Combatting insects mediated biotic stress through plant associated endophytic entomopathogenic fungi in horticultural crops

Ipsita Samal; Tanmaya Kumar Bhoi; Prasanta Kumar Majhi; Sneha Murmu; Asit Kumar Pradhan; Dilip Kumar; Varun Saini; Amit Umesh Paschapur; M Nikhil Raj; Ankur; Suryakant Manik; Partha Pratim Behera; Deepak Kumar Mahanta; J Komal; Pravej Alam; Thamer Al Balawi

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.1098673

Combatting insects mediated biotic stress through plant associated endophytic entomopathogenic fungi in horticultural crops

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jan 19:13:1098673. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1098673. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ipsita Samal¹, Tanmaya Kumar Bhoi², Prasanta Kumar Majhi³, Sneha Murmu⁴, Asit Kumar Pradhan⁵, Dilip Kumar⁶, Varun Saini⁷, Amit Umesh Paschapur⁸, M Nikhil Raj⁹, Ankur¹⁰, Suryakant Manik¹¹, Partha Pratim Behera¹², Deepak Kumar Mahanta⁹, J Komal⁷, Pravej Alam¹³, Thamer Al Balawi¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Entomology, Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Odisha, India.
² Forest Protection Division, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) - Arid Forest Research Institute (AFRI), Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
³ Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
⁴ Division of Agricultural Bio-informatics, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)- Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
⁵ Division, Social Science Division, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)- National Rice Research Institute (NRRI), Cuttack, Odisha, India.
⁶ Division of Computer Application and IT, National Institute for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP), New Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi, India.
⁷ Department of Entomology, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat, India.
⁸ Crop Protection Division, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) - Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora, Uttarakhand, India.
⁹ Department of Entomology, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Samastipur, Bihar, India.
¹⁰ Division of Entomology, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR-IARI)- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India.
¹¹ Department of Seed Science and Technology, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, India.
¹² Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam, India.
¹³ Department of Biology, College of Science and Humanities in Al-Kharj, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁴ Department of Biology, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Horticultural production is a vital catalyst for economic growth, yet insect infestations reduce horticultural crop yield and quality. Pesticides and other pest control methods are used during planting to eliminate pests that cause direct and indirect losses. In such situations, endophytic entomo-pathogenic fungi (EEPF) can act as a potential tools for biological control. They protect plants by boosting growth, nutrition, morpho-physiology and salt or iron tolerance. Antixenosis, antibiosis and plant tolerance change insect performance and preferences. EEPF- plant colonisation slows herbivore development, food consumption, oviposition and larval survival. EEPF changes plant physio-chemical properties like volatile emission profile and secondary metabolite production to regulate insect pest defences. EEPF produces chitinases, laccases, amylases, and cellulases for plant defence. Recent studies focused on EEPF species' significance, isolation, identification and field application. Realizing their full potential is difficult due to insufficient mass production, storage stability and formulation. Genetic-molecular and bioinformatics can help to build EEPF-based biological control systems. Metagenomics helps study microbial EEPF taxonomy and function. Multi-omics and system biology can decode EEPF interactions with host plants and microorganisms. NGS (Next Generation Sequencing), comparative genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, metatranscriptomics and microarrays are used to evaluate plant-EEPF relationships. IPM requires understanding the abiotic and biotic elements that influence plant-EEPF interaction and the physiological mechanisms of EEPF colonisation. Due to restricted research, there are hundreds of unexplored EEPFs, providing an urgent need to uncover and analyse them.

Keywords: EEPF- plant colonisation; biological control; endophytic entomo-pathogenic fungi (EEPF); horticultural crops; insects.

Publication types

Review