No abstract

To evaluate the antiallergic effect of fermented Ixeris sonchifolia (IS, family Compositae), we prepared IS kimchi, isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from it, fermented IS with these LAB, and investigated their antiallergic effects. IS kimchi inhibited the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) reaction induced by an IgE-antigen complex as well as the scratching behavior induced by compound 48/ 80 or histamine more potently than IS. When IS was fermented with LAB isolated from IS kimchi, its antiallergic effects was also increased. Of LAB used for fermentation, Lactobacillus brevis more potently increased the antiallergic effects. Its main constituents, chlorogenic acid and luteolin, potently inhibited the PCA reaction induced by the IgEantigen complex as well as the pruritis induced by compound 48/80 or histamine. These constituents inhibited the expression of proinflammatory and allergic cytokines, TNF-α and IL-4, and transcription factor NF-κB activation induced by the IgE-antigen complex in RBL-2H3 cells, as well as the degranulation of RBL-2H3 cells induced by the IgE-antigen complex. Luteolin more potently inhibited these allergic reactions than chlorogenic acid. These findings suggest that the antiallergic effect of IS can be increased by LAB fermentation, and the fermented IS might improve allergic reactions such as pruritus, anaphylaxis, and inflammation.

Background and objective: The boom in urban agriculture has also resulted in the creation of many school gardens. With the increase in various hands-on education programs, people are interested in assessing the value of school gardens. This study was conducted to derive indicators for service value assessement of educational farming experience using school gardens. Methods: Through literature review, we selected assessment items and sub-factors. The indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of school gardens are classified using the Delphi method that involve a focus group experts. In order to increase the reliability and validity of the selected and classified items, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted. In addition, the relative importance and priority of each factor in each field were assessed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Results: We classified the indicators into 4 criteria and come up with 13 items and 33 sub-factors in educational value, health value, economic value, and ecological and environmental value. Most of the items for the 4 value criteria derived were significant for assessing the value of agricultural experience services with content validity ratio (CVR) higher than 0.59 and reliability higher than .6. In the value criteria, the experts rated educational value as the most important, followed by health value, ecological and environmental value, and economic value. In the assessment items, the most important was improvement of social functions. In the sub-factors, the most important was strengthening of ties (friendly interactions). Conclusion: Among the derived indicators assessing the value of school gardens, 4 criteria, 12 evaluation items and 29 sub-factors showed significance. The schematic index would be useful for the assessment.

Background and objective: This study was conducted as part of research to promote garden diversity and seek sustainable garden management plans, as well as to determine the trends in understanding and use of companion plants as an eco-friendly farming method and provide the results as the basic data for sustainable urban agriculture. Methods: To determine the trends in garden activities, eco-friendly pest control, and use of companion plants, a survey was conducted on 230 urban residents participating in the Urban Agriculture Expert course. 223 copies of the questionnaire were collected excluding missing values, and IBM SPSS statistics Ver. 25 Program was used for frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, and regression analysis. Results: Most of the respondents were female (71.3%), homemakers (26.5%), were in their 50s (29.1%), and had 2 members in the family (27.8%). 164 respondents (73.5%) had experience in gardening, most of them once a week (31.7%) and for self-consumption (55.5%). Both men and women raised crops for safe food production (32.3%), and they most preferred the city garden type (39.9%). For the preparation of nourishment for eco-friendly garden management, most respondents (60.1%) purchased fertilizers from the market. For the reason why eco-friendly pest control is necessary, all respondents except 4 of them (98.2%) responded that it is necessary 'because it affects my health as I eat it (73.5%)', indicating that they still had a high level of interest in health. Only 43.9% of the respondents said that they had heard of companion plants, 89.2% responded that companion plants were effective in eco-friendly management, and 87.4% showed the will to participate in gardening using companion plants in the future. Finally, the regression analysis confirmed that the awareness of companion plants and satisfaction with gardening activities are key variables that increase the intention to participate in gardening activities in the future. Conclusion: Since plants require special care depending on the period and various diseases and insect pests occur, there must be continuous research on companion plants as an eco-friendly farming method. Moreover, by actively using companion plants in urban gardens with the utility value in not only eco-friendly pest control but also in helping plant growth, urban agriculture is expected to be continuously activated and promoted by increasing satisfaction in gardening activities with aesthetic landscaping and pest control.

Scent is one of the most important economic traits in Freesia hybrida. “Shiny Gold”, a popular cultivar in South Korea, is widely cultivated for its scent. The relative scent intensity of “Shiny Gold” was approximately 16% higher in full-bloomed flower when compared to the yellow bud stage, while tissue-specifically, tepals showed higher intensity in electronic-nose (e-nose) analysis. E-nose analysis also showed that the scent intensity of “Shiny Gold” was higher and lower than “10C3-424” and “10C3-894”, respectively, and was similar to “Yvonne”. These results correlated to those of the olfactory tests. In total, 19 volatile compounds, including linalool, β-ocimene, D-limonene, trans-β-ionone were detected in gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis. Among these, linalool was the major volatile compound, accounting for 38.7% in “Shiny Gold”. Linalool synthase and TPS gene expression corresponded to the scent intensity of the four cultivars, with the lowest expression in the “10C3-424”. TPS 2, TPS 3, TPS 5, TPS 6 and TPS 8 were highly expressed in both bud and flower in “Shiny Gold”, while the expression of TPS 4 was lower, relative to other TPS genes in both the flowering stages. These results may aid in enhancing scent composition in Freesia cultivars using marker-assisted selection.