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Developing Soil Microbial Inoculants for Pest Management: Can One Have Too Much of a Good Thing?

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Abstract

Soil microbes present a novel and cost-effective method of increasing plant resistance to insect pests and thus create a sustainable opportunity to reduce current pesticide application. However, the use of microbes in integrated pest management programs is still in its infancy. This can be attributed primarily to the variations in microbial inoculum performance under laboratory and field conditions. Soil inoculants containing single, indigenous microbial species have shown promising results in increasing chemical defenses of plants against foliar feeding insects. Conversely, commercial inoculants containing multiple species tend to show no effects on herbivore infestation in the field. We present here a simple model that endeavours to explain how single and multiple species in microbial inoculants differentially govern insect population dynamics via changes in plant chemical profiles. We discuss further how this knowledge can be applied to manipulate soil microbial species and develop ‘tailored’ microbial inoculants that could be used in plant protection against antagonists.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Andreas Ebertz for help in producing artwork, to three anonymous authors for constructive feedback, and to Royal Holloway, University of London and the Natural Environment Research Council for providing the financial support to carry out field studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK

    Kiran R. Gadhave, James E. Hourston & Alan C. Gange

  2. Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, 31793, USA

    Kiran R. Gadhave

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  1. Kiran R. Gadhave
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  2. James E. Hourston
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  3. Alan C. Gange
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Correspondence to Kiran R. Gadhave.

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Gadhave, K.R., Hourston, J.E. & Gange, A.C. Developing Soil Microbial Inoculants for Pest Management: Can One Have Too Much of a Good Thing?. J Chem Ecol 42, 348–356 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-016-0689-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-016-0689-8

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