Agroforestry is an intensive land management system that integrates trees into land already used for crop and animal farming. This provides a diverse range of ecosystem services by bridging the gaps between agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. It is an important approach to improve the environmental, economic, and social benefits of complex social–ecological systems in the Asia-Pacific region. This paper aims to examine the research trends in agroforestry and the current state of knowledge, as well as the research gaps in the ecosystem services of agroforestry in this region. A systematic mapping methodology was applied, where analysis units were academic articles related to agroforestry practices in the Asia-Pacific region. The articles published between 1970 and 2018 were collected through the international specialized academic database, SCOPUS. They were coded according to the types of agroforestry practices and ecosystem services. The research result indicates silvorable systems, especially plantation crop combinations, tree management, habitats for species, biological controls, and maintenance of genetic diversity and gene-pools, are the most prominent in the agroforestry research from the Asia-Pacific region. Approximately 60% of all research articles include case studies from India, China, Indonesia, and Australia. Research on agroforestry has changed following the international discourse on climate change and biodiversity. Therefore, this systematic map improves our understanding of the nature, volume, and characteristics of the research on ecosystem services with regard to agroforestry in the Asia-Pacific region. It provides scholars with a springboard for further meta-analysis or research on agroforestry and ecosystem services.

To the best of our knowledge, no study has systematically reviewed and analyzed the research trends of wild-simulated ginseng (WSG) used for food or medicinal purposes in many countries. WSG, a non-timber forest product, has been traditionally produced using agroforestry practices, and it has been consumed in various ways for a long time. WSG has a great demand in the market due to its medicinal effects, particularly in improving forest livelihoods and human health. Due to the significance of WSG, we conducted this research to explore the global research trends on WSG using systematic review methodology and keyword analysis. We used two international academic databases, the Web of Science and SCOPUS, to extract 115 peer-reviewed articles published from 1982 to 2020. The research subjects, target countries, and keywords were analyzed. Our results indicate four categories of WSG research subjects, namely growth conditions, components, effects on humans/animals, and the environment of WSG, and the case studies were mainly from the Republic of Korea, China, and the USA. Through topic modelling, research keywords were classified into five groups, namely medicinal effects, metabolite analysis, genetic diversity, cultivation conditions, and bioactive compounds. We observed that the research focus on WSG changed from the biological properties and cultivation conditions of WSG to the precise identification and characterization of bioactive metabolites of WSG. This change indicates an increased academic interest in the value-added utilization of WSG.

Objective: This study investigated the effects of high-protein concentrates with two different rumen undegradable protein (RUP)-to-degradable protein ratios on the performance and carcass characteristics of Hanwoo steers reared for 26 months.Methods: Thirty-two Hanwoo steers (217±13 kg) were randomly allocated to eight pens (four animals/pen) and assigned to one of two concentrate treatments (four pens/treatment), low-RUP concentrate (LRUP; RUP ratio of 37:63) or high-RUP concentrate (HRUP; RUP ratio of 47:53), with a dietary crude protein (CP) content of 20% dry matter (DM) during the growing stage (8 to 17 months) and 18% DM during the fattening stage (18 to 26 months).Results: Increasing the RUP ratio in the concentrate reduced (p = 0.062) rumen ammonia (NH3-N) levels during the growing stage. A decrease (p<0.05) in the molar proportions of acetate and valerate, and an increase (p = 0.097) in the proportions of iso-valerate, was observed in the HRUP group. Significant improvements (p<0.05) in the average daily gain and the feed conversion ratio were observed in the HRUP group during the fattening stage. Although there were no significant group differences in carcass yield or characteristics in steers slaughtered at 26 months, a trend (p = 0.081) toward an increased rib-eye area was observed in the HRUP group. Relative mRNA expression profiling revealed higher lipid biosynthesis and lipolysis in the HRUP group at slaughter. However, no effects on intramuscular fat content was detected.Conclusion: Raising the RUP level improved performance and intramuscular fat metabolism in Hanwoo steers. The final body weight of the steers in the HRUP group was comparable to that of Hanwoo steers raised under the conventional 30-month fattening period. Overall, feeding a high-CP concentrate with a higher RUP proportion (47% CP) may be a beneficial strategy to shorten the feeding period.