Chapter 14 - Nanoengineered Systems for Biopesticides

Abstract

Agriculture system is one of the prerequisites to sustain human life on the planet earth and has been constantly tested in terms of yield. Crop losses due to pest attack as well as excessive use of chemical pesticides are major concerns for humanity and environmental protection. Traditional strategies like Integrated Pest Management (IPM) used in agriculture are insufficient and application of chemical pesticides like DDT has adverse effects on animals and human beings besides causing a decline in soil fertility. Biopesticides represent a novel opportunity in this area and offer several advantages over traditional chemical pesticides. They are safer compared to conventional pesticides and are more amenable to achieve targeted activity against a desired pest. Biopesticides are often effective in potent quantities thereby ensuring lower exposure. Furthermore, they decompose more rapidly, offer potentially higher crop yields, and can limit the use of conventional pesticides. However, their inability to tolerate environmental conditions like temperature, moisture, and sunlight presents a challenge to improve their performance. In addition, conventional processes in the crop protection industry such as microencapsulation and high temperature spray drying are not viable methods for processing certain microbial pesticides. Another desirable feature of pesticides is to provide sustained efficacy and reduce the number of applications to manage costs. This could be accomplished using nanotechnology which offers green and efficient alternatives for the management of pests in agriculture without being harmful to nature. By virtue of unique nature of nanostructures, their implementation in ‘Agri-biotechnology’ is highly predicted. Hence, conventional pest management strategies are now gradually being replaced owing to the potential of nanotechnology as an effective and viable approach to alleviate problems pertaining to pest control. The proposed chapter focuses on the growing applications of nanoengineered systems to achieve pest control with special emphasis on the use of biopesticides.