Classical and augmentative biological control against ... - IOBC-WPRS

Nicot et al.
Table 1: Scientific papers published between 1973 and 2008 on biological control against major
plant diseases (from CAB Abstracts ® database).
Disease or plant pathogen
Total number
of references
References on biological control
%
Soil-borne:
Fusarium 34 818 1 925 5.5
Rhizoctonia 10 744 1 278 11.9
Verticillium 7 585 592 7.8
Pythium 5 772 821 14.2
Sclerotinia 5 545 456 8.2
Air-borne:
rusts 29 505 360 1.2
powdery mildews 18 026 251 1.4
Alternaria 12 766 415 3.3
anthracnose 12 390 351 2.8
Botrytis 9 295 705 7.5
downy mildews 8 456 80 1.0
Phytophthora infestans 5 303 61 1.1
Monilia rot 1 861 81 4.3
Venturia 3 870 104 2.7
Inventory of potential biocontrol agents (microbials, botanicals, other natural
compounds)
The scientific literature described above was further examined to identify biocontrol compounds
and microbial species reported to have a successful effect. Due to the great abundance of
references, it was not possible to examine the complete body of literature. The study was thus
focused on several key diseases selected for their general importance on cultivated crops, and in
particular on those crops studied in the case studies of the European Network for Durable
Exploitation of crop protection strategies (ENDURE * ).
Methodology
Three steps were followed. The first step consisted in collecting the appropriate literature references
for the selected key diseases/plant pathogens to be targeted by the study. The references were
extracted from the CAB Abstracts ® database and downloaded to separate files using version X1 of
EndNote (one file for each target group). The files were then distributed among the contributors of
this task for detailed analysis.
In the second step, every reference was examined and we recorded for each:
- the types of biocontrol agents (Microbial, Botanical or Other compounds) under study and their
Latin name (for living organisms and plant extracts) or chemical name
- the Latin name of the specifically targeted pathogens,
- the crop species (unless tests were carried out exclusively in vitro),
- the outcome of efficacy tests.
Two types of efficacy tests were distinguished: Controlled environment tests (including tests on
plants and in vitro tests), and field trials. The outcome of a test was rated (+) if significant effect
was reported, (0) if no significant efficacy was shown and (-) if the biocontrol agent stimulated
disease development.
*
EU FR6 project 031499, funded in part by the European Commission
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