Abstract
This study investigated the control of foliar fungal diseases and growth promotion of Camellia oleifera seedlings in coastal reclaimed land through the use of Bacillus licheniformis MH48. B. licheniformis MH48 can produce lytic enzymes chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase that can inhibit foliar pathogens by 37.4 to 50.5%. Nevertheless, foliar diseases appeared in the seedlings with bacterial inoculation, and their survival rate decreased because they were unable to withstand salt stress. However, B. licheniformis MH48 significantly increased the total nitrogen and phosphorus contents in the soils through fixing atmospheric nitrogen and solubilizing phosphorus. The growth of seedlings with bacterial inoculation increased, particularly in root dry weight, by 7.42 g plant−1, which was 1.7-fold greater than that of the control. B. licheniformis MH48 produces the phytohormone auxin, which potentially stimulates seedling root growth. C. oleifera seedlings significantly increased in total nitrogen content to 317.57 mg plant−1 and total phosphorus content to 46.86 mg plant−1. Our results revealed the effectiveness of B. licheniformis MH48 not only in the control of foliar fungal diseases but also in the growth promotion of C. oleifera seedlings in coastal lands.
Highlights
Tea (Camellia sinensis) and oil tea (Camellia oleifera) have been used to produce important beverages worldwide
Considering the demonstrated benefits of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), this study investigated the control of plant defense enzymes against foliar fungal pathogens, including B. cinerea, G. cingulata, P. diospyri, and P. karstenii, as well as the growth promotion of C. oleifera seedlings in the Saemangeum coastal reclaimed land of Korea through the use of Bacillus licheniformis MH48
The growth of B. licheniformis MH48 rapidly increased at 2 days after inoculation (Figure 2)
Summary
Tea (Camellia sinensis) and oil tea (Camellia oleifera) have been used to produce important beverages worldwide. Tea has many impressive health benefits because it contains large amounts of catechins, theanine, and caffeine [1]. Oil tea lacks these characteristic constituents compared to tea, C. oleifera, one of the most famous woody plants for vegetable oil production, is distributed and cultivated widely in central and southern China. The Korean government has begun to study the establishment of camellia oil tea plants, including C. oleifera, in Saemangeum coastal reclaimed lands [4,5]. The site is an estuary tidal flat on the coast with the potential to create 28,300 ha of land, and the soil type is silt loam containing clay. Soil salinity and poor fertility limit plant growth in the region [4,5]
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