Botanical extracts: A step towards eco-friendly pest management strategy

Indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides has posed different types of environmental, toxicological and other health-related problems. Recently, attention has been paid towards the exploitation of botanicals as plant protection agents and their use in integrated pest management. The characterization of potential bioactive compounds thus becomes a primary step in developing botanicals for pest management. As a result, ethnobotanical research on plants, standardisation of extraction processes, and botanicals must be properly designed after thorough evaluation in order to develop and fully exploit the uses of an effective and profitable botanical. Elicitation of a defence response in host plants by botanicals acting as inducers is a fascinating field and offers new prospects for using these substances in crop protection. This has prompted intensive research on the development of botanical agents in pest management. Thus, this review incorporates the relevant information on the potential use of botanicals in pest control.