Use of endophytes as biocontrol agents

By N. I. Silva, S. Brooks, Saisamorn Lumyong, K. D. Hyde. Fungal Biology Reviews, 2019

260 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Plant diseases, caused by various microorganisms, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes, affect agricultural practices and result in significant crop losses. Fungal pathogens are the major cause of plant diseases and infect most plants. Agrochemicals play a significant role in plant disease management to ensure a sustainable and productive agricultural system. However, the intensive use of chemicals has adverse effects on humans and ecosystem functioning and also reduces agricultural sustainability. A sustainable agriculture is achieved through reduction or elimination of fertilizers and agrochemicals, resulting in minimal impact to the environment. Recently, the use of antagonistic endophytes as biocontrol agents is drawing special attention as an attractive option for management of some plant diseases, resulting in minimal impact to the environment. Endophytes that resides asymptomatically within a plant, have the potential to provide a source of candidate strains for potential biocontrol applications. This review addresses biocontrol methods using endophytic fungi such as Colletotrichum, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Pestalotiopsis and Trichoderma species as an attractive option for management of some plant diseases. Potential endophytes are screened in vitro and in vivo to test their antagonistic actions by different mechanisms, including mycoparasitism, production of lytic enzymes and/or antibiotics and induction of plant defenses. Currently, efforts are being made to commercialize these biocontrol agents. A continued research pipeline consisting of screening, in vitro and in vivo testing, biomass production and commercialization of endophytes as biocontrol agents may contribute to sustainable agriculture.

Subfields: Cell Biology, Plant Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9291336ec9dc263475ffc52ee3fbfe61b010dcfb

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In Plant Science

1. Divjot Kour
2. Kusam Lata Rana
3. Ajar Nath Yadav
4. T. Kaur
5. Rubee Devi
6. A. Yadav

Citations in the corpus

• Beneficial fungal communities from different habitats and their roles in plant growth promotion and soil health (2020, background): “Fungi belonging to genera Aspergillus, Fusarium, Gliocladium, Petriella and Trichoderma are known to be important biocontrol agents (De Silva et al. 2019).”