows morphological differences between Korean and Japanese varieties. This study analyzed chloroplast (cp) genomes of three diploid L. leichtlinii groups: Korean (KR), Japanese broad-leaved (JB), and Japanese narrow-leaved (JN). Genome sizes ranged from 152,053 bp to 152,588 bp with GC contents of 37.02-37.06%. All had typical quadripartite structures and contained 129 genes. Phylogenetic analysis of 48 Lilium cp genomes revealed at least three distinct L. leichtlinii varieties. Most genomic variation was found in non-coding regions, providing insights into intraspecific genomic diversity in L. leichtlinii.

Pistacia weinmannifolia has long been used as an herbal medicine for treating various illnesses.The genomic information of P. weinmannifolia will help elucidate the chemical constituents that exert medicinal effects; however, genomic studies have rarely been performed.Therefore, we conducted a transcriptome analysis of P. weinmannifolia using the Illumina RNA sequencing system.We obtained a total of 18 million high-quality paired-end reads with 2,230 Mbp.De novo assembly of high-quality reads generated a total of 18,956 non-redundant contigs with an average length of 901 bp, of which 18,296 contigs (96.5%) were annotated.The total length of all unigenes was 17,080,830 bp, and the GC content and N50 were 43.2% and 1,137 bp, respectively.Annotation using The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) assigned a total of 5,095 unigenes (26.9%), of which 3,166 were mapped to 410 different KEGG metabolic pathways.A comparison of unigenes between P. weinmannifolia and Pistacia chinensis showed that 8,825 unigenes were highly similar to each other.Simple sequence repeats were mined, and valuable data for further comparative and functional genomic studies were obtained to uncover the mechanisms underlying the medicinal properties of P. weinmannifolia as an important medicinal plant.Several genes of P.weinmannifolia involved in the biosynthesis of eugenol and isoeugenol were also identified in this study.

Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) is divided into three different types of subunits, A, B, and C. NF-Ys play crucial roles in plants for controlling gene expression associated with various developmental processes and abiotic stresses, but it is mostly unknown the downstream genes regulated by NF-Ys in plant. One of the potato NF-Y genes, StNF-YA7, increased potato's drought tolerance when overexpressed under the control of constitutive CaMV 35S promoter. Therefore, it was of interest what genes are regulated by the increased expression level of StNF-YA7. To investigate the downstream genes of StNF-YA7, the transcriptome sequencing was carried out for four potato lines, including Solanum tuberosum L ‘Superior’ as wild type (WT), empty vector control (VC), and two StNF-YA7 overexpressor lines (designated to StNF-YA7 #19 & #26). The RNA sequencing data was produced by the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencing system. The number of total raw reads obtained from the RNA sequencing was 36.7 million for WT, 36.2 for VC, 29.3 for StNF-YA7 #19, and 29.5 million for StNF-YA7 #26, respectively. The length of total raw reads for each sample was between 5.92 Gb (StNF-YA7 #19) and 7.42 Gb (WT), and after filtering raw quality reads, the total length was between 5.81 Gb (StNF-YA7 #19) and 7.29 Gb (WT). Each filtered clear read set of four transcriptomes was mapped on the potato reference genome, SolTub_3.0, and the percentage of mapped reads ranged from 89.8 % (VC) to 90.3 % (WT). GC contents range between 43.01 % (StNF-YA7 #19) and 42.44 % (StNF-YA7 #26). Q20 quality score ranges between 98.63 % (StNF-YA7 #26) and 98.74 % (VC).

Centella asiatica is a herbaceous plant containing medicinal and cosmetic properties: anti-bacterial, anti-aging, memory enhancing and wound healing. The lack of information impedes the development of suitable growth conditions for C. asiatica in the hydroponic system. Maintaining proper electrical conductivity (EC) of a nutrient solution is considered crucial for plant growth and the accumulation of bioactive compounds in a plant grown in hydroponics. This study aimed to investigate an optimal EC that enhances the growth of C. asiatica and its centellosides content. Seedlings were grown in commercial nutrient solution and treated with four different strengths of EC (0.6, 1.2, 1.8 and 2.4 indicated T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively) under controlled environment conditions. Our results demonstrate that the number of leaves, leaf area, number of runners, shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight were significantly increased in T2 among the treatments. However, these growth parameters were lowest in T4. Furthermore, the content of asiaticoside, madecassoside, asiatic acid and madecassic acid was the highest in plants that were treated with T2. The expression of centelloside biosynthesis-related genes is also affected by the strength of the nutrient solution. A positive correlation was observed between the number of leaves, leaf area and centellosides content. This study provides valuable background on optimal EC content in the nutrient solution in a hydroponic system with enhanced centellosides content to leverage the C. asiatica production.

Pistacia chinensis and Pistacia weinmannifolia are small trees and are distributed in East Asia, in particular China. The data on P. chinensis presented in this article is associated with the research article, “DOI: 10.5010/JPB.2019.46.4.274” [1]. Both P. chinensis and P. weinmannifolia have long been used as ethnobotanical plants to treat various illnesses, including dysentery, inflammatory swelling, rheumatism, liver diseases, influenza, lung cancer, etc. Many studies have been carried out to delve into the pharmaceutical properties of these Pistacia species using plant extracts, but genomic studies are very rarely performed to date. To enrich the genetic information of these two species, RNA sequencing was conducted using a pair-end Illumina HiSeq2500 sequencing system, resulting in 2.6 G of raw data from P. chinensis (Accession no: SRR10136265) and 2.7 G bases from P. weinmannifolia (Accession no: SRR10136264). Transcriptome shotgun assembly using three different assembly tools generated a total of 18,524 non-redundant contigs (N50, 1104 bp) from P. chinensis and 18,956 from P. weinmannifolia (N50, 1137 bp). The data is accessible at NCBI BioProject: PRJNA566127. These data would be crucial for the identification of genes associated with the compounds exerting pharmaceutical properties and also for molecular marker development.

Most sweet pepper cultivars cultivated in the northern region of South Korea are cultivars that were selected for winter harvesting (cropping) in the southern region despite differences in cultivation environments and growing periods between the two regions. This study aimed to investigate whether six domestic sweet pepper cultivars, three red ('632', 'ARO-2', and 'HeraRed'), two yellow ('719' and 'ARO-4'), and one orange ('ARO-5') cultivar, are suitable for summer harvesting in the northern region of Korea. One red ('Nagano'), two yellow ('WLS1380' and 'Allrounder'), and one orange ('DSP7054') cultivars were used as control cultivars. Marketable yields ranged from 3.3 to 5.0 kg/plant, and the yellow 'Allrounder' cultivar showed the highest marketable yield, followed by 'WLS1380' and 'Nagano' at 4.7 kg/plant. Among the red cultivars, 'HeraRed' and '632' performed decently in terms of marketable yields compared to the control cultivar 'Nagano'. Yellow '719' underperformed compared to 'Allrounder' but performed comparably to 'WLS1380'. Orange 'ARO-5' showed a higher total yield than the control 'DSP7054', but it produced a significantly higher nonmarketable yield. There were significant differences in various growth parameters at the early developmental stage, but such differences did not correlate with the marketable yield. A partial correlation analysis of fruit traits revealed a strong positive correlation between fruit weight and the number of locules, whereas the sugar content and pericarp thickness had a strong negative correlation. These relationships among fruit traits could be utilized as indicators when evaluating fruit qualities.

This study aimed to examine detailed morphological variations within Lilium leichtlinii Hook. f. For investigation, two groups, Korean L. leichtlinii (KR group) and southwestern Japanese broad-leaved L. leichtlinii (JSW group), were compared. In total, 52 morphological characteristics (45 quantitative and 7 qualitative traits) were examined in 59 lily accessions (30 KR and 29 JSW). Forty quantitative traits showed significant heterogeneity (p < 0.05) between JSW and KR accessions, and all seven color-related qualitative traits also exhibited differences. Student's t-tests and principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that major quantitative morphological differences between the two groups included plant height, internode length, upper leaf size, and number of new bulbs. Cluster analysis of 36 morphological traits showed that the KR and JSW accessions belonged to two distinct groups. All together, these results indicate that KR and JSW groups are distal within L. leichtlinii, suggesting that the two groups could be considered different varieties.

Plant growth in a controlled environment system is highly dependent on the availability of light. The light-emitting diode (LED) is capable of providing the needed quality and quantity of light for the plant. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of white LED light intensity on the growth of in vitro propagated apple (M-9) seedlings in a controlled environment system. Seedlings were grown for 30 days under five different white LED light intensities: 100–500 (L1), 250–500 (L2), 500–500 (L3), 250–250 (L4), and 100–100 (L5). Our findings indicate that seedlings treated with L3 grew substantially taller than seedlings treated with L1, L2, or L5. The number of leaves, stem diameter, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, and shoot dry weight of L3 treated seedlings were considerably greater than those growing in other treatments. Furthermore, root length, root dry weight, chlorophyll content, and photosynthesis rate were considerably increased in the L3 treatment group compared to the L5 treatment group. However, there was no significant difference in the stomatal conductance or transpiration rate of apple seedlings between the light treatments. Moreover, a positive correlation was seen between stomatal conductance and transpiration rate. These results suggest that light intensity PPFD 500-500 were favorable for the initial growth of in vitro propagated apple seedlings.

This study aimed to generate interspecific hybrids between two remote lily species, L. hansonii Leichtlin and L. brownii var. colchesteri. Reciprocal crosses were performed by conventional and cut-style pollination methods, but viable seeds were only obtained when L. hansonii was used as the female parent, indicating that unilateral incompatibility exists between the two species. In the case of immature seeds, embryos with 2~3 mm were carefully removed from testa for further in vitro culture, and they grew as normal plants. A total of 343 progenies was obtained from the crosses, and hybridity of the progenies were examined using the L9 marker, simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker, at the seedling stage and 92 were confirmed as F1 hybrids. Ploidy level of 76 F1 hybrid was examined and confirmed as diploid. F1 hybrids exhibited intermediate morphologies of the parent in outer tepal and leaf length, but flower shape and color were similar to those of L. hansonii. On the other hand, F1 hybrid plants showed increased flower spots, flower size, and bud numbers, which could be important signatures of the F1 hybrid. This study reports the first attempt to generate an interspecific hybrid between the two species, and therefore, our results from this study would be very informative for future lily breeding.

This study was conducted to examine the changes of photosynthesis, growth, chlorophyll contents and functional material contents in light intensity and EC concentration of wild baby leaf vegetable, Indian lettuce (Lactuca indica L. cv. ‘Sunhyang’) in DFT hydroponics. The cultivation environment was 25±1°C of temperature and 60±5% of relative humidity in growth system. At 14 days after sowing, combination effect of light intensity (Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density (PPFD 100, 250, 500 μmol·m -2 ·s -1 ) and EC level (EC 0.8, 1.4, 2.0 dS.m -1 ) of nutrient solution was determined at the baby leaf stage. The photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and water use efficiency of Indian lettuce increased as the light intensity increased. The photosynthesis rate and water use efficiency were highest in PPFD 500-EC 1.4 and PPFD 500-EC 2.0 treatment. The chlorophyll content decreased as the light intensity increased, but chlorophyll a/b ratio increased. Leaf water content and specific leaf area decreased as light intensity increased and a negative correlation (p < 0.001) was recognized. Plant height was the longest in PPFD 100-EC 0.8 and leaf number, fresh weight and dry weight were the highest in PPFD 500-EC 2.0. Anthocyanin and total phenolic compounds were the highest in PPFD 500-EC 1.4 and 2.0 treatment, and antioxidant scavenging ability (DPPH) was high in PPFD 250 and 500 treatments. Considering the growth and functional material contents, the proper light intensity and EC level for hydroponic cultivation of Indian lettuce is PPFD 500-EC 2.0, and PPFD 100 and 250, which are low light conditions, EC 0.8 is suitable for growth. Additional key words : chlorophyll content, leaf water content, phenolic contents, water use efficiency *Corresponding author: choiky@kangwon.ac.kr Received October 12, 2020; Revised December 7, 2020; Accepted December 10, 2020 Journal of Bio-Environment Control, Vol. 30, No. 1:1-9, January (2021) DOI https://doi.org/10.12791/KSBEC.2021.30.1.001 pISSN 1229-4675

Plant height is an important component of plant architecture and significantly affects crop breeding practices and yield. We studied DNA variations derived from F5 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) with 96.8% homozygous genotypes. Here, we report DNA variations between the normal and dwarf members of four lines harvested from a single seed parent in an F6 RIL population derived from a cross between Glycine max var. Peking and Glycine soja IT182936. Whole genome sequencing was carried out, and the DNA variations in the whole genome were compared between the normal and dwarf samples. We found a large number of DNA variations in both the dwarf and semi-dwarf lines, with one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) per at least 3.68 kb in the dwarf lines and 1 SNP per 11.13 kb of the whole genome. This value is 2.18 times higher than the expected DNA variation in the F6 population. A total of 186 SNPs and 241 SNPs were discovered in the coding regions of the dwarf lines 1282 and 1303, respectively, and we discovered 33 homogeneous nonsynonymous SNPs that occurred at the same loci in each set of dwarf and normal soybean. Of them, five SNPs were in the same positions between lines 1282 and 1303. Our results provide important information for improving our understanding of the genetics of soybean plant height and crop breeding. These polymorphisms could be useful genetic resources for plant breeders, geneticists, and biologists for future molecular biology and breeding projects.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the soil irrigation starting point on the growth and water use efficiency of cucumber at each growth stage in a greenhouse. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) 'Chungchun' grafting seedlings were transplanted on April 20, 2020 and cultivated until July 5, 2020 in a polyethylene greenhouse in Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do. Soil irrigation starting point using a tensiometer were treated in 10-10-10 (T1), 10-10-20 (T2), 20-10-10 (T3), 20-10-20 (T4), and a control. The total amounts of irrigation, growth, yield and water use efficiency were measured. The average daily soil water tension (kPa) was 8.3 for T1, 9.2 for T2, 10.7 for T3, 10.2 for T4, and 5.9 for the control. The total amount of irrigation supplied was from 53,322 mL (T1) to 59,206 mL (T4), there was no difference between treatments. The average daily irrigation amount per plant was 773 mL (T1), 787 mL (T2), 780 mL (T3), and 858 mL (T4). The total number and intervals of the irrigations were not different from 86 times (T3) to 99 times (T1) and 0.7days. In the control, the daily average amount of irrigation was 1,525 mL, and the total number of irrigations was 50. In the control, the average amount of irrigation was twice that of the treatments (T1, T2, T3, and T4), and the number of irrigations was reduced by more than 40%. On the 43rd day of treatment, plant height, number of nodes, leaf width, and number of leaves were highest in the control, and the lowest plant height was in T3 and T4 treatments. There was no significant difference in chlorophyll content (SPAD value). Marketable number of fruit and yields was highest in the T2 treatment, and showed differences according to harvest time. The water use efficiency (g.L-1) of cucumbers produced in 1L irrigation was T2 (45.1g) > T1 (33.5g), T3 (31.9g) > T4 (28.9g) > control (23.7g). These results indicate 10 (growing period)- 10 (harvesting period)- 20kPa (late harvesting period) as a suitable starting point of soil irrigation tension for cucumbers in spring cultivation.

Other SectionsAbstractIntroductionMaterials and Methods ResultsDiscussionConclusion AcknowledgementConflict of InterestsReference

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect on chlorophyll fluorescence, stem sap flux relative rate (SFRR) and leaf temperature of cucumber when irrigation is controlled using a soil moisture tensiometer. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) ‘Chungchun’ was irrigated of 10-10-20 kPa and 20-10-10 kPa by soil starting point of irrigation at each growth stage. At the 66 days after treatment (DAT) of 736 to 854 W·m -2 and above 32°C, chlorophyll fluorescence variables (Fo, Fm, Fv/Fm) values showed significantly different between treatments. The Fo and Fv/Fm value in the daytime (10:30 am to 6:00 pm) at 66 DAT was higher in 20-10-10 kPa treatment than in 10-10-20 kPa treatment. The Fv/Fm value decreased when the leaf temperature was increased. There was no difference in leaf growth (length, width and area) at 28 and 66 DAT, but the chlorophyll content (SPAD value) was significantly higher in 20-10-10kPa treatment. SFRR and leaf temperature increased with light intensity and temperature increased. In both treatments, the SFRR started to increase sharply between 8 am and 9 am when the solar radiation is 170 W·m -2 or higher. The soil temperature of the treatments decreased after irrigation, that showed 31.0°C at 10-10-20kPa and 28.5°C at 20-10-10kPa on July 5 (820W·m -2 at 1 pm). However, there was no difference in SFRR, leaf temperature, temperature difference (leaf temperature air temperature) and VPD between treatments. SFRR was significantly positive correlate with the leaf temperature (p < 0.01, r = 0.770). The SFRR and leaf temperature showed positive significant correlation with solar radiation, temperature, soil temperature, soil moisture content and VPD. There was a negative significant correlation with relative humidity and temperature difference. Additional key words : Fv/Fm, soil temperature, SPAD value, temperature difference, VPD *Corresponding author: choiky@kangwon.ac.kr Received January 11, 2021; Revised January 18, 2021; Accepted January 19, 2021 Journal of Bio-Environment Control, Vol. 30, No. 1:46-55, January (2021) DOI https://doi.org/10.12791/KSBEC.2021.30.1.046 pISSN 1229-4675

Substrate composition and container size are considered crucial for apple rootstock grown in a plug seedling system. This study investigated the effect of substrate material’s proportion and different container volumes on the growth of apple rootstock (M-9) plants propagated by tissue culture. In substrate composition, three different ratios of peat moss (PM): vermiculite (VL): perlite (PL) at 1:1:1 (S1), 1:2:3 (S2), 3:1:2 (S3) were used. For container size, plants were grown in 1000 mL (C1), 500 mL (C2), and 300 mL (C3) containers filled by 1:1:1 mixture of PM, VL and PL. In both cases, plants were treated eleven weeks in a green house. Our results demonstrate that the plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, shoot fresh weight and root fresh weight of apple rootstock were significantly higher in substrate composition S3 compared with S1 composition. However, chlorophyll content (SPAD) and photosynthesis rate were unaffected by variation of substrate composition. Furthermore, rootstock grown in C1 container showed plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, number of nodes, root length, shoot and root’s fresh and dry weight were significantly higher than those grown in C2 and C3 volume containers. The chlorophyll content and transpiration rate were not significantly affected by the different container volumes. These results suggest that the substrate ratio 3:1:2 of PM:VL:PL and container size 1000 mL were more favorable than other treatments for initial growth and development of the tissue culture propagated apple rootstock plants.