Development of biocontrol agents to reduce chemical pesticides in plant disease management

Modern food production systems rely on high volumes of chemical pesticides to ensure crop yields’ stability and quantity. The chemical pesticides used in crop protection cause harmful side-effects to the environment and human health. The most effective way to reduce the risk of pesticides is to use environmentally safe biocontrol agents (BCAs), which are natural enemies of the plant pathogens. Despite their relevance as model eukaryotes only a handful of yeast-based plant protection products have reached to the market. The best crop protection is achieved by BCAs, which are well adapted to the local climatic and agronomic conditions. The study is undertaken to determine the potential of locally isolated yeast strains as BCAs to reduce the development of the main cereal diseases in Estonia. The outcome of the project will increase food safety by replacing chemical pesticides with yeast-based BCAs in food production.