| Summary: | As a condiment with extensive nutritional value, chili is easy to be contaminated by <i>Aspergillus flavus</i> (<i>A. flavus</i>) during field, transportation, and storage. This study aimed to solve the contamination of dried red chili caused by <i>A. flavus</i> by inhibiting the growth of <i>A. flavus</i> and detoxifying aflatoxin B<sub>1</sub> (AFB<sub>1</sub>). In this study, <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> E11 (<i>B. subtilis</i>) screened from 63 candidate antagonistic bacteria exhibited the strongest antifungal ability, which could not only inhibit 64.27% of <i>A. flavus</i> but could also remove 81.34% of AFB<sub>1</sub> at 24 h. Notably, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that <i>B. subtilis</i> E11 cells could resist a higher concentration of AFB<sub>1</sub>, and the fermentation supernatant of <i>B. subtilis</i> E11 could deform the mycelia of <i>A. flavus</i>. After 10 days of coculture with <i>B. subtilis</i> E11 on dried red chili inoculated with <i>A. flavus</i>, the mycelia of <i>A. flavus</i> were almost completely inhibited, and the yield of AFB<sub>1</sub> was significantly reduced. Our study first concentrated on the use of <i>B. subtilis</i> as a biocontrol agent for dried red chili, which could not only enrich the resources of microbial strains for controlling <i>A. flavus</i> but also could provide theoretical guidance to prolong the shelf life of dried red chili.
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