Fungos como agentes de controle biológico de pragas agrícolas: uma revisão bibliográfica

Abstract

As agricultural activity expands, the world faces problems to sustain this growth, mainly due to the increase in the number of pests and, consequently, losses and damages in this sector. The use of pesticides to combat these pests is not always efficient, as they can lead to the development of resistance and a reduction in the population of natural enemies. Within the pest control alternatives, biological control is one of the best options for developing sustainable and healthy techniques, minimizing damage to the environment and animal and human health. For this reason, the use of biological control is becoming increasingly important and is part of the management of various agricultural and forestry crops around the world. Among the microorganisms with this potential, the use of fungi stands out, such as entomopathogenic fungi, nematophagous, mycoparasites and toxin-producing phytopathogenic fungi (herbicides). This broad potential of fungi as biological control agents is due to the inherent characteristics of this group of organisms, such as wide distribution in the environment and persistence; host specificity; efficiency in the dispersion of propagules; in addition to the ease of being cultivated and maintained in laboratories. In the context, the present work deals with a bibliographic review on the potential of fungi as biological control agents, with the aim of directing a future perspective for more sustainable agricultural practices.