Environmental Impact of Microbial Pesticides
2012
Biological control constitutes an important component of integrated pest
management (IPM). However, the non-availability o f efficient biocontrol
agents is one of the major constraints in adopting IPM practices. Microbial
control, which makes use o f naturally occurring microbes to control insect
pests, pathogens, and weeds, is less harmful to nontarget organisms and
the environment than the chemical pesticides. Microbials are promising
alternatives to chemical pesticides and have opened up new vistas in insect
pest management to aid promotion o f safe, eco-friendly pest management.
The use o f microbial pesticides in pest management is quite limited because
o f lack of appropriate formulations and the availability of quality products
to the farmers. Since 2006, the registration o f the microbial pesticides for
commercial purposes has been made mandatory in India. It warrants
information on toxicological results against mammals and eco-toxicity data
on nontargets such as fishes, birds, earthworms, honeybees, and silkworm.
The data is to be generated with technical product and the formulation of
every strain intended for commercialization. It is also mandatory to generate
data on the safety of the formulation to natural enemies along with data on
the bioefficacy and phytotoxicity to the crop. Fourteen primary microbial
pesticide products and their formulations have been registered in India by
2009. There are 478 products o f the 14 microbial pesticides registered in
India. There are 184 products for the management of plant pathogens
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