
Biological control
Biological control of pathogens and insect pests in agriculture and horticulture is based on the use of natural enemies of the agents that cause disease and infestations.
Plants are constantly under attack from all kinds of pathogens such as bacteria, fungi and insect pests which damage crops. However, the agents that cause disease and infestations have natural enemies which exist naturally in any agricultural system. Yet, these populations are often too small or they develop too late.
There are different types of natural enemies: macro-organisms such as insects (predators and parasites) and nematodes and micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. These natural enemies form the basis of biological control: control by living organisms.
Crop protection solutions for growers
The use of biological controls is playing an ever greater role in the sustainable control of diseases and pests. Unfortunately there have not been enough biological control agents available up to now for a large number of diseases and pests in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. Our research has therefore focused on the selection of new biological control agents from which growers can develop biological control products for commercial use.
Successful development of biological control agents
There are a large number of criteria that biological control products have to meet before they can be put on the market as registered plant protection products. This is a labour-intensive and therefore expensive process. In the selection process we naturally look at whether an organism really does control the pest. We also study the ecology of the organism, for example whether it will grow under a range of conditions and whether it can withstand drought. If a suitable organism is found, it still has to be able to be produced on a commercial scale and registered as a control agent. We use the ‘Select Biocontrol approach’ for this. This approach allows us to work with the industry on the successful development of new biological control agents.
This way of working has already produced biological controls that are currently undergoing further testing by the industry.
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Examples of Publications:
- Twenty-four years of Dutch Trig® application to control Dutch elm disease - Jun 2016
- Biological control of Fusarium graminearum sensu stricto, causal agent of Fusarium head blight of wheat, using formulated antagonists under field conditions in Argentina - Mar 2016
- Towards an Integrated Use of Biological Control by Cladosporium cladosporioides H39 in Apple Scab (Venturia inaequalis) Management - Apr 2015
- Analysis of microbial taxonomical groups present in maize stalks suppressive to colonization by toxigenic Fusarium spp.: A strategy for the identification of potential antagonists - Apr 2015
- Biological control as a strategy to reduce the impact of mycotoxins in peanuts, grapes and cereals in Argentina - Nov 2014
- Efficacy of four phosphate-mobilizing bacteria applied with an animal bone charcoal formulation in controlling Pythium aphanidermatum and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis lycopersici in tomato - Nov 2013
- Have biopesticides come of age? - May 2012
- Stepwise screening of microorganisms for commercial use in biological control of plant-pathogenic fungi and bacteria - Apr 2011
- Biological control of Pythium aphanidermatum in cucumber with a combined application of Lysobacter enzymogenes strain 3.1T8 and chitosan - Mar 2009