ABSTRACT
Healthy plants grown in normal environments, such as the field or a greenhouse, are virtually never free of microbes. An extension of the concept of microbial biological control is the potential for managing communities of microorganisms to sustain plant health. Most biological control research has started with either a chance observation of, or a deliberate attempt to find, specific microorganisms that suppress a disease or exhibit antibiosis toward a pathogen. Antibiosis is a mechanism of biological control that can be readily manipulated and exploited in order to enhance disease suppression by biological control agents. The fundamental principle—taking advantage of genetic diversity of microorganisms to meet the challenges of diverse environments—may have broad applications in processes that are driven by microorganisms, such as biological control of plant diseases, biological control of pests other than pathogens, or plant growth promotion. The chapter attempts to review all of the literature on biological control of plant disease by bacteria.
