• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.855-862
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• 2013

Although antioxidant activities of Korean traditional fermented foods were reported by many researchers, study on antioxidant activity of microorganism originated from Korean traditional fermented foods was little. Therefore, we improved condition for antioxidant production by a bacterium isolated from home-made Chungkookjang. We selected a bacterial strain, which showed the highest antioxidative activity, from Chungkookjang and then named GJ. The selected GJ strain was identified as Bacillus methylotrophicus by alignment data of 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequences. Improved medium compositions for DPPH radical scavenging activity were 0.25% sucrose, 1% peptone, 0.01% $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ and initial pH 6.5, respectively. Optimal culture conditions were $30^{\circ}C$, 200 rpm and 4% inoculum volume, respectively. In improved conditions, DPPH radical scavenging activity of GJ reached to 91% in a short time. The strain GJ also possessed ACE inhibition and other antioxidative activities; ACE inhibition activity (49.4%), ABTS radical scavenging activity (99.8%), metal chelating activity (67.9%), SOD-like activity (36.5%) and reducing power ($A_{700}$ = 5.982) were observed, respectively. Therefore, our results suggest that B. methylotrophicus GJ strain may be potential candidate for functional foods, cosmetic products for anti-aging and medicine for diseases caused by oxidative stress.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.304-311
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• 2018

Background: Ginseng black spot disease resulting from Alternaria panax Whuetz is a common soil-borne disease, with an annual incidence rate higher than 20-30%. In this study, the bacterial strains with good antagonistic effect against A. panax are screened. Methods: A total of 285 bacterial strains isolated from ginseng rhizosphere soils were screened using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and the Oxford cup plate assay. We analyzed the antifungal spectrum of SZ-22 by confronting incubation. To evaluate the efficacy of biocontrol against ginseng black spot and for growth promotion by SZ-22, we performed pot experiments in a plastic greenhouse. Taxonomic position of SZ-22 was identified using morphology, physiological, and biochemical characteristics, 16S ribosomal DNA, and gyrB sequences. Results: SZ-22 (which was identified as Brevundimonas terrae) showed the strongest inhibition rate against A. panax, which showed 83.70% inhibition, and it also provided broad-spectrum antifungal effects. The inhibition efficacies of the SZ-22 bacterial suspension against ginseng black spot reached 82.47% inhibition, which is significantly higher than that of the 25% suspension concentrate azoxystrobin fungicide treatment (p < 0.05). Moreover, the SZ-22 bacterial suspension also caused ginseng plant growth promotion as well as root enhancement. Conclusion: Although the results of the outdoor pot-culture method were influenced by the pathogen inoculum density, the cropping history of the field site, and the weather conditions, B. terrae SZ-22 controlled ginseng black spot and promoted ginseng growth successfully. This study provides resource for the biocontrol of ginseng black spot.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.77 no.2
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• pp.229-234
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• 1988

To evaluate potential of VA mycorrhizal fungi for promoting growth of nitrogen-fixing trees and efficiency of fungal inoculation in relation to soil fertility and dual inoculation with bacteria, Alnus firma was grown for six months in pots with steam-sterilized soil after inoculation with Glomus mosseae, and Robinia pseudoacacia was grown in the fumigated field after inoculation with native Glomus sp. and Gigaspora sp. In unfertilized Alnus plants, 27% increase in dry weight(or 18% in height) was observed by Glomus inoculation, while plants inoculated with both VA mycorrhiza and actinomycete(crushed nodule inoculum) showed synergistic effect of 83% dry weight increase over uninoculated plants. In fertilized Alnus plants, mycorrhizal inoculation alone or dual inoculation with actinomycete resulted in depression of height and dry weight of plants. In case of Robinia, dual inoculation stimulated height growth by 23% (or dry weight by 25%) over the control in unfertilized field, while 13% more height growth(or 21% more dry weight) was observed in fertilized field. It is concluded that VA mycorrhizae, especially Glomus mosseae, have a potential for growth enhancement in Alnus, that synergistic effect of dual inoculation(mycorrhiza + actinomycete) exists in both Alnus and Robinia, and that responses of these plants to VA mycorrhiza are more pronounced in unfertilized soil.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.524-531
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to investigate the organic solubilization (SCOD) and improvement of methane production for pig slurry by thermal hydrolysis. A sludge cake was pretreated by thermal hydrolysis at different reaction temperatures (200, 220, 250, $270^{\circ}C$). Ultimate methane potential (Bu) was determined at several substrate and inoculum (S/I) ratios (1:9, 3:7, 5:5, 7:3 in volume ratio) by biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay for 73 days. Pig slurry SCOD were obtained with 98.4~98.9% at the reaction temperature of $200{\sim}270^{\circ}C$. Theoretical methane potentials ($B_{th}$) of thermal hydrolysates at the reaction temperature of $200^{\circ}C$, $220^{\circ}C$, $250^{\circ}C$, $270^{\circ}C$ were 0.631, 0.634, 0.705, $0.748Nm^3\;kg^{-1}-VS_{added}$, respectively. $B_u$ of $200^{\circ}C$ thermal hydrolysate were decreased from $0.197Nm^3\;kg^{-1}-VS_{added}$ to $0.111Nm^3\;kg^{-1}-VS_{added}$ with the changes of S/I ratio from 1:9 to 7:3, and also $B_u$ of different thermal hydrolysates ($220^{\circ}C$, $250^{\circ}C$, $270^{\circ}C$) showed same tendency to $B_u$ of $200^{\circ}C$ thermal hydrolysate according to the changes of S/I ratio. Anaerobic biodegradability ($B_u/B_{th}$) of $200^{\circ}C$ thermal hydrolysate at different S/I ratios was decreased from 32.2% for S/I ratio of 1:9 to 17.6% for S/I ratio of 7:3. $B_u/B_{th}$ of $220^{\circ}C$, $250^{\circ}C$, and $270^{\circ}C$ thermal hydrolysat were decreased from 36.4% to 9.6%, from 31.3% to 0.8%, and from 26.6% to 0.8%, respectively, with the S/I ratio change, respectively. In this study, the rise of thermal reaction temperature caused the decrease of anaerobic digestibility and methane production while organic materials of pig slurry were more solubilized.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.515-523
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• 2012

The study investigated the biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay of cellulose supplementing with mixed methanogens and cellulolytic bacteria to improve anaerobic digestion for methane production. For the BMP assay, 7 different microbial supplementation groups were consisted of the cultures of mixed methanogens (M), Fibrobacter succinogenes (FS), Ruminococcus flavefaciensn (RF), R. albus (RA), RA+FS and M+RA+FS including control. The cultures were added in the batch reactors with the increasing dose levels of 1% (0.5 mL), 3% (1.5 mL) and 5% (2.5 mL). Incubation for the BMP assay was carried out for 40 days at $38^{\circ}C$ and anaerobic digestate obtained from an anaerobic digester with pig slurry as inoculum was used. In results, 5% FS increased total biogas and methane production up to 10.4~22.7% and 17.4~27.5%, respectively, compared to other groups (p<0.05). Total solid (TS) digestion efficiency showed a similar trend to the total biogas and methane productions. Generally the TS digestion efficiency of the FS group was higher than that of other groups showing at the highest value of 64.2% in the 5% FS group. Volatile solid (VS) digestion efficiencies of 68.4 and 71.0% in the 5% FS and the 5% RF were higher than other groups. After incubation, pH values in all treatment groups were over 6.4 indicating that methanogensis was not inhibited during the incubation. In conclusion, the results indicated that the hydrolysis stage for methane production in anaerobic batch reactors was the late-limiting stage compared with the methanogenesis stage, and especially, as the supplementation levels of F. succinogenes supplementation increased, the methane production was increased in the BMP assay compared with other microbial culture addition.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1049-1057
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• 2012

The study investigated the biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay of pig slurry supplemented with mixed methanogens and cellulolytic bacteria to improve anaerobic digestion for methane production. For the BMP assay, 7 different microbial supplementation groups consisted of the cultures of mixed methanogens (M), Fibrobacter succinogenes (FS), Ruminococcus flavefaciensn (RF), R. albus (RA), RA+FS, M+RA+FS, and control. The cultures were added in the batch reactors with the increasing dose levels of 1% (0.5 mL), 3% (1.5 mL) and 5% (2.5 mL). Incubation for the BMP assay was carried out for 60 days at $38^{\circ}C$ using anaerobic digestate obtained from an anaerobic digester with pig slurry as inoculum. In results, 5% RF and RA+FS increased total biogas up to 8.1 and 8.4%, respectively, compared with that of control (p<0.05). All 5% microbial culture supplements significantly increased methane production up to 12.1~17.9% compared with that of control (p<0.05). Total solid (TS) and volatile solid (VS) digestion efficiencies showed no relationship to the increased supplementation levels of microbial cultures. After incubation, pH values in all treatment groups ranged between 7.527 and 7.657 indicating that methanogensis was not inhibited during the incubation. In conclusion, the results indicated that both hydrolysis and methanogenesis stages for methane production in anaerobic batch reactors were influenced by the supplemented microorganisms due to the chemical characteristics of pig slurry, but only the 5% supplementation level of all microbial culture supplements used in the experiment affected methane production.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.248-252
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• 2003

This study was carried out to evaluate potential of Shiranuhi cultivar against inoculation of causal pathogen of citrus canker, Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri in Jeju Island by comparing degree of susceptibility of fruits and leaves/twigs, and analysis of incidence of canker disease. Progression of symptom, disease incidence, and percent area of lesion were surveyed for evaluation of resistance. In greenhouse condition, symptoms of bacterial citrus canker progressed more rapidly in sweet orange, a moderately susceptible cultivar, than in other four cultivars (satsuma mandarin, 'Kiyomi', 'Shiranuhi' and 'Yuzu'). At 20 days after inoculation, disease severity was the highest in sweet orange (5.0$\pm$0.0), and all tested leaves were distorted or had dropped. On the other hand, 'Yuzu' showed the lowest disease severity (2.6$\pm$0.47), followed by 'Kiyomi' (4.0$\pm$0.0), 'Shiranuhi' (4.0$\pm$0.82), and satsuma mandarin (4.3$\pm$0.47). Percent area of lesion per leaf 30 days after inoculation was the highest in sweet orange (8.31$\pm$1.78), followed by satsuma mandarin (1.51$\pm$1.25), 'Shiranuhi' (1.39$\pm$0.94), and 'Kiyomi' (1.1$\pm$0.9), while the lowest was in 'Yuzu' (0.26$\pm$0.17). Infield condition, percentage of diseased leaf in 'Shiranuhi' was very low, 5.2$\pm$2.9, compared with sweet orange, 71.0$\pm$ 11.5, while that of satsuma mandarin and 'Kiyomi' were 6.9$\pm$7.0 and 4.3$\pm$2.0, respectively. Percentages of diseased leaf was higher (17.4$\pm$7.1) than that of diseased fruit (3.2$\pm$2.5) in severely diseased trees of Shiranuhi cultivar, and the disease was not observed on twig in open field condition. Lesion sizes on leaves and fruits in open field condition were 4.1$\pm$2.2 mm2 and 5.1$\pm$5.6 mm2, respectively, while those in greenhouse condition were 8.7$\pm$5.7 mm2, 10.4$\pm$9.2 mm2 and 5.6$\pm$2.6 mm2 on leaves, fruits and twigs, respectively. The disease was observed in 5.6% out of total 107 farmers Shiranuhi fields under polyethylene film house, and average percentages of diseased tree in 31 fields of Shiranuhi cultivar and adjacent satsuma mandarin fields were 0.02% and 14.8%, respectively. Average percentage of diseased fruit was 1.6% in satsuma mandarin which was not observed in anyone of all the 31 Shiranuhi farmers fields. Therefore, it was concluded that 'Shiranuhi' cultivar is not potential against causal pathogen of citrus canker disease in Jeju Island because the cultivar has similar resistance as satsuma mandarin which occupies over 95% of total 25,000 ha in Jeju Island in polyethylene film houses protected from outside.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.126-131
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• 1998

Reduction of hexavalent chromium to its trivalent form by leachate microorganisms was studied in batch and bench-scale continuous stirred tank reactor. The inoculum was a culture of microorganisms in leachate and capable of providing up to 90% chromate reduction during 72 h batch assay with $20mg\;Cr(VI)\;L^{-1}$ in minimal media containing different levels of leachate (10 to 60%) and glucose (50 to 200 mM). Addition of glucose increased the efficiency of chromate reduction, but adverse effect was observed with increase of leachate probably due to the competitive inhibition between chromate and sulfate ions. The continuous culture experiment was conducted for 124 days using synthetic feed containing different levels of chromate (5 to $65mg\;L^{-1}$) at room temperature. With a hydraulic retention time of 36 h, chromate reduction efficiency was mostly 100% when Cr(VI) concentrations in the reactor were in the range of 5 to $50mg\;L^{-1}$ Specific rate of Cr(VI) removal was calculated as $3.492mg\;g^{-1}\;protein\;h^{-1}$ during the period of 101~124 days from the start-up which showed 81.2% of average reduction efficiency. The results indicate the potential application of using leachate microorganisms for detoxification of hexavalent chromium in various chromium-contaminated wastewater from landfill or tannery sites.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.630-638
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• 2019

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 310 times higher than that of carbon dioxide. In this study, an N₂O-reducing consortium was obtained by enrichment culture using advanced treatment sludge as the inoculum. The dominant bacteria in the consortium were Sulfurovum (17.95%), Geobacter (14.63%), Rectinema (11.45%), and Chlorobium (8.24%). The consortium displayed optimal N₂O reducing activity when acetate was supplied as the carbon source at a carbon/nitrogen ratio (mol·mol^-1) of 6.3. The N₂O reduction rate increased with increasing N₂O concentration at less than 3,000 ppm. Kinetic analysis revealed that the maximum N₂O reduction rate of the consortium was 163.9 ㎍-N·g-VSS^-1·h^-1. Genes present in the consortium included nosZ (reduction of nitrous oxide to N₂), narG (reduction of nitrate to nitrite), nirK (reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide), and norB (reduction of nitric oxide to nitrous oxide). These results indicate that the N₂O-reducing consortium is a promising bioresource that can be used in denitrification and N₂O mitigation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.804-811
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• 2013

The effects and significance of ${\gamma}$-amino butyric acid (GABA) producing bacteria (GPB) on in vitro rumen fermentation and reduction of biogenic amines (histamine, methylamine, ethylamine, and tyramine) using corn meal as a substrate were determined. Ruminal samples collected from ruminally fistulated Holstein cows served as inoculum and corn was used as substrate at 2% dry matter (DM). Different inclusion rates of GPB and GABA were evaluated. After incubation, addition of GPB had no significant effect on in vitro fermentation pH and total gas production, but significantly increased the ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N) concentration and reduced the total biogenic amines production (p<0.05). Furthermore, antioxidation activity was improved as indicated by the significantly higher concentration of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) among treated samples when compared to the control (p<0.05). Additionally, 0.2% GPB was established as the optimum inclusion level. Taken together, these results suggest the potential of utilizing GPB as feed additives to improve growth performance in ruminants by reducing biogenic amines and increasing anti-oxidation.