Eco-sustainable agriculture practices through Mycoviruses

Abstract

Modern agricultural practices for the production of food grains are seen as a boon to human civilization, as they meet the needs of people for staple foods, organic matter, and essential micronutrients. However, the use of agrochemicals poses a serious pollution threat to soil and aquatic ecosystems. The present study attempts to develop ways and means for effective management of pollution caused by agrochemicals through the application of mycoviruses, which makes a significant contribution to the transition economy involving various socio-economic and environmental parameters. The present paper also has reviewed the recent literature related to various studies pertaining to developing more tolerant crops against eco-biological stress with the involvement of new innovative microbial biotechnological methods based on the operating principles of molecular biology. The infection efficiency of mycovirus is influenced by the biological characteristics of both the virus and the host plant. In the emerging ecological and economical adverse conditions, scopes of applicability of mycoviruses have opened up new perspectives on the possibility of developing a mycoviral-based novel bio-control system (such as RNA silencing, autophagy and plant incompatibility) for large-scale effective eco-sustainable and low-cost agricultural operations, with an aim at maintaining the ecologically healthy state of agricultural fields.This paper also focuses on the multidimensional environmental benefits to the agricultural sectors depending on the potential of standardizing this eco-friendly approach in order to solve the problem of pest infestations and thereby to reduce large scale application of chemical herbicide and pesticide in cost effective way.