Agriculture is the prime sector that determines the global food security, rural livelihood and overall economic development of a country. With the increase in global population, maintaining the agricultural productivity to feed its population has become a major challenge. Among the biotic stresses, insect pests, phytopathogens and weeds are the major causes of yield reduction and economic losses. Although, synthetic agrochemicals such as pesticides, fungicides, weedicides etc. have played a significant role in mitigation of these biotic challenges but their indiscriminate use has raised serious safety concerns. Microbial biopesticides is a potential alternative to minimize these negative impacts of synthetic pesticides; however, their efficacy may be limited by slow action, environmental sensitivity and inconsistent field performance. Therefore, combined application of biological control agents/ microbial biopesticides and synthetic agrochemicals may provide an opportunity for effective pest management while minimizing their respective drawbacks. This review examines the compatibility of microbial biocontrol agents with synthetic pesticides. The combined application of compatible microbial biopesticide and synthetic pesticides create an opportunity to integrate the rapid action of chemical pesticides with the biological advantages of microbial control agents. However, the success of such combinations depends on several interacting factors, such as microbial strain, active ingredient, concentration, formulation of pesticide, duration of pesticide exposure, prevailing environmental conditions and application sequence of the biopesticide and synthetic pesticide. Thus, the combined pesticide application should primarily focus on selection of compatible combinations rather than indiscriminate mixing of biological and chemical products. Standardized compatibility testing under laboratory and greenhouse conditions, validation by pilot field trials and formulation-specific assessments are necessary before recommending these to field application.
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Biopesticide, IPM, Plant health, Synergistic effect, Synthetic pesticide
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