In vitro assessment of Bacillus subtilis FJ3 affirms its biocontrol and plant growth promoting potential.

species and their metabolites have potential alternative uses as chemical pesticides that can limit the growth of potential plant pathogens and enhance crop productivity. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of FJ3 for promoting plant growth and controlling fungal plant pathogens. The study evaluated the ability of the strain to promote plant growth by characterizing its growth-promoting traits, which included the production of hydrolytic enzymes, indole acetic acid, siderophores, biofilm formation, and phosphate solubilization. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing revealed that strain FJ3 has the potential to produce lipopeptides such as fengycin, surfactin, mycosubtilin, and pilpastatin. Through antagonism testing it was demonstrated that strain FJ3 is able to inhibit by 52% compared to the untreated control and was antagonistic against , , and using a dual method. The minimum inhibitory concentration of crude extract resulted in a 92%, 90%, 81.5%, and 56% growth inhibition of , , , and , respectively. In FT-IR and GC-MS analysis of crude LPs extract, the transmission and mass spectrum confirmed the existence of aforesaid lipopeptides containing β-fatty acids with chain lengths ranging from C14 to C21 in which the majority were saturated fatty acids. Greenhouse experimentation revealed that strain FJ3 and its metabolites significantly diminished the disease incidence with an average reduction of 31.56%. In sterilized soil, FJ3 and its metabolites caused 24.01% and 10.46% growth promotion, respectively, in chickpea. The results demonstrated that strain FJ3 has broad-spectrum antifungal and plant growth-promoting applications and could be a promising candidate for development into a commercialized biobased product for use in sustainable agriculture practice.