Biopesticides and Biocontrol for Green Agriculture

Due to chemical dominance biocontrol in crop protection was neglected. Soon after, the consequences of indiscriminate use of pesticides was realized resulting in imposition of ban on many of them. This opened new vistas for rapid developments of biocontrol as a discipline. Detailed investigations on the biology and ecology of pest and natural enemies have provided insights which have enabled the control techniques to be used more effectively. Understanding the epidemiology, life cycles and in vitro culture techniques of antagonistic organisms have been successfully exploited to develop biocontrol agents as biopesticides. Biopesticides have several advantages over chemical pesticides. In developing countries, where there is a shortage of foreign exchange, an attractive possibility is the manufacture of biopesticides using cheap locally available agricultural wastes as a substrate for culturing the biological control agents by cottage industries or the farmers cooperatives.