Itisnecessarytounderstandthebacterialpopulationsassociatedwithricesoastoprovidemoreinformationandnaturalresourcesforeffectivemanagementofmajordiseasesinrice.Asurveyonscreeningandidentificationofgram-positivebacteriawasconductedduring1998-2004.Sevenhundredandfifty-sixricesampleswerecollectedfromZhejiang,Jiangsu,FujianandYunnanProvinces,China.Over1000bacterialisolateswereisolatedandtestedforcolonymorphology,pathogenicity,andsomecharacteristicsofbacteriologyincludingGramstaining,fluorescentpigmentonKingsmediumBandmicroscopicobservationforendospore.Togetherwithfivestandardreferencestrains,74representativegram-positivebacterialisolateswereconfirmedbyBiologandgaschromatographicanalysisoffattyacidmethylesters.FivebacterialspeciesofBacillusandotherthreegenerawereidentifiedandisolatesfromBacillussublitisandBacillusmegaterium,exhibitedthemosteffectiveinhibitionagainstthepathogensofsheathblightandbakanaediseaseofrice.AfewisolatesfromBacilluspumilusandBacillusmegateriumshowedweakvirulentonricetogetherwithsomevirulentisolates,dskshouldbeconsideredwhenisolatesfromthesespecieswerescreenedforbiocontrolagents.
