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Potential Bioherbicides: Indian Perspectives

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Biotechnology: Prospects and Applications

Abstract

Weeds, one of the major kinds of pests, continue to cause major problems in agriculture throughout the world, reducing yield and quality of crops by competing for water, nutrients, and sunlight, essential for vigorous crop growth. Due to the recent trends in environmental awareness concerning the side effects of herbicides, public pressure is mounting to force industry to develop safer, more environmental friendly approaches for controlling weeds. Microbial-based pesticides, referred to as bioherbicides, for the management of weeds offer such an approach. In majority of the cases, the bioherbicides include fungal organisms as the active ingredients; therefore, the term mycoherbicide has often been used interchangeably with bioherbicide. Considerable progress has been made during the past four decades in the use of fungi as biocontrol agent of weeds. There has been a great number of naturally occurring fungal strains researched for possible use as mycoherbicides, but only a small proportion have been developed to commercial products. Currently, a total of 17 mycoherbicides (8 in the USA, 4 in Canada, 2 in South Africa, and 1 each in the Netherlands, Japan, and China) have been registered around the globe. The advancement of formulation techniques is of paramount importance to the continued development of mycoherbicides. It is also essential to continue intensive screening programs for the selection of fungal pathogens, especially hemibiotrophs, if mycoherbicides are to become a viable component of integrated weed management in the future. Recent trend is the application of several host-specific fungal pathogens in a bioherbicide mixture as a multicomponent bioherbicide system for simultaneous, broad-spectrum weed biocontrol. Many microbes, although they rarely have an effect under natural conditions, can be developed as effective bioherbicides. At Kurukshetra, during the last 30 years, searches for fungal BCAs have been made on 26 weeds (7 aquatic and 19 terrestrial), and a number of them have been evaluated for their biocontrol potential against the notorious weeds of this region. The mycoherbicides which have been commercialized and are in the process of commercialization have been discussed in detail in this chapter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vaidyanath Research, Training and Diagnostic Centre, Vaidyanath Research and Healthcare Complex, Urban Estate, Shopping centre, Sector-3, Kurukshetra, 136 118, Haryana, India

    K. R. Aneja

  2. Department of Microbiology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India

    V. Kumar, P. Jiloha, M. Kaur, P. Surain & R. Dhiman

  3. Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, India

    C. Sharma

  4. University Health Centre, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India

    A. Aneja

Authors
  1. K. R. Aneja
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  2. V. Kumar
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  3. P. Jiloha
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  4. M. Kaur
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  5. C. Sharma
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  6. P. Surain
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  7. R. Dhiman
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  8. A. Aneja
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to K. R. Aneja .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, Haryana, India

    R.K. Salar

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, Haryana, India

    S.K. Gahlawat

  3. Department of Biotechnology, Chaudhary Devi lal University, Sirsa, Haryana, India

    P. Siwach

  4. Department of Biotechnology, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, Haryana, India

    J.S. Duhan

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Aneja, K.R. et al. (2013). Potential Bioherbicides: Indian Perspectives. In: Salar, R., Gahlawat, S., Siwach, P., Duhan, J. (eds) Biotechnology: Prospects and Applications. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1683-4_15

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