The Effect of Bacillus licheniformis MH48 on Control of Foliar Fungal Diseases and Growth Promotion of Camellia oleifera Seedlings in the Coastal Reclaimed Land of Korea

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.