Bacillus-based biocontrol beyond chemical control in central Africa: the challenge of turning myth into reality

Gaspard Nihorimbere; Virginie Korangi Alleluya; François Nimbeshaho; Venant Nihorimbere; Anne Legrève; Marc Ongena

doi:10.3389/fpls.2024.1349357

Bacillus-based biocontrol beyond chemical control in central Africa: the challenge of turning myth into reality

Front Plant Sci. 2024 Feb 6:15:1349357. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1349357. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Gaspard Nihorimbere^#^{1

2}, Virginie Korangi Alleluya^#^{3

4}, François Nimbeshaho^#^{3

5}, Venant Nihorimbere⁶, Anne Legrève¹, Marc Ongena³

Affiliations

¹ Phytopathology- Applied Microbiology, Earth, and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium.
² Unité de défense des végétaux, Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Burundi, Bujumbura, Burundi.
³ Microbial Processes and Interactions, TERRA Teaching and Research Center, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, Belgium.
⁴ Chemical and Agricultural Industries, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
⁵ Laboratoire de Nutrition-Phytochimie, d'Ecologie et d'Environnement Appliquée, Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Pédagogie Appliquées aux Sciences, Institut de Pédagogie Appliquée, Université du Burundi, Bujumbura, Burundi.
⁶ Département des Sciences et Technologie des Aliments, Faculté de Bio-Ingénierie, Université du Burundi, Bujumbura, Burundi.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Agricultural productivity in the Great Lakes Countries of Central Africa, including Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, is affected by a wide range of diseases and pests which are mainly controlled by chemical pesticides. However, more than 30% of the pesticides used in the region are banned in European Union due to their high toxicity. Globally available safe and eco-friendly biological alternatives to chemicals are virtually non-existent in the region. Bacillus PGPR-based biocontrol products are the most dominant in the market and have proven their efficacy in controlling major plant diseases reported in the region. With this review, we present the current situation of disease and pest management and urge the need to utilize Bacillus-based control as a possible sustainable alternative to chemical pesticides. A repertoire of strains from the Bacillus subtilis group that have shown great potential to antagonize local pathogens is provided, and efforts to promote their use, as well as the search for indigenous and more adapted Bacillus strains to local agro-ecological conditions, should be undertaken to make sustainable agriculture a reality in the region.

Keywords: Bacillus spp.; Burundi; DRC; IPM; Rwanda; biocontrol; diseases and pests; pesticide.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The work of FN and GN was supported by the Académie de Recherche et d’Enseignement Supérieur-Commission de Coopération au Développement (ARES-CDD), Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles) through the PRD instrument (Title: Vers une agriculture plus performante et durable au Burundi: application de microorganismes pour améliorer la santé et la croissance des plantes). VKA was funded by ARES-CCD through the “Bourse exceptionnelle” program, University of Liège scholarship and by the Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future program. MO is Research Director at the FRS-FNRS (National Fund for Scientific Research) in Belgium.