Advantages and Disadvantages of Biopesticides

Status shows that India loses about 30% of its products due to pest disease, which accounts for about 60,000 crores of rupees yearly. The pest problem is a significant loss of flourishing yields and agriculture. Since the use of pesticides in agriculture in crop protection, significant influence has been seen, which is minimal loss of yields. But everything has pros and cons; pesticides on long-term usage cannot assure complete crop protection against pests. This is because high usage of pesticides can result in pain developing resistance against pesticides. Besides this, one significant ill effects of pesticides are food safety hazards. To counter these several disadvantages of pesticides, there is a need to reduce the usage of chemical pesticides. This led to using environmentally friendly pesticides using integrated pest management (IPM).

IPM refers to a technique that suppresses pests by using two or more methods of pest control simultaneously; also, it tackles these with the least usage of chemical pesticides. These results are attained by more and more use of biocontrol agents present in the environment naturally. These are known as biopesticides.

A biopesticide is an organism or biological substance that harms, kills, or deterioration of pests. They are derived from plants, bacteria, and microbes such as fungi, nematodes, etc. The function of biopesticides is not implicated.

The chemical compounds which are produced by plants sometimes help in safeguarding from pests known as antifeedants. Biopesticides are biodegradable, renewable, and have economic use.

Importance of Biopesticides

Balance of the ecosystem is a vital function to be performed, although the process of the biological control system disrupts this balance. Regeneration and multiplication are the nature of every life form in the lithosphere. The food chain maintains the numbers of each species through a series of predators and parasites. The biological control system also disrupts these interrelations since a major species is targeted and wholly eradicated from the habitat. Also, they are specific in their actions, i.e., they only check and control pests. They are based on natural products and hence are harmless to the environment and don't leave any residues that may cause harm or food safety hazards. Conclusively, biopesticide is a harmless way to check and control pests in various agricultural and economic situations.

Most farmers are concerned with establishing a sustainable form of agriculture as a system. The primary requirement for better yields is a 'pests-free field' since biopesticides are eco-friendly and do not harm the soil, water supply, wildlife, and human health.

Classification of Biopesticides

They are divided into three classes-

1. Biochemical pesticides naturally control pests using synthetic materials that directly harm the pest. Many substances inhibit mating, For Example, insect pests to trap. It is difficult to find whether the essence committee was established to make such decisions known as EPA.

2. Microbial pesticides include microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. Each microbial pests have its specific targets to control. Fungi control certain weeds, whereas other fungi specify insects. Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, is a microbial pesticide that kills insects. Some Bt ingredients also control moth larvae that are commonly found in plants. The target insect species are determined by whether the particular Bt produces that protein that can be easily bound to a larval gut causing the insect to starve.

Several other types of bio-insecticides and bio-pesticide are:

• Cow Urine
• Fermented curd water
• Neem -cow urine extract
• Mixed leaves extract
• Chilli -garlic extract etc.

3. PIPs (Plant- incorporated- Protectants) are substances produced from genetic material that has been added to the plant. For Example- Scientists can manipulate genetic material by taking the gene from the Biopesticide protein and introducing that into plants' genetic material. Then the plant, instead of the Bt, manufactures the substance that destroys the pest.

Advantages of Biopesticides.

1. These produce significantly less amount of toxic residue, which doesn't cause much harm to human health; therefore, biopesticides are less toxic as compared to conventional pesticides.
2. They are effective in very small quantities and decompose quickly, resulting in lower exposure, and largely avoid the problems of pollution that are caused due to conventional pesticides.
3. It always affects the targeted pest and the organisms closely related to it, but in contrast, conventional pesticides affect a wide variety of organisms, such as birds, animals, and insects.
4. It is also used as a component of integrated pest management systems and causes the lesser usage of conventional pesticides, whereas crop yields remain high.
5. They also produce toxic residue, which causes minimal risk to human health.
6. They are obtained from natural materials such as bacteria, animals, plants, and viruses. These are the form of pesticides that are formed from natural products.
7. US EPA says that biopesticides include naturally occurring substances that can control pests and microorganisms that help in controlling microbial pests.
8. For Example:
   • Viruses: Nuclear polyhedrosis Virus.
   • Bacteria: Bacillus thuringiensis is widely used.
   • Fungi: Metarhizium anisopliae and Beuveria are used against pests found in the solid such as red ants, white grub, and cutworms.
   Biopesticides help in developing resistance to the pest. Incorporating biopesticides into agriculture because of their eco-friendly environment.
9. No adverse effects on the remains or residues on humans or other interrelated organisms exist.
10. These also help in the growth of plants, root improvement, and enhancing the soil microflora, which helps increase agricultural production.
11. These are the best alternative for pest management in an environment-friendly manner without causing harm to organisms and surrounding it. They support the SDGs for the conservation of the ecosystem.

Disadvantages of Biopesticides

1. The biopesticides rate is slower than conventional pesticides as their speed is faster but not environmentally friendly.
2. Availability is a significant drawback as it is only available at some places and times, which causes hindrances, and you have to wait longer than usual.
3. Dosage: Biopesticides are used in massive amounts but not in the case of conventional pesticides; when the dosage is lowered, the target pest might not die.
4. Shelf life: Biopesticides have a few months, which is very low, whereas conventional pesticides have a shelf life of 2 years.
5. One should have greater knowledge to use bio-pesticides effectively.
6. They could be more target specific. They do not harm insect pests and are not target-specific.
7. Lower efficacy and persistence compared to conventional pesticides. This means the result obtained from the usage of these pesticides are unsatisfactory as compared to that of traditional pesticides.

Biopesticides Usage in India

For the past 10 years, India has witnessed a tremendous increase in the use of biopesticides as a significant crop protection technique. Mainly as the status shows, production techniques are standardized, like Trichoderma, Gliocladium, Paecilomyces, Pseudomonas, Trichogramma, NPV, and Bacillus are used to

counter many insects and pest problems. It's been seen many times that biocontrol agents are used successfully in India. Some examples are as follows:

1. Telonemia scrupulous- it is a bug that has been used to control the tremendous increase of lantana weed in the fields.
2. Epiricania melanoleuca and Tetrastictus pyrillae- many states suffered from a situation of sugarcane perilla, which was successfully controlled by using these natural enemies of pyrilla.
3. Trichogramma- an organism that feeds on the eggs of sugarcane borers and is used to counter borers in many states, mainly Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, UP, Bihar, and Haryana. Trichogramma has also been used against rice stem borers and lead folders.
4. Bracon, Chelonus and Chrysopa spp. - these are used to counterattack cotton bollworms.
5. Coccinellid- these are a species of beetles that are used against sugarcane scale insects since these are a predator of those insects. This has resolved sugarcane yield loss in major states such as U.P., West Bengal, Gujarat, and Karnataka.

The usage of biopesticides has been seen on a large scale in India. These biocontrol agents, combined with current technological and systematic research, enhanced the effectiveness of these biopesticides. Also, the increase in usage can also be determined as the techniques from large numbered storage, production, and transportation of these have been broadening. Biopesticides are one of the best natural ways to control pests without harming the soil.