Fig 1.
Scanning electron micrographs of B. methylotrophicus strain NKG-1.
(A) Gram-positive staining of NKG-1; scale bar 10.0 μm; (B) Gram-positive staining of NKG-1, scale bar 2.0 μm.
Fig 2.
Phylogenetic tree based on 16S rDNA gene sequences from related species of the genus Bacillus constructed using the neighbor-joining method with 1,000 bootstrap replicates.
Branch length is indicated at each node.
Table 1.
Morphological, biochemical, and physiological characterization of NKG-1.
Table 2.
Inhibition diameter of NKG-1 against 13 pathogens in vitro.
Fig 3.
Test of Botrytis cinerea pathogenicity on detached tomato leaves over 5 days.
(A) tomato leaves were inoculated with Botrytis cinerea and incubated at 25°C as a control; (B) tomato leaves were inoculated with Botrytis cinerea after being sprayed with B. methylotrophicus NKG-1 fermentation broth (1.0×107 CFU/mL, from 25°C culture).
Fig 4.
Effect of B. methylotrophicus NKG-1 fermentation broth on the development of roots and whole tomato seedlings in a greenhouse with five irrigation events during 2 months.
(A) effect on root development. (B) effect on whole plant development.
Fig 5.
Promotion of tomato plant growth in the field by B. methylotrophicus strain NKG-1.
(A) and (D) tomato seeding plants without any treatment over 3 months (control); (B) and (E) tomato seeding plants after root irrigation and spraying with 100× diluted broth over 3 months; and (C) and (F) tomato seeding plants after root irrigation and spraying with 200× diluted broth over 3 months.
Table 3.
Effect of NKG-1 root irrigation on tomato plant growth in greenhouse and field conditions.