December 1998, Volume 19 No. 4
Weed Biological Control in India
The series of 18 papers in this book* was developed from a national seminar held at the Project Directorate of Biological Control in Bangalore on 16 May 1998 as part of the celebrations to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of India's Independence [see BNI 19(3), 80N-81N]. Leading Indian scientists in their respective fields have contributed, which shows the increasing national importance given to biological control by policy makers in Indian agriculture.
Eight chapters are devoted to the biological control (or suppression) of plant diseases; four chapters deal with microbial antagonists of plant parasitic nematodes; whilst three chapters address weed biocontrol with two chapters covering entomophilic nematodes of insect pests; confusingly included within the session theme on weeds! Clearly, there is some overlap between the chapters, and hence repeat of information, as exemplified by the papers on entomophilic nematodes which share almost identical titles; one favouring biological control the other suppression. Since suppression was chosen for the title of the seminar, most authors gravitate towards this term, which may have political correctness on its side, or perhaps this is now the favoured IPM-speak.
The papers reflect the past and present research on biological control within an Indian context and, in general, they are of a high standard; informative and well researched. The editors are to be congratulated on assembling this book in such a short time and of achieving the aims of the seminar which was to focus attention on the actual and potential use of biological control within an IPM strategy.
The book is also of relevance to workers involved in biological control outside of the Indian subcontinent, particularly as an update on the research currently underway in India and as a reference source to previous work.
The chapters include: Introduction (S. P. Singh); Biological control of plant diseases: status in India (A .N. Mukhopadhyay & P. K. Mukherjee); Biological suppression of diseases of plantation crops and spices - present status and future strategies (Y. R. Sarma & M. Anandaraj); Mass production technology for fungal antagonists and field evaluation (R. Jeyarajan & K. Angappan); biological suppression of fungal pathogens of commercial crops with fungal antagonists (K. Nagarajan); Role of secondary metabolites of Pseudomonas fluorescens in the biocontrol of plant pathogens (K. K. Mondal &. J. P. Veram); Biological suppression of major diseases of field crops using bacterial antagonists (P. Vidhyasekaran); Biological control of major diseases of rice and other cereal crops with bacterial antagonists (S. S. Gnanamanickam & K. Krishnamurthy); Epidemiological studies in biological control of plant pathogens (A. K. Sharma, D. P. Singh & A. K. Singh); Present status of biological suppression of plant parasitic nematodes (M. Wajid Khan); Bacterial antagonists for suppression of plant parasitic nematodes, (C. V. Sivakumar); Fungal and bacterial antagonists for biological suppression of plant parasitic nematodes on horticultural crops, (P. Parvatha Reddy & M. Nagesh); Use of fungal and bacterial antagonists for the biological control of nematodes in plantation crops (J. Gulsar Banu & P. K. Koshy); Biological suppression of weeds with pathogens - present scenario (V. M. Bhan, J. P. Kauraw & Archana Chile); Biological suppression of aquatic weeds with fungal pathogens (K. R. Aneja); Biological suppression of parthenium with pathogens (P. Sreerama Kumar); Use of entomophilic nematodes for the suppression of insect pests (Wasim Ahmad); and Entomophilic nematodes for control of insect pests (S. S. Hussaini & S. P. Singh). The recommendations which emerged from the seminar are included.
*Singh, S. P.; Hussaini, S. S. (eds) (1998) Biological Suppression of Plant Diseases, Phytoparasitic Nematodes and Weeds, 284 pp.
Obtainable from: Project Directorate of Biological Control, P. B. No. 2491, H. A. Farm Post, Bellary Road, Hebbal, Bangalore - 560 024, Karnataka, India. Price $25.
