To develope a microbial weed control agent, HCN-producing bacteria were isolated, and their characteristics were investigated. A selected strain of WA15 was identified as Pseudomonas koreensis by morphological, cultural, biochemical and 16S rRNA gene analyses. The conditions for HCN production was investigated by a One-Variable-at-a-Time (OVT) method. The optimal HCN production conditions were tryptone 1%, glycine 0.06%, NaCl 1% , and an initial pH and temperature of 5.0 and 30℃, respectively. The major component for HCN production was glycine. Under optimal conditions, HCN production was about 3 times higher than that of the basal medium. The WA15 strain had physiological activities, such as indoleacetic acid that was associated with the elongation of plant roots and siderophore and ammonification inhibiting fungal growth, and produced hydrolytic enzymes, such as cellulase, pectinase and lipase. The strain was able to inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi, such as Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium oxysporum, by the synergistic action of volatile HCN and diffusible antimicrobial compounds. A microscopic observation of R. solani that was teated with the WA15 strain showed morphological abnormalities of fungal mycelia, which could explain the role of the antimicrobial metabolites that were produced by the WA15 strain. The volatile HCN produced by the WA15 strain was also found to have insecticidal activity against termites. Our results indicate that Pseudomonas koreensis WA15 can be applied as a microbial agent for weed control and also as a termite repellent. Furthermore, it could be applied as a microbial termiticidal agent to replace synthetic insecticides.

Experiments were conducted to study the effect of IBA, mineral stone and stem hardness on rooting characteristics in mature Aloe vera plant. The rooting ability in matured Aloe vera was of highly significance when the amount of IBA treatment was increased to 5.000mg/l. The treatment of IBA 5.000mg/l, together with mineral stone(v/w 1.5 times), gave more root number, the length and the dry weight of root were, also, higher in semihard wood cutting than soft wood cutting in matured Aloe vera.