Biocontrol of foliar pathogens: mechanisms and application

Biocontrol offers attractive alternatives or supplements to the use of conventional methods for plant disease management. Vast experience has been gained in the biocontrol of plant diseases. Prevention of infection by biocontrol agents or suppression of disease is based on various modes of action. Pathogens are typically affected by certain modes of actions and not by others according to their nature (i.e. biotrophs vs. necrotrophs). Resistance in the host plant may be induced locally or systemically by either live or dead cells of the biocontrol agent and may affect pathogens of various groups. As some pathogens are negatively affected by lake of nutrients in the infection court, competition for nutrients and space was long recognized as antagonism trait. Antibiosis and hyperparasitism affect pathogens of various groups. Other valid mechanisms are reduction of the saprophytic ability and reducing spore dissemination. Recently it was revealed that restraining of pathogenicity factors of the pathogens, i.e. host hydrolyzing proteins or reactive oxygen species takes place when biocontrol is used. It is likely that several modes of action concomitantly participate in pathogens suppression but the relative importance of each one of them is not clear. Examples of effective prevention of infection in the phyllosphere that rely on multiple modes of action will be demonstrated with Trichodermo harzianum T39 (TRICHODEX), Bacillus mycoides and Pichia guilermondii, a filamentous fungus, bacterium and yeast biocontrol agents, respectively. Several commercial products based on microorganisms have been developed and are starting to penetrate the market. However, large-scale use is still limited because of variability and inconsistency of biocontrol activity. In some cases this may be caused by sensitivity of the biocontrol agents to environmental influences. Ways to overcome biocontrol limitations and to improve its efficacy are i. integration of biocontrol with chemical fungicides on a calendar basis or according to ecological requirements of the biocontrol agents relying on the advise of a decision support system; ii. introduction of two or more biocontrol agents in a mixture, assuming that each one of them has different ecological requirements and/or different modes of action. Implementation of one (or more) of these approaches, using biocontrol preparations mentioned above lowered the variability and increased the consistency of disease suppression. The expected long-term result of the implementation of these suggested strategies is reduced risk of uncontrolled epidemics and increase of confidence of growers in using this non-chemical control measure on a large scale.