Microbial Management of Soil Insect-Pests: New Inventions and Future Thrust

Various salient pests are either soil insects or have soil dwelling stages as pests, e.g. cutworm, wireworms, grubs, armyworms, etc. Below ground natural enemies can prey on soil-dwelling stages (eggs, larvae, pupae and adults) of such diverse insect pests are apparently colonized by microbes called entomopathogens often diminishing the frequency and intensity of pest outbreaks. Essential groups of microbes that parasitize soil insects are the viruses, bacteria, fungi and nematodes, which have been used to control insect pests in the field. Although different entomopathogens and their products are currently used to control insect pests which offer certain advantages over conventional chemical insecticides, they also have certain disadvantages especially the lack of speed of kill in the case of insect viruses that has limited their application. With the advent of recombinant-DNA technology, an opportunity has emerged in alleviating certain commercial short-comings of pathogens and fostering the creation of new generation biopesticides. Further improvement in existing microbial pesticides and genetically modified organisms, therefore, is inevitable to make way for their commercial application.