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Plant
diseases play a significant role in the destruction of natural
resources in agriculture. In particular, soil-borne pathogens
cause important losses, fungi being the most aggressive. As such,
modern agriculture is highly dependent on the use of chemical
pesticides to control plant pathogens. However, the use of
chemical pesticides and fertilizers in highly intensive farming
practices causes negative effects both on human health and
natural ecosystems. Despite improvements in environmental
standards, there is increased likelihood of a link
between environmental degradation and certain human illnesses.
There is increasing public concern surrounding the
continued use of agrichemicals and their damaging effects on
human health and the environment. Chemicals that are dangerous
should be replaced by safer chemicals or safer alternative
technologies that do not entail the use of chemicals, nor
pose risks to man and the environment. Such public awareness is
driving the search for more environmentally friendly methods that
will control plant disease and, generally, offer a positive
contribution to the goal of sustainability in agriculture.
Biological control of pathogenic fungi has gained considerable
attention and several bacterial and fungal biological control
agents have been developed in previousyears. In spite of their
appeal and potential, biological control agents have not made an
effective transition from research plots to farmers’
fields.
Phosphorus is an essential plant nutrient but
maintaining its availability for plant uptake is a critical
challenge both for researchers and growers because of its very
low solubility in soil. Often, the application of conventional
mineral P-fertilizers is economically unviable, - owing to the
fact that a large proportion of the P added becomes rapidly fixed
in forms that can not be utilized readily by plants. The P
fixation problem has forced many growers to ‘over-apply’
P fertilizers to the extent that many soils throughout Europe now
pose a threat to water quality (eutrophication) by releasing
their excess P during runoff, erosion and leaching events. Rock
phosphate is one of the basic raw materials for the production of
mineral P fertilizers. Cadmium is particularly enriched in many
phosphate rock deposits and invariably accumulates in the
end-product fertilizer and / or the byproducts and wastes, and
ultimately the environment. Cadmium and its compounds are toxic
to human beings and therefore appear on the EU’s action
list. In the light of the various environmental and
health-related risks involved in the manufacture and use of
mineral-P fertilizers, there is a growing demand for the
development of an effective biofertilizer product which is based
on P-solubilizing microorganisms. In this context, one of the
most important healthy food supply concepts is prevention,
where the key technical element is the use of low input
farming materials and methods during plant cultivation,
whereby the toxic element uptake stream is removed or at least
significantly decreased.
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