Plant Defence: Biological Control

With ever increasing human population, demand for food, feed and fodder is continuously increasing. Diseases by insect pests, pathogens and animal pests are responsible for heavy crop losses and reduced food supplies, poorer quality of agricultural products, economic hardship for growers and processor. For many diseases, traditional chemical control methods are not neither always economical nor are they effective and may have unwanted health, safety and environmental risks. Biological control involves use of beneficial microorganism, such as specialised fungi and bacteria to attack and control plant pathogens and diseases they cause. Biological control offers an environmental friendly approach to the management of plant diseases and can be incorporated in to cultural and physical controls and limited chemical uses for an effective integrated pest management system. There is a renewed interest in the use of efficient, economical and environment friendly botanicals and biological control agents for crop protection. This book provides a comprehensive account of interaction of host with its pathogens, induced resistance, development of biological control agents for practical applications in crops and trees, the underlying mechanism and signal transduction. The book has following sections: General biology of parasitismApplications of biological and natural agents for disease resistance Host parasite interactionMechanism of defence  The book is useful for undergraduates, post graduates and scientists studying crop protection, agricultural sciences, applied entomology, plant pathology, plant sciences, biotechnology, forestry, post harvest technology, crop management and environmental sciences as well as agrochemical and crop protection industries.  .