Fig. 5

Construction of synthetic microbial communities guided by the broken-stick model and their disease progression trend in a limited microbial environment. A Schematic representation of the broken-stick model and the inhibitory effect of seed endophytes on the expansion of pathogenic fungal mycelium 5 days post-inoculation. B In sterilized nursery soil, the Xinlu Early 63 cotton was treated with the synthetic microbial community, showing its progression against fungal wilt disease. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant difference between the cotton treated with microbial strains and the untreated control group (P < 0.001). Additionally, there was a significant difference in the number of microbial strain combinations between 1, 2 and 4, 8 (P < 0.001). C On the 50th day post-infection, the severity of the disease in the cotton plants is displayed. The treated cotton underwent three repeated measurements to calculate the disease index and severity. The data shown represents the average of three biological replicates along with their standard deviation. (ANOVA, ** indicates P < 0.001). D Biocontrol of cotton fungal wilt by different PGPR community combinations.Different lowercase letters within the same column indicate significant difference at the 0.05 level