ABSTRACT
Several soilborne plant pathogens pose serious threat tocrop production across the globe. In order to increase crop productivity, farmers have indiscriminately used chemical pesticides that have caused adverse effects tohuman health, animals, and the environment. Among the various pesticides used, fungicides comprisethe major share worldwide; most of the crop loss is due to fungal diseases. In order to manage these diseases, several biocontrol agents are now being used as an alternative tothese synthetic pesticides. For a biocontrol agent to be successful, its biomass should be of high population count and with a level of viability and vigor. So, in order to increase the efficacy of biocontrol agents, a nanoparticle (NP) based strategy has now been adopted. NPs have gained importance in the agriculture sector because of their high stability;they are also non-toxic, cost-effective, and eco-friendly to nature,compared to biopesticides. Green synthesis of nanoparticles has an increasing benefit because of the rising need for developing environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and safe strategies for nanomaterial synthesis. The biological methods of nanoparticle synthesis help in elimination of harsh processing conditions by enabling the synthesis ofphysiological pH, temperature, pressure, and they lower costsat the same time.
Use of microorganisms for the synthesis of nanoparticles is a fairly new and exciting area of research with lots of potential for further development. Biopesticides are engineered as nanomaterials by exploiting the potential of biofungicides to conjugate with nanobased products forming covalent bonds. Trichoderma strains have for a timebeen used to control plant disease by mechanisms including antibiosis, parasitism, inducing host-plant resistance, and competition. Trichoderma is a filamentous fungus and is capable of extracellular synthesis of metal nanoparticles, and it also serves diverse functions from antibacterial activity to anticancer properties. The metal NPs synthesized through this biosystems approach are very stable for a long period of time and have been reported to have a significant growth-inhibiting effect against various species of Fusarium, Helminthosporium, Penicillium, Pyricularia, Sclerotinia etc.
