Weed biological control with fungi-based bioherbicides

Abstract

Biological control refers to the use of living beneficial organisms as well as the products of their metabolism in pest control. Weed plants are indispensable companions of cultivated plants, in which they cause substantial damage. Organic food production, human health care and environmental preservation impose a need for the production and application of bioherbicides, particularly in organic systems of plant production.  Plant pathogens have significant potential as biological agents in weed control. The aim of the present study was to indicate the most important properties of the weed biological control system, with particular emphasis on the use of fungi-based bioherbicides. According to the organism they suppress, biopesticides are classified into bioinsecticides, biofungicides, bioherbicides, etc. Weed control using plant pathogens can be performed in three ways, by classical, conservation and augmentative biological control. Bioherbicides were initially introduced to the market in 1980, and the majority of them were fungi-based bioherbicides. The most common fungi included in bioherbicides belong to the genera Alternaria, Colletotrichum, Cercospora, Fusarium, Phomopsis, Phytophthora, Phoma, Puccinia, etc. The studies, development and final commercialisation of fungi as biological control agents face many obstacles, ranging from basic biological facts to social and economic factors. There are also challenges in the production, formulation process, environmental friendliness, duration of herbicidal action, and expensive and time-consuming registration procedures. Considering the success in weed suppression with fungi-based bioherbicides, the global market is still dominated by chemical companies manufacturing synthetic herbicides, while there are no such products on the Serbian market yet.