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Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. [1] It relies on predation , parasitism , herbivory , or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role.
Biological pest control is a rapidly expanding field of agriculture, where natural agents, primarily parasitoids and predators are used to control a pest organism that has been causing economic harm to human interests.
[21] [5] In classical biological control, there are two demonstrated examples of potential use of entomopathogenic fungi against exotic insect species affecting agriculture. The oldest example is the use of Entomophthora maimaiga against the Spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) in the United States during early 1900s. The spongy moth was introduced ...
Biopesticides usually have no known function in photosynthesis, growth or other basic aspects of plant physiology. Many chemical compounds produced by plants protect them from pests; they are called antifeedants. These materials are biodegradable and renewable, which can be economical for practical use.
Ladybirds (also known as lady bugs in North America) are a beneficial insect commonly sold for biological control of aphids.. Beneficial insects (sometimes called beneficial bugs) are any of a number of species of insects that perform valued services like pollination and pest control.
N. cucumeris has been used under glass in biocontrol of thrips, whitefly, psyllids, aphids and mites. It is widely available commercially and can be distributed round the crop in sachets suspended from the host plants. These contain the mite mixed with bran, accompanied by bran mites, as a temporary food source. [1]
In 1995, potato plants producing CRY 3A Bt toxin were approved safe by the Environmental Protection Agency, making it the first human-modified pesticide-producing crop to be approved in the US, [57] [58] though many plants produce pesticides naturally, including tobacco, coffee plants, cocoa, cotton and black walnut. This was the 'New Leaf ...
Rhizobacteria are also able to control plant diseases that are caused by other bacteria and fungi. Disease is suppressed through induced systemic resistance and through the production of antifungal metabolites. Pseudomonas biocontrol strains have been genetically modified to improve plant growth and improve the disease resistance of ...