Piper nigrum, also known as the black pepper, is one of the important spice crops that is highly demanded by
the world market population. It is widely used in cuisines, aromatherapy and medical. However, the infection
by the Phytophthora capsici has caused the severe crop loss to the farmers and decrease in the economic values
of black pepper. In order to control the growth of these pathogenic fungi, chemical fungicides such as Bordeaux
mixture and copper oxychloride are widely used. However, these chemicals can cause pollutions to the
environment and eliminate the non-targeted species such as the growth promoting bacteria in the soil. Therefore,
the aim of this research is to isolate the endophytic bacteria that live within the roots of plants which can
produce the antimicrobial compound against the growth of Phytophthora capsici. In this research project, root
samples were collected from the Piper nigrum farm and the bacteria isolates were screened for their
antagonistic effect via dual culture assay, mycelial growth test, spore germination test and double plate assay.
Then, three bacteria showing antagonism towards Phytophthora capsici were characterized by using
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and 16S rRNA sequencing. These bacteria isolates were identified as
Enterobacter cancerogenus, Enterobacter cloacae P 101 and Enterobacter asburiae LF7 a by using Basic Local
Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) via National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)