The nation's goal is to achieve food self-sufficiency in order to meet the needs of all Indonesian people. Plant diseases are an important factor affecting the productivity and quality of agricultural products. These diseases can increase in intensity and variability. Over the past decade, information has emerged about a new type of rice disease that causes leaf blight symptoms similar to those caused by the pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae. This new disease is caused by Pantoea sp. bacteria, which belongs to the Enterobacteriaceae group. This disease has been widely reported overseas for causing significant losses in rice production. In Selangor and Kedah, for example, the incidence of this disease can reach 80%. However, research reports on the presence of Pantoea bacterial leaf blight in Indonesia are still scarce. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct research on identifying and characterizing the causes of plant diseases in rice from the Pantoea group, as well as researching alternative controls using antagonistic bacteria for environmentally friendly disease control.This study aims to characterize pathogenic bacteria suspected of infecting rice and to examine the control of these bacteria using antagonistic bacteria. The research was conducted in Malang. The pathogenic bacteria samples came from Kalianyar Village in the Lawang subdistrict of the Malang district. The results of the molecular identification of the pathogen causing leaf blight in rice revealed that it is Pantoea ananatis. P. ananatis bacteria are characterized as pathogenic based on the results of the tobacco hypersensitivity test. They are Gram-negative and unable to hydrolyze starch. They are positive in the levan test and produce yellow colonies on YDCA media. They can grow at 36°C and are positive for indole. They can utilize citrate as a carbon source and melt gelatin at low temperatures.The antagonistic bacteria were obtained from the rhizosphere and endophytes. The rhizosphere bacteria were collected from the Pulang Pisau food estate in Central Kalimantan and were identified as UNS-P1, UNS-P3, UNS-R1, and UNS-R2. The endophytic bacteria were obtained from the isolate collection of the Plant Protection Installation of the Ketindan Agricultural Training Center (BBPP) of the Ministry of Agriculture, with the following isolate codes: Ketindan-Ec, Ketindan-Esp, and Ketindan-Epp. The results of characterizing the rhizosphere bacteria as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) showed that they produce the indole acetic acid (IAA) hormone at different levels. The UNS-P1 bacterial isolate has the ability to act as a biofertilizer and dissolve phosphate, as indicated by the formation of a clear zone on Pikovskaya media. The antagonistic ability research used the spray method, the dual culture method, and the detached leaf assay.The results showed that the UNS-R2 bacteria were antagonistic to the pathogen P. ananatis using the spray method and the detached leaf assay. Research on rice germination showed that UNS-R2 bacteria can increase plant height. Molecular identification results showed that the UNS-P1, UNS-P3, and UNS-R1 bacteria were similar to Bacillus cereus, and the UNS-R2 bacteria were similar to Bacillus subtilis. The molecular identification results showed that the Ketindan-Ec bacterial isolates were 96% similar to Enterobacter cloacae and Ketindan-EPP bacterial isolates were 98,67% similar to Enterobacter cloacae and that the Ketindan-Esp bacterial isolates were 99% similar to Enterobacter sp. The Ketindan-Ec bacterial isolates were antagonistic to P. ananatis in the spray method. Based on antagonistic ability testing results, B. subtilis isolate UNS-R2 and E. cloacae isolate Ketindan-Ec were selected for field testing to evaluate their impact on the severity of rice leaf blight caused by P. ananatis. The rice varieties used were Ciherang, Inpari 32 HDB, Inpari 50 Marem, and Inpari 42 Agritan. Field experiments were arranged using a three-factor randomized block design consisting of variety (V), antagonistic bacteria application (B), and pathogen application (P), with 32 treatment combinations and four replications. The results showed that applying B. subtilis isolate UNS-R2 to plants before inoculating them with the pathogen can increase the height growth of Ciherang rice varieties at seven days after planting (DAP), while applying Enterobacter cloacae isolate Ketindan-Ec to Ciherang varieties increases their height at 28 DAP. The application of the B. subtilis UNS-R2 isolate to plants after pathogen inoculation increased the growth of the Inpari 42 Agritan rice varieties. Based on the number of plants, B. subtilis increased the growth of Inpari 50 varieties at 7 days after inoculation (DAI) and E. cloacae Ketindan isolate in Ciherang varieties at 21 DAI. The disease intensity research results showed that Ciherang and the E. cloacae Ketindan-Ec isolate had the lowest disease intensity at 7 DAI. Inpari 32 HDB and the B. Subtilis UNS-R2 isolate had different treatments that affected plant tillering. The addition of B. subtilis UNS-R2 bacteria at 14 and 21 DAI affected plant tillering.