A large number of factors associated with the agent and habitat can be manipulated when making a biocontrol release. Yet, it is only recently that an experimental approach has been taken, particularly with the release of arthropod weed biocontrol agents, for example examining factors such as release size to test ideas originating from theoretical or retrospective studies. For release size, both...

Six species of insects and a rust fungus have been successfully established for biocontrol of the weed Parthenium hysterophorus L. in Queensland, Australia. Effectiveness of biocontrol insects was evaluated at two properties in Queensland during 1996-97 based on an exclusion experiment using insecticides. Parthenium-infested plots with and without biocontrol insects were sampled at monthly inte...

fusarium solani wasisolated from diseased roots of common bean (phaseolus vulgaris) grown in fields which were severely infected with fusarium root rot of bean in markazi province of iran. specific pcr primer pairs were used for the identification and verification of f. solani (mart.) f.sp. phaseoli (burkholder) w.c. snyder and n.h. hans. spore suspensions of f. solani f.sp. phaseoli were subje...

The sugarcane root endophyte Trichoderma virens 223 holds enormous potential as a sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides in the control of sugarcane diseases. Its efficacy as a biocontrol agent is thought to be associated with its production of chitinase enzymes, including N-acetyl-ß-D-glucosaminidases, chitobiosidases and endochitinases. We used targeted gene deletion and RNA-dependent...

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria produce chemical compounds with different benefits for the plant. Among them, HCN is recognized as a biocontrol agent, based on its ascribed toxicity against plant pathogens. Based on several past studies questioning the validity of this hypothesis, we have re-addressed the issue by designing a new set of in vitro experiments, to test if HCN-producing rhizob...

We examined the efficacy of a bacterium for biocontrol of the root-knot nematode (RKN) Meloidogyne hapla in carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Among 542 bacterial isolates from various soils and plants, the highest nematode mortality was observed for treatments with isolate C1-7, which was identified as Bacillus cereus based on cultural and morphological ch...

The application of the biocontrol agent Pantoea agglomerans EPS125 to unwounded fruits was practically ineffective for control of postharvest blue mould caused by Penicillium expansum when the treatment and subsequent wounding and pathogen inoculation were separated by periods of unfavourable conditions. This was due to a rapid decrease in viability of the alocthonous introduced biocontrol agen...

The strains of the yeast Metschnikowia pulcherrima have strong biocontrol activity against various microorganisms. Biocontrol activity of M. pulcherrima largely depends on its iron immobilizing pigment pulcherrimin. Biocontrol activity of pulcherrimin producing strain, M. pulcherrima UMY15, isolated from local vineyards, was tested on different molds that cause food spoilage. M. pulcherrima UMY...