Why Do We Need Alternative Methods for Fungal Disease Management in Plants?

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202309.1545.v1
• Publication Date: 2023-09-25T08:20:59Z
• Authors: Michael S McLaughlin; Maria Roy; Pervaiz A. Abbasi; Odile Carisse; Svetlana Yurgel; Shawkat Ali
• Keywords: Environmentally Friendly; Disease management; Disease Control

Fungal pathogens pose a major threat to food production worldwide. Traditionally, chemical fungicides have been the primary means of controlling these pathogens, but many recently come under increased scrutiny due their negative effects on health humans, animals, and environment. However, use with less an environmental impact tends result in development resistance populations phytopathogenic fungi. Therefore, new environmentally friendly alternatives that provide adequate levels disease control are needed replace fungicides—if not completely, at least partially. A number conventional developed, including plant defence elicitors (PDEs), biological agents (fungi, bacteria mycoviruses), biofungicides, RNA interference (RNAi) methods, breeding. This article reviews alternative methods available manage fungal discusses strengths weaknesses, identifies potential areas for future research.