ABSTRACT
Despite many achievements in modern agriculture, food crop production continues to be plagued by disease-causing pathogens and pests. In many cases, chemical pesticides effectively protect plants from these pathogens. However, public concerns about harmful effects of chemical pesticides on the environment and human health have prompted a search for safer, environmentally friendly control alternatives (1-3). One promising approach is biological control that uses microorganisms capable of attacking or suppressing pathogens and pests in order to reduce disease injury. Biological control of plant pathogens offers a potential means of overcoming ecological problems induced by pesticides. It is an ecological approach based on the natural interactions of organisms with the use of one or more biological organisms to control the pathogen. Generally, biological control uses specific microorganisms that attack or interfere with specific pathogens and pests. Because of their specificity, different microbial biocontrol agents typically are needed to control different pathogens and pests, or the same ones in different environments.
