Biological control for the management of plant diseases:

Why Biological control:

To curtail the emphasis on excessive use of pesticides which are known for 3Rs i.e.,
Replacement, Resurgence and Resistance and their deleterious effect on food chain and
ecosystem that consequently results in removal of important macro and micro flora and
fauna.
Further, the development of resistant varieties by plant breeders is not able to keep pace
with the development of new races of pathogens.
Finally, the objective is to achieve the goal of sustainable agriculture for sustainable human
health.
In this context, the enhanced emphasis on recourse to biological aspect of disease
management is of paramount importance and its use is fully justified.

Merits of Biocontrol Agents

(1) Biological control should be less costly and cheaper than any other methods.
(2) Biocontrol agents should give protection to the crop throughout the crop period.
(3) They do not cause toxicity to the plants.
(4) Application of biocontrol agents should be safer to the environment and to the person who
applies them.
(5) They multiply easily in the soil and leave no residual problem.
(6) Biocontrol agents should not only control the disease but also enhance the root and plant
growth by way of encouraging the beneficial soil micro flora. It increases the crop yield
also.
(7) Biocontrol agents should be very easy to handle and apply to the target.
(8) Biocontrol agent can be combined with bio-fertilizers.
(9) They should easy to manufacture.
(10) They must be harmless to human beings and animals (Environmentally safe.)

Biological control depends on knowledge of biological interactions at the ecosystem,

organism, cellular, and molecular levels and often is more complicated to manage compared
with physical and chemical methods. Biological control is also likely to be less spectacular
than most physical or chemical controls but is usually also more stable and longer lasting
(Baker and Cook, 1974).
What is biological control?
Biological control is the control of one organism by another organism (Beirner, 1967).
S. D. Garrett (1961) defined biological control as being mediated by one or more organisms
(excepting man himself) outside the host parasite development.
The concept of biological control has gained much attention during the past several years and
defined by Cook and Baker in 1983 as the reduction of the amount of the inoculum or disease
producing activities of a pathogen accomplished through one or more organisms other than
man within this definition cook and baker include manipulation of genetically controlled
resistance in the host and cultural practices as well as microorganisms antagonist of the
pathogen.
As per definition given by plant pathologists, Biological control is the reduction of inoculum
density or disease producing ability of a pathogen in its active or dormant state by one or
more organisms accomplished naturally or by the modification of the environment, host or
antagonist or by mass introduction of one or more antagonist(s).
The United States National Academy of Science defined biological control as in 1987 as the
use of natural or modified organisms, genes or gene products to reduce the effects of
undesirable organisms (pest) and to favour organisms such as crops, animals and beneficial
insects and microorganisms.
In the restrict sense, it includes the introduction of antagonistic microflora into the
environment, while in its widest sense, it includes:
Cultural practices: These practices are employed in biological control to encourage
development of such microorganisms in the environment (especially soil) which destroy or
supress the pathogen through antagonism.
The cultural practices include
 Crop rotation,
 Fallowing,
 Monoculturing,
 Mixed cropping,
 Decoy and Trap Cropping,
 Adjustment of date of sowing,
 Plant spacing-rate of sowing and density of stand,
 Organic amendment,
 use of antagonistic plants against nematodes,
 management of plant nutrition
Since biological control is based on antagonism, its meaning and mechanisms need to
understand properly. Antagonism is the relationship in which one organism exerting
damaging effect on another.
It is of two types:
General antagonism: i.e., the reduction in pathogen population (other organism) due to
general microbial activity. For example: addition of organic matter.
Specific antagonism: Reduction in the pathogen population due to activity of a specific
strain of the organism.
Mechanism of Antagonism: It includes the various mechanisms as given below:
1. Competition
2. Antibiosis
3. Exploitation
 Predation
 Parasitism
4. Myco-parasitism/ hyper parasitism
5. Exolysis
6. Soil fungistasis
7. Soil suppressiveness
Competition: It occurs when two (or more) organisms require the same thing and the use of
this one reduces the amount available for another. One organism because of its better
competitive saprophytic ability (CSA) utilizes most of the nutrients and grows well while the
other gets insufficient and dies. Competitive saprophytic ability is the summation of
physiological characteristics that make for success in competitive colonization of dead
organic substrates.
Competition among microorganism is known for oxygen, space, light and organic nutrients
(carbon and nitrogen sources) for their survival and proliferation in their natural habitats. This
has been reported in both rhizosphere as well as phylosphere.
A particular form of competition involving iron has been proposed as the mechanism of
biological control. There can be competition for ferric ions (Fe+++) between organisms by
the production of special iron chelating compounds called siderophores ( i.e. an low
molecular weight (500-100 Daltons) iron III transport agent which functions in supply of iron
for the cells in the iron limiting environment.
Different siderophores differ in their affinity for iron (other cations), those with the highest
affinity will sequester most of the iron and grows well.
If an antagonist produces better siderophores than the pathogen, the latter could be deprived
of iron and grows less well.
For Example: Suppression in the population of Gaumannomyces graminis var tritici (that
causes take all of wheat) due to production of the siderophore “Pseudobactin” by the
florescent Pseudomonas, which limit the supply of iron to the pathogen.
Competition has been suggested to a play a role in the biocontrol of species of Fusarium and
Pythium by some strains of fluorescent pseudomonas. Competition for substrates is the most
important factor for heterotrophic soil fungi.
Antibiosis: Antibiosis plays an important role in biological control. It denotes direct toxic
effect of the antagonist against the pathogen (other organism) by the production of antibiotic
substances (Jackson, 1965). Antibiosis takes place when the pathogen is inhibited or killed by
metabolic products (lytic agents, enzymes, volatile compounds or other toxic substances) of
the antagonists.
Trichodermin, Dermadin, viridin, glyotoxin are well known antibiotic substances produced
by Trichoderma species and found effective against Rhizoctonia, Sclerotium, Sclerotinia and
Fusarium species.
Exploitation
Predation: Destruction of host or prey by direct feeding on it without etiological
relationship. E.g., predaceous nematodes: Mononchus spp. Seinura spp. Dorylaimus spp.
Discolaimus spp.
Parasitism: Destruction of host with etiological relationship. Mycoparasites
Myco-parasitism/ hyper parasitism
Mycoparasitism is the phenomenon of one fungus being parasitic on another fungus. The
parasiting fungus is called hyperparasite and the parasitized fungus as hypoparasite. In
mycoparasitism, two mechanisms operate among involved species of fungi. Mycoparasitism
or hyper parasitism occurs when the antagonist invades the pathogens by secreting enzymes
such as chitinases, celluloses, glucanases and other lytic enzymes. This may be hyphal of
inter- fungus interaction i.e., fungus-fungus interaction, several events take place which lead
to predation viz., coiling, penetration, branching and sporulation, resting body production,
barrier formation and lyses.
List of Mycoparasites
 Trichoderma harzianum, T. viride parasitize mycelium of Rhizoctonia and Sclerotium
 Chaetomium spp. parasitize on Venturia inaequalis
 Peniophora gigantae on Fomes annosus ( root rot of conifers)
 Gliocladium virens on Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium spp.
 Laetisaria arvalis on Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium spp. that cause damping off of seedlings
Soil fungistasis: (i.e., prevention of fungal growth in soil) due to imposition of dormancy especially
for fungal spores caused by nutrition limitation as a result of intensive competition among
saprophytes when carbon is added ion the form of organic matter below the need of saprophytic
completion ( Lockwood, 1986).
Conversely, when carbon is added above the need of saprophytic competition, the fungistasis is
broken or nullified and resistant propagules get germinated.
Soil fungistasis can be well exploited for the biological control on the basis of germination stimulation
followed by lysis approach against those plant pathogens which don’t form resistant propagule
following germination.
For example: Thielaviopsis basicola the cause of black rot of cotton that does not form resistant
propagules thus can be managed by this technique.
The practical importance of soil fungistasis is the manipulation of carbon status to encourage the
saprophytes but not the pathogens.
Soil suppressiveness (Natural biocontrol); Suppressive soil is that soil in which the certain
disease is suppressed or declined because of presence of microorganisms in the soil
antagonistic to the pathogen.
Suppressiveness develops after a prolonged coexistence of a pathogen with a soil micro biota
as in monoculturing which leads to development of organisms, which may directly
antagonistic to the pathogen or indirectly shift the existing balance between the pathogen and
its antagonists, so that, the balance become unfavourable for the pathogen.
This indicates biological nature of soil suppressiveness because of pasteurization of the soil
(by heating at 600C for 30 min) eliminates the soil suppressiveness (Baker and Cook, 1974).
A suppressive soil is known to have higher microbial activities, higher level of exchangeable
Ca, ammonium and nitrate nitrogen, high pH (5.5-7.0), and higher organic content than that
of the conducive soil of the same area.
A suppressive soil can be converted into the suppressive one by monoculturing, e.g., repeated
planting of cucumber and radishes in the soil infested with Rhizoctonia solani, changed an
initially conducive soil into suppressive one. (Liu and Baker, 1980).
Other examples: Take all of wheat, Flax (linseed) wilt, carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)
wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. dianthi)