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Biocontrol Potential of Microbial Consortia: Approaches in Food Security and Disease Management

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Microbial Biocontrol: Sustainable Agriculture and Phytopathogen Management

Abstract

In the current scenario of climate change, the uncertainty of environmental factors and adverse impacts of chemical pesticides on the texture and productivity of soil along with increasing health concerns to humans appear as a global challenge in the management of agricultural yield to meet the food demand of burgeoning global populations. However, microbial consortia applied as either plant or soil inoculants have largely been used in the last few decades for the enhancement of agricultural productivity, improvement of nutrient status in the soil, improvement of fruit quality, and as biocontrol agents to control the growth of devastating phytopathogens during harvest or postharvest storage. The functional aspects of microbial consortia have been shown effective in broader ways as compared to individual cultures. Moreover, the efficiency of microbial consortia is higher due to the presence of several strains where each strain performs specific functions and shows better performance in functional behaviours in order to withstand environmental fluctuations. In this chapter, we have tried to compile the latest aspects and advancements in the development and application of microbial consortia for effective phytopathogen control so that the goals of food security could be achieved.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, B.R.D. Government Degree College Duddhi, Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Hariom Verma

  2. Department of Botany, Dharma Samaj College, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Chandra Kant

  3. Department of Botany, Centre of Advanced Study in Science, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Sandeep Kumar Singh

  4. Department of Plant Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    James F. White

  5. Department of Postharvest Science, Agricultural Research Organization—The Volcani Centre, Rishon LeZion, Israel

    Ajay Kumar & Samir Droby

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  1. Hariom Verma
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  2. Chandra Kant
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  3. Sandeep Kumar Singh
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  4. James F. White
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  5. Ajay Kumar
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  6. Samir Droby
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  1. Postharvest Science, Agriculture Research Organization, Volcani centre, Israel, Rishon, Lezzion, Israel

    Ajay Kumar

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Verma, H., Kant, C., Singh, S.K., White, J.F., Kumar, A., Droby, S. (2022). Biocontrol Potential of Microbial Consortia: Approaches in Food Security and Disease Management. In: Kumar, A. (eds) Microbial Biocontrol: Sustainable Agriculture and Phytopathogen Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-87512-1_7

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