Question

Give two examples of microbial pesticides with their hosts.

Answer 1

Hint: Bacteria and some other microbes like nematodes, fungi, etc. are used to control the pests for different crops and considered as an important component of the integrated pest management programs.

Complete answer:
Microbial pesticides are a type of bio-pesticides in which different types of microbes serve as pest control agents. The microbes can be bacteria, fungi, nematodes, etc. Sometimes viruses are also a constituent of the microbial pesticides. Examples of microbial pesticides are –

1) Nucleopolyhedrovirus – It is a baculovirus involved in biological pest control because it is pathogenic and kills many insect pests and other arthropod pests. The virus is species-specific and has a narrow spectrum insecticidal effect so it does not have an effect on the other organisms or the non-targeted insects. The hosts for this virus are – potato beetles, aphids, and corn-borers.
2) Beauveria bassiana – It is a fungus used as a microbial pesticide. This fungus is advantageous for being used as a biocontrol agent because it does not grow on the warm-blooded organism and fails to survive in water and thus, it is specifically useful to control the forestry pests with no effect on other organisms.
The microorganisms that are used as microbial pesticides act as a predator or pathogen for the targeted pest and their larvae and thus control their growth by either killing them or making them inactive. An important advantage of the microbial pesticides over the chemical pesticides is the farmers are harmful only for the targeted pests and they cause no harm to the crops but the later ones are harmful to crops too.

Note:
Besides the above two examples, some other important bio-pesticides are Lady Bird Beetle, Dragonflies, and Trichoderma that control aphids, mosquitoes, and several other plant pathogens respectively. Even some insect-resistant plants act as pest control agents.