Microbial Pesticides for Insect Pest Management: Success and Risk Analysis
Mandla Rajashekhar, Banda Rajashekar, Eetela Sathyanarayana, M. C. Keerthi, Padala Vinod Kumar, K. RamaKrishna, Kalisetti Vanisree, Guptha Neelima, G. Madhuri, Ongole Shaila
International Journal of Environment and Climate Change · pp. 18–32 · Published 3 Jun 2021
10.9734/ijecc/2021/v11i430388Abstract
Biotic stress is a major cause for pre and postharvest losses in agriculture. Food crops of the world are damaged by more than of 10,000 species of insects 30,000 species of weeds, 1,00, 000 types of diseases (due to fungi, viruses, bacteria and various microbes) and a 1,000 species of nematodes. Modern day management practices for the above specified stress factors largely depends on the utilization of synthetic pesticides. Pesticide misuse in numerous sectors of agriculture frequently has often linked to health issues and environmental pollution around the world. Thus, there is a growing interest in replacing or possibly supplementing the prevailing control strategies with new and safer techniques. One of the promising management tools in this new state of affairs for crop protection is microbial pesticides. At present, only 3% of plant protectants used globally are covered by bio pesticides, but their growth rate indicates an increasing trend in the past two decades. The discovery of insecticidal property of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) indicated a more extensive part of organism based natural control. Microbial pesticides comprise of a microorganisms (bacterium, fungus, virus or protozoan) or toxins produced by them as the active ingredient. The most commonly used microbial pesticides are entomopathogenic fungi (Metarhizium, Beauveria and Verticillium), entomopathogenic bacteria (Bt), entomopathogenic nematode (Steinernema and Heterorhabditis) and baculoviruses (NPV and GV) which able to cause disease in insects. Microbial insecticides are promising alternative to ecologically disruptive pest control measures as they are no longer harmful to the environment and non target organisms. If deployed appropriately, microbial insecticides have capability to bring sustainability to global agriculture for food and food safety.
References (8)
- 1 Biological control and sustainable food production [DOI]
- 2 Diversity of Bacillus thuringiensis Crystal Toxins and Mechanism of Action [DOI]
- 3 Neem—An Omnipotent Plant: A Retrospection [DOI]
- 4 Pesticides, Environmental Pollution, and Health [DOI]
- 5 Integrated pest management: concepts and approaches
- 6 Agricultural Development and the Rural Economy: The Case of Bangladesh [DOI]
- 7 Crop Loss Assessment in India- Past Experiences and Future Strategies [DOI]
- 8 Native Bt strains efficacy against cotton aphid Aphis gossypii Glover
Cited by 15
P. N. Bhattacharyya, Rimon Saikia, B. C. Nath · International Journal of Tropical Insect Science · 2026
S. Meel, Prof. (Dr.) Baljeet Singh Saharan · Discover Plants · 2026
T. K. Radha, P. N. Ganga Vishalakshy, P. V. Rami Reddy · Applied Fruit Science · 2025
L. P. Ody, Maicon S. N. dos Santos, A. M. Lopes · Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology · 2025
Rida Chaudhary, A. Nawaz, Zermina Khattak · Journal of Agriculture and Food Research · 2024
S. Shchetina, I. Mostoviak, V. Fedorenko · Karantin i zahist roslin · 2024
L. Manjunatha, H. Rajashekara, L. Uppala · Plants · 2022
Showing 7 of 15 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.
Related research
- Updates on Obstructive Sleep Apnea as a Risk Factor for Developing Diabetes: A Systematic Review — shares topic coverage
- Association between Risk Factors and Occupational Hazards among Health Workers in Port Harcourt, Nigeria — shares topic coverage
- Blood Stream Infections in Children with Malignancies: A Single Center Experience Risk Factors, Microbiological Isolates and Sensitivity Pattern — shares topic coverage
- HPV Infections among Women in the Community — shares topic coverage
- Risk Assessment of Staphylococcus aureus Food Poisoning Associated with Pork Barbecues in Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire — shares topic coverage
Article metrics
Real usage data collected on this platform.
38
Page views
0
PDF downloads
2
Outbound clicks
15
Citations
Views over time
Views by country
Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".
Traffic sources
Referring site, by host.
Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.