Biopesticides
Research Lags in Natural Products
in AgraQuester, August, 1996
"912 papers and posters were presented at the ...Phytopathological Society Meeting...
Of those 912, approximately 100 were about biocontrol agents (living microbes used to
control plant disease). Only one paper described a new natural product compound produced by a microbe. Many presenting researchers alluded to the presence of natural product compounds, but they do not have the expertise and equipment to purify and identify them. The researchers complained about the inconsistency of plant disease control by microbial biocontrol agents they study. By focusing only on the microbe and not also on the natural products produced by the microbe, there is an incomplete understanding of plant disease control.
By identifying and optimizing the natural products produced by microbes in
fermentation, AgraQuest can provide a more consistently effective product."
