No abstract

To do so, a pot experiment with cherry tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum var. cerasiforme) using loam soil was conducted for 81 days in a temperature-controlled glasshouse, and four N fertilization treatments were laid out in a completely randomized design with three replicates: control (C), chemical fertilizer treatment (CF), and two rates (MLF-0.5 and MLF-1.0) of MLF treatment. Soils were periodically sampled and analyzed for pH, EC, total N, inorganic N and total C, and growth characteristics of cherry tomatoes were measured. During the experimental periods, the pH of MLF soils was higher than that of CF soils. Soil total-N content increased right after CF-application and ultimately decreased to the level of the control (C) soil, while MLF-application slightly increased the level of soil total-N and this level remained unchanged throughout the experiment. The levels of soil inorganic N content increased after application of CF or MLF, but the initial increase disappeared in 56 days after transplanting (DAT). The dry weight of shoots and roots increased in CF or MLF plants, while the number of fruit increased only in MLF plants. Whereas soluble solid contents were higher in MLF plants than in the other (C and CF) plants, the titratable acidity was not different among treatments. However, no consistent effect of N treatments on major elements of the organs of cherry tomatoes was found. The amounts of N taken up by plants were 0.91 g for CF, 0.61 g for MLF-1.0, 0.43 g for MLF-0.5, and 0.25 g for control treatments, resulting in greater N efficiency for CF than for MLF.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus possesses two flagella systems: polar and lateral flagella for swimming in liquid and swarming on solid surfaces or in viscous environments. To elucidate the pathogenic role of these dual flagella systems, we constructed single-and double-deletion mutants of the lafA and flhAB flagellum genes and investigated their biofilm formation, cell adhesion, and colonization of the small intestine of suckling mice. The double-mutant strain was more impaired in biofilm formation than either of the single-mutant strains. In addition, the lafA, flhAB, and double-mutant strains showed 40%, 45%, and 60%, respectively, lower adherence to HeLa cells than the wild-type strain. Moreover, the lafA, flhAB, and double-mutant strains exhibited 49%, 5.6 and 6.7 times, respectively, lower colonization in a competition assay than the wild-type strain. These findings indicated that polar flagella were more important than lateral flagella for the pathogenesis of V. parahaemolyticus.

No abstract

The first objective of this study was to investigate water pollution status of Meejae Reservoir, Kunsan, irregularly receiving river water for agricultural and recreational purposes. The second objective of the study was to compare nutrient pollution loads of three nutrient sources: sediment leaching, non-point sources and the receiving water. Water analysis results showed that eutrophication was a concern especially in summer and the calculated TSI (secchi depth), TSI (chlorophyll-a), and TSI (TP) were 53.6, 57.7 and 56.7, respectively. Although there was no significant difference in seasonal mean values of sediment T-N, sediment T-P and sediment organic content, mean differences were found for sampling points. However, T-N and T-P sediment release flux showed seasonal mean differences, while showing no mean difference for sampling points. Water T-N data proportionally correlated with sediment T-N and sediment organic content data, while no statistical correlation was found for water T-P data. Comparison of nutrient loads calculated from three sources showed that the highest T-N load was occurred from the receiving (pumped) water while T-P loads of the receiving water and sediment release flux were similar. The first solution would be considered for the receiving water to improve the water quality of Meejae Reservoir. Reduction of nutrient flux from the sediment would be then tried as the second alternative solution.