Screening and identification of biocontrol strains for major diseases of Zanthoxylum bungeanum in Shaanxi Province
To develop biocontrol microbial resources for major diseases of Chinese prickly ash in Shaanxi Prov-ince,this study isolated and cultured microorganisms from the rhizosphere soil of Zanthoxylum bungeanum in Feng County,Baoji City,Shaanxi Province and determined their antifungal activity against four target pathogens of Zan-thoxylum bungeanum,i.e.,Fusariumzanthoxyli,Phytophthora citrophthora,F.solani and Marssonina sp.The re-sults showed that a total of 297 microbial strains were isolated from the rhizosphere soil of prickly ash,including 105 fungi and 192 bacteria.After initial screening,20 bacterial strains with significant antagonistic effects on three or more target pathogens were obtained.Through morphological and 16S rDNA sequence analysis,seven were iden-tified as Bacillus velezensis,five as B.amyloliquefaciens,three as different species of Burkholderia genus,two as Flavobacterium anhuiense and three other species.After re-screening and verification,it was found that B.velezensis P87 had the strongest biocontrol potential,making it a viable alternative for biological control of Zanthoxylum bun-geanum diseases.