Natural Metabolites: An Eco-friendly Approach to Manage Plant Diseases and for Better Agriculture Farming

Abstract

Natural metabolites and biocontrol agents are becoming more popular and are getting consideration to be viable replacement methods for controlling various plant diseases nowadays because the environment is safer and, in some cases, the only option is available for the protection of plants against the pathogens. In the present scenario, beyond good horticultural and agricultural practices, producers often depend mostly on chemically synthetic pesticides and fertilizers that are not only harmful but also very costly. Development of pathogen-resistant breeds becomes a worldwide problem which imposes and threatens some chemical companies to produce new pesticides with their registration process and profitability. There has been a considerable change in the perspective of farmers toward the use of pesticides for crop protection and crop production. There are several types of biological control agents and natural metabolite products are available, but for effective acquisition and future development, it will need a great understanding of complex interactions between humans, plants, and the environment. In this chapter, we will discuss wide varieties of plants and pathogens and their interaction and management through natural metabolites produced by microbes and plants. These interactions can affect the health of plants in several ways. There are several microbes that reside in plant roots and interact with plants that are beneficial while some can be harmful because they are involved in the development of plant diseases, which occur at various levels of interaction scale that leads to natural control.