Abstract:Background Ginger root rot, a destructive soil-borne disease, poses a serious threat to ginger production, causing significant reductions in yield and quality and substantial economic losses to growers.Objective We systematically isolated and identified the pathogens causing ginger root rot in major ginger-producing areas of Shijiazhuang, Hebei and screened effective antagonistic strains, aiming to providing excellent bacterial resources and technical support for the development of green biocontrol agents.Methods The pathogens and antagonistic strains from the rhizosphere of ginger were isolated by tissue isolation and dilution plate methods. Species identification was performed through morphological observation and molecular phylogenetic analysis (ITS/16S rRNA gene sequences). The inhibitory activity of the antagonistic strain against the pathogenic fungi was assessed via a dual culture assay. The fermentation conditions were systematically optimized through single-factor experiments, Plackett-Burman design, steepest ascent experiment, and Box-Behnken response surface methodology. With the viable cell count of the antagonistic strain Bacillus velezensis ND-J as the response value, a quadratic regression model of its fermentation conditions was established.Results Four strains of pathogenic fungi were identified. J-4 and J-5 were Neocosmospora rubicola, and J-6 and J-7 were Fusarium fujikuroi. Three antagonistic Bacillus strains were screened out, with B. velezensis ND-J showing the most effective inhibition of the above pathogens. A quadratic regression model describing the effects of liquid volume (A), carbon source (B), and nitrogen source (C) on viable cell count (Y) was established based on response surface analysis: Y=89.80+0.62A+3.50B+1.88C-0.75AB+1.75BC-7.65A2-15.90B2-7.65C2. The optimized fermentation conditions were 6.35 g/L sucrose, 21.41 g/L wheat bran+soybean meal (1:1), 5.0 g/L NaCl, 1.0 g/L KH2PO4, 0.4 g/L MnSO4, liquid volume of 80.71 mL/500 mL, temperature of 35 °C, initial pH 7.5, shaking at 200 r/min, and inoculum concentration of 2%. Under these conditions, the viable cell count reached 9.1×109 CFU/mL, with a high degree of agreement between the predicted and observed values (R2=0.986 4), a 110.0% increase compared to the pre-optimization value of 4.333×109 CFU/mL.Conclusion We identified the pathogenic fungi causing ginger root rot in the main ginger-producing areas of Shijiazhuang, Hebei and obtained a B. velezensis strain ND-J with efficient antagonistic activity. The optimized high-density fermentation process provides a reliable basis for subsequent industrial development and eco-friendly control of ginger diseases.