Instant Insights: Novel biocontrol agents

This book features five peer-reviewed reviews on the development and use of novel biocontrol agents. The first chapter provides an overview of the development of botanical pesticides and focusses on the potential of essential oils in replacing traditional synthetic products. A case study on the use of essential oils as a plant-based biocontrol agent in black truffle cultivation is also included.

The second chapter identifies some of the common issues faced by regulators in assessing risks of microbial and biochemical pesticides as well as dsRNA pesticides. It also discusses problems related to identification, exposure analysis and hazard testing

The third chapter reviews advances in the use of entomopathogenic viruses as biopesticides in suppressing crop insect pests, focussing on RNA viruses such as tetraviruses and reoviruses and DNA viruses such as Parvoviridae, Poxviridae, Nudiviridae and Baculoviridae.

The fourth chapter considers the various types of allelochemicals, their possible use as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) toolkit, constraints to their use, as well as how these challenges can be overcome.

The final chapter reviews the future evolution of IPM and identifies the ways modern agriculture has disrupted plant defences and the control of pests by their natural enemies.