Biopesticides: Clean and Viable Technology for Healthy Environment

Biopesticides or biological pesticides refer to the use of living biological organisms or their metabolites for pests, pathogens, weeds, nematodes, rodents, etc. Regarding the field of biopesticides, there is no precise and unified definition. In accordance with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization standards, biopesticides are generally natural compounds or genetic modification agents, including biochemical pesticides (pheromones, hormones, plant regulators, insect growth regulators) and microbial pesticides (fungi, bacteria, or genetically modified microorganisms), which do not include antibiotic agricultural preparations. According to their composition and sources, biopesticides can be divided into microbial biopesticides, microbial pesticides, botanical pesticides, and animal pesticides. According to the control object, they can be divided into pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, acaricides, rodenticides, and plant growth regulators. In terms of their use, biopesticides are generally used either directly, in the case of living biological organisms, or indirectly, when using the bioactive substances from organisms. The first category includes bacteria, fungi, nematodes, viruses, and antagonist microorganisms. The latter includes agricultural antibiotics, growth regulators, sex pheromones, feeding inhibitors, juvenile hormones, and herbal physiologically active substances. However, in the practical application of agricultural production, biopesticides generally refer mainly to the large-scale industrial production of microbial pesticides.