CURRENT RESEARCH IN BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF PLANT DISEASES

Authors: Roberts, Daniel; Lohrke, Scott; CHUNG, SOOHEE - MEGA BIOTECH,S.KOREA

Submitted to: Korean Monthly Agriculture and Horticulture
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2002
Publication Date: 8/15/2002
Citation: ROBERTS, D.P., LOHRKE, S.M., CHUNG, S. CURRENT RESEARCH IN BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF PLANT DISEASES. Korean Monthly Agriculture and Horticulture. 2002.

Interpretive Summary: Soilborne plant pathogens cause diseases that result in major economic losses to growers and farmers worldwide. Biological control of plant diseases is an environmentally friendly and promising alternative to the use of chemicals for control of these important soilborne plant pathogens. This popular article (to be published in Korean) describes mechanisms by which biocontrol agents suppress soilborne plant pathogens including habitat exclusion, induction of plant defense responses, and antibiosis. The article also describes some of the problems with implementing successful biological control. This information will be useful to farmers and growers. The information in this article should further familiarize farmers and growers about how biological control works and its associated problems.

Technical Abstract: Concerns about the impact of agricultural chemicals and pesticides on human health and the environment have been a major driving force for the development of more environmentally benign plant disease management practices such as the use of biological controls. The idea is to use biological control microorganisms in place of, or in conjunction with, reduced quantities of chemical pesticides for the control of plant diseases. The incorporation of appropriate biological controls for the management of plant pathogens may lead to more sustainable long-term agricultural production practices, and in some cases, achieve better disease control than current disease control methods. The potential benefits of biological control to agriculture have generated tremendous research interest since the 1960's. The disease control ability of numerous potential microbial biological control strains under laboratory conditions has been studied and a diverse collection of biological control microorganisms are commercially available. Commercial products available in the United States include biological control bacteria from the genera Agrobacterium, Bacillus, Burkholderia, Pseudomonas, and Streptomyces; biological control fungi from the genera Ampelomyces, Candida, Coniothyrium, Gliocladium/Trichoderma; and various synthetic and biological compounds that activate plant defense responses. These commercial products target diverse foliar and soilborne plant pathogens on a wide variety of crops. Information regarding commercially available biological control products, and biological control products under EPA review, for use in the United States can be obtained from the following websites: www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/aspbcc, www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides, and www.attra.org/attra-pub.ipm.html. Despite the successful commercialization of many biological control microorganisms, the transition of biological control in the laboratory to successful biological control under commercial agricultural conditions has been slow. Only a small portion of microbial biological control agents studied in the laboratory are currently registered and commercially available. Due to their biological nature, biological controls can be inconsistent, their performance varying from location to location and from year to year. This inconsistent performance is a major impediment to commercialization of many potential biological control microorganisms.