Description

Today, there are strict regulations on chemical pesticides use and there is political pressure to remove the most hazardous chemicals from markets. The wide spread use of chemicals in agriculture has been a subject of public concern and scrutiny due to the potential harmful effects on the environment, their undesirable effects on non-target organisms and possible carcinogenicity of some chemicals. Fungicidal resistance problems, concerns regarding pesticide residues and revocation of registration of certain widely used fungicides have led to increased activity of biological control against plant pathogens. Therefore, public concern is focused on alternative methods of plant disease management, which can play a role in integrated disease management system to reduce our dependence on chemical pesticides.Biological control of plant pathogens is a distinct possibility for the future and can be successfully exploited in the modern agriculture, especially within the frame work of integrated disease management (IDM) system which is needed to hold disease below economic threshold without damaging the agro ecosystem.