Harnessing Fungal Bioagents Rich in Volatile Metabolites for Sustainable Crop Protection: A Critical Review

Pests and diseases have a significant impact on crop health and yields, posing a serious threat to global agriculture. Effective management strategies, such as integrated pest management (IPM), including crop rotation, use of synthetic pesticides, biological control, and resistant/tolerant crop varieties, are essential to mitigate these risks and ensure sustainable agricultural practices. Fungal bioagents play an important role in managing phytopathogens and insect pests by acting as biological agents. They promote healthy plant growth by enhancing the uptake of nutrients and combating systemic resistance in plants. Furthermore, fungal bioagents are environmentally friendly, reducing application of fungicides and insecticides and minimizing their negative impact on the crops and environment. Their use in IPM promotes sustainable agriculture and ensures high-quality crops while maintaining soil health and microbial biodiversity. These fungal bioagents are rich sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which play an important role in biological communication during interaction with insect pests and phytopathogens. In pest management, VOC production by beneficial fungi is accountable for their efficacy against pests and pathogens. Thus, this review discusses the important fungal bioagents producing VOCs, extraction methods of VOC, and the use of VOC-producing fungi in pest and disease management, knowledge gaps, and future research areas.