A major challenge of agriculture is to increase food production to meet the needs of the growing world population, without damaging the environment. In current agricultural practices, the control of pests is often accomplished by means of the excessive use of agrochemicals, which can result in environmental pollution and the development of resistant pests. In this context, biopesticides can off...

The importance of biomass as a source of chemicals, biofuels, and energy is widely accepted. Currently, the attention is mainly focused on the valorisation of by-products from lignocellulosic materials. Chemical compounds derived from plants and microorganisms that provide good protection for crops against weeds, pests, and diseases (biopesticide active substances) have been used to formulate p...

We report here the genome sequences of two alphabaculoviruses of Helicoverpa spp. from Australia: AC53, used in the biopesticides ViVUS and ViVUS Max, and H25EA1, used in in vitro production studies.

Insect pathology has a long history dating back to the earliest studies in microbiology. A select few of the many known insect pathogens can be produced and used on an industrial scale as biopesticides and are championed for their low environmental impact. The commercial application of microbial insecticides has been limited competition with chemical insecticides. However, the advent of gene te...

An excessive use of toxic plant protection chemicals has irreversibly damaged the soil biology agroecosystems, resulting in a substantial decline productivity. Biocontrol agents, especially microbial biopesticides, are seen as one key solutions to overcome toxicity and pest resistance issues. Biopesticides defined mass-produced agents manufactured from living microorganisms or natural products ...

Background The entomopathogenic fungi are important microbial agents for their efficient performance as microbial biopesticides in pest control. The development of commercial products formulated with entomopathogenic fungi is in a promising market for biopesticides. However, the fungi can lose their viability when exposed to unfavorable conditions of temperature, humidity and ultraviolet radiat...