Abstract—The existence of lactobacillus on the surface of cabbage and radish allows these vegetables to be made into kimchi (Korea’s most famous vegetable side dish). But as soil temperatures rise, the lactobacillus cultured in radish and cabbage loses its vitality, precluding it not only from being engrafted alive onto leaves and stems of radish and cabbage, but also from helping the growth of soil bacteria. This suggests that temperature change of soil caused by climate change may damage the growth of lactobacillus on radish and cabbage. Moreover, for lactobacillus strains that dropped in vitality after being exposed to temperature change, changes in the bacteria's pH and acidity levels reveal that the degree of vitality in lactobacillus decreases considerably during cabbage and radish’s fermentation process to become kimchi. As a solution for this problem, based on studies indicating that propolis enhances the vitality of lactobacillus, this study injected lycopene (the anti-oxidative component of tomatoes) and fragments of lactobacillus into samples of growing cabbage and radish. The results reveal higher levels of vitality in lactobacillus strains that were exposed to changes in temperature.
 

Index Terms—kimchi, lactobacillus, lycopene, propolis

Cite: Alberta Yoo, "Change of Lactobacillus in Cabbage and Radish Caused by the Change of Soil: Quality Hindrance of Kimchi and the Solution to It," Journal of Advanced Agricultural Technologies, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-11, March 2017. Doi: 10.18178/joaat.4.1.1-11