The current interest in risks associated with classical biological control led us to review the literature to determine whether the introduction of multiple biological control agents has been more effective than the introduction of a single control agent. We analyzed 59 projects against weeds and 108 projects against insect pests. Establishment of control agents was significantly higher in sing...

Pseudomonas sp. BRG100 inhibits the growth of certain agricultural pests and is a potentially useful biopesticide for weeds and plant diseases. We have sequenced the 6.25-Mbp genome of this strain and assembled it into 4 scaffolds. Genome sequence comparisons revealed that this strain may represent a novel species of Pseudomonas.

In natural ecosystems, disease is not the rule, but a rare outcome in the spectrum of plant–microbe interaction, since plants have developed, during their evolutionary history, various defence strategies to face pathogens. Therefore, in this evolutionary arms race, plants have (co)evolved a complex set of defence mechanisms to counteract pathogen challenging and, in most cases, prevent infectio...

Three exotic Solanum weeds, Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav., Solanum mauritianum Scop. and Solanum sisymbriifolium Lam. (Solanaceae), are targets for biological control in South Africa. Preintroduction surveys of the insect herbivores attacking these, as well as native and cultivated species of Solanum, have proved useful in several ways. Although there is a diverse, mainly oligophagous, herbivore ...

The pesticides belong to a category of chemicals used worldwide as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, molluscicides, nematicides, and plant growth regulators in order to control weeds, pests and diseases in crops as well as for health care of humans and animals. The positive aspect of application of pesticides renders enhanced crop/food productivity and drastic reduction of vec...

Pesticides are widely used in agriculture for the management of pests (weeds, insects or pathogens). They are generally applied as a spray to cover the target (e.g. an insect, leaf surfaces or part of a plant) with pesticide-laden droplets. Spray may, however, be lost to nontarget areas within a crop through deposition on to the soil or on non-target plant surfaces. The plant architecture of th...

Soil solarization is a special mulching process which causes hydrothermal disinfestation and other physical and biological changes in soil which are beneficial to plant health and growth. Plastic film laid over moist soil during periods of high air temperature, usually for l-2 months, can greatly reduce or eradicate a number of pathogens and pests including fungi, bacteria, nematodes, arthropod...

Introduction The term pest includes pathogens, weeds, nematodes, mollusks, arthropods, and vertebrates. One category of pests does not occur in the absence of pests in other categories, yet most IPM systems are designed around a single category of pest. For full implementation of IPM it is essential that all categories of pests be managed in an integrated manner. Allowances for the interactions...

If the ideal of assured "Food for All" is to be attained, it will be necessary to do a better job of preventing the debilitation or destruction of crop plants by noxious weeds, voracious animals, and devastating plant diseases. For these destructive agents continually tend to nullify the constructive efforts to increase food production. Food production per unit area of land has been increased g...

1 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru 502324, Telangana, India. 2 Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141004, India. 3 Department of Botany and Biotechnology, Degree College Sopore-193201, J&K, India. 4 Department of Entomology, SKUAST-K; Shalimar, Srinagar, J&K, India. *Corresponding author: abdul...