Soil biofumigation with brassica plant residues has been shown to suppress soilborne plant pathogens.
However, few studies reported the impact of biofumigation, especially combining biofumigation with
antagonistic microbes, on disease incidence of Phytophthora blight of pepper and soil bacterial community
structure. Biofumigation (BF) and combining biofumigation with antagonistic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
strain BS211 (BF þ BS211) were tested to control the pepper disease caused by Phytophthora
capsici at 0, 15 and 20 days after biofumigation (DAB) under controlled conditions. BF þ BS211 treatment
showed the lowest disease incidence among these treatments. Real-time PCR and denaturating gradient
gel electrophoresis (DGGE) were used to investigate the microbial effects, and the results indicated that
the BF and BF þ BS211 treatments affected certain microbial populations and increased soil bacterial
diversity, which might play significant roles in the suppression of Phytophthora blight of pepper. There
was a negative correlation between soil bacterial diversity and disease incidence. Cloning of the bacterial
community showed that the bacterial community structures were altered by BF and BF þ BS211 treatments.
These findings suggested that disease control could be improved by this integrated approach