Agro-Nanotechnology as an Emerging Field: A Novel Sustainable Approach for Improving Plant Growth by Reducing Biotic Stress

In the present era, the global need for food is increasing rapidly; nanomaterials are a useful tool for improving crop production and yield. The application of nanomaterials can improve plant growth parameters. Biotic stress is induced by many microbes in crops and causes disease and high yield loss. Every year, approximately 20–40% of crop yield is lost due to plant diseases caused by various pests and pathogens. Current plant disease or biotic stress management mainly relies on toxic fungicides and pesticides that are potentially harmful to the environment. Nanotechnology emerged as an alternative for the sustainable and eco-friendly management of biotic stress induced by pests and pathogens on crops. In this review article, we assess the role and impact of different nanoparticles in plant disease management, and this review explores the direction in which nanoparticles can be utilized for improving plant growth and crop yield.

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Microbial antagonists against plant pathogens in Iran: A review

Open Agriculture ◽

10.1515/opag-2020-0031 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 404-440 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mehrdad Alizadeh ◽

Yalda Vasebi ◽

Naser Safaie

Keyword(s):

Biological Control ◽

Chemical Control ◽

Plant Disease ◽

Plant Pathogens ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Agricultural Products ◽

Control Measures ◽

Wide Range ◽

Plant Disease Management ◽

Published Research

AbstractThe purpose of this article was to give a comprehensive review of the published research works on biological control of different fungal, bacterial, and nematode plant diseases in Iran from 1992 to 2018. Plant pathogens cause economical loss in many agricultural products in Iran. In an attempt to prevent these serious losses, chemical control measures have usually been applied to reduce diseases in farms, gardens, and greenhouses. In recent decades, using the biological control against plant diseases has been considered as a beneficial and alternative method to chemical control due to its potential in integrated plant disease management as well as the increasing yield in an eco-friendly manner. Based on the reported studies, various species of Trichoderma, Pseudomonas, and Bacillus were the most common biocontrol agents with the ability to control the wide range of plant pathogens in Iran from lab to the greenhouse and field conditions.

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The Pitfalls of Relating Weeds, Herbicide Use, and Crop Yield: Don't Fall Into the Trap! A Critical Review

Frontiers in Agronomy ◽

10.3389/fagro.2020.615470 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Nathalie Colbach ◽

Sandrine Petit ◽

Bruno Chauvel ◽

Violaine Deytieux ◽

Martin Lechenet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Crop Yield ◽

Weed Management ◽

Crop Production ◽

Yield Loss ◽

Crop Yields ◽

Cropping Systems ◽

Crop Productivity ◽

Arable Farming ◽

Herbicide Use ◽

The Impact

The growing recognition of the environmental and health issues associated to pesticide use requires to investigate how to manage weeds with less or no herbicides in arable farming while maintaining crop productivity. The questions of weed harmfulness, herbicide efficacy, the effects of herbicide use on crop yields, and the effect of reducing herbicides on crop production have been addressed over the years but results and interpretations often appear contradictory. In this paper, we critically analyze studies that have focused on the herbicide use, weeds and crop yield nexus. We identified many inconsistencies in the published results and demonstrate that these often stem from differences in the methodologies used and in the choice of the conceptual model that links the three items. Our main findings are: (1) although our review confirms that herbicide reduction increases weed infestation if not compensated by other cultural techniques, there are many shortcomings in the different methods used to assess the impact of weeds on crop production; (2) Reducing herbicide use rarely results in increased crop yield loss due to weeds if farmers compensate low herbicide use by other efficient cultural practices; (3) There is a need for comprehensive studies describing the effect of cropping systems on crop production that explicitly include weeds and disentangle the impact of herbicides from the effect of other practices on weeds and on crop production. We propose a framework that presents all the links and feed-backs that must be considered when analyzing the herbicide-weed-crop yield nexus. We then provide a number of methodological recommendations for future studies. We conclude that, since weeds are causing yield loss, reduced herbicide use and maintained crop productivity necessarily requires a redesign of cropping systems. These new systems should include both agronomic and biodiversity-based levers acting in concert to deliver sustainable weed management.

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Biochar and Trichoderma spp. in management of plant diseases caused by soilborne fungal pathogens: a review and perspective

Research Society and Development ◽

10.33448/rsd-v10i15.22465 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (15) ◽

pp. e296101522465

Author(s):

Erika Valente de Medeiros ◽

Lucas Figueira da Silva ◽

Jenifer Sthephanie Araújo da Silva ◽

Diogo Paes da Costa ◽

Carlos Alberto Fragoso de Souza ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Properties ◽

Fungal Pathogens ◽

Plant Disease ◽

Plant Pathogens ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Management Tool ◽

Production Plant ◽

Trichoderma Spp ◽

Health Concept ◽

Plant Disease Management

A better understanding of the use of biochar with Trichoderma spp. (TRI), considered the most studied tool for biological control, would increase our ability to set priorities. However, no studies exist using the two inputs on plant disease management. Here, we hypothesized that biochar and TRI would be used for the management of soilborne plant pathogens, mainly due to changes in soil properties and its interactions. To test this hypothesis, this review assesses papers that used biochar and TRI against plant diseases and we summarize the handling mechanisms for each input. Biochar acts by mechanisms: induction to plant resistance, sorption of allelopathic and fungitoxic compounds, increase of beneficial microorganisms, changes the soil properties that promote health and nutrient availability. Trichoderma as biocontrol agents by different mechanisms: mycoparasitism, enzyme and secondary metabolic production, plant promoter agent, natural decomposition agent, and biological agent of bioremediation. Overall, our findings expand our knowledge about the reuse of wastes transformed in biochar combined with Trichoderma has potential perspective to formulate products as alternative management tool of plant disease caused by soilborne fungal pathogen and add important information that can be suitable for development of strategy for use in the global health concept.

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2006 Florida Plant Disease Management Guide: Sweet Basil

EDIS ◽

10.32473/edis-pp113-2009 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2009 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Shouan Zhang ◽

Pamela D. Roberts

Keyword(s):

Plant Pathology ◽

Disease Management ◽

Downy Mildew ◽

Fusarium Wilt ◽

Leaf Spot ◽

Plant Disease ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Fact Sheet ◽

Sweet Basil ◽

Plant Disease Management

Revised! PP-113, a 2-page fact sheet by Shoan Zhang and Pamela D. Roberts, describes the symptoms and cultural controls for four plant diseases common to Sweet Basil in Florida — downy mildew, leaf spot, bacterial leaf spot, and fusarium wilt. Published by the UF Department of Plant Pathology, March 2009. PP-113/PP113: Florida Plant Disease Management Guide: Sweet Basil (ufl.edu)

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Large crop production losses induced by global ozone stress based on interval evaluation

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1231026/v1 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Andong Cai ◽

Bin Wang ◽

Tianjing Ren ◽

Wenju Zhang ◽

Xiaoke Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Crop Yield ◽

Crop Production ◽

Yield Loss ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Ground Level ◽

Ozone Sensitivity ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Interval Evaluation ◽

Pollution Impacts ◽

Large Crop

Abstract Global crop yield loss due to ground-level ozone (O3) concentrations is a major challenge to food security, but a dose-response association is not easy to quantify. Here, we propose using a new metric, O3 sensitivity of crop yield (Yo), to estimate yield loss under different O3 time intervals using four observational databases. The Yo metric shows a non-linear parabola with elevated atmospheric O3 for wheat, maize, rice, soybean, and assorted vegetables. Spatial heterogeneity of yield loss varies as a function of crop type and O3 intervals. Estimates of yield loss from ozone suggest recent losses (2017-2019) may reach as high as 537 million tonnes, with a significant proportion coming with lower (30-40 ppb) exposure (325 million tonnes). Our results suggest that previous research, which only included higher (>40 ppb ozone), may have had grossly underestimated the negative effect of atmospheric O3 on crop production. Suppose these results are endemic to global crop production. In that case, additional research will be necessary to reassess ozone sensitivity and dose-responses, both spatially and temporally, to determine future air pollution impacts.

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Gly Betaine Surpasses Melatonin to Improve Salt Tolerance in Dalbergia odorifera

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2021.588847 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

El Hadji Malick Cisse ◽

Ling-Feng Miao ◽

Fan Yang ◽

Jin-Fu Huang ◽

Da-Dong Li ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Salt Tolerance ◽

Plant Growth ◽

Crop Production ◽

Growth Parameters ◽

Soluble Sugar ◽

Carotenoid Content ◽

Guaiacol Peroxidase ◽

Agricultural Crop ◽

Salt Stress Condition ◽

Dalbergia Odorifera

Salinity is one of the most serious factors limiting plant growth which can provoke significant losses in agricultural crop production, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. This study aimed to investigate whether melatonin (MT; 0.05 and 0.1 mM), which has pleiotropic roles, has a better effect than glycine betaine (GB; 10 and 50 mM) on providing salt tolerance in a woody plant Dalbergia odorifera T. Chen. Also, the alternative oxidase activity (AOX) in plant subjected to MT or GB under salinity (150 and 250 mM) was evaluated given that the effect of exogenous MT or GB on AOX has not been reported yet. The results showed that the exogenous application of GB on the seedlings of D. odorifera increased the plant growth parameters, relative water content, total of chlorophyll content, and carotenoid content compared with well-watered and MT treatments. Under severe salinity, the seedlings subjected to GB showed, a significant enhancement in water use efficiency, transpiration, and net photosynthetic rate regardless to MT-treated seedlings. The levels of proline and soluble sugar in the seedlings treated with MT or GB decreased significantly under mild and severe salinity correlated with those in salt-stressed seedlings. Furthermore, GB-treated plants exhibited a significant inhibition of malondialdehyde content compared with MT-treated plants. The concentration of thiols and phenolic compounds were significantly enhanced in the leaves of seedlings treated with MT compared with those treated with GB. Under salt stress condition, GB scavenged significantly higher levels of hydrogen peroxide than MT; while under severe salinity, plants subjected to MT showed better scavenging ability for hydroxyl radicals compared with GB-treated seedlings. The results demonstrated also an enhancement of the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase, and AOX activities in seedlings treated with GB or MT compared with salt-stressed plants. The catalase activity (CAT) was increased by 0.05 mM MT and 0.1 mM GB under mild salinity. Meanwhile, the AOX activity under severe salinity was enhanced only by GB 50 mM. The findings of this study suggested that GB-treated seedlings possessed a better salt tolerance in comparison with MT-treated seedlings.

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Effect of Arka microbial consortium on growth and germination percentage of French bean and Amaranthus seeds

International Journal of Current Research in Biosciences and Plant Biology ◽

10.20546/ijcrbp.2020.708.003 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (8) ◽

pp. 16-21

Author(s):

Priyadarshini Pillai ◽

M. Punitha ◽

S. Ranjitha ◽

R. Ragavi ◽

G. Roopa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Crop Production ◽

Microbial Consortium ◽

Growth Parameters ◽

Block Design ◽

Organic Fertilizer ◽

Integrated Approach ◽

Germination Percentage ◽

French Bean ◽

Seed Vigour

Composting is an alternative for recycling biodegradable organic waste, transforming it into organic fertilizer that can be used as agricultural nutrients, avoiding its disposal in landfills. This study evaluated the composting of Jyoti Nivas college hostel kitchen waste using Arka Microbial Consortium, with a view to its applications on Germination percentage, Seed Vigour Index and plant growth parameters of French bean (Arka arjun) and Amaranthus (Arka arunima) seeds. Arka microbial consortium (AMC) is carrier based product which contain nitrogen fixing, potassium and zinc solubilizing plant growth promoting microbes used as decomposers. The experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions in a randomized block design, with two treatments and three replicates. Assessments of plant growth parameters were performed and results suggest that using Arka Microbial Consortium with bio compost is suitable for better production French bean (Arka arjun) and Amaranthus (Arka arunima) seeds that may increase soil fertility and this integrated approach could be contributed to improve crop production.

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Priority selection of agro-meteorological parameters for integrated plant diseases management through analytical hierarchy process

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE) ◽

10.11591/ijece.v12i1.pp649-659 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 649

Author(s):

Rutuja Rajendra Patil ◽

Sumit Kumar

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Disease Management ◽

Plant Disease ◽

Meteorological Parameters ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Heat Index ◽

Management Decision ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Management Decision Making ◽

Plant Disease Management

To understand the influence of agro-meteorological parameters to take decisions related to various factors in an integrated plant disease management, it becomes vital to carry out scientific studies on the factors affecting it. The different agro-meteorological parameters namely temperature, humidity, moisture, rain, phenological week, cropping season, soil type, location, precipitation, heat index, and cloud coverage have been considered for this study. Each parameter has been allocated the ranking by using a technique called analytical hierarchical process (AHP). The parameter priorities are determined by calculating the Eigenvalues. This helps to make decisions related to integrated plant disease management where the prediction of plant disease occurrence, yield prediction, irrigation requirements, and fertilization recommendations can be taken. To take these decisions which parameters are good indicators can be identified using this method. The parameters majorly contribute to plant diseases and pest management decision making while delivers minor contribution in irrigation and fertilizer management related decision making. The manual results are compared with software generated results which indicates that both the results correlate with each other. Therefore, AHP technique can be successfully implemented for prioritizing agro-meteorological parameters for integrated plant diseases management as the results for both levels are consistent (consistency ratio < 0.1).

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RNA interference approaches for plant disease control

BioTechniques ◽

10.2144/btn-2020-0098 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 69 (6) ◽

pp. 469-477

Author(s):

Yen-Wen Kuo ◽

Bryce W Falk

Keyword(s):

Rna Interference ◽

Disease Control ◽

Crop Production ◽

Plant Disease ◽

Plant Pathogens ◽

Control Plant ◽

Cost Effective ◽

Plant Diseases ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Plant Disease Control

Plant diseases caused by a variety of pathogens can have severe effects on crop plants and even plants in natural ecosystems. Despite many effective conventional approaches to control plant diseases, new, efficacious, environmentally sound and cost-effective approaches are needed, particularly with our increasing human population and the effects on crop production and plant health caused by climate change. RNA interference (RNAi) is a gene regulation and antiviral response mechanism in eukaryotes; transgenic and non transgenic plant-based RNAi approaches have shown great effectiveness and potential to target specific plant pathogens and help control plant diseases, especially when no alternatives are available. Here we discuss ways in which RNAi has been used against different plant pathogens, and some new potential applications for plant disease control.

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