• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.217-232
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• 2018

Drought is a major obstacle to high agricultural productivity, worldwide. In drought, it is usually presented by the simultaneous action of high temperature and drying. Also there are negative effects of plant growth under drying conditions. In this study, the effect of Bacillus velezensis YP2 on plant growth-promotion and soil drying stress tolerance of kale plants, Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra Bailey, were investigated under two different conditions; greenhouse and field environments. Root colonization ability of B. velezensis YP2 was also analysed by using plating culture method. As a result of the greenhouse test, the YP2 strain significantly promoted the growth of kale seedlings in increasement of 26.7% of plant height and 142.2% of shoot fresh weight compared to control. B. velezensis YP2 have the mitigation effect of drying injury of kale by decreasing of 39.4% compared to control. In the field test, B. velezensis YP2 strain was also found to be effective for plant growth-promotion and mitigation of drying stress injury on kale plants. Especially, relative water contents (RWC; %) were higher in B. velezensis YP2 treated kales than in control at 7, 10, 14 day after non-watering. The root colonization ability of YP2 strain was continued at least for 21 days after soil drenching treatment of B. velezensis YP2. Our result suggested that enhancement of plant growth and drying injury reduction of kale plants were involved in kale root colonization by B. velezensis YP2, which might be contributed to increasing water availability of plants. Consequentially, the use of B. velezensis YP2 might be a beneficial influence for improving productivity of kale plants under drying stress conditions.