Muhammad Shahida, Muhammad Nomana, Muhammad Bilal Khan Niazib,
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is among the major cereal crops for its economic and nutritional value, constituting the basis of food for various peoplearound the globe. Amongst the serious biotic factors deteriorating the crop yield, the most destructive pathogen of rice is Xanthomonasoryzaepv. oryzae (Xoo), which causes bacterial leaf blight (BLB) disease.This study involved the targeted use of biogenic silver nanoparticles nanoparticles (AgNPs) to control BLB to cope with the disadvantages of chemical disease control. The AgNPs were biologically synthesized from natively isolated Bacillus strain SZT1, which was identified through 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis.The synthesis of AgNPs in bacterial culture supernatant was confirmed through UV-Vis spectrophotometry with absorption peak at 418.99 ??m, The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra of biogenic AgNPs confirmed that the existence of AgNPs is stabilized with proteins and alcoholic groups. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data revealed that the AgNPs have variable shapes and an average particle size of 22.96??m.The SZT1-AgNPs showedthe maximum antibacterial activity (24.21 ± 1.01 mm) for the pathogenic strain Xoo on culture medium. In pot experiment, SZT1-AgNPs were found to be an effective weapon against bacterial leaf blight and also significantly increased the plant biomass with decreased cellular concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increased concentration of cellular antioxidants enzyme activity. In conclusion, biogenic AgNPs synthesized extracellularly from Bacillus strain SZT1 were found effective antibacterial agents for pathogen of BLB disease.